VMware: Failed to get disk partition information in vSphere

Today I wanted to add a new iSCSI Lun to my vSphere Lab. I got the following error:

I had this error in the past, see my previous post: vmware-failed-to-get-disk-partition-information. I tried the solution described in my previous post but it didn’t  work in vSphere.

So I had to search for another solution. Luckily VMware released a KB document. See KB1008886. In this KB document VMware uses the command esxcfg-vmhbadevs. This command is replaced with a new command called esxcfg-scsidevs.

So I ran the esxcfg-scsidevs command on the service console:

After running the command, write down the following line: Console Device: /dev/sdc. Start Parted and walk through the following steps.

Note: don’t forget to change the /dev/sdb to the device you need to fix. In my case /dev/sdc.

To change the label and partitioning scheme:

Caution: This removes the pre-existing partition table, and any data on the volume is no longer be available. Ensure you are operating against the correct disk.

1. Start parted to analyze the existing partition. Print the existing partition information, taking note of the Partition Table, size, and name. Ensure this is the data intended to be removed.
   Run the following commands:
   [root@esx ~]# parted /dev/sdb
   GNU Parted 1.8.1
   Using /dev/sdb
   Welcome to GNU Parted! Type ‘help’ to view a list of commands.
   (parted) print
   Disk geometry for /dev/sdb: 0.000-512.000 megabytes
   Disk label type: gpt
   Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name                          Flags 
   1      17.4kB  134MB  134MB               Microsoft reserved partition  msftres
2. Change the partition table (disklabel) type to msdos. This deletes the pre-existing partitions. Print the partition table again to observe the changes. Quit parted.
   Run the following commands:
   (parted) mklabel msdos
   (parted) print
   Disk geometry for /dev/sdb: 0.000-512.000 megabytes
   Disk label type: msdos
   Minor    Start       End     Type      Filesystem  Flags
   (parted) quit
3. Return to the VI Client and use the Add Storage wizard again. Choose the same LUN, create a new partition, and format it with a VMFS Datastore as normal.

Source: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1008886