vmkfstools failed to clone a VMDK

[EborComputing]

Hi All,

I have a weird issue here. I have two VMs with 3 VMDKs each which were created on a Windows 7 Workstation using VMware Workstation 7. I have used vmware-vdiskmanager on the Windows 7 machine to convert each VMDK to type 5 (compressed disk optimised for streaming). I have then burnt the compressed VMDKs onto a dual layer DVD. Now when cloning these from the DVD onto the ESXi, two of them (the same two from one of the VM, each time I burn them) always fail when the following is run:

vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/DISKD.VMDK /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/myvm1/diskd.vmdk

The error is: DiskLib_Check() failed for source disk The file specified is not a virtual disk (15).

Strange thing is that I did an MD5 of the compressed disks on my Windows 7 machine and then compared them with the ones on the DVD. They all match. However, after mounting the DVD using iso9660, performing an md5sum on the ESXi on the two suspect VMDKs gives non-matching hashes.

However, if I insert the DVD into my Windows 7 workstation and then mount it to the ESXi via:

esxcli storage nfs add --host=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx --share=/z --volume-name=windows7_cd

the MD5 hashes of the two suspect VMDKs match those done on the Windows 7 machine.

Anyone knows what is going on? Is it to do with the use of ISO9660 to mount the DVD? The DVD is burnt using ImgBurn with Joliet, ISO9660 and UDF 2.5 selected.

[VTsukanov]

> VMDK to type 5

It seems ESX(i) don't support vmdk such types

[EborComputing]

Hmm.

As I mentioned, I have 2 VMs, say one named SRVVM and one named CLTVM. Each has 3 VMDKs named DISKC.VMDK, DISKD.VMDK and DICKE.VMDK. Each time I burn them to DVD, the DISKD.VMDK and DISKE.VMDK of the SRVVM will fail to be cloned and their md5 hashes (when run on the ESXi) differ to the ones on my workstation. Strangely, when I check the MD5 hashes with the DVD inserted into my workstation, the hashes of those two VMDKs match the ones on my workstation.

[VTsukanov]

if md5 checksum mismatch then it shows that in ESX DVDROM reads with errors.
You can upload the vmdk directly to the server over the network using the command:

vmware-vdiskmanager -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 4 -h esx3.example.com -u admin -f password.txt "[storage1] <VMname>/targetDisk.vmdk"

[continuum]

@ VTsukanov

does the vdiskmanager command you posted really work for you ?
If yes- which Workstation version and which ESXi -version do you use

[VTsukanov]

2 continuum

I definitely remember that I used this feature (on ESX 3 or 2.5?)

I checked vmware-vdiskmanager's, which I have. The results of disappointing :smileysad: :

* vmware-vdiskmanager (from Workstation 8.02, build 591240, size 1 191 536) does not even try to connect to the ESX host :smileysad:

* vmware-vdiskmanager (from Virtual Center 2.02, build build 203138, size 3 029 552) tries to connect, but receives an error

on ESX side

... Successfully initialized nfc callback for a  write to the socket to be invoked on a separate thread

... Plugin started

but on side client

Creating disk '[storage] target/target.vmdk'

....

SSL errors bla bla bla

...

Failed to convert disk: An error occurred while writing a file; the disk is full. Data has not been saved. Free some space and try again (0x8).

:smileysad:

Potentially I may be wrong in command line (destination part - "[storage] vmname/vmdkname.vmdk" isn't clear).

2 EborComputing

Try to make another DVD with your vmdk. In my opinion, dual-layer DVD can be read with errors on your drive in ESXi

[continuum]

ok - I thought it was my fault.

I already complained and for WS 8 beta this is now considered as a bug

[VTsukanov]

I am confused by what is not working vmware-vdiskmanager from Virtual Center ... changed API? ... blocking is not checking the license VIX 1.6?

[continuum]

vmware-vdiskmanager from Virtual Center ??? - whats that ? - do you mean the version that comes with the VDDK package ?

[VTsukanov]

misprint :smileyhappy: Virtual Server of course.

[continuum]

ok
most versions of vmware-vdiskmanager are buggy - as far as I know the one from WS 6.5.3 is ok

[EborComputing]

It seems yet again, that I am having difficulty with the TEAC DV-28S-W drive on the HP server. The DVD with the issues has the following content:

CLTVM\DISKC.VMDK   1602MB
CLTVM\DISKD.VMDK    531MB
CLTVM\DISKE.VMDK     53MB
SRVVM\DISKC.VMDK   2500MB
SRVVM\DISKD.VMDK    302MB   ****
SRVVM\DISKE.VMDK     66MB   ****

The ones marked with **** are the problem ones. The above order is also the burn order. I have made another DVD, this time, omiting the first file and forced ImgBurn to use just the first layer. The contents are:

CLTVM\DISKD.VMDK    531MB
CLTVM\DISKE.VMDK     53MB
SRVVM\DISKC.VMDK   2500MB
SRVVM\DISKD.VMDK    302MB
SRVVM\DISKE.VMDK     66MB

This time, all the VMDKs were able to be cloned and the MD5s match.

[EborComputing]

I am actually using the one that came with the VMware  Virtual Disk Developement Kit. You have to create the blank VM first either via TSM or vSphere Client with no disks. So for me, I used vSphere Client to create a CLTVM and then performed the following on my Windows 7 workstation (after allowing the vmware-vdiskmanager permissions on the firewall):

E:\esxistorage\compressed-disks\CLTVM>vmware-vdiskmanager -r diske.vmdk -t 6 -h ESXI_IP -u root -f password.txt "[datastore1] CLTVM/diske.vmdk"

Note the space after datastore

[EborComputing]

Hmm.. It gets stranger.

We have another ESXi server (version 4.1.0 build-260247) with a Pioneer DVR-109 Rev 1.40. It is also having difficulty reading the same two files.

There are no errors or warnings in the logs as well.

I am begining to suspect that ESXi both 4.1 and 5.0 have difficulty with dual layer DVDs.

Any thoughts?

Kind Regards,

Vlad

[VTsukanov]

It seems as problem reading devices (or compability writing/reading devices).

It often happens that a DVD devices read the two-layer DVD discs recorded on another device with errors

Try to be used for transporting vmdk files USB drive formatted in FAT32

[EborComputing]

Hi,

The sort of issues you are talking about should not be happening these days. The dual layer DVD with issues can be read without issue on several other DVD drives on machines running Windows 7.

Interestingly, the MD5 hashes of the two problematic files were the same on both ESXis as follows:

Correct MD5s for the VMDKs:
de422041e20f57731104199096a766b1 z:\\CLTVM\\diskc.vmdk
d45a1f75da045a3bef3d5451a943e3f8 z:\\CLTVM\\diskd.vmdk
3091398a98bbee5e01ba3b5b925c0fff z:\\CLTVM\\diske.vmdk
3992d00c3dfc81aca3d4b6fce5af9c9e z:\\SRVVM\\diskc.vmdk
d2e19b7acb25584eacb1d6fd0c2ae6f9 z:\\SRVVM\\diskd.vmdk
12c7cba2deb008b94f24c89dc1c0a80c z:\\SRVVM\\diske.vmdk

MD5s generated on ESXi V4.1:

de422041e20f57731104199096a766b1  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/CLTVM/DISKC.VMDK
d45a1f75da045a3bef3d5451a943e3f8  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/CLTVM/DISKD.VMDK
3091398a98bbee5e01ba3b5b925c0fff  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/CLTVM/DISKE.VMDK
3992d00c3dfc81aca3d4b6fce5af9c9e  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/SRVVM/DISKC.VMDK
2aadadf11e85cb9b32c564bd2178603a  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/SRVVM/DISKD.VMDK
8f4706537fbd6762d0658bad3beb5fd4  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/SRVVM/DISKE.VMDK

MD5s generated on ESXi V5.0:
de422041e20f57731104199096a766b1  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/CLTVM/DISKC.VMDK
d45a1f75da045a3bef3d5451a943e3f8  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/CLTVM/DISKD.VMDK
3091398a98bbee5e01ba3b5b925c0fff  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/CLTVM/DISKE.VMDK
3992d00c3dfc81aca3d4b6fce5af9c9e  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/SRVVM/DISKC.VMDK
2aadadf11e85cb9b32c564bd2178603a  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/SRVVM/DISKD.VMDK
8f4706537fbd6762d0658bad3beb5fd4  /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/SRVVM/DISKE.VMDK

[EborComputing]

@VTSukanov,

Unfortunately, I cannot do a conversion/transfer from my workstation as the server is intended to be in an isolated deployment so the VMDKs reside on DVDs and shipped out to where the servers are, for arguments sake. I can only do that on the test server. I have also used vmkfstools to do a clone of the source VMDKs accessed via NFS mount.

@continuum,

That vmware-vdiskmanager does work. I have used it for converting VMware Workstation 7/8 VMDKs to ESXi 4.1 and 5.0

Could the issue I am facing to do with the use of dual-layer DVDs as the problem VMDKs belong to the SRVVM and probably are the last two burnt. The ImgBurn project has the following list of folders to be burnt:

CLTVM

SRVVM

where each folder contains DISKC.VMDK, DISKD.VMDK and DISKE.VMDK.

Also, I don't know if it is relavant or not, but the ESXi 5 ISO I used came from HP as otherwise the DVD would not even mount using VSISH.

I've had the VMDKs of each VM on a normal DVD-R media without issue.

Cheers all,

Vlad

[continuum]

can you post /vmfs/volumes/VMDKS/DISKD.VMDK ?