Restoring VM's with odd geometry VMDK's - VM won't boot after restore (4045625)

During the restore process, vRanger uses standard API call to create a VM.

This means that the VMDK's will use standard geometry.

Problems arise when the original VM was created with odd geometry. In most cases the VM was created via a P2V process.

If the VM size has a decimal (80.93807)

PART 1

The restored VMDK's data is valid. However the VMDK's descriptor file will need to be edited to give the valid cylinder, heads and sectors.

The descriptor file can only be located by Putty into host, then cd into the datastore that the restored, and look for < VM_Name.vmdk >. This is an editable file.

If you have a copy of original VM you will be able to obtain the geometry information from the VMDK descriptor file.

It will appear similar to the following:

ddb.geometry.cylinders = "1958"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"

If you do not have the original descriptor file, you can obtain the geometry information from a VM's vmware.log file. The entry in the log file should be similar to the following:

May 10 10:27:19.576: vmx| DISK: OPEN '/vmfs/volumes/....vmdk' Geo (1958/255/63) BIOS Geo (0/0/0)
May 10 10:27:20.624: vcpu-0| DISKUTIL: scsi0:0 : geometry=1958/255/63

If the vmware.log file is unavailable, and you have access to an ESX console, you can run sfdisk to obtain the disk geometry.

1. Open a SSH session to the ESX host.
2. Browse to the VMDK directory.
3. Run "sfdisk SampleVM-flat.vmdk"

Within the command output you will obtain results similar to the following:

Disk SampleVM-flat.vmdk: 1958 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track

Once you have obtained the geometry values you can edit the VMDK's descriptor file and power on your VM.

PART 2 - Edit the VMDK's descriptor file

Putty into the restored VM’s ESX host

cd /vmfs/volumes/
Then cd into the datastore that the restored < VM_Name.vmdk > is on.
Vi or nano edit < VM_Name.vmdk > file, replacing the restored or replicated VM’s ddb.geometry.sectors & ddb.geometry.cylinders values with those of the original VM being restored, if such are available.
If the original VM’s *.vmdk header or stub file is no longer accessible or does not exist, then you can use the following VMware KB or the ‘oh_dear_I_lost_my_descriptor ‘ tool to generate a new vmdk stub / header file that is generated from the *.-flat.vmdk’s byte count.　***Note that use of the ‘oh_dear_I_lost_my_descriptor’ tool requires copying the *-flat.vmdk file to an accessible drive on the vRanger backup server for *.vmdk header [ stub ] file generation. http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=ex&bbid=TSEBB_1297811598901&url=&stateId=1%200%20385928072&dialogID=385898975&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=1002511&sliceId=2&rfId=