How to find which ESXi 5.1 host lock the VM

Sometimes VM may show unknown, invalid or orphan on vCenter Server, but it still running somewhere. Some technical support engineer may request reboot VM/ESXi host, or search on each host one by one.

Declare: This article only apply to ESXi 5.1, I haven’t tested on other version.

This is easiest way to find out which host lock the VM:

  1. SSH to any host on the cluster.
  2. Go to VM folder. ( Usually it’s under /vmfs/volumes/… )
  3. Run command:  vmkfstools -D “vmx file name” | grep owner
  4. Return line similar like this:
    gen 483, mode 1, owner 529495c4-0b6a7d90-a0f3-0025b541a0dc mtime 211436
  5. The red highlight section is MAC address of owner host.
  6. Run command: esxcfg-nics -l on each ESXi host to see which host match this MAC address.

Then you need to remove the invalid VM from inventory, and login to the owner host by vSphere Client and import the VMX file again.

This procedure can save lot of time to find the real owner host, but it still consumes time if it’s a large cluster. You want to more fast? It’s possible!

After you find the MAC address, change it to regular format, like: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx.

Logon vMA console and connect to vCenter Server by command: vifptarget -s vCenter Server Name

Run command: esxcfg-nics -h ESXi host name -l | grep xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

More fast?

Try use Excel to list commands with all ESXi host name then past on console….

How to retrieve or set Path Selection Policy by vCLI

First of all, this article is nothing related to PowerCLI. 🙂

You probably know how to set Path Selection Policy (PSP) by vSphere Client, but how you can setup 100 LUNs manually? We have some script can make your life easy.

How to retrieve LUN Path Selection Policy:

esxcli storage nmp device list | egrep “Device Display Name|Path Selection Policy:”


You will get a output like that:

Device Display Name: DGC Fibre Channel Disk (naa.600601602a102e0002cdf2a2596be211)
Path Selection Policy: VMW_PSP_RR


This script help you identify which LUN is what type of policy. Here tell you what is Path Selection Policy.

Next, let’s see how to modify these LUN PSP by script:
First, you should run following script to print out command for each LUN, don’t forget change the bold text to the PSP you prefer.

esxcli storage nmp device list | awk '/^naa/{print "esxcli storage nmp device set -d "$0" -PVMW_PSP_RR" };'


Then, copy the output to notepad and remove the local disk, for example following bold NAA indicates the LUN is a local HP disk.

esxcli storage nmp device set -d naa.600601602a102e008896dda81b88e211 -P VMW_PSP_RR
esxcli storage nmp device set -d naa.600601602a102e008861b28a596be211 -P VMW_PSP_RR
esxcli storage nmp device set -d naa.600601602a102e00560d8488b456e211 -P VMW_PSP_RR
esxcli storage nmp device set -d naa.600601602a102e00c4cd2600b456e211 -P VMW_PSP_RR
esxcli storage nmp device set -d naa.600508b1001c1e987243838af4c67891 -P VMW_PSP_RR
esxcli storage nmp device set -d naa.600601602a102e008c96dda81b88e211 -P VMW_PSP_RR


Last, copy modified text back to putty session, it will run the commands one by one.