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David Ring
December 31, 2013June 15, 2015 David Ring VMAX, VMware DELETE, Dissolve
meta, EMC VMAX, masking view, POOL, RECLAIM, Symmetrix, TDEV
You may no longer have use for a specific TDEV volume in a Storage Pool and want to free this space to
create a new volume or expand an existing volume. These are the steps involved to delete the TDEV and
reclaim this space in the Pool.
This example details how to delete a single TDEV volume in a Storage Group. An example of such a
configuration is in the case where a single TDEV was mapped and used as a dedicated VMware ESX
boot volume with no other volumes being present in the Storage Group. Scenario: It may be a case where
an ESX Host is being decommissioned and we are reclaiming the space used in the Storage Pool.
In order to view the list of all TDEV’s created in the Pool (ESX-BOOT pool):
symcfg -sid xxx list -tdev -gb -thin -pool ESX-BOOT
List all TDEVs in the system:
symcfg -sid xxx list -tdev
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##################################################################
Following on from Burhan’s comment below
Burhan Halilov (@7400N) (h ps://twi er.com/7400N) says:
“If you use -unmap to “symaccess delete view” in 1. you can skip steps 4 and 5
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Also you can run “symsg -sid xxx -sg yyy unbind” before you delete the SG in 3. and save step 6.
The symconfigure bind/unbind are being depreciated after se7.6 and replaced with
symdev/symsg/symdg bind/unbind”
Here is another way of achieving the removal a TDEV in a quicker fashion as per above, but also
including the scenario where the SG is associated with a FAST Policy:
1. Delete the ESX Host Masking View & Unmap the TDEV from FA ports
symaccess -sid xxx delete view -name MV-NAME -unmap -NOP
1. Delete the ESX Host Masking View & Unmap the TDEV from FA ports:
symaccess -sid xxx delete view -name MV-NAME -unmap -NOP
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Reply (h ps://davidring.ie/2013/12/31/emc-vmax-removable-of-a-tdev/?replytocom=266#respond)
Dave Ring says:
December 31, 2013 at 2:25 pm
Great input. I wanted to break down the steps individually. Valuable contribution, thanks.
Reply (h ps://davidring.ie/2013/12/31/emc-vmax-removable-of-a-tdev/?replytocom=267#respond)
2. DG says:
October 23, 2014 at 8:01 pm
Hi There Dave,
I am going through a similar process at the moment (deleting tdev devices which are not being used)
in order to reclaim the used space and I think I have done most of your steps listed, although most
through Unisphere, (please be kind)
I was wondering if there was some way to view the reclaimed space? Via Unisphere there is no
change in my available capacity (physically or virtually) nor in any of my thin pool “views” (this
might be a limitation of the GUI I’e been told)
I’ve freed up about 7TB worth of tdev devices, but cannot find that space anywhere I look.
Much regards,
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DG
Reply (h ps://davidring.ie/2013/12/31/emc-vmax-removable-of-a-tdev/?replytocom=1293#respond)
3. SysAdminBlurg says:
October 23, 2014 at 8:02 pm
Hi There Dave,
I am going through a similar process at the moment (deleting tdev devices which are not being used)
in order to reclaim the used space and I think I have done most of your steps listed, although most
through Unisphere, (please be kind)
I was wondering if there was some way to view the reclaimed space? Via Unisphere there is no
change in my available capacity (physically or virtually) nor in any of my thin pool “views” (this
might be a limitation of the GUI I’e been told)
I’ve freed up about 7TB worth of tdev devices, but cannot find that space anywhere I look.
Much regards,
DG
Reply (h ps://davidring.ie/2013/12/31/emc-vmax-removable-of-a-tdev/?replytocom=1294#respond)
David Ring says:
October 23, 2014 at 8:06 pm
Hey DG
From UNI make sure you have hit the refresh bu on.
Reply (h ps://davidring.ie/2013/12/31/emc-vmax-removable-of-a-tdev/?
replytocom=1295#respond)
4. SysAdminBlurg says:
October 23, 2014 at 8:09 pm
Reblogged this on Sys Admin Blurg (h p://sysadminblurg.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/emc-vmax-
removal-of-a-tdev/) and commented:
Great post for anyone struggling to delete unused TDEV devices on an EMC Symmetrix VMAX.
Good read!
Reply (h ps://davidring.ie/2013/12/31/emc-vmax-removable-of-a-tdev/?replytocom=1296#respond)
5. Balu says:
November 6, 2015 at 7:36 pm
Hi Dave
why are we executing this command, which is not there in Vmax2nd gen, where it will free the
assigned space in VMAX2 once we unbind the device from pool, But why in VMAX
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Reply (h ps://davidring.ie/2013/12/31/emc-vmax-removable-of-a-tdev/?replytocom=7215#respond)
David Ring says:
November 11, 2015 at 10:56 pm
Hi Balu
Reply (h ps://davidring.ie/2013/12/31/emc-vmax-removable-of-a-tdev/?
replytocom=7259#respond)
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