Data Recovery | That... could be a problem...

11Apr/121

vDR – causing problems…

For those new to vSphere 5's GUI, there's a new column that's been added to the Virtual Machine view by the name of "Needs Consolidation".

This option was put in due to the occasional problem when Snapshots did not delete properly and would leave the delta files remaining in the VM's folder while the Snapshot Manager would show no snapshots existing.

With this option added to the columns, you should also take note of the option within the Snapshot options for each VM which will now allow a user to select the "Consolidate" function
Consolidate Snapshot

As noticed with the first screenshot, we had a couple systems which were requiring some consolidation to them. So another admin went through and hit the consolidated button and got hit with a "Unable to access file since it is locked" error. Normally, you can go through and figure out which file is being locked with some command line work or by rebooting the host (via: VMware KB: 10051) however our VM is running so there's something else going on.
Locked File

I still decided to dive into the CLI and check it out. I was stunned...

18 deltas... 18! Regardless of the vmsn file in there, there was no record of there being any snapshots.

In this case, that system probably hasn't even been rebooted 18 times much less been snapshot that many times... Except, vDR (VMware Data Recovery) is setup on it to do daily snaps. So I checked the vDR appliance settings and I found 8 disks too many attached.
Locked File

After removing all of those extra hard disks, the consolidations would succeed. Note, it took a while, but they did succeed.
Locked File

Just another reminder of while vDR is a great tool to have on hand, it should definitely not be the one and only method of backup

Tagged as: consolidate, Data Recovery, snapshot, vCenter, vDR, VMware, vSphere 5 1 Comment

6Jul/110

Installing the VMware vDR Appliance…

Go to VMware's website, go to the "Downloads" section, click on "vSphere 4" and scroll down until you see "VMware Data Recovery", click on the "Download" button.
Accept the EULA and download the ISO. Once downloaded, extract the ISO (I use 7zip)
Remote Setup Wizard

Go into your vCenter and go to "File" then "Deploy OVF Template..."

Browse out to where the ISO was extracted to and select the ovf file in the VMwareDataRecovery-ovf-i386 folder, then click "Next"
Remote Setup Wizard

Verify the information, then click "Next"
OVF Details

Select the name and add it to where it should go (the cluster in this case)
Name

Select the cluster and then the individual host
Host Config

Select the Datastore to store the files and the format of the disk
Disk Setup

Select the Network it should be on
Network Config

Select the Timezone
Time Config

Verify the information and click "Finish"
Verify Config

Wait for the system to be successfully deployed
Installing
Completed Install

With the appliance installed, the plugin for vCenter will now be needed. To install it go back to the extracted ISO folder, run the "VMwareDataRecoveryPlugin.msi"
Plugin Installer

Click "Next", "Next", "Next", choose "I Agree" and "Next", "Next", "Close"
Plugin Installer

Once installed, by clicking on the "Plug-ins" through vCenter and then "Manage Plug-ins", the Plug-in Manager should look similar to this:
Plugin Installed