Hi
I think I had power down when I was at work, and after rebooting ESXI 5.5 all my VMs were UNKNOWN (INACCESSIBLE). Tried to restore them to find out that all folders with VMs are gone from Datastore, with all virtual disks, config files, etc.
There are two folders instead:
.sdd.sf
and
vsantraces (which I think was created on the day of power loss)
Could somebody advise me how to get them back?
Little update:
Accessed datastore through SSH and while issuing ls -l there is a reference to missing folders in form on listing them like this:
[QUOTE]
ls: ./SAS-University-Edition: No such file or directory
ls: ./Mint: No such file or directory
ls: ./alwaysVPN: No such file or directory
ls: ./ZoneMinderServer: No such file or directory
ls: ./ArchVPN: No such file or directory
ls: ./ArchSamba: No such file or directory
ls: ./ArchPlexServer: No such file or directory
ls: ./HomeAutomotion: No such file or directory
ls: ./NODE-RED: No such file or directory
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1680 Apr 9 17:11 vsantraces
[/QUOTE]
I am not linux guru, but I think linux does not list deleted folders like that, so there is a chance something is still there.
Any ideas how to recover it?
Welcome to the Community - I have moved your question to a more appropriate forum
Hi, do you have access to the datastore where the VM are hosted? Are all the datastore mounted? Can you provide the output for this command?
esxcli storage filesystem list
I believe so. Missing files and folders were on small_datastore. It is like all of them got corrupted. I can access small_datastore and create new folders, upload files etc...
Output of said command:
~ # esxcli storage filesystem list
Mount Point Volume Name UUID Mounted Type Size Free
------------------------------------------------- --------------- ----------------------------------- ------- ------ ------------- ------------
/vmfs/volumes/545f6d74-0dff7468-c23e-0090f5dfcce7 small_datastore 545f6d74-0dff7468-c23e-0090f5dfcce7 true VMFS-5 999922073600 176048570368
/vmfs/volumes/545f6d8a-1cfca064-ee41-0090f5dfcce7 large_datastore 545f6d8a-1cfca064-ee41-0090f5dfcce7 true VMFS-5 2000112582656 3584032768
/vmfs/volumes/9ac672ef-36d6e423-684d-31a645113840 9ac672ef-36d6e423-684d-31a645113840 true vfat 261853184 96837632
/vmfs/volumes/66ccf2ee-b1ba4ac5-3cd2-e8ddb6c2b71c 66ccf2ee-b1ba4ac5-3cd2-e8ddb6c2b71c true vfat 261853184 261844992
/vmfs/volumes/545f6543-c587f874-e80a-0090f5dfcce7 545f6543-c587f874-e80a-0090f5dfcce7 true vfat 299712512 96919552
~ #
So the datastore in mounted, you can write stuff into it, but you cannot see the old stuff, can you see at least the folder structure of the VM?
Thanks for reply. I am not entirely sure if I know what you are asking about. Before incident I have never ssh'd to the host, so not sure what folder structure was there but the one I am seeing now seams to aright... Could you please specify?
Hi,
Did you get this issue resolved?
I am having the same problem. My DataStore looks empty but almost 1TB of capacity is used.
Any advice on this would be most appreciated.
D
Hi
stop using that datastore immediatly - anything you may do on that datastore may overwrite existing VMs.
Next create a vmfs-header-dump - see Collecting and applying raw metadata dumps on VMFS volumes using DD (Data Description) (1020645) | V...
If you gve me a download for the header-dump I can probably help you.
Ulli
also have this prob too, running esxi6
Can't figure out….
Hi
I may be able to help you but with VMFS 6 results are not predictable before I have seen a VMFS header dump - see
https://vm-sickbay.com/create-a-vmfs-header-dump-using-an-esxi-host-in-production
Keep in mind that keeping the affected datastore in production (in case that is still possible( will soon erase all traces of the lost data.
So either act quick or stop all activity asap.
I need to know what to look for - this can be a list of VMs, a list of flat,vmdks - the better you describe what disappeared the better the chances.
Contact me via skype to discuss the details.
Ulli
Hello Continuum, I am having a similar issue to this thread. I was wondering if you would be willing to assist me with recovering the vm data.
ESXi local VMFS5 volume. Two active VM's went offline and all vm's became listed as unknown. I can browse all folders except the for the two vm's that went offline. All activity on the drive was stopped so nothing has been written over.
New NAS has been installed and is ready to copy data over.
Let me know if you can help.
Thanks.
J.
I need a VMFS header dump - see Create a VMFS-Header-dump using an ESXi-Host in production | VM-Sickbay
Ulli