Datastore & Storage Audit Solutions
Detect orphaned VMDK virtual disks, eliminate snapshot bloat, and reclaim valuable tier-1 SAN and vSAN capacity across enterprise clusters.
Eliminating Zombie VMDKs & Snapshot Sprawl Safely
Enterprise flash and NVMe-oF datastores represent some of the highest cost-per-gigabyte investments in data center infrastructure. Yet across typical enterprise environments, between 8% and 15% of all datastore capacity is silently consumed by orphaned virtual disks (zombie VMDKs) and forgotten snapshots.
Zombie disks occur when a virtual machine is removed from vCenter inventory without deleting its files from disk, or when backup software jobs terminate abnormally, leaving snapshot delta disks locked and untracked in vSphere Client.
Avalon Tech LLC has engineered specialized datastore audit software tools that systematically cross-reference datastore directory trees against active `.vmx` configuration files. Utilizing the proven scanning principles of RVTools `vHealth` and `vSnapshot` tabs, our tools produce verified reclamation manifests.
Storage Inspection Architecture
Orphaned VMDK Discovery
Parses VMFS 5/6, vSAN, and NFS directory listings, isolating unreferenced -flat.vmdk files without risking active production disks.
Snapshot Age & Depth Alerts
Flags snapshots older than 72 hours or spanning multiple tree levels that cause severe disk latency during consolidation.
Safe Quarantine Staging
Enforces a non-destructive quarantine workflow: files are moved to a cold staging datastore prior to final deletion.
TCO Recovery Metrics
Calculates exact dollar savings from deferred SAN storage shelf purchases, providing compelling ROI data for management.
Audit Risk Mitigation
Deleting active VMDK files is the ultimate catastrophe in virtualization management. Our software includes multiple safety locks:
- ✓ Read-only discovery phase by default
- ✓ Host-level file lock verification
- ✓ Cross-check across all cluster vCenters
- ✓ Two-person authorization signing workflow
Inquire with Engineering
Contact Avalon Tech LLC in Winter Haven, Florida to discuss storage audit specifications for your clusters.