Is it possible to unmap a device without write disabling the device?

Question

We are introducnig a VNX Gateway to run from our VMAX.

To ensure there are resilient paths across 2 engines (right now I only have free paths on the same engine) I have removed a port from an existing port group that was providing 4 paths to an ESX farm reducing this to 3 available paths. I then want to clear away the devices previously presented to the ESX farm so I have a clear set of addresses for the VNX storage to be mapped to.

When I removed the port from the port group i did not unmap at the same time. If i use a symconfigure command to unmap I am told I need to write disable the device which I cannot do as it is being actively used on the ESX farm still via a different port.

Is there away of getting around this issue without having to migrate running vmware guests from a datastore before I write disable and then unmap?

Help would be appreciated.

thanks

neilmcc2 · Accepted Answer

Thanks guys I will give this a go when my change window opens later this afternoon

rawstorage · Answer

You can write disable on a specific port only leaving the others unaffected.

symdev ‑sid xxx write_disable ‑SA 4E ‑P 0

I would recommend that you disable the path first on the host via the multipathing software, so that the host doesn't get an error.

VMAX

Is it possible to unmap a device without write disabling the device?

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