Symptoms:
If you have a virtual machine with multiple disks that is running a snapshot, you may experience these symptoms if you remove a disk from the virtual machine and manually delete the VMDK for the removed disk:
- Creating a snapshot of a virtual machine fails.
- You see the error:
Invalid virtual machine configuration
- In ESXi 5.0, you may also see the error:
an invalid snapshot configuration was detected
- After restarting the management agents, the virtual machine goes into an invalid state.
- When you re-register the virtual machine by removing it from the inventory and then reading it, the virtual machine appears as invalid.
- The *.vmsd file has no relevant data and its size is reported as 1 byte or else it is corrupted.
- In the vmware.log file, you see entries similar to:
<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.872: vmx| SNAPSHOT: SnapshotConfigInfoRead: Unable to load dict from '/vmfs/volumes/6a2956d6-c9e137d1/xibo/xyz.vmsd'.
May 27 05:21:02.873: vmx| SNAPSHOT: SnapshotConfigInfoRead failed for file ' xyz .vmx': Dictionary problem (6)
</time>
- In the /var/log/hostd.log file, you see entries similar to:
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.405 F5AD9B90 info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/6a2956d6-c9e137d1/ xyz / xyz .vmx'] Reloading config state.
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.426 F5AD9B90 info 'Libs'] SNAPSHOT: SnapshotConfigInfoRead: Unable to load dict from '/vmfs/volumes/6a2956d6-c9e137d1/xibo/xibo.vmsd'.
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.426 F5AD9B90 info 'Libs'] SNAPSHOT: SnapshotConfigInfoRead failed for file '/vmfs/volumes/6a2956d6-c9e137d1/xibo/xibo.vmx': Dictionary problem (6)
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.426 F5AD9B90 info 'Libs'] Snapshot_GetTree(/vmfs/volumes/6a2956d6-c9e137d1/ xyz / xyz .vmx) failed: Dictionary problem.
....
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.426 F5AD9B90 info 'Libs'] VMHSSnapshotPublishTree failed: Dictionary problem
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.426 F5AD9B90 info 'Libs'] VMHSSnapshotLoad failed: Dictionary problem
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.426 F5AD9B90 info 'Libs'] VMHSVMLoadConfig: Load failed but vmdb tree modified to reflect offline state
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.426 F5AD9B90 info 'Libs'] VMHSVMLoadConfig failed: Dictionary problem (Message)
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.426 F5AD9B90 info 'Libs'] VMHS_ManageVM failed: Dictionary problem
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.427 F63BC900 info 'Vmsvc'] Foundry_CreateEx failed: Error: (1) Unknown error
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.427 F63BC900 info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/6a2956d6-c9e137d1/ xyz / xyz .vmx'] Failed to load virtual machine.
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.427 F63BC900 info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/6a2956d6-c9e137d1/ xyz / xyz .vmx'] Failed to load virtual machine. Marking as una vailable: vmodl.fault.SystemError
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.427 F63BC900 info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/6a2956d6-c9e137d1/ xyz / xyz .vmx'] Marking VirtualMachine invalid
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.427 F63BC900 info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/6a2956d6-c9e137d1/ xyz / xyz .vmx'] State Transition (VM_STATE_INITIALIZING -> VM_STATE_INVALID_CONFIG)
[<YYYY-MM-DD> <time>.427 F63BC900 verbose 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/6a2956d6-c9e137d1/ xyz / xyz .vmx'] Time to load virtual machine: 137 (msecs)
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.250Z [61F91B70 info 'vm:SNAPSHOT: SnapshotConfigInfoReadEx failed for file '/vmfs/volumes/4e82430d-aa5f3db3-5411-0025b5000005/xyz/xyz.vmx'] : Dictionary problem (6)
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [61F91B70 info 'vm:Snapshot_GetTree(/vmfs/volumes/4e82430d-aa5f3db3-5411-0025b5000005/xyz/xyz.vmx'] failed: Dictionary problem.
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [61F91B70 info 'Libs'] VMHSSnapshotPublishTree failed: Dictionary problem
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [61F91B70 info 'Libs'] VMHSSnapshotLoad failed: Dictionary problem
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [61F91B70 info 'Libs'] VMHSVMLoadConfig failed: Dictionary problem (Message)
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [61F91B70 info 'Libs'] VMHSVMLoadConfig retried set ops successfully to reflect offline state
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [61F91B70 info 'Libs'] VMHS_ManageVMVigor failed: Dictionary problem
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [611C2B70 info 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/4e82430d-aa5f3db3-5411-0025b5000005/xyz/xyz.vmx'] Foundry_[Create|Open]Ex failed: Error: (1) Unknown error
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [611C2B70 info 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/4e82430d-aa5f3db3-5411-0025b5000005/xyz/xyz.vmx'] Failed to load virtual machine.
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [611C2B70 warning 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/4e82430d-aa5f3db3-5411-0025b5000005/xyz/xyz.vmx'] Failed to load VM from foundry during register vmodl.fault.SystemError
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [611C2B70 info 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/4e82430d-aa5f3db3-5411-0025b5000005/xyz/xyz.vmx'] Marking VirtualMachine invalid
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.252Z [611C2B70 info 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/4e82430d-aa5f3db3-5411-0025b5000005/xyz/xyz.vmx'] State Transition (VM_STATE_INITIALIZING -> VM_STATE_INVALID_CONFIG)</time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time>
Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.