QuickTIP: Check physical disk BAY in DELL R730 using naa identifier from ESXi

I tested this on:

• DELL PowerEdge R730
• DELL PERC H730 Mini (Embedded)
• iDRAC 8 – Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller Version 2.15.10.10 (Build 08)
• ESXi 5.5 u3

Part 1 – Gathering naa. numbers related from physical disks from ESXi console and iDRAC console:

• On host where we use VSAN namespace:

esxcli vsan storage list | grep -A 2 Device:


Device: naa.5001e8200282f668
Display Name: naa.5001e8200282f668
Is SSD: true
--
Device: naa.5000c500894d288f
Display Name: naa.5000c500894d288f
Is SSD: false
--
Device: naa.5001e8200282eb88
Display Name: naa.5001e8200282eb88
Is SSD: true
--
Device: naa.5000c500894d1957
Display Name: naa.5000c500894d1957
Is SSD: false
--
Device: naa.5000c500894d576f
Display Name: naa.5000c500894d576f
Is SSD: false
--
Device: naa.5000c50089540f7b
Display Name: naa.5000c50089540f7b
Is SSD: false
--
Device: naa.5000c50089512f7b
Display Name: naa.5000c50089512f7b
Is SSD: false
--
Device: naa.5000c500894ca307
Display Name: naa.5000c500894ca307
Is SSD: false
--
Device: naa.5000c500894d5717
Display Name: naa.5000c500894d5717
Is SSD: false
--
Device: naa.5000c50089542ee7
Display Name: naa.5000c50089542ee7
Is SSD: false
--
Device: naa.5000c500895417b3
Display Name: naa.5000c500895417b3
Is SSD: false
--
Device: naa.5000c500894ca1c7
Display Name: naa.5000c500894ca1c7
Is SSD: false

• On host without VSAN namespace

esxcli storage core device list | grep "Display Name" | grep naa.


Display Name: Local SEAGATE Disk (naa.5000c500894d288f)
Display Name: Local SEAGATE Disk (naa.5000c500894d5717)
Display Name: Local SEAGATE Disk (naa.5000c50089540f7b)
Display Name: Local SEAGATE Disk (naa.5000c50089512f7b)
Display Name: Local SanDisk Disk (naa.5001e8200282eb88)
Display Name: Local SEAGATE Disk (naa.5000c500894d576f)
Display Name: Local SEAGATE Disk (naa.5000c500895417b3)
Display Name: Local DP Enclosure Svc Dev (naa.500056b377147bfd)
Display Name: Local SanDisk Disk (naa.5001e8200282f668)
Display Name: Local SEAGATE Disk (naa.5000c50089542ee7)
Display Name: Local SEAGATE Disk (naa.5000c500894ca307)
Display Name: Local SEAGATE Disk (naa.5000c500894d1957)
Display Name: Local SEAGATE Disk (naa.5000c500894ca1c7)

• Commands for iDRAC (ssh console) to check SAS address (naa. in ESXi)

racadm raid get pdisks -o -p name,SasAddress,MediaType


Disk.Bay.0:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Solid State Disk 0:1:0
SasAddress = 0x5001E8200282F66A
MediaType = SSD
Disk.Bay.1:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Solid State Disk 0:1:1
SasAddress = 0x5001E8200282EB8A
MediaType = SSD
Disk.Bay.2:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:2
SasAddress = 0x5000C500894CA305
MediaType = HDD
Disk.Bay.3:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:3
SasAddress = 0x5000C50089540F79
MediaType = HDD
Disk.Bay.4:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:4
SasAddress = 0x5000C50089512F79
MediaType = HDD
Disk.Bay.5:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:5
SasAddress = 0x5000C500894D5715
MediaType = HDD
Disk.Bay.6:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:6
SasAddress = 0x5000C500894CA1C5
MediaType = HDD
Disk.Bay.7:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:7
SasAddress = 0x5000C500894D288D
MediaType = HDD
Disk.Bay.8:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:8
SasAddress = 0x5000C500894D1955
MediaType = HDD
Disk.Bay.9:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:9
SasAddress = 0x5000C500895417B1
MediaType = HDD
Disk.Bay.10:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:10
SasAddress = 0x5000C500894D576D
MediaType = HDD
Disk.Bay.11:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:11
SasAddress = 0x5000C50089542EE5
MediaType = HDD

You can check this too from iDRAC GUI ( Overview > Storage > Physical disks ). Expand specific drive bay and find field “SAS Address”

Part 2 – comparing “naa.” ( from ESXi ) with “Sas Address” ( iDRAC )

1.Define which “naa.” we would like find in physical server:

• by GUI (on specific host):

vSphere Client

vSphere Web Client

• GUI (on VSAN cluster):

vSphere Web Client on cluster level

• Or Use commands used before:

esxcli storage core device list

or

esxcli vsan storage list

2. Select specific disk with naa. on ESXi

esxcli vsan storage list -d naa.5000c500894d288f 

3.Use list of drives with “SAS adress” generated from iDRAC or copy from GUI and next compare.

Example:

• naa. (from ESXi) – naa.5000c500894d288f
• SAS Address (from iDRAC) = 0x5000C500894D288D

Thanks this comparasion we can find in which BAY is problematic disk when for example we see in logs some errors related with specific “naa” number or we have some issue related with VSAN unhealthy state of disks.

After compared we see that “SAS Address (from iDRAC) = 0x5000C500894D288D” belong to “Disk.Bay.7”

Disk.Bay.7:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Name = Physical Disk 0:1:7
SasAddress = 0x5000C500894D288D
MediaType = HDD

Physical Disk 0:1:7 = Bay 7

“SAS Adrress” and Bay number in DELL server

Sources:

• VMware.com
• DELL Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 8 (iDRAC8) Version 2.00.00.00 RACADM Command Line Interface Reference Guide
• RAID And Storage Configuration using RACADM Commands in iDRAC7