VM is successfully restored but not bootable. Usually it is a Windows VM.
Original VM (the one that was backed up by Ranger) was not created from scratch in vSphere but converted from physical using VMware Converter.
In this case disk geometry (in disk header) does not match the one, same size disk would have had if disk had been created automatically (without conversion) or with vmkfstools.
It is important to find the correct geometry (CHS) and adjust the values in the disk header.
Following approach is suggested for ESX host with service console. For ESXi, we can use some existing Linux VM. Attach the problem disk and run sfdisk command from within Linux OS (sfdisk -l /dev/sd*)
Establish ssh connection to the Service Console, browse to VM disk directory, run command
sfdisk -l <disk>-flat.vmdk
Here is example from the real case:
Disk SQLPrepan-flat.vmdk: 17709 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
Old situation:
Warning: The partition table looks like it was made
for C/H/S=*/255/32 (instead of 17709/255/63).
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sfdisk gives the number of Heads and Sectors. We need to find number of Cylinders. Disk size is 145667358720 bytes. So file will have following lines:
# Extent description
RW 284506560 VMFS "SQLPrepan-flat.vmdk"
where 284506560 is number of 512-byte blocks (or sectors)
284506560 / 32 / 255 = 34866 (number of Cylinders)
if result of division is a fraction, it has to be rounded down.
Vmdk header should be like following
# Extent description
RW 284506560 VMFS "SQLPrepan-flat.vmdk"
# The Disk Data Base
#DDB
ddb.toolsVersion = "8295"
ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "32"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "34866"
