vCenter Datastore Browser is empty

Issue : When a client of ours upgraded their hosts to 5.1 from 4.1 they saw that they can't see the data inside the IBM V7000 FC storage datastores through datastore browser but they can see the data if they connect directly to the esxi host using the vsphere client.

What worked : Remove and Re add the host to the vcenter.

Why? : The fact that it works when connected directly to the host but not through the vcenter gives us a hint that it is the vcenter's agent (vpxa) which is installed in the host is not sending proper information to the vcenter. We somehow needed to reinstall it and the only way to do it was re add the host to the vcenter server.

What didn't work or might work for you:
./sbin/services.sh restart
the above command will restart all services in the host including the vpxa (vcenter's agent).
disconnect, reconnect the host to the vcenter server. This will reconfigure the vpxa agent in the host.

What I referred:
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=san&productid=22034&deviceCategory=san&details=1&keyword=v7000&isSVA=0&page=1&display_interval=10&sortColumn=Partner&sortOrder=Asc
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1010832
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1015650
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1005566

BTW someone else resolved the same issue by powering on all the hosts back on which were put in standby mode by the DPM...really crazy!