A Single VM - .vmx file - crashes vCenter service

[jimesti]

Hi everyone,

Just thought I would post this as it seemed very strange.

I had a ESX 4 server running a VM and I wanted to add it to our cluster. When I tried to add it, the vCenter server service died.

I uninstalled and reinstalled the vCenter software including deleting the database, but the same thing happened.

I was about to reinstall ESX when I tried to cold migrate this one VM to another machine. When I attempted to add the .vmx file into inventory, the vCenter service died again.

We have VDR running and I found the following files in the directory where the VM resides:

meadow-000001-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000009.vmdk meadow_2-000023-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000036.vmdk meadow_2-000050-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000063.vmdk

meadow-000001.vmdk meadow_2-000010-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000023.vmdk meadow_2-000037-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000050.vmdk meadow_2-000064-delta.vmdk

meadow-000003-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000010.vmdk meadow_2-000024-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000037.vmdk meadow_2-000051-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000064.vmdk

meadow-000003.vmdk meadow_2-000011-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000024.vmdk meadow_2-000038-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000051.vmdk meadow_2-000065-delta.vmdk

meadow_1-000002-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000011.vmdk meadow_2-000025-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000038.vmdk meadow_2-000052-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000065.vmdk

meadow_1-000002.vmdk meadow_2-000012-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000025.vmdk meadow_2-000039-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000052.vmdk meadow_2-000066-delta.vmdk

meadow_1-000003-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000012.vmdk meadow_2-000026-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000039.vmdk meadow_2-000053-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000066.vmdk

meadow_1-000003.vmdk meadow_2-000013-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000026.vmdk meadow_2-000040-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000053.vmdk meadow_2-flat.vmdk

meadow_1-flat.vmdk meadow_2-000013.vmdk meadow_2-000027-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000040.vmdk meadow_2-000054-delta.vmdk meadow_2.vmdk

meadow_1.vmdk meadow_2-000014-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000027.vmdk meadow_2-000041-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000054.vmdk meadow-aux.xml

meadow_2-000001-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000014.vmdk meadow_2-000028-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000041.vmdk meadow_2-000055-delta.vmdk meadowdisk2-flat.vmdk

meadow_2-000001.vmdk meadow_2-000015-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000028.vmdk meadow_2-000042-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000055.vmdk meadowdisk2.vmdk

meadow_2-000002-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000015.vmdk meadow_2-000029-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000042.vmdk meadow_2-000056-delta.vmdk meadow-flat.vmdk

meadow_2-000002.vmdk meadow_2-000016-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000029.vmdk meadow_2-000043-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000056.vmdk meadow.nvram

meadow_2-000003-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000016.vmdk meadow_2-000030-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000043.vmdk meadow_2-000057-delta.vmdk meadow-Snapshot72.vmsn

meadow_2-000003.vmdk meadow_2-000017-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000030.vmdk meadow_2-000044-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000057.vmdk meadow-Snapshot74.vmsn

meadow_2-000004-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000017.vmdk meadow_2-000031-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000044.vmdk meadow_2-000058-delta.vmdk meadow.vmdk

meadow_2-000004.vmdk meadow_2-000018-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000031.vmdk meadow_2-000045-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000058.vmdk meadow.vmsd

meadow_2-000005-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000018.vmdk meadow_2-000032-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000045.vmdk meadow_2-000059-delta.vmdk meadow.vmx

meadow_2-000005.vmdk meadow_2-000019-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000032.vmdk meadow_2-000046-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000059.vmdk meadow.vmxf

meadow_2-000006-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000019.vmdk meadow_2-000033-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000046.vmdk meadow_2-000060-delta.vmdk vmware-25.log

meadow_2-000006.vmdk meadow_2-000020-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000033.vmdk meadow_2-000047-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000060.vmdk vmware-26.log

meadow_2-000007-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000020.vmdk meadow_2-000034-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000047.vmdk meadow_2-000061-delta.vmdk vmware-27.log

meadow_2-000007.vmdk meadow_2-000021-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000034.vmdk meadow_2-000048-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000061.vmdk vmware-28.log

meadow_2-000008-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000021.vmdk meadow_2-000035-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000048.vmdk meadow_2-000062-delta.vmdk vmware-29.log

meadow_2-000008.vmdk meadow_2-000022-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000035.vmdk meadow_2-000049-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000062.vmdk vmware-30.log

meadow_2-000009-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000022.vmdk meadow_2-000036-delta.vmdk meadow_2-000049.vmdk meadow_2-000063-delta.vmdk vmware.log

Obviously the VDR has been leaving around a bunch of snapshots.

