Container Volumes Displayed as Inaccessible Virtual Objects in vSAN Cluster.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

In vCenter, when navigating to Cluster > Monitor > vSAN > Virtual Objects, PVC snapshot objects may appear as inaccessible.

Environment

vCenter Server

vSAN

Cause

Stale or orphaned PVC snapshots remain in the vCenter database and vSAN datastore, resulting in inaccessible objects being reported.

Resolution

To remove stale snapshots and clear inaccessible objects in the vSAN datastore, perform the following steps:

 

 NOTE: Before making any changes, take a backup/snapshot of the vCenter Server Appliance.

 

a) Connect to the vCenter database: 

/opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -d VCDB

 

b) Get the volume_id of the PVC snapshot

VCDB=# select volume_id, volume_name  from cns.volume_info where volume_name like '%pvc-##############################%';

              volume_id               |               volume_name
--------------------------------------+------------------------------------------
 ###########################          | pvc-##############################

 

Note: volume_name corresponds to the PVC name displayed in the vCenter GUI.

 

c) Retrieve associated snapshots 

Run the following query to list all snapshots linked to the PVC volume:

 
 VCDB=#  select volume_id,snapshot_id,create_time from cns.vpx_storage_snapshot_info where volume_id='###########################';

              volume_id               |             snapshot_id              |       create_time
--------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+-------------------------
 ##############################       | ##############################       | 2024-01-22 14:11:13.452
 ##############################       | ##############################       | 2024-03-19 11:49:20.201
 ##############################       | ##############################       | 2025-03-06 15:12:39.972 

 

d) Delete stale snapshots using vCenter MOB

https://<vCenter IP>/vslm/mob//?moid=VStorageObjectManager&method=VslmDeleteSnapshot_Task

• Enter the volume_id and snapshot_id for each stale snapshot.

• Click Invoke Method.

• Verify that the Delete Snapshot task completes successfully in vCenter.

• In the vCenter GUI, navigate to Cluster > Monitor > vSAN > Virtual Objects.

• Confirm that all previously inaccessible PVC snapshot objects are no longer listed.