unable to boot up virtual servers

[dibekem]

I Managed to add an extra sas drive to the server and also managed to add it to the existing data store. So hard drive space is not a problem anymore.

 

The vm still not back to 'normal' so I created a new vm and pointed back to the old vm. Unfortunately when I click on power on I get this message.

 

Any ideas?

[dibekem]

Good morning.

 

I'm going to give it another go today to boot up these servers.

 

Anyone got any suggestion on my last entry?

 

Thank you

[Tefters]

Having had a quick skim of the thread and your errors i'm going to presume the following (correct if wrong):

 

- The server is part of a cluster

- You are using shared storage

- You came in 1 morning to your servers offline (probably due to power outage)

 

If the above is all correct then this is a simple scenario:

 

Your servers lost power at different times (we're talking seconds/milliseconds) which was enough time for vCenter to initiate a vMotion failover which didn't complete because the origin host of the VM's lost power.

The origin host now thinks the VM files have moved and therefore flagged up "inaccessible" as the actual VM config itself has not updated.

Luckily you are using shared storage therefore the files are still present on and can be browsed in the datastore.

 

I would now perform the following:-

 

1. Make sure you can browse the VM files on the datastore.

2. Delete the VM's from inventory on the host (make sure you note down their hardware config!).

3. Reboot your origin host.

4. vMotion any other VM's in the cluster and reboot those hosts too.

(You are rebooting all the hosts to clear any locks)

5. Create new VM's on origin host as per hardware notes in step 2 and attach VM disks.

6. Boot VM's.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Tefters

[Tefters]

Also to add, if your still seeing that disk dependency issue after the above then you need to get a support call into VMware for them to perform some voodoo magic and unlock the disk file itself without data loss or just restore the VM disk via your backup solution (Veeam hopefully, if not, GET IT!)

[dibekem]

Thank you Tefters for your reply.

 

Yes what you said about what happened is sounds about right.

 

Unfortunately I cannot make a note of the setting of the servers that won't boot as it is inaccessible, and just says zeros or nothing on the screen at their settings.

 

I roughly know the hard drive sizes, the OS and the ram. Is that enough you think?

 

To reattach the server Im creating a vm and browsing to the vmx file. Is that correct?

 

Much appreciated.

[dibekem]

I have removed the VM's from the inventory.

rebooted the host.

both vm's showed up again.

Removed them again.

Clicked on add new VM

pointed it to the existing VM's file.

 

Now I got this message.

[pooley]

I have removed the VM's from the inventory.

rebooted the host.

both vm's showed up again.

Removed them again.

Clicked on add new VM

pointed it to the existing VM's file.

 

Now I got this message.

 

https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1008058

[Tefters]

Just to be clear you are creating a new VM and then just pointing to the disks not importing the existing VM from its config file?

 

The fact that the VM's are re-appearing after removing from the inventory and rebooting is worrying.

Are you doing this through vCenter or direct on the host?

 

EDIT - Is your vCenter server a VM? Having removed the VM's from inventory I would reboot both vCenter server and the host again.

 

EDIT 2 - You could even remove the VM's from inventory, remove the host from the cluster, reboot host, re-add host to cluster, create new VM's and attach disks.

 

EDIT 3 - Do you have no backup solution at all for your VM infrastructure because at this point you would be better simply just deleting the VM's and running in a backup.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Tefters

[dibekem]

Pooley- thanks for your post, I cannot see any delta files on my datastore.

 

 

Tefters- Just to be clear you are creating a new VM and then just pointing to the disks- Yes that is correct.

 

Im doing this through VSphere client v6.0

 

We have a dell server which has 2 VM's on. When I reboot the host the whole dell server reboots so I think VCenter server and the host are the same.

 

I managed to add one of the server and gave me the option to boot but then it gave me another error.

 

When I rebooted the host again it just went back to the 2 failed servers even though I removed them twice now.

[Tefters]

When we refer to VM host we refer to the physical server so that is why you see the dell server rebooting as that is the host.

 

Without looking at your hosts and cluster direct its hard to say whats going on here.

 

Do you not have any VMware support in-place or VM backup solution?

[dibekem]

I see. Thanks for that.

 

Unfortunately we don't have any support in place.

 

We do have backups of users data so worst case we just have to rebuild the whole thing again.

 

We didn't put this server in we just inherited it from prev IT guy, hence my knowledge on VM servers.

 

Can the vmdk file be corrupted which would mean to scarp the whole vm and start again, or could it be just locked?

[Tefters]

I doubt its corrupted completely, it will be a lock or something in your setup.

I personally would not rebuild the servers due to this.

 

You can look at purchasing a 1 off incident with VMware and have them resolve the issue for you or even better would be to look at buying VMware support but you would need to know what VMware licensing you have at present.

 

There is also the lack of overall VMware knowledge that is an issue and I highly recommend getting yourself a CBT nuggets or PluralSight VMware course on the go to help with this as its a product you should know about especially if you've taken it over and are running it in production.

For starters - You should hopefully have a VMware portal logon that the software is registered under and I strongly suggest you look into getting Veeam up and running even on the freebie version.

[dibekem]

Thanks.

 

1 off incident fix sounds good, I emailed my boss about will see if he purchase it.

 

I know I should know about this more but taken on this school was not my choice and unfortunately I get no support on courses at work.

 

Anyway I did try to fix it:)

 

Thanks again.