Unable to Unmount Datastore from ESX Host


Currently in the middle of cleanup tasks after a SAN migration and this one pain-in-the-a** datastore would not unmount from one particular ESX host.  Each attempt returned the following status:

"Operation failed, diagnostics report: Sysinfo error on operation returned status : Busy. Please see the VMkernel log for detailed error information"

Many posts/fixes where pointing towards a VM holding a connection to the datastore or HA being enabled on a cluster which accesses the particular datastore.  None of which gave me any joy or further progress towards a solution.

Having tried many ESXCLI commands to see which virtual machine was keeping a connection to this datastore and checking HA settings, I stumbled upon another option.  SYSLOGS for the ESX hosts!

In my scenario, this one ESX host (unlike the other 10+ hosts) was set up to push it's SYSLOGS to this particular datastore.  No idea who set it, why they set it, when they set it or for what reason it was set but this was the issue.

Check your ESX hosts Syslogs settings in the event that they are getting written to a particular datastore.

Using vSphere Client

  • Log into vSphere Client
  • Browse to Inventory > Hosts and Clusters
  • Expand the relevant cluster (if applicable)
  • Select the troublesome ESX host
  • Select the Configuration tab
  • Select the Advanced Settings option
  • Within the Advanced Settings windows highlight Syslog
  • Now look for the entry named Syslog.global.logDir
  • Update to a relevant datastore or remove datastore altogether
  • Press OK

Using vSphere Web Client

  • Log into vSphere Web Client
  • Select vCenter
  • Select Hosts and Clusters from Inventory Trees
  • Expand the relevant cluster (if applicable)
  • Select the troublesome ESX host
  • Select the Manage tab
  • Select the Advanced System Settings option under the System options
  • Now look for and highlight the entry named Syslog.global.logDir
  • Select the Edit icon (pencil) from the top of the Name field
  • Update to a relevant datastore or remove datastore altogether
  • Press OK
Once you have completed the syslog change or removal you should be able to remove the datastore with no issues.

Glad I got to the bottom of it, I had virtually given up!  See what I did there?  Sorry!

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