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7 Replies Last post: Jun 16, 2009 7:23 AM by bwildman  

Clarification on how to properly remove a VM server posted: Apr 15, 2008 5:19 AM

Click to view harpoon70's profile Novice
harpoon70
8 posts since
Mar 30, 2007
Hi all, new to the forum and to vmware. Can someone please clarify the difference between "Remove from inventory" and "Delete from Disk" I definately want to free up the disk space on the SAN.
When I choose delete from disk I get an error that concerns me.
"Are you sure you want to delete this VM and its associated base disk? Please not if other VM's are sharing this base disk, they will no longer have access to this disk."

I don't know what it means when it states " other vm's sharing this base disk"

I basically just want to delete a VM that is not used anymore and free up the space on the SAN.

Thanks all,

Harpoon

Oh and I am running ESX3.01 and VMWare 2.5

Re: Clarification on how to properly remove a VM server

1. Apr 15, 2008 6:42 AM in response to: harpoon70
Click to view dem2084's profile Lurker
dem2084
2 posts since
Nov 11, 2004

If you remove from Inventory it leaves all of the files associated with the virtual server on the host, vmdk's etc. If you delete from disk it will remove the node from inventory and the vmdk's etc. If you share a vmdk with multiple virtual nodes and delete one of the virtual nodes from disk, the vmdk will be gone and none of the other virtual nodes will be able to use it, because it is deleted.

I have over 100 virtual nodes and do not share any vmdk's. Unless you are doing some sort of clustering you probably don't either.

Don


Re: Clarification on how to properly remove a VM server

2. Apr 15, 2008 10:03 AM in response to: harpoon70
Click to view Ken.Cline's profile Champion VMware Employees User Moderators vExpert
Ken.Cline
5,156 posts since
Jul 7, 2004
harpoon70 wrote:
I don't know what it means when it states " other vm's sharing this base disk"

This pertains to the use of snapshots. If you have more than one VM using the same base disk and you delete the base disk for any one of those VMs, then the remaining disks will become inoperable. If you're not using snapshots, no problems...

Ken Cline
Technical Director, Virtualization
Wells Landers
VMware Communities User Moderator

Re: Clarification on how to properly remove a VM server

3. Apr 15, 2008 10:22 AM in response to: Ken.Cline
Click to view harpoon70's profile Novice
harpoon70
8 posts since
Mar 30, 2007
Thank you very much Ken, and dem, that answers my question.

Much Appreciated.

Harpoon

Re: Clarification on how to properly remove a VM server

4. Jun 11, 2009 4:35 PM in response to: Ken.Cline
Click to view bwildman's profile Novice
bwildman
6 posts since
Mar 13, 2009

Danger Danger....

This is not true I deleted a VM I made from a template with "deploy a virtual machine from this template" and it deleted the VMDK files on the template as well. VERY VERY dangarous and annoying. I am not sure yet if it only does this when you choose the option to change the hard drive size when you " deploy a virtual machine from this template" or not. Can Someone from VMware answer this? Also I noticed that templetes that have had VMs created from it are not showing the full virtual disk size . I believe that is my hint that someone deployed a VM from that template and possably changed the hard drive size during the deploy.

Help me understand why this is happening please!

Brian

Re: Clarification on how to properly remove a VM server

5. Jun 16, 2009 6:40 AM in response to: harpoon70
Click to view tom howarth's profile Guru User Moderators vExpert
tom howarth
7,456 posts since
Jul 25, 2005
Hi all, new to the forum and to vmware. Can someone please clarify the difference between "Remove from inventory" and "Delete from Disk"

The "Remove from Inventory" just removed the VM from the list of registered Guests, either within vCenter or if connected directly to the Host there. the "Delete from Disk" removed the files associated with the VMguest.

I definately want to free up the disk space on the SAN.
When I choose delete from disk I get an error that concerns me.
"Are you sure you want to delete this VM and its associated base disk? Please not if other VM's are sharing this base disk, they will no longer have access to this disk."

This is a warning message regarding Linked Clones, this is a technology utilised in VMware View and Lab Manager to allow multiple VM's to run from a single master machine. the deletion of the master disk will render all the associated Clones unusable.

I don't know what it means when it states " other vm's sharing this base disk"


See answer above

I basically just want to delete a VM that is not used anymore and free up the space on the SAN.

Thanks all,

Harpoon

Oh and I am running ESX3.01 and VMWare 2.5

So basically if you are not utilising View or Lab Manager you are safe to click the "Delete for Disk" option

If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or correct buttons to award points

Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: www.planetvm.net
Contributing author for the upcoming book "VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment”. Currently available on roughcuts

Re: Clarification on how to properly remove a VM server

6. Jun 16, 2009 6:43 AM in response to: bwildman
Click to view tom howarth's profile Guru User Moderators vExpert
tom howarth
7,456 posts since
Jul 25, 2005

Then you did not correctly deploy your guest, you must have click the "Convert to Virtual Machine by mistake" as the "Deploy Machine form this Template" option creates a completely seperate clone of the original machine, that is why the deployment of a Template is so long.

It is laying down a full EagerZerod Thick provisioned disk and required ancilliary files.

If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or correct buttons to award points


Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: www.planetvm.net
Contributing author for the upcoming book "VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment”. Currently available on roughcuts

Re: Clarification on how to properly remove a VM server

7. Jun 16, 2009 7:23 AM in response to: tom howarth
Click to view bwildman's profile Novice
bwildman
6 posts since
Mar 13, 2009
I did not click "Convert to a virtual machine" by mistake. Once I saw the issue I did a test to be sure I saw what I saw. Senerio: Template that is stored on one datastore. "Deploy Virtual machine from this template" change the Datastore for this virtual machine to a different location then, at the end of the deployment wizzard chose "edit virtual hardware (Experimental)" choose that option and then change the hard drive size to a lager size. Then delete the new created VM when you go to delete it is says " Are you shure you want to delete this VM and its associated base disk? Please note if other VMs are sharing this base disk, they will no longer have access to the disk." Normally that message has not been an issue on other VMs created from templates it is only when you change the hard drive size during deployment. I believe this to be a bug but, it is labled as "Experimental"

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