IDPA: Incompatible Device Backing Specified for Device ‘0’ for DDVE

The following message is seen in tasks from vCenter:

 

This is due to a disk that it is trying to create a 0KB size disk for the backup process.

Logs from /var/log/hostd.log on ESXi host
 

2023-04-06T15:42:47.729Z verbose hostd[2101095] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/63d5b893-fc7df6c8-f20b-b49691f39404/DDVE/DDVE.vmx opID=46a3094a user=root] CreateDisk: Specified Disk size 0 KB                                                                                                                                                                  
 2023-04-06T15:42:47.730Z error hostd[2101095] [Originator@6876 sub=Vdisksvc opID=46a3094a user=root] ValidateRawDiskDevice: Device /vmfs/devices/disks/eui.36314130544001870025384100000002 used for vmfs datastore                                                                                                                                                                       
 
2023-04-06T15:42:47.730Z info hostd[2101095] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/63d5b893-fc7df6c8-f20b-b49691f39404/DDVE/DDVE.vmx opID=46a3094a user=root] ValidateRawDiskDevice: Rdm device is not supported                                                                                                                                                                    
 
2023-04-06T15:42:47.731Z info hostd[2101095] [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr opID=46a3094a user=root] Event 142919 : Cannot create virtual disk    

 
On versions 2.7.3, 2.7.4 dpinfrad is trying to work on the NVMe drive, which is the only non-RAID disk on DP4400, the above steps provide a workaround until another backup job is triggered.

A log segment from /scratch/log/dpinfrad.log has the indication:

2023-05-16T21:18:47.081Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [DEBUG]: (dpinfrad.py:1629) get_available_scsi_id: existing list [0, 1, 3]
2023-05-16T21:18:47.082Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [DEBUG]: (dpinfrad.py:1134) received unitNumber: 2
2023-05-16T21:18:47.082Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [DEBUG]: (dpinfrad.py:853) add_raw_disk: device_name /vmfs/devices/disks/eui.36314130544007760025384100000002  controllerKey 1000  unitNumber 2
2023-05-16T21:18:47.175Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [WARNING]: (dpinfrad.py:1145) exception occured: 1st add new raw disk failed
2023-05-16T21:18:47.175Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [DEBUG]: (dpinfrad.py:1158) auto_answer_vm_question
2023-05-16T21:18:48.180Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [INFO]: (dpinfrad.py:1799) rdm_hwmon 21:18:48
2023-05-16T21:18:48.260Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [DEBUG]: (dpinfrad.py:1629) get_available_scsi_id: existing list [0, 1, 3]
2023-05-16T21:18:48.260Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [DEBUG]: (dpinfrad.py:1134) received unitNumber: 2
2023-05-16T21:18:48.260Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [DEBUG]: (dpinfrad.py:853) add_raw_disk: device_name /vmfs/devices/disks/eui.36314130544007760025384100000002  controllerKey 1000  unitNumber 2
2023-05-16T21:18:48.321Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [WARNING]: (dpinfrad.py:1145) exception occured: 1st add new raw disk failed
2023-05-16T21:18:48.321Z dpinfrad[2101058]: [DEBUG]: (dpinfrad.py:1158) auto_answer_vm_question

Note: This issue can be seen post 2.7.6 upgrade as well. The following steps would apply. 

For the field, the following workaround can be used:

1. Log in to ESXi as root

2. Perform the following two commands:
    

   /etc/init.d/dpinfrad stop
   esxcli software vib remove -n dpinfrad

   
   Example:
    

   [root@esx-4400:~] /etc/init.d/dpinfrad stop
   Stopping smpd...
   ::foreground: autorestart
   agent assigned
   Stop daemon
   stop: self.pid  2101050
   
   [root@esx-4400:~] esxcli software vib remove -n dpinfrad
   Removal Result
      Message: Operation finished successfully.
      Reboot Required: false
      VIBs Installed:
      VIBs Removed: DEL_bootbank_dpinfrad_1.0.0-6
      VIBs Skipped:
   
   [root@esx-4400:~]

3. The second command would indicate that a reboot is not required, as above can see it is set to false. In case a reboot is required (true) this can be ignored until a later time, since the offending process has been stopped there is no need for a reboot and this set of commands have no harm.

dpinfrad

This is a Dell-installed package which facilitates some aspects of storage communication on the ESXi host. In this version of IDPA, this service is unused for any critical functions and may be disabled/removed.