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willc2004
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VM Consolidation

I just manually moved a VM from VCenter 4.1 to 5.5 with all new hardware.  This VM had two separate folders that were named the same.  I copied both folders to the new volumes and registered the VM.  Before powering on I had to delete the 2 disks it couldn't find and re-add them with their new location.  I just deleted the disk but didn't choose to delete files also ( I probably should have deleted the files I'm guessing).  Anyway, everything is up and running and working fine but in the VM summary it is telling me it needs to consolidate disks.  Is this the result of not deleting the files when I deleted the disks?  Is the fix as simple as going to the host - right clicking the VM and choosing consolidate under snapshot?  Is there anything I need to worry about or do first before trying this?  Can I do this while the VM is live?

Thanks.

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a_p_
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I don't think that this will cause issues. The important part is that you didn't drop a snapshot with the re-attached disks. Maybe the Consolidation message came up due to the changed paths!? Is there anything in the .vmsd file which contains an absolute path to a virtual disk? If not you should be able to clean up the current situation by either running the "Consolidation", or by creating another snapshot followed by running "Delete All" from the Snapshot Manager (assuming the base disks aren't thin provisioned, and you're not low on disk space).

André

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vHaridas
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You can do VM consolidation while VM is running.

see more info on VM consolidation - https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=20036...

Please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful" replies. Thanks....!!! https://vprhlabs.blogspot.in/
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a_p_
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Did the VM have active snapshots when you copied it? If yes, how exactly did you re-attach the mentioned 2 virtual disks to the VM?

The GUI doesn't allow to select snapshots when you add an existing virtual disk. If you attached the disks this way, you may have lost the delta data in the snapshot files!

André

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willc2004
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I’m not sure if it had active snapshots.

 

When I registered the VM it had a red x on the two disks that came over in a separate folder because the path to the folder changed.  This folder only contained the two extra disks that were added after the VM was originally created.

 

I deleted the 2 disks that had the red x and added each one back by using the existing vmdk files – keeping the same disk order in the VM.

 

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a_p_
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Sounds good. Just in case you need this some time, snapshot disks are named like <vmname>-00000x.vmdk.

Regarding the "Consolidation" message, I'd recommend you take a look at the VM's current configuration to check whether any of the virtual disks runs on snapshots (by checking the .vmdk name). Other than this you may check the VM's current vmware.log.

The "Consolidation" message is usually triggered by an unsuccessful snapshot deletion, where the snapshot remains active, but the snapshot information is removed from the VM's .vmsd file (which may also be worth looking at)

André

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willc2004
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You are correct - one of the other disks is named <vmname>-00000x.vmdk.  Did my problems just get a lot bigger?

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a_p_
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I don't think that this will cause issues. The important part is that you didn't drop a snapshot with the re-attached disks. Maybe the Consolidation message came up due to the changed paths!? Is there anything in the .vmsd file which contains an absolute path to a virtual disk? If not you should be able to clean up the current situation by either running the "Consolidation", or by creating another snapshot followed by running "Delete All" from the Snapshot Manager (assuming the base disks aren't thin provisioned, and you're not low on disk space).

André

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willc2004
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I'm not sure how to read the .vmsd file?

Everything is thick provisioned and have plenty of space on new MSA.

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a_p_
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I'm not sure how to read the .vmsd file?

If it contains information about snapshots, then please attach the file to a reply post.

André

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willc2004
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VMware support finally got back to me and just ran consolidation on the VM and all is well now.

Thank you for all of your help a.p.!

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