Reconciling Discrepancies in the Managed Virtual Disk Catalog

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

In rare cases, the vSphere inventory of managed virtual disks can become temporarily out of synch with datastore disk backing metadata. This problem can be due to a transient condition, such as an I/O error, or it can happen if a datastore is briefly inaccessible. This problem has been observed only under stress testing.

The problem is rare in testing, but a discrepancy in the inventory can occur any time that you lose a datastore. It also can occur when you create or delete a managed virtual disk by using a tool other than the vSphere Web Client or the VStorageObjectManager interface in the Web Services API.

Environment

VMware vSphere Web Services SDK 4.1

Resolution

The Web Services API contains several ReconcileDatastoreInventory methods. The reconciliation operation applies to managed virtual disks, which are independent virtual storage objects that vSphere can create and maintain with or without attachment to a virtual machine.

Any time that the inventory of managed virtual disks appears incorrect, you can invoke a Web Services API method that corrects the problem. Whenever you suspect a discrepancy in the inventory, you can perform catalog reconciliation. Due to
the performance impact, reconcile only when needed. Catalog reconciliation can take minutes.

To reconcile the catalog by using the Web Services API, use one of the following methods:

• For vCenter Server:
  • ReconcileDatastoreInventory_Task
  • ScheduleReconcileDatastoreInventory
• For ESXi:
  • HostReconcileDatastoreInventory_Task
  • HostScheduleReconcileDatastoreInventory

To reconcile the managed virtual disk inventory from a Web browser, use the VMware Managed
Object Browser to invoke a Web Services method. For example:

1. Connect to https://server/mob and click Content.
2. Click the link associated with the property rootFolder, then click the link associated with the property childEntity.
3. Click one of the links associated with the property dataStore. Select the datastore that holds
   the missing managed virtual disk.
4. Select and copy the value of the Managed Object ID at the top of the window. For example,
   datastore1.
5. Click the Home tab to return to the Service Instance, then click Content.
6. Click vStorageObjectManager.
7. Click ReconcileDatastoreInventory_Task.
   A pop-up window opens to show the method.
8. In the Value element, replace MOID with the managed object reference of the datastore that holds
   the missing managed virtual disk.
9. Click Invoke Method.
10. Click the link in the value field.
    This action opens the Task object that tracks the progress of the reconciliation operation.
11. Click info.
    If the value of the state field is "success", the reconciliation is done.