Use VOMA to Check Metadata Consistency

The task demonstrates how to use VOMA to check VMFS metadata consistency. VOMA can be used to check and fix minor inconsistency issues for a VMFS datastore or a virtual flash resource. Run VOMA from the CLI of an ESXi host.

Prerequisites

• Make sure that the VMFS datastore you analyze does not span multiple extents. You can run VOMA only against a single-extent datastore.
• Power off any virtual machines that are running or migrate them to a different datastore.

Procedure

1. Obtain the name and partition number of the device that backs the VMFS datastore that you want to check.
   #esxcli storage vmfs extent list

   The Device Name and Partition columns in the output identify the device. For example:

   Volume Name  .....  Device Name                             Partition  
   1TB_VMFS6    .....  naa.xxxx                                   3

2. Check for VMFS errors.

   Provide the absolute path to the device partition that backs the VMFS datastore, and provide a partition number with the device name. For example:

   # voma -m vmfs -f check -d /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.xxxx:x

   The output lists possible errors. For example, the following output indicates that the heartbeat address is invalid.

   XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
   Phase 2: Checking VMFS heartbeat region
    ON-DISK ERROR: Invalid HB address
   Phase 3: Checking all file descriptors.
   Phase 4: Checking pathname and connectivity.
   Phase 5: Checking resource reference counts.
   
   Total Errors Found:           1