The Surly Admin

Self inflicted pain – part 2

August 5th, 2010: the day I really began to wonder why I do this stuff to myself.

So coming back from lunch, I decide it’s time to get that VM backed up.  I do NOT want to go through another morning like that again!

Setup the backup job and immediately get a error taking the snapshot.  The funny thing is, the initial snapshot file in VMware is very small.  Since the primary disks have been frozen, the snapshot file is all the changes since the time the snapshot was taken, so within the first few minutes this is quite small.  The problem is VMware calculates about how much it thinks it’ll need and sees if the volume it’s on is big enough.  Mine wasn’t.

Two choices, change the calculation settings or change the location where the snapshot is stored.  I decide to go with the latter.  Shut the VM down, edit the config file (*.vmx) and then have to remove the VM from inventory and re-add it in.  Except that it won’t let me add it back in.  In hindsight it’s pretty clear I had an error in what I put in the file, but I just didn’t think of it at the time.  I reserve the right to be an idiot at any and all times.

No problem, I think.  This is the beauty of virtualization.  I’ll just create a brand NEW VM and had these hard drives to it and I’m good.  So delete all the extra files I don’t need anymore, create the new VM and add the hard drives.  Boot up successfully but the archive software bombs out completely.  Hmmm.  Research and realize that 2 extra virtual hard drives are missing.  My heard sinks.  Remember how I removed the files I didn’t need?  Oh crap, what if I deleted the drives??  Not as bad as earlier because I do still have the data drive, so worse case I reinstall the software and figure out how to use the data but still many hours of work ahead of me.  Oh crap.

But then I get to thinking.  I like to spread my virtual hard drives out a bit and not put them all in the same folder, mostly for performance.  What if I did that?  So I look at one of my other volumes and there they are!!  But which one is which?  Spiceworks to the rescue, compare disk sizes and set the new volumes in place.  Reboot and everything comes back online.

Edit the config file again (this time doing it right) and snapshot works perfectly.  Finally got the backup going.

Days like this make you wonder if you chose the right profession!!  On the plus side, I now have good backups all the way around!!

August 13, 2010 - Posted by Martin9700 | Technical