Unable to start virtual machine after removing snapshots

[paulmroberts]

Hi,

I removed the snapshots from one of my virtual machines in order to free up some disk space.

After this complete the virtual machine shut down and will not restart the error is:

Cannot open disk /vmfs/volumes/xxxxx/xxx/xxx/disk-00001.vmdk or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.

Reason: the parent virtual disk has been modified since the child was created.

Why has this happened, how can I get my virtual machine back on line ?

Regards

Paul Roberts

[SuryaVMware]

can you post the vmx file for the VM and the directory listing, ls -l output, for this VM? You could modify the VM name and the vmx name if you dont want to share the information.

-Surya

[depping]

How did you remove the snapshot? And did you change the disksize?

Duncan

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[adolopo]

Just curious, I've seen the same thing happen;

Prior to removing snapshots attached to this VM, was there an sMotion?

[paulmroberts]

Hi,

That's no problem, I'm on my way home as it is 8pm here in the UK, as

soon as I am back home I will post the information up.

Thanks

Paul

[paulmroberts]

Hi,

I used the snapshot manager under the infrastructure client to remove

the snapshots.

The disk has not been resized.

Regards

Paul

[paulmroberts]

Hi,

No there is no smotion, I am running ESXi on a dell PE

[paulmroberts]

Hi,

Here is the vmx file:

.encoding = "windows-1252"

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "4"

floppy0.present = "false"

nvram = "Team City.nvram"

deploymentPlatform = "windows"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"

tools.upgrade.policy = "manual"

powerType.powerOff = "hard"

powerType.powerOn = "hard"

powerType.suspend = "hard"

powerType.reset = "hard"

displayName = "TeamCity"

extendedConfigFile = "TeamCity.vmxf"

numvcpus = "2"

scsi0.present = "true"

scsi0.sharedBus = "none"

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

memsize = "3072"

scsi0:0.present = "true"

scsi0:0.fileName = "TeamCity-000001.vmdk"

scsi0:0.deviceType = "disk"

ide1:0.present = "true"

ide1:0.fileName = "/vmfs/devices/genide/vmhba0:0:0"

ide1:0.deviceType = "atapi-cdrom"

ethernet0.present = "true"

ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "false"

ethernet0.networkName = "VM Network"

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

chipset.onlineStandby = "false"

guestOS = "winnetstandard"

annotation = "Team City"

uuid.location = "56 4d b0 3e ed f5 a2 02-21 34 69 47 c9 e2 b7 81"

uuid.bios = "56 4d b0 3e ed f5 a2 02-21 34 69 47 c9 e2 b7 81"

sched.cpu.min = "0"

sched.cpu.units = "mhz"

sched.mem.minsize = "0"

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "false"

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

checkpoint.vmState = ""

scsi0:0.redo = ""

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:e2:b7:81"

tools.syncTime = "false"

sched.swap.derivedName = "/vmfs/volumes/48e22bca-b4fc148f-e5fe-001ec9b37afe/TeamCity/TeamCity-b369f95b.vswp"

hostCPUID.0 = "0000000a756e65476c65746e49656e69"

guestCPUID.0 = "0000000a756e65476c65746e49656e69"

userCPUID.0 = "0000000a756e65476c65746e49656e69"

hostCPUID.1 = "0001067600040800000ce3bdbfebfbff"

guestCPUID.1 = "0001067800010800000802010febbbff"

userCPUID.1 = "0001067600040800000802010febbbff"

hostCPUID.80000001 = "00000000000000000000000120100000"

guestCPUID.80000001 = "00000000000000000000000000100000"

userCPUID.80000001 = "00000000000000000000000120100000"

evcCompatibilityMode = "FALSE"

Here is the ls -l:

