Enabling the multi-write flag
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Enabling the multi-write flag

For a detailed instruction on how to enable the multi-writer flag, see the steps in the following VMware article:

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1034165

The steps given below illustrate the example Storage Foundation Cluster File System High Availability (SFCFSHA) configuration in progress. Five VMDK files are configured and are shared by four virtual machines (VMs). These VMs constitute the four nodes of the cluster and they are powered off. Now it is time to enable the multi-writer flag for each of the VMs.

To enable the mult-write flag for a virtual machine

  1. On the vSphere Client, right-click on the cfs01 virtual machine. Go to Edit Settings > Options > Advanced > General > Configuration Parameters….
  2. Select Add Row.
  3. Enter scsi1:0.sharing on the Name column.
  4. Enter multi-writer on the Value column.
  5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 and enter the multi-writer value for the rest of the SCSI controllers and targets. For the example configuration:
    scsi1:1.sharing multi-writer
scsi1:2.sharing multi-writer
scsi1:3.sharing multi-writer
scsi1:4.sharing multi-writer

    Once those steps are done, the VM configuration will resemble:

    disk.EnableUUID

    true

    scsi1:0.sharing

    multi-writer

    scsi1:1.sharing

    multi-writer

    scsi1:2.sharing

    multi-writer

    scsi1:3.sharing

    multi-writer

    scsi1:4.sharing

    multi-writer

  6. Press OK to confirm.
  7. Repeat steps 1 to 6 for the other virtual machines (cfs02, cfs03 and cfs04 in the example configuration).
  8. Once all the virtual machines have been configured correctly, power them on and verify that there are no issues. Note that the disks have been added to each of the hosts.

    Example configuration for cfs01:

    # vxdisk list
DEVICE         TYPE         DISK         GROUP         STATUS
vmdk0_0        auto:none    -            - online      invalid
vmdk0_1        auto:none    -            - online      invalid
vmdk0_2        auto:none    -            - online      invalid
vmdk0_3        auto:none    -            - online      invalid
vmdk0_4        auto:none    -            - online      invalid
vmdk0_5        auto:none    -            - online      invalid
[root@cfs01 ~]#

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