Change disk UUID, cannot snapshot Win2008 R2 VMs

[HendersonD]

In this thread there is a discussion about not being able to snapshot VMs running WinServer 2008 R2.

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/263552?tstart=75

If you scroll down a bit, MKGuy comes up with the problem and the solution. In his case the disk uuid had a mismatch and he talks about changing the ddb.uuid parameter to fix this. I have exactly the same problem, this is part of the VMWare tools log:

5:06:46 PM CVmSnapshotRequestor::ParseUUIDs: got disk uuid from host: 6000c29d-d0d5-8bfb-02d3-49f81d73c621 5:06:57 PM CVmSnapshotRequestor::ParseUUIDs: got disk uuid from host: 6000c299-5236-6c99-5a66-75dbe1ec161f 05:06:58 PM VssProvider_IsDiskSupported: VMware disk uuid not found: 6000c299-5236-6c99-5a66-75dbe1ec161f 5:07:05 PM VssProvider_IsDiskSupported: VMware disk uuid not found: 6000c29d-d0d5-8bfb-02d3-49f81d73c621

How do I change the ddb.uuid parameter? I have looked all over VMWare's site and have searched the forums and cannot find the solution.

[ThompsG]

Hi,

Assuming you have read all the warnings posted by the ddb.uuid parameter that he is talking about is located in the vmdk metadata file. You will need to modify this from the Service Console - unsupported mode in your case using vi

Let us know if you need further information.

Thanks and kind regards,

Glen

Message was edited by: ThompsG

[HendersonD]

I do need a bit more information. Below is a screen shot of one of the affected VMs, it happens to house my departments Help desk solution. How do I go about editing the vmdk metadata file? The only vmdk file I see is 9.4GB. I am running ESXi 4.1. If I login to the console (via Tech Support Mode) would I see some other files that I am not seeing just browsing the datastore?

[HendersonD]

I am making progress. I launched FastSCP and browsed my datastore and am

seeing both vmdk and flat-vmdk files. I am not sure why I do not see

this when browsing the datastore using the VI client. I will now attempt

to edit the vmdk file and change the ddb.uuid parameter.

[a_p_]

I am not sure why I do not see this when browsing the datastore

Don't worry. That's by design. You should only worried if you can see any ...-flat.vmdk or ...-delta.vmdk files in the datastore browser. In this case the header vmdk file (the small text file) is corrupt.

André

[ThompsG]

Hi,

If I login to the console (via Tech Support Mode) would I see some other files that I am not seeing just browsing the datastore?

Correct. If you browse the data store using your vSphere client, the components of the VMDK are combined to show just the size of the VMDK - 9.4 GB in your case. If you browse to the vmfs volume using the console, and list the contents of the help virtual machine folder you will notice that you have a help.vmdk and a help-flat.vmdk. The help.vmdk will be only a couple of hundred bytes where as help-flat.vmdk will be 9.4GB - it is this help.vmdk that contans the metadata you seek. Type cat help.vmdk and you will see the ddb.uuid listed.

Kind regards,

Glen

[HendersonD]

Below is the output of VMWare Tools log file:

ParseUUIDs: got disk uuid from host: 6000c29d-d0d5-8bfb-02d3-49f81d73c621

ParseUUIDs: got disk uuid from host: 6000c299-5236-6c99-5a66-75dbe1ec161f

VMware disk uuid not found: 6000c299-5236-6c99-5a66-75dbe1ec161f

VMware disk uuid not found: 6000c29d-d0d5-8bfb-02d3-49f81d73c621

When I opened the Help.vmdk file this is the disk ddb.uuid:

ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 9d d0 d5 8b fb-02 d3 49 f8 1d 73 c6 21"

Two questions:

1. This VM only has one disk, I am not sure why the log files appear to show two disks, any ideas? The one disk does have two volumes, a System Reserve and a C drive but I think this is typical of a Win2008 server.

2. The ddb.uuid in the file is very close to one of the disk uuids shown in the VMWare tools log file. The only difference is a capital C in one is a small c in the other. What do I change the ddb.uuid parameter to? Do I match it with the one from the log file by changing the case on the letter c or do I match it with the other one which ends in 61 1f

[continuum]

whenever I have to repair vmdks I usually completely remove the ddb.uuid lines from all involved vmdks if I am unsure about the correct values..

Not a single problem so far




_________________________

VMX-parameters- WS FAQ -[ MOAcd|http://sanbarrow.com/moa241.html] - VMDK-Handbook

[HendersonD]

A VMWare engineer did a webex session with me today and his solution was to install VMWare Tools without the VSS driver. I questioned whether I would get Operating Sytem queiscing without the VMWare Tools VSS driver and he said I would. He told me that the VSS driver built into Windows Server 2008 R2 would do the quescing and I should be fine.

Is this really the case?