Finding the last modified date for Orphaned vmdk file

[vmk2014]

Hi All,

I am planning to delete the Orphaned/Zombie file and after looking through the vSphere platform, it has come to light that there are THOUSANDS (well over 10,000) of orphaned VMDK files, looks like this is not easy to delete. Is it possible to check the last modified date for Orphaned file ?

Thanks

Nvmk2014

[LucD]

Depends a bit on how you created your list of orphaned VMDK.

The SearchDatastoreSubFolders method allows to specify that the Modification property is returned.

The Datastore Provider also returns a LastWriteTime property.

[vmk2014]

Thanks LucD for your prompt response. We are using RV Tools for generating the Zombie/Orphaned file report. We want to validate with timestamp logs for deleting the orphaned file.

We will copy the orphaned vmdk file to temp dir  and after time stamp validation we will delete the orphande vmdk file. Let me know if we can find out the time stamp of a orphaned vmdk file using the RV Tools report ?

thanks

vmk2014

[LucD]

If you save the result of the Health Check as a CSV, you can do the following to get the Last Write Time

$file = 'C:\RVTools_tabvHealth.csv'

Import-Csv -Path $file -UseCulture | where{$_.Message -match 'Possibly a Zombie vmdk file'} |

Group-Object -Property {$_.Name.Split(']')[0].Trimstart('[')} | %{

    $ds = Get-Datastore -Name $_.Name

    New-PSDrive -Name DS -PSProvider VimDatastore -Root \ -Location $ds > $null

    $_.Group | %{

        Get-ChildItem -Path "DS:\$($_.Name.Split(' ')[1])" | Select DatastoreFullPath,LastWriteTime

    }

    Remove-PSDrive -Name DS

} 

[vmk2014]

Thanks LucD. its working but when i added the line $report | Export-Csv "C:\Temp\TimeStamp.csv" -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture

throw an error.

PFA screenshot attached.

thanks

vmk2014

[LucD]

That's because a ForEach loop doesn't place anything in the pipeline.

If you want to save to a CSV you could do.

$file = 'C:\RVTools_tabvHealth.csv'

$report = @()

Import-Csv -Path $file -UseCulture | where{$_.Message -match 'Possibly a Zombie vmdk file'} |

Group-Object -Property {$_.Name.Split(']')[0].Trimstart('[')} | %{

    $ds = Get-Datastore -Name $_.Name

    New-PSDrive -Name DS -PSProvider VimDatastore -Root \ -Location $ds > $null

    $_.Group | %{

        $report += (Get-ChildItem -Path "DS:\$($_.Name.Split(' ')[1])" | Select DatastoreFullPath,LastWriteTime)

    }

    Remove-PSDrive -Name DS

}

$report | Export-Csv report.csv -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture

[vmk2014]

Thanks LucD. Unfortunately this time doesn't generate any output. It throws error ( attached in mail thread).

thanks

vmk2014

[LucD]

How do the entries in the CSV file for potential orphaned files look?

I have them something like this

Name;Message;vCenter UUID

[datastore] folder/vmname_1.vmdk;Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.;4BC0B284-A3DB-4D75-A2E3-E070D4AEF2B1

[LucD]

I made a somewhat more robust version of the script, give that one a try

$file = 'C:\RVTools_tabvHealth.csv'

$driveName = 'DS'

$report = @()

# Cleanup leftovers

Get-PSDrive -Name $driveName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Remove-PSDrive -Confirm:$False -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Import-Csv -Path $file -UseCulture | where{$_.Message -match 'Possibly a Zombie vmdk file'} |

Group-Object -Property {$_.Name.Split(']')[0].Trimstart('[')} | %{

    $ds = Get-Datastore -Name $_.Name

    Try{

        New-PSDrive -Name $driveName -PSProvider VimDatastore -Root \ -Location $ds > $null

    }

    Catch{

        Write-Host "Could not create PSDrive for $($ds.Name)"

        break

    }

    $_.Group | %{

        $vmdkPath = "$($driveName)😕$($_.Name.Split(' ')[1])"

        if(Test-Path -Path $vmdkPath){

            $report += (Get-ChildItem -Path $vmdkPath | Select DatastoreFullPath,LastWriteTime)

        }

        else{

            Write-Host "VMDK $($vmdkPath) not found"

        }

    }

    Remove-PSDrive -Name DS -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

}

$report | Export-Csv report.csv -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture

[vmk2014]

Hi LucD,

No this again different error .  PFA.

VMDK DS:\DCDDALPAPP1002/DCDDALPAPP1002.vmdk not found

Get-Datastore : 8/5/2016 9:50:44 AM    Get-Datastore Datastore with

name '3026?EBS-1-XIO_LUN_153' was not found using the specified filter(s).

At C:\temp\Time-Stamp.ps1:10 char:11

+     $ds = Get-Datastore -Name $_.Name

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (:) [Get-Datastore], VimExceptio

   n

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_OutputHelper_WriteNotFoundError,VMware.VimA

utomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.GetDatastore

Could not create PSDrive for..

thanks

vmk2014

[vmk2014]

LucD,

Entries looks like this.

