Organization VDC shows storage usage when no vApps or VMs are present in VMware Cloud Director

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

In VCD an Org VDC may report significant storage consumption even though the vApps and Virtual Machines lists are empty.

This discrepancy occurs when the VCD database and the underlying vCenter Server inventory become desynchronized.

Environment

VMware Cloud Director (VCD)

Cause

The primary cause is a metadata mismatch where the VCD database tables contains stale records of VMs or disks that have been moved, deleted, or orphaned. This is often triggered by:

• Failed deletion tasks that leave "Pending" objects in the database.
• Manual modifications to VMs within the vCenter Server (outside of the VCD UI/API).
• Interrupted synchronization between the VCD Cell and the vCenter Server.

Resolution

To synchronize the inventory and resolve the phantom storage usage, perform a manual refresh of the vCenter Server instance.

1. Log in to the VMware Cloud Director Provider Portal with System Administrator privileges.

2. Navigate to Resources > Infrastructure Resources > vCenter Server Instances.

3. Locate the vCenter Server managing the affected Org VDC.

4. Locate the Reconnect button in the top menu.

5. In the confirmation dialog, ensure the connection is active and click Reconnect.

6. Monitor the Tasks pane at the bottom of the screen. 

7. Click Refresh and await for that task to finish 

8. Verify the storage usage: