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 :smileysad:.  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]

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?

[vmk2014]

Yes, its for all entries same output.  Lucd, when first time you replied that option worked well, only difference that i was looking for CSV export which never worked until now.

$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

}

thanks

vmk2014

[LucD]

So all entries give that same type of error, is that what you are saying?

I don't get that, the part the extracts the datastorename and gets the datastore hasn't changed between those two versions of the script.

[vmk2014]

Yes, LucD, i meant to say same type of error.

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_2.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_4.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_6.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_17.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_15.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_13.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_11.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_19.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_27.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_25.vmdk not found

VMDK DS:\3029POC/3029POC_23.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

vmk2014

[LucD]

I'm completely confused now.

From the output you showed, it looks as if the datastore on which the folder 3029POC is located, does seem to work correctly.

Otherwise you wouldn't see the message "....vmdk not found".

From what I see, the "Datastore not found" message only appears for a number of datastores.

At first we thought it was due to the special characters in the datastorename.

By doing a Get-Content instead of an Import-Csv that problem seems to have been fixed, no more question mark in the datastorename.

But then you still get the "datastore not found" message.

That is why I asked to try a Get-Datastore with that datastorename, from that it looked as if the datastore was not present in the environment to which you were connected.

I'm not sure where the actual problem is right now.

[STEVE_JOHNSON1]

I found that your script had a "confused_face" emoji in it. $vmdkPath = "$($driveName)$($_.Name.Split(' ')[1])"

Which when copied and pasted into power shell it showed up in the script as this: $vmdkPath = "$($driveName):confused_face:$($_.Name.Split(' ')[1])"

That is why you get vmdk not found. Just delete the ":confused_face" line of the code and it will work.

I also made sure to copy the Health tab out of RVTools to it's own file and saved as .csv

I hope that helps. -Stephen J

$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 C:\temp\Zombiereport.csv -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture

$report