IBM Support

Restore VM completes successfully but Windows VM guest does not boot.

Troubleshooting


Problem

A VMware Windows guest is successfully restored with Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments but fails to boot.

Symptom

A VMware Windows guest is successfully backed up with Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments. The same Windows guest is then restored via the SAN with Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments using the "VMVSTORTRANSPORT SAN" option. The Windows virtual machine is successfully restored without errors logged. However, the Windows guest fails to boot with the following error :

Operating System Not Found

If the same Windows guest is restored via the LAN using the "VMVSTORTRANSPORT NBD" option, the restore is again successful and the Windows virtual machine boots properly.

Diagnosing The Problem

Edit the c:\program files\tivoli\tsm\baclient\dsmvddk.opt file and change :

vixDiskLib.transport.LogLevel = "1"
vixDiskLib.nfc.LogLevel = "1"

to:

vixDiskLib.transport.LogLevel = "6"
vixDiskLib.nfc.LogLevel = "6"

Run the restore vm operation. The trace will shows entries similar to the one below :

<timestamp> : vmvddksdk.cpp (1275): diskLibPlugin: xxxx:yyy error 'Default'] Incomplete write to, Wanted 65536 Got 0

What this shows is that the Tivoli Storage Manager client tried to write 65536 bytes to the disk but nothing was written. Although the write operation was unsuccessful, there was no error reported by VMware. This is a known VMware defect. This defect is fixed in the VMware VDDK 5.0 U2 build level 835872. Starting with the Tivoli Storage Manager client version 6.4.1.0, VDDK 5.1.1 is provided and includes the VMware fix which should properly report the write failure.

Resolving The Problem

The Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments manual provides the following instructions :

If you plan to use the SAN to restore data, you must set the Windows SAN policy to OnlineAll. Run diskpart.exe and type the following commands to turn off automatic drive letter assignment and set the SAN policy to OnlineAll:

diskpart
automount disable
automount scrub
san policy OnlineAll
exit

Verify that the disk is online and Read-Only is set to No. For example :

  1. Run DiskPart
  2. List and select the disk that needs to be made available.
    LIST DISK
    SELECT DISK <disk #>
  3. If the disk is offline, bring it online by running ONLINE DISK
  4. View the attributes by running DETAIL DISK . For example :

    DISKPART> detail disk
    Disk ID: xxX
    Type : FIBRE
    Status : Online <---Here should be Online
    Path : x
    Target : x
    LUN ID : xx
    Read-only : No <---Here should be No

    To clear the read only flag, run ATTRIBUTE DISK CLEAR READONLY
  5. Exit DiskPart

In this specific case, the drive was offline. Another case also reported that the drive was set to "Read-only : Yes".

Make sure that the drive is online and set to "Read-only : No".

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Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2018

UID

swg21633987