vmdk virtual disks not shown in datastore

[blondie0472]

Hi NG,

We are using vSphere 6.0.0 (Build 2741530).

When browsing a datastore and having a look at VM files there are no "virtual disks" (type) displayed.

There are just -ctk.vmdk and -flat.vmdk:

This worked fine with vCenter 5.5.x.

Is this a bug or a configuration issue?

CU

[brunofernandez1]

vsphere 6 seems to show the truth behind the vmdk files.

when you browse the datastores with DCUI you see also those files:

flat.vmdk. (Diskcontent)

ctk.vmdk (CBT File)

.vmdk (Disk description)

in vsphere the datastore browser showed only the .vmdk file to not confuse the enduser. but the truth is that there are those thre files for each virtual disk...

[blondie0472]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I know what the file structure is on ESXi CLI.

The point is we would prefer the friendly-version for debugging and working with snapshots...

Beside that we found out that the display of type "virtual disk" works with 2 ESXi servers but doesn't with all others.

CU

[brunofernandez1]

do they have the same patches installed?

what do you see when you use the webgui?

[blondie0472]

Hi,

I did some further tests. This problem is not related to the ESXi server but to the virtual machines.

I migrated a VM from one host to another and to another datastore; the type "virtual disk" was always shown.

It is independent off virtual hardware too.

CU

[brunofernandez1]

do you see still the VM folder on the datastore after moving the VM to a new datastore?

[blondie0472]

Hi,

No, after a storage vMotion the directory on the old datastore is deleted.

CU

[blondie0472]

Hi again,

when I log on directly to an ESXi host by vSphere Client everything is okay. (virtual disk is displayed with every VM).

The problem seems to be with vCenter; with our old vCenter (version 5.5) this didn't happen.

CU

[blondie0472]

Hi,

could this be a bug in vCenter 6.x?

Does somebody else have the same problem?

I've seen this behavior with several VMware installations when vCenter 6 is involved...

CU

[a_p_]

I saw this in the past (even with 4.x), but never had the chance to investigate.

If you could provide the small metadata files (.vmx, .vmdk) as well as the VM's latest vmware.log file, I will take a look at these to see whether I can find out what's causing this. Please compress/zip these files and attach them to a reply post.

André