I then used vmkfstools to merge the .vmdk files and I created a new VM and attached the new .vmdk files to that and I am now back up and running. The command I used for vmkfstools was (just one example):

vmkfstools -i meadow_2-000066.vmdk meadowdisk3.vmdk

Here is a copy of the .vmx file - looked ok to me:

# cat meadow.vmx

#!/usr/bin/vmware

.encoding = "UTF-8"

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "4"

nvram = "meadow.nvram"

deploymentPlatform = "windows"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"

unity.customColor = "|23C0C0C0"

tools.upgrade.policy = "manual"

powerType.powerOff = "default"

powerType.powerOn = "default"

powerType.suspend = "default"

powerType.reset = "default"

displayName = "meadow"

extendedConfigFile = "meadow.vmxf"

floppy0.present = "true"

scsi0.present = "true"

scsi0.sharedBus = "none"

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

memsize = "1044"

scsi0:0.present = "true"

scsi0:0.fileName = "meadow-000003.vmdk"

scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"

sched.scsi0:0.shares = "normal"

scsi0:1.present = "true"

scsi0:1.fileName = "meadow_1-000003.vmdk"

scsi0:1.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"

sched.scsi0:1.shares = "normal"

ide0:0.present = "true"

ide0:0.clientDevice = "true"

ide0:0.deviceType = "atapi-cdrom"

ide0:0.startConnected = "false"

floppy0.startConnected = "false"

floppy0.fileName = "/dev/fd0"

floppy0.clientDevice = "true"

ethernet0.present = "true"

ethernet0.networkName = "Production"

ethernet0.addressType = "vpx"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:50:56:a2:71:31"

guestOSAltName = "Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit)"

guestOS = "winnetstandard"

uuid.bios = "50 22 29 4e 21 73 12 ad-65 da bf 08 92 77 21 84"

vc.uuid = "50 22 c0 41 ba ab fb 58-da 10 cf 6d ea 90 a8 70"

log.fileName = "vmware.log"

snapshot.action = "keep"

sched.cpu.min = "0"

sched.cpu.units = "mhz"

sched.cpu.shares = "normal"

sched.mem.minsize = "0"

sched.mem.shares = "normal"

evcCompatibilityMode = "TRUE"

guestCPUID.0 = "0000000168747541444d416369746e65"

guestCPUID.1 = "00020f100000080000000001078bbbff"

guestCPUID.80000001 = "00020f100000035500000000e3d3bbff"

hostCPUID.0 = "0000000168747541444d416369746e65"

hostCPUID.1 = "00040f130002080000002001178bfbff"

hostCPUID.80000001 = "00040f13000003550000001febd3fbff"

userCPUID.0 = "0000000168747541444d416369746e65"

userCPUID.1 = "00040f130002080000000001078bbbff"

userCPUID.80000001 = "00040f130000035500000000e3d3bbff"

vmware.tools.requiredversion = "8194"

vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "4194304"

replay.supported = "FALSE"

config.readOnly = "false"

scsi0:0.redo = ""

scsi0:1.redo = ""

dMotion.enabled = "false"

scsi0:0.DMotionParent = ""

scsi0:1.DMotionParent = ""

tools.syncTime = "FALSE"

uuid.location = "56 4d 05 0c fb ae 56 d2-b4 ea c9 e5 da ca 25 de"

cleanShutdown = "TRUE"

sched.mem.max = "1044"

sched.swap.derivedName = "/vmfs/volumes/4b4ba8f8-9951e4af-55f6-00144fd25c52/meadow/meadow-0c0ee3c1.vswp"

scsi0:2.present = "TRUE"

scsi0:2.fileName = "meadow_2-000066.vmdk"

scsi0:2.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"

scsi0:2.mode = "persistent"

scsi0:2.ctkEnabled = "FALSE"

scsi0:2.redo = ""

My question is this:

Why would one particular .vmx cause the whole vCenter server service to die - even if it was corrupt? Does anyone see something wrong with either the number of snapshots or the .vmx file itself?

I hope this saves someone else some time or gets VMware to correct a bug in vCenter/VDR.

Thanks,

Jim