sequenceDiagram
participant VM as Virtual Machine
participant ESXi as ESXi Host
participant NFS as NFS Server
participant vCenter as vCenter Server
%% Normal Operation
VM->>ESXi: I/O Request (Read/Write)
ESXi->>NFS: Send I/O Request
NFS-->>ESXi: I/O Response
ESXi-->>VM: I/O Complete
Note over ESXi,NFS: Normal operation with NFSv3 datastore
%% Loss of Connectivity
NFS-xESXi: Network/Storage Failure (Paths Down)
Note over ESXi: All Paths Down (APD) detected
ESXi->>NFS: Retry I/O Request
NFS-xESXi: No Response (Failure)
ESXi->>ESXi: Start APD Timer (140s)
Note over ESXi: APD Timer running, retries continue
%% Retry Attempts During APD
loop Every few seconds
ESXi->>NFS: Retry I/O Request
NFS-xESXi: No Response
end
Note over ESXi: I/O retries continue for 140s
%% APD Timeout
ESXi->>ESXi: APD Timeout (140s reached)
ESXi->>VM: Fast Fail I/O (Operations Halted)
Note over ESXi: Datastore marked as inaccessible
ESXi->>vCenter: Log APD Event
vCenter->>vCenter: Mark ESXi Host as Disconnected/Not Responding
Note over vCenter: esx.problem.storage.apd.timeout logged
%% Administrator Intervention
Note over NFS: Admin resolves issue (e.g., network restored)
NFS-->>ESXi: Connectivity Restored
ESXi->>NFS: Rescan Storage Paths
NFS-->>ESXi: Path Available
Note over ESXi: Datastore becomes accessible
%% Recovery
ESXi->>vCenter: Update Datastore/Host Status
vCenter->>vCenter: Mark Host as Connected
ESXi->>VM: Resume I/O Operations
VM->>ESXi: I/O Request
ESXi->>NFS: Send I/O Request
NFS-->>ESXi: I/O Response
ESXi-->>VM: I/O Complete
Note over ESXi,NFS: Normal operation restored