VMware vSphere

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  • 1.  VM Reporting Wrong Disk VMDK

    Posted Apr 06, 2011 02:13 PM

    I run RVTools against our VMware environment every morning and today one of the VMs came back with a message "Possibly a Zombie VMDK File. Please Check". When I edit the settings of the VM and look at the Hard Disk, it shows provisionsed size = 0 and the vmdk file is shown as vmname-000002.vmdk. Which is not the actual name of the vmdk file (see attached screenshot). The VM is up and running fine. Does anyone know what could be causing this?

    Thanks,

    Scott



  • 2.  RE: VM Reporting Wrong Disk VMDK
    Best Answer

    Posted Apr 06, 2011 02:15 PM

    Hello.

    Do you have known snapshots on this VM?  That is what "vmname-000002.vmdk" is pointing to.

    Good Luck!



  • 3.  RE: VM Reporting Wrong Disk VMDK

    Posted Apr 06, 2011 02:29 PM

    There were no open snapshots - however, I created a snapshot, then deleted it and when I checked the Hard Disk, it looked fine again. Any ideas what could have caused this?

    Thanks.



  • 4.  RE: VM Reporting Wrong Disk VMDK

    Posted Apr 06, 2011 02:40 PM

    Some backup programs have been known to leave snapshot files behind. I would have a look through vCenter events to see if anything points to the culprit.



  • 5.  RE: VM Reporting Wrong Disk VMDK

    Posted Apr 06, 2011 02:55 PM

    Thanks. I'll check some logs to see if I can figure this one out.



  • 6.  RE: VM Reporting Wrong Disk VMDK

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Apr 06, 2011 02:43 PM

    It looks like a snapshot was created at some point and vCenter was lost in terms of the details around this snapshot. Adding a  new snapshot and removing it usually indeed fixes it. I would recommend though to regularly check (once a week) for roque snapshots as part of your standard operating procedures.

    Duncan

    HA/DRS technical deepdive - the ebook!