Error "parsing serialized DataObject of type vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo" during the deletion of a VM in VMware Cloud Director

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

• VM delete task fails with an error 

Underlying system error: com.vmware.vim.binding.vmodl.fault.InvalidRequest
XML element depth exceeds configured maximum 100while parsing serialized DataObject of type vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo
at line 1, column 43892

while parsing property "parent" of static type VirtualDiskFlatVer2BackingInfo

• Debug logs(/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/vcloud-container-debug.log) report the following entry 

    com.vmware.ssdc.library.exceptions.GenericVimFaultException: Underlying system error: com.vmware.vim.binding.vmodl.fault.InvalidRequest
    at com.vmware.ssdc.library.vim.LmVim.createGenericVimFaultException(LmVim.java:316)
    at com.vmware.ssdc.library.vim.LmVim.Convert(LmVim.java:302)
    at com.vmware.ssdc.library.vim.LmVim.Convert(LmVim.java:498)
    at com.vmware.vcloud.val.internal.impl.ReconfigureVmActivity$ReconfigureVmInVcPhase.reconfigureVm(ReconfigureVmActivity.java:362)
    at com.vmware.vcloud.val.internal.impl.ReconfigureVmActivity$ReconfigureVmInVcPhase.invoke(ReconfigureVmActivity.java:256)
    at com.vmware.vcloud.activity.executors.ActivityRunner.runPhase(ActivityRunner.java:175)
    at com.vmware.vcloud.activity.executors.ActivityRunner.run(ActivityRunner.java:112)
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:515)
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)

• In vCenter, you will notice an alert stating, "Virtual machine disks consolidation is needed" for that specific virtual machine.

Environment

VMware Cloud Director 10.x

Cause

VM snapshot disks are inconsistent and needs to be consolidated. 

 

Resolution

To resolve this issue, consolidate the VM snapshots and then delete the virtual machine.

For detailed steps on how to perform disk consolidation, refer KB 341646