TeamCity.vmsd vmware.log

/vmfs/volumes/48e22bca-b4fc148f-e5fe-001ec9b37afe/TeamCity # ls -l

-rw------- 1 root root 8684 Dec 16 18:49 Team City.nvram

-rw------- 1 root root 83968 Dec 16 18:49 TeamCity-000001-delta.vmdk

-rw------- 1 root root 232 Dec 16 18:49 TeamCity-000001.vmdk

-rw------- 1 root root 570509312 Dec 16 18:48 TeamCity-000004-delta.vmdk

-rw------- 1 root root 225 Dec 16 18:48 TeamCity-000004.vmdk

-rw------- 1 root root 18918 Dec 16 18:49 TeamCity-Snapshot8.vmsn

-rw------- 1 root root 42949672960 Dec 3 15:20 TeamCity-flat.vmdk

-rw------- 1 root root 500 Dec 16 17:38 TeamCity.vmdk

-rw------- 1 root root 1272 Dec 16 18:49 TeamCity.vmsd

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1917 Dec 16 18:49 TeamCity.vmx

-rw------- 1 root root 263 Dec 1 11:43 TeamCity.vmxf

-rw-rr 1 root root 66466 Dec 16 18:49 vmware-11.log

-rw-rr 1 root root 20002 Dec 16 18:52 vmware-12.log

-rw-rr 1 root root 20001 Dec 16 18:53 vmware-13.log

-rw-rr 1 root root 20001 Dec 16 18:54 vmware-14.log

-rw-rr 1 root root 20001 Dec 16 19:07 vmware-15.log

-rw-rr 1 root root 20003 Dec 16 20:27 vmware-16.log

-rw-rr 1 root root 20002 Dec 16 20:28 vmware.log

/vmfs/volumes/48e22bca-b4fc148f-e5fe-001ec9b37afe/TeamCity #

Regards

Paul Roberts

[depping]

check this[kb article|http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1007849&sliceId=1&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&dialogID=10302840&stateId=1%200%2010310298].

Duncan

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[SuryaVMware]

I see there is "TeamCity-000004.vmdk" file still I am wondering if the snapshot is been commited properly though.

Can you edit the vmx file and point it to "TeamCity-000004.vmdk" and see if that help.

If that works I can give you a way to commit this to the original VMDK file.

-Surya

[paulmroberts]

Hi,

Setting it to either TeamCity-000001 or 000004.vmdk didn't work, but setting it too TeamCity.vmdk did.

The VM started ok, but we lost some data which is a shame, the app uses an external DB but it dosen't store everything.

So we are now licking our wounds and I have set up a backup script for items not stored in the DB.

Thanks for all your help, as it gave me the idea to try the other vmdk files.

Regards

Paul.

[SuryaVMware]

you still haven't lost the data, unless you have deleted the snapshot vmdk files. if you can post me the .vmdk files, Not the actual data but all the 3 descriptor files we can still fix this issue.

-Surya

[paulmroberts]

Hi The only file I have is 'TeamCity-Snapshot8.vmsn'

Regards

Paul Roberts

[SuryaVMware]

I need TeamCity-000001.vmdk, TeamCity-000004.vmdk and TeamCity.vmdk files. they will be real small and text files, not the actual data files.

-Surya

[paulmroberts]

Hi,

Files attached.

Regards

Paul Roberts

[SuryaVMware]

It appears that there were multiple snapshots at some point in time and "snapshot 000004" was not deleated successfully, eventuall there is a new snapshot created with the name 000001, which got messed up when you have deleted the latest snapshot.

I have modified TeamCity-000001.vmdk and TeamCity-000004.vmdk files. Copy them back to you VM directory and point your VM to TeamCity-000001.vmdk. You should be able to see all your data once you poweron the VM.

Once you have verified the data, the safest way to get them all back in to one disk file is to run vmkfstools -i Newdisk.vmdk TeamCity-000001.vmdk.

After the import is completed you can safly remove all you vmdk files except for the Newdisk.vmdk and the flat file associated with that.

Let me know if this helps.

-Surya

[SuryaVMware]

Have you tried this yet???

-Surya

[cfranke]

-