Help recreating .vmdk descriptor files **André**

[BeW23]

The datastore where my vm is located became "full" and it has corrupted the vmdk files and now my vm will not "Power On"

I receive the error "File <unspecified filename> was not found.

I believe my situation is similar to this discussion:

https://communities.vmware.com/message/2292803

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

in order to be able to help, you need to provide some details. So let's start with:

• a complete list of files in the VM's folder (file names, sizes, time stamps)
• size and current free disk space on the datastore
• the VMware.log files (compress/zip them and use the advanced editor to attach the files to a reply post)
• are there other VM's on the same datastore

André

[BeW23]

Thanks for the reply Andre,

I have attached all the info, 2 separate .zip files..  the vm in question is a 750gb file server.

It's on a 2tb LUN, with 4 other vm's

I'm just really confused as to why so many .vmdk files were created for this vm..  (you see in the imageS)

Thank you.

[a_p_]

That really doesn't look so good. Let's see what we can do. Unfortunately you are running ESX 4.0 Update 1, so we not only need to find out what's causing the trouble and fix it, but also need to find a way to delete the snapshots without causing even more trouble with low disk space.

Anyway, please provide another list of files, this time by running ls -lisa > filelist.txt from the host's command line (e.g. using putty). Then use WinSCP, download filelist.txt, "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com.vmx", "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com.vmsd" as well as all the small .vmdk descriptor files (the ones without flat or delta in their names), compress all the downloaded files and attach the archive to a reply post.

André

[a_p_]

,,, please check your backup application's (assuming you are running VM based backups) log files to find out whether this causes the issues!

André

[BeW23]

I had some issues with Veeam, could that be the cause of this?

One attached .zip file.. 

Thank you..

[BeW23]

I didn't see your reply about the "backup applications"..   yes, I am using Veeam and it hasn't been replicating the past 2 days.. I'm positive Veeam is the issue, but I'm still unsure why it's creating so many .vmdk files?   This is the only vm that is having this issue.  

[a_p_]

There might be an issue with deleting the snapshots (e.g. a stale process locking files!?). Do yo see any related errors in the ESX host's events?

I tried to understand what could have happened, but I've never seen something like this. The 100GB disk seems to be ok, but the 750GB disk has a broken snapshot chain, where multiple chain links (snapshots) are completely missing. The descriptor files point to these missing files, but neither these descriptor not delta files exist anymore!?

It is possible to manually re-chain the existing files. However, even assuming that the file names are ascending, you may end up with data corruption/loss after fixing the chain. In addition you need additional disk space to merge the snapshots into the base disks. Do you have other datastores with sufficient free disk space to clone the 750GB virtual disk?

In any case, be prepared to restore the VM from the most recent backup.

André

[BeW23]

I have a "Replica" up and running now, the replica is from the 1-23-2014.  I am only looking for a few files & folders from 1-24-2014 (about 500mb).

At first Veeam was having a problem with enabling CBT but it was still backing up, the past 2 days this is the error from Veeam:

[BeW23]

And yes I do have free space to clone the 750GB virtual disk.. 

[a_p_]

Ok so let's give it a try.

What you need to do is to edit the .vmdk descriptor files which point to non-existing parent .vmdk file. Make sure you don't miss a file (the .zip file you provided doesn't contain all the .vmdk files, at least "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000072.vmdk" is missing). You will need to replace values for the "parentFileNameHint" as well as "parentCID" in files, which point to a non-existing parent .vmdk file. Do not change the value for the "CID"!!!

Example:

"WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000071.vmdk" contains parentFileNameHint="WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000070.vmdk", but this .vmdk file doesn't exist. The next file in a descending order is "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000069.vmdk" with CID=ad2c72b3.

What you need to change these two lines in "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000071.vmdk":

parentCID=ad2c72b3

...

parentFileNameHint="WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000069.vmdk"

Once the chain is fixed, you could use e.g. VMware's disk mount utility (included in the VDDK 5.5) to mount the virtual disk as a drive to your desktop and extract the files you need.

André

[BeW23]

I have "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000072.vmdk", it seems the only file I am missing is the "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000070.vmdk"

So do I need to edit every .vmdk file starting with WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000001.vmdk  -  WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000082.vmdk ?

Thanks again for your help.

[a_p_]

According to the filelist.txt you provided, a couple of other files are missing too. Anyway, I'd suggest you start with the latest file "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000082.vmdk" and check the two entries I mentioned. If they are ok (i.e. point to the existing parent file) proceed with the next one until you reach the base virtual disk "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com.vmdk". You only need to edit the files which point to non-existing descriptors.

André

[BeW23]

Since I'm missing only the "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000070.vmdk", I would only have to edit the file "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000071.vmdk" ?

This is "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000071" edited:

[BeW23]

My bad, I do see several now..  I will make the changes accordingly.

Once the changes are made, would I be able to power on that vm or no?

[a_p_]

You can certainly try to power on the VM. If you want to go this way make sure you disconnect the VM's virtual network adapter to avoid issues with the Replica. I'd also recommend you create another snapshot prior to powering on the VM to ensure you can revert to the current state in case that's necessary. And lastly keep the low free disk space in mind!

André

[BeW23]

I made the necessary changes, I started with WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000082vmdk and work my way down. I'm hoping I did that correctly, when I powered on this machine, I still get an error (picture).  Is there something else I need to do to get the vm to power on?

[a_p_]

Take a look (or provide/attach) at the VM's vmware.log file. This should show what exactly is causing the issue.

André

[BeW23]

I  have attached the log file..

[a_p_]

>>> Jan 25 19:28:23.658: vmx| DISKLIB-LINK  : Attach: Content ID mismatch (0506fb8b != ad2c72b3).

It looks like you set the "parentCID" in "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000071.vmdk" to the "parentCID" (0506fb8b) found in "WIN2K3SVR1.dutil.com-000069.vmdk" rather than to the CID (ad2c72b3). The "parentCID" in a .vmdk file has to match the "CID" in its parent.

André