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    <title>topic Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken in ESXi Discussions</title>
    <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518694#M43488</link>
    <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;As per the tests I have performed so far, any attempt to read the device with a block size larger than 1 byte on ESXi 7.0.0 always returned zero.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I will perform some more thorough tests and post my results, there's always the possibility that I was doing something wrong or I misinterpreted the output.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
    <pubDate>Thu, 14 May 2020 11:09:15 GMT</pubDate>
    <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
    <dc:date>2020-05-14T11:09:15Z</dc:date>
    <item>
      <title>VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518670#M43464</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;We have detected that on ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807 -flat.vmdk files are locked for reading even though the VM is running on top of a snapshot.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;[root@wxpmk:~] cat /vmfs/volumes/data/CentOS-7.2/CentOS-7.2.vmsd&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;.encoding = "UTF-8"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot.lastUID = "13"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot.current = "13"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot0.uid = "13"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot0.filename = "CentOS-7.2-Snapshot13.vmsn"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot0.displayName = "1"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot0.createTimeHigh = "369657"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot0.createTimeLow = "387876330"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot0.numDisks = "1"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot0.disk0.fileName = "CentOS-7.2.vmdk"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot0.disk0.node = "scsi0:0"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;snapshot.numSnapshots = "1"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;[root@wxpmk:~] dd if=/vmfs/volumes/data/CentOS-7.2/CentOS-7.2-flat.vmdk ibs=1 skip=0 count=1&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;dd: can't open '/vmfs/volumes/data/CentOS-7.2/CentOS-7.2-flat.vmdk': Device or resource busy&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Nonetheless when we query the file lock info, the file appears as: lockMode: Read-Only&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;vmfsfilelockinfo -p /vmfs/volumes/data/CentOS-7.2/CentOS-7.2-flat.vmdk&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;vmfsfilelockinfo Version 2.0&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;Looking for lock owners on "CentOS-7.2-flat.vmdk"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;"CentOS-7.2-flat.vmdk" is locked in Read-Only mode by host having mac address ['00:0c:29:d5:ea:36']&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;Trying to use information from VMFS Heartbeat&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;Host owning the lock on file is 192.168.3.240, lockMode : &lt;STRONG style="color: #3d3d3d;"&gt;Read-Only&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;Total time taken : 4.1909195680054836 seconds.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;We don't know if this is the intended behaviour or it is a bug, as there seems to be some contradictions in what we could find out so far.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2020 20:21:16 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518670#M43464</guid>
      <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-23T20:21:16Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518671#M43465</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;flat.vmdk files only need to be read from when a virtual disk has a snapshot applied to it, so it may well be the intended behaviour.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Reference: &lt;A href="https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1015180" title="https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1015180"&gt;VMware Knowledge Base&lt;/A&gt; &lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2020 08:12:31 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518671#M43465</guid>
      <dc:creator>scott28tt</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-24T08:12:31Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518672#M43466</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Thank you for your answer Scott.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;As stated in the initial opening question, the disk does have a snapshot applied to it.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;So placing the matter the other way around:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Should the &lt;STRONG&gt;-flat.vmdk&lt;/STRONG&gt; file be not readable, even though the virtual disk has a snapshot, be considered a bug?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Or, blocking reads on -flat.vmdk files that &lt;STRONG&gt;do have a snapsho&lt;/STRONG&gt;t above is a new design approach from part of VMWare?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Thanks on advance&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2020 11:36:29 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518672#M43466</guid>
      <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-24T11:36:29Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518673#M43467</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;I have not seen or heard of anything specific to vSphere 7 about the snapshot behaviour, but given that the host running the VM only needs read access to the parent disk (flat.vmdk) after a snapshot has created a child disk I see no reason to be concerned.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Create a second-level snapshot and see if the child disk from the first-level snapshot also has a read lock applied to it by the host.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;My guess is that the lock is a preventative measure which reduces the chance of snapshot corruption.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2020 13:23:10 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518673#M43467</guid>
      <dc:creator>scott28tt</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-24T13:23:10Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518674#M43468</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;flat.vmdks should not be locked when the VM has an active snapshot.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;But the locking procedures dont work as reliable as they are supposed to so I assume you hit a flaw.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2020 13:46:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518674#M43468</guid>
      <dc:creator>continuum</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-24T13:46:38Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518675#M43469</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;I really must apologize Scott. I believe my English (it's not my mother tongue) is not good enough to transmit the idea.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;As posed in my two previous posts, &lt;STRONG&gt;the VM has indeed created a snapshot and therefore a child disk&lt;/STRONG&gt;.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I have also tried to perform the same operation (a short read) on the &lt;STRONG&gt;-flat.vmdk&lt;/STRONG&gt; file after taking a second snapshot, still the same behaviour is observed.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I am not talking about the snapshot files, which, of course, must be protected to avoid corruption. I am insistingly referring to the &lt;STRONG&gt;-flat.vmdk&lt;/STRONG&gt; file.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:28:53 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518675#M43469</guid>
      <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-24T14:28:53Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518676#M43470</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Thank you Continuum:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;AFAIC the &lt;STRONG&gt;-flat.vmdk&lt;/STRONG&gt; lock has been released quite reliably for us in all previous versions. I believe this is a bug, nonetheless there are other type of concerns related to this eventual bug, as keeping the -flat.vmdk file locked would prevent users from backing up their -flat.vmdk files from the shell while the VM is on.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:33:53 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518676#M43470</guid>
      <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-24T14:33:53Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518677#M43471</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Hi Daniel&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;forget my last post.- I spoke too early and should have looked into it first.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;You are right&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;span class="lia-inline-image-display-wrapper" image-alt="flatlock.png"&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.vmware.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/19400i7DD440B142C1F0C7/image-size/large?v=v2&amp;amp;px=999" role="button" title="flatlock.png" alt="flatlock.png" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;This is the second radical change in behaviour of the new VMFS-version that comes with ESXi 7 that I notice.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;First one is "expanding systemfiles on the fly"&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Both behaviour changes are completