ESXI host 5.5 takes long time to boot and stays at VMW_Vaaip_Cx or vmw_vaaip_symm loaded successfully
Issue : ESXI 5.5 boot take long time and stays at ( Storage API like) loaded successfully , this may take an hour or so to bring the ESXI 5.5 completely.
Cause : This will be happening on the environment which have Microsoft cluster vm and RDM disk is presented to that Microsoft cluster vm . Especially the RDM lun is not showing as Perennially reserved =true. You can check whether the lun is perennially reserved or not by running the below command
esxcli storage core device list
Solution: Will explain how to fix this on ESXi 5.5 version , for rest of the version please check the vmware kb article number 1016106.
1.We need to know the LUN identifier ( naa.id ) for all the rdm disk and this identifier varies for different storage vendor.
2. There are multiple ways to get the identifier , simple way is to click edit settings on the vm and click the rdm lun and on the right hand side click manage path , note down the lun number and identifier.
3. We can also get the identifier from Configuration—storage adapter and click one of the hba .
4.ssh into the esxi server
5.Run the command for each RDM lun
esxcli storage core device setconfig -d naa.id –perennially-reserved=true