-rdmp.vmdk file present, but no RDM configured

[tijz]

Hi All,

I just found a <servername>_1-rdmp.vmdk file accompanied by a descriptor <servername>_1.vmdk.

But I am 100% certain I never ever created a RDM on this environment. Furthermore, I have just three LUN's and all are VMFS datastores.

Still, the file is supposedly 90GB in size and I cannot rename, delete or move it. I turned of the VM which might be associated with it (it has the same servername), but that doesn't make any difference. I also tried migrating the VM to another datastore hoping that VMWare would magically fix my problem, but no . The rdmp.vmdk and decriptor file remain at the old location.

The modified date of both files is somewhare august 2010.

Contents of descriptor:

# Disk DescriptorFile

version=1

encoding="UTF-8"

CID=691828e7

parentCID=ffffffff

createType="vmfsPassthroughRawDeviceMap"

# Extent description

RW 195312480 VMFSRDM "<servername>_1-rdmp.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base

#DDB

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"

ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"

ddb.geometry.heads = "255"

ddb.geometry.cylinders = "12157"

ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 95 7b 2c c5 fc-00 05 21 5d 2f f6 73 ac"

ddb.longContentID = "dc6635ee04566420e4baad22691828e7"

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "7"

It seems to be a real RDM. If so, how can it be 90GB if it's just pass through. I have HP P2000 SAN and there's definately no LUN with a size of 90GB. Also, like I said, the only 3 LUN's configured on the P2000 are VMFS datastores.

How can I get rid of this file, or possibly find out to which VM it's connected and if there's any data in it?

Oh, it's an ESXi 4.1 cluster.

[a_p_]

Sounds if this was a test at some time and the mapping file has not been deleted before the LUN on the storage was deleted!?

You can use e.g. RVTools to see whether the vmdk is associated to a VM and/or use "vmkfstools –q /vmfs/volumes/x/y/xxx.vmdk" and see what it reports.

You say you cannot delete the file. Do you get an error message? What does it say?

André

[tijz]

hi Andre,

thanks for the reply and the link to that very helpfull tool!

RVTools shows, in its vHealth tab, that the specific -rdmp.vmdk file is a possible "zombie" file.

But that would indicate that the file is no longer in use, and thus I should be able to delete it. But when I try to rename or delete (from vCenter datastore browser) I get the following error:

"Unable to access file <filename>".

Also strange is that the size of the file is reported as 97,656,240.00KB (so about 90GB). A mapping file should just be a couple of KB's right?

By the way, when I try to run the vmkfstool.pl command I get the following:

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\bin>vmkfstools.pl  --server 192.168.x.x -q /vmfs/volumes/[VMFS Store A]/<servername>/<servername>_1-rdmp.vmdk
Enter username: root
Enter password:
This operation is not supported in this release.

edit: The ESXi host is not in lockdown mode

edit2: I opened started the remote tech support service and connected directly to both hosts through SSH and ran the vmkfstools command again. Now it says (both times):

Failed to open <filename> : No such device (1245193).

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

For the vmkfstools command, specify "<servername>_1.vmdk" (not "<servername>_1-rdmp.vmdk").

Did you try to delete the two vmdk files from the command line?

André

[tijz]

Hmm. I was able to mv the file from command line. but not to another directory, only renaming worked.

And rm also worked.

stupid that I did not try that at first. But still, I was very surprised to find a RDM mapping file on my datastore as I'm very sure that we never used it at this environment.

And ofcourse, allthough the file was reported to be 90GB in size, once deleted, it did not free up 90GB of space... :smileyplain:

But the file is gone. so thanks.

[a_p_]

Glad to hear it worked and thanks for the feedback.

Like you already mentioned in your previous post, the mapping file itself only needs a few kB of disk space. The 90 GB is only the "display size" which shows up according to the size in the descriptor file.

RW 195312480 VMFSRDM "<servername>_1-rdmp.vmdk"

195,312,480 block à 512 bytes = 97,656,240 kB

André