[VNX1_P4_Journal_LUN_4] 3029POC/zombi-3029POC_1.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[VNX1_P4_Journal_LUN_4] 3029POC/zombi-3029POC_5.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[VNX1_P4_Journal_LUN_4] 3029POC/zombi-3029POC_35.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[VNX1_P4_Journal_LUN_4] 3029POC/zombi-3029POC_31.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[VNX1_P4_Journal_LUN_4] 3029POC/zombi-3029POC_39.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[VNX1_P4_Journal_LUN_4] 3029POC/zombi-3029POC_45.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[VNX1_P4_Journal_LUN_4] 3029POC/zombi-3029POC_41.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[VNX1_P4_Journal_LUN_4] 3029POC/zomvi-3029POC_40.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[zombi-Migration_Data_LUN_13] SRM-StorageM/zombi-system.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[zombi-Migration_Data_LUN_13] Linux9_CE/Linux10_CE.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[zombi-Migration_Data_LUN_13] Linux5_CE/zombi-Linux5_CE.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[zombi-Migration_Data_LUN_13] Linux8_CE/zombi-Linux9_CE_6.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[zombi-Migration_Data_LUN_13] Linux8_CE/zombi-Linux9_CE_2.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[zombi-Migration_Data_LUN_13] Linux8_CE/zombi-Linux9_CE_3.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a
[zombi-Migration_Data_LUN_13] Linux8_CE/zombi-Linux9_AE_4.vmdk	Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check.	b4dd9b40-0cee-4a54-8244-5b5806ac210a

Thanks

vmk2014

[LucD]

Is this '3026?EBS-1-XIO_LUN_153' a name of one of your datastores?

And do you actually have a question mark in that datastorename?

[vmk2014]

LucD,

Data store name , i pulled from RVtools report is below

[3026–EBS-1-XIO_LUN_153] DCDDALLNX428_CE/zombie-DCDDALLNX428_CE_18.vmdk

Let me know if you need further info.

thanks

vmk2014

[LucD]

So I'm wondering how that question mark got in there ?!?
I'll do some test to see if I can recreate

[a_p_]

[3026–EBS-1-XIO_LUN_153]

I may be wrong,. However, to me it looks like the first hyphen is no a regular one (ASCII '2D'), but a special character, likely ASCII '96'.

André

[LucD · Accepted solution]

Thanks André, that could indeed be the cause (Import-CSV  has issues with importing UTF-8 files that do not have a BOM.

A possible bypass could be doing it this way (Get-Content does this correctly).

$file = 'C:\RVTools_tabvHealth.csv'

$driveName = 'DS'

$report = @()

# Cleanup leftovers

Get-PSDrive -Name $driveName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Remove-PSDrive -Confirm:$False -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Get-Content -Path $file | ConvertFrom-Csv | where{$_.Message -match 'Possibly a Zombie vmdk file'} |

Group-Object -Property {$_.Name.Split(']')[0].Trimstart('[')} | %{

    $ds = Get-Datastore -Name $_.Name

    Try{

        New-PSDrive -Name $driveName -PSProvider VimDatastore -Root \ -Location $ds > $null

    }

    Catch{

        Write-Host "Could not create PSDrive for $($ds.Name)"

        break

    }

    $_.Group | %{

        $vmdkPath = "$($driveName)😕$($_.Name.Split(' ')[1])"

        if(Test-Path -Path $vmdkPath){

            $report += (Get-ChildItem -Path $vmdkPath | Select DatastoreFullPath,LastWriteTime)

        }

        else{

            Write-Host "VMDK $($vmdkPath) not found"

        }

    }

    Remove-PSDrive -Name DS -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

}

#$report | Export-Csv report.csv -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture

$report

[vmk2014]

LucD,

Apology for replying late. I did ran the script once again but it throws same error

PowerCLI C:\temp> .\Time-Stamp.ps1

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_9.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_1.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_3.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_5.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_7.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_16.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_14.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_21.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_29.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_37.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_35.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_33.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_31.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_39.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_45.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_43.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_41.vmdk not found

Get-Datastore : 8/8/2016 2:21:08 PM    Get-Datastore        Datastore with

name 'XIO_LUN_126' was not found using the specified filter(s).

At C:\temp\Time-Stamp.ps1:10 char:11

+     $ds = Get-Datastore -Name $_.Name

+           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (:) [Get-Datastore], VimExceptio

   n

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_OutputHelper_WriteNotFoundError,VMware.VimA

   utomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.GetDatastore

thanks

vmk 2014

[LucD]

Not exactly the same error, the question mark is gone.

I assume when you do a 'Get-Datastore -Name XIO_LUN_126' a datastore object is returned?

[vmk2014]

Sorry, its my bad.

Please find the input..

PowerCLI C:\temp> Get-Datastore -Name XIO_LUN_126

Get-Datastore : 8/8/2016 3:58:01 PM    Get-Datastore        Datastore with

name 'XIO_LUN_126' was not found using the specified filter(s).

At line:1 char:1

+ Get-Datastore -Name XIO_LUN_126

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (:) [Get-Datastore], VimExceptio

   n

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_OutputHelper_WriteNotFoundError,VMware.VimA

   utomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.GetDatastore

thanks

vmk2014

[LucD]

Does this mean there was an obsolete datastore in the list?

Is the script working for all other entries?