How do I reclaim space on a shared storage cluster after I have deleted a vxhd?

hotrodjeremy1977 16

Ok My Shared Storage Cluster is almost completely full. I am in the process of getting a new server and more staorage but for now I need to clean up my current one. I found a VM that had a 500GB hard drive that was not being used. I dismounted the drive in the VM and removed it from the VM settings then I deleted the .vxhd file from the shared storage, but the drive is still showing the exact same usage. I have emptied all the recycle bins and have manually checked and the drive is not there. How can I get the space back that the drive used to occupy?

Oh yeah, my HOSTS are both windows 2019 headless, so I need to be able to do this from within the management server or running a command on the host in either CMD or powershell.

Can someone please help me?

Joel PALHEIRA 1 Reputation point Microsoft Employee

2023-02-24T09:52:29.09+00:00

Hi there,

What type of backend storage is being used, is this S2D or not?
Are you using Dedup ?
hotrodjeremy1977 16 Reputation points

2023-02-27T22:50:11.87+00:00

I am not using Storage space direct, if that is what you are asking.

I have 2 windows server 2016 core servers configured in HA and a shared cluster storage.

As I said earlier I removed a 500GB HDD from one of the servers that was not being used to free up some space on the cluster once I removed the HDD from the server and assured that the server still worked as expected I deleted the .vxhd file and cleared the recycle bin but the storage doesn't report any more space, and it is getting dangerously full. I am sure there must be a way to reclaim the space but I can't find anything on how to do it.
Bing Luo 5 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-10-13T09:27:27.7133333+00:00
I got the same issue and according to the Reclaiming Space on a Clustered Shared Volume (edugeek.net)
Problem:

Low Disk Space on CSV: The user experienced low disk space on their Clustered Shared Volume (CSV) in a Windows Server 2016 environment.

Failed Space Reclamation: Despite deleting old virtual machines, the space was not immediately reclaimed.

Solution:

Unlock Files: The user utilized a file locker to unlock files that were preventing space reclamation.

Schedule Deletions: They scheduled the deletions to occur during the next server restart.

Live Migration: Virtual machines were live migrated to another node to facilitate the process.

Server Restart: After restarting the server, the user successfully reclaimed 1.5TB of free space.
Bing Luo 5 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-10-13T09:37:29.4366667+00:00
And this: I doubt this could be a better solution I will let you know when I tested it.

https://community.spiceworks.com/t/reclaim-space-on-hyper-v-vhd-server-2012-r2/555107/6

Problem:

Incorrect Free Space Reporting: The user faced an issue where Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 R2 was not showing the correct free space for a dynamically expanding VHD in a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV). The guest OS showed plenty of free space, but Hyper-V reported it as full.

Compacting Disk Failed: Attempts to compact the disk did not resolve the issue, and converting to a fixed VHD failed instantly without providing a reason.

Solutions:

SDelete Utility:

Action: Run the SDelete utility from Sysinternals on the VM to zero out free space.

Outcome: This process reclaims reserved blocks and makes them available again, allowing Hyper-V to show the correct disk usage1

Remove and Re-add VM to Clustered Role:

Action: Remove the VM from the clustered role and then add it back.

Outcome: This method was an accidental find but proved effective in resolving similar issues
Bing Luo 5 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-10-13T09:39:28.89+00:00

umm UI issue I could not see my comments

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hotrodjeremy1977 16 Reputation points

2023-02-27T22:55:44.4466667+00:00

I am not using Storage Space Direct if that is what you are asking.

I have (2) server 2016 core hosts in an HA Cluster and shared clustered iSCSI storage

I removed an additional 500gb HDD from a server hosted on the cluster and once I verified that the server was running as expected I deleted the .vxhd file from the cluster, but the volume still shows the same amount of space being used. I tried emptying the recycle bin, but still the volume shows the same usage and I am getting dangerously low on space.
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Alex Bykovskyi 2,241 Reputation points

2024-10-14T15:53:02.57+00:00

Hey,

You can try SDelete on your CSV to reclaim space on the Volume.
https://support.purestorage.com/bundle/m_microsoft_platform_guide/page/Solutions/Microsoft_Platform_Guide/Failover_Clustering_Feature/topics/topic/t_reclaiming_space_on_a_clustered_shared_volume.html

Might also help with monitoring of available space: https://powershellmagazine.com/2014/02/28/reporting-cluster-shared-volume-csv-disk-space-utilization/

If you need additional storage, StarWind VSAN can be used to utilize local storage of the servers and create replicated shared storage pool for Failover cluster.
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library/starwind-virtual-san-for-hyper-v-2-node-hyperconverged-scenario-with-windows-server-2016/

Cheers,

Alex Bykovskyi

StarWind Software

Note: Posts are provided “AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.
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Bing Luo 5 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-10-14T23:52:26.02+00:00

Thanks Alex, I feel it could help.
But when I went back to check the csv, it had reclaimed the free space. Nothing was performed, it just recovered by itself.

I think the issue I was encountering was that the csv writing performance was degraded badly for some reason that was unknown yet. But it was auto fixed in an unknown manner.

I am checking that out.
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How do I reclaim space on a shared storage cluster after I have deleted a vxhd?

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