cannot find vmdk file

使用vcenter圖形介面中的vm直接關機shutdown host，之後虛擬機無法power on，原因為找不到vmdk檔。依下面指示，重建一個vmdk檔，並在文檔中建立與vmname-flat.vmdk的連結，定義是否為thin provisioned，然後就可以重新開機了。

注意：下次必需要以遠端介面或ssh下關機指令才不會再發生此錯誤!

以下文字來源source link： 此連結

This article provides steps to recreate a lost virtual disk descriptor file (VMDK). You may need to recreate missing header/descriptor files if:

• • The virtual machine disk file listed in the Datastore Browser is your virtual machine's flat file, and does not have an icon.

  • When powering on a virtual machine, you see a File not found error.

  • The flat file exists when viewing the virtual machine's directory through the terminal, VMware vSphere Management Assistant (vMA), or VMware Command-Line Interface (vCLI).

  • The disk descriptor file for the virtual machine's disk does not exist or is corrupted.

  • Note: For additional symptoms and log entries, see the Additional Information section.

Solution

Note: Command-line methods, such as the one covered in this video, are available for ESXi 6.0, 5.x, 4.1, and earlier. 

Overview steps

Note: VMware recommends to attempt to restore the missing descriptor file from backups if possible. If this is not possible, proceed with recreating the virtual machine disk descriptor file. This method cannot be used to recreate an encrypted disk descriptor file.

To create a virtual machine disk descriptor file:

• 1. Identify the size of the flat file in bytes.

  2. Create a new blank virtual disk that is the same size as the original. This serves as a baseline example that is modified in later steps.

  3. Note: This step is critical to assure proper disk geometry.

  4. Rename the descriptor file (also referred to as a header file) of the newly-created disk to match the name of the original virtual disk.

  5. Modify the contents of the renamed descriptor file to reference the flat file.

  6. Remove the leftover temporary flat file of the newly-created disk, as it is not required.

Note: This procedure will not work on virtual disks configured with a Para-virtualized SCSI controller in the virtual machine as the virtual machine may not boot. However, there are reports that if the Para-virtualized SCSI controller is used, the new descriptor file can also be updated with ddb.adapterType = pvscsi replacing ddb.adapterType = lsilogic in the descriptor file.

Detailed steps

To create a virtual machine disk:

• 1. Log in to the terminal of the ESXi/ESX host

  2. Navigate to the directory that contains the virtual machine disk with the missing descriptor file using the command:

  3. # cd /vmfs/volumes/myvmfsvolume/mydir

  4. Notes:

     1. • If you are using a version of ESXi, you can access and modify files and directories using the vSphere Client Datastore Browser or the vifs utility included with the vSphere CLI. For more information, see the section Performing File System Operations in the vSphere Command-Line Interface Documentation.

        • If you are using VMware Fusion, the default location for the virtual machine files is the home/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/virtual_machine/ folder, where home is your home folder, and virtual_machine is the name of the virtual machine.

  5. Identify the type of SCSI controller the virtual disk is using by examining the virtual machine configuration file (.vmx ). The controller is identified by the line scsi#.virtualDev , where # is the controller number. There may be more than one controller and controller type attached to the virtual machine, such as lsisas1068(which is the LSILogic SAS controller), lsilogic , or buslogic . This example uses lsilogic :

  6. scsi0.present = "true"

  7. scsi0.sharedBus = "none"

  8. scsi1.present = "true"

  9. scsi1.sharedBus = "virtual"

  10. scsi1.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

  11. Identify and record the exact size of the -flat file using a command similar to:

  12. # ls -l vmdisk0-flat.vmdk

  13. -rw------- 1 root root 4294967296 Oct 11 12:30 vmdisk0-flat.vmdk

  14. Use the vmkfstools command to create a new virtual disk:

  15. # vmkfstools -c 4294967296 -a lsilogic -d thin temp.vmdk

  16. The command uses these flags:

• • • -c size

      • This is the size of the virtual disk.

    • -a virtual_controller

      • Whether the virtual disk was configured to work with BusLogic, LSILogic (for both lsilogic and lsilogic SAS), Paravirtual, or IDE:

      • Use lsilogic for virtual disk type "lsilogic" and "lsisas1068"

    • -d thin

      • This creates the disk in thin-provisioned format.

• 17. Note: To save disk space, we create the disk in thin-provisioned format using the type thin . The resulting flat file then consumes minimal amounts of space (1 MB) instead of immediately assuming the capacity specified with the -c switch. The only consequence, however, is the descriptor file contains an extra line that must be manually removed in a later step.

  18. The temp.vmdk and temp-flat.vmdk files are created as a result.

  19. Delete temp-flat.vmdk , as it is not needed. Run the command:

  20. # rm -i temp-flat.vmdk

  21. Rename temp.vmdk to the name that is required to match the orphaned .flat file (or vmdisk0.vmdk , in this example):

  22. # mv -i temp.vmdk vmdisk0.vmdk

  23. Edit the descriptor file using "vi" text editor ( vi vmdisk0.vmdk, in this example)

• • 1. Under the Extent Description section, 

       1. • Use command "Shift + r" to enter replace mode.

          • Locate and change the name of the .flat file to match the orphaned .flat, Press "Esc" to exit replace mode.

    2. Find and remove the line ddb.thinProvisioned = "1" if the original .vmdk was not a thin disk. If it was, retain this line. Use command "Shift + zz" to save and exit "vi" editor.

    3. # Disk DescriptorFile

    4. version=1

    5. CID=fb183c20

    6. parentCID=ffffffff

    7. createType="vmfs"

    8. # Extent description

    9. RW 8388608 VMFS "vmdisk0-flat.vmdk"

    10. # The Disk Data Base

    11. #DDB

    12. ddb.virtualHWVersion = "4"

    13. ddb.geometry.cylinders = "522"

    14. ddb.geometry.heads = "255"

    15. ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"

    16. ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"

    17. ddb.thinProvisioned = "1"

    18. The virtual machine is now ready to power on. Verify your changes and ensure Disk chain is consistentbefore starting the virtual machine.

此虛擬機器在vcenter的圖形介面中，hard disk的說明中沒有勾選thin(隨使用量改變)，因此把vmdk檔中的文字ddb.thinProvisioned = "1"刪掉後，才能正常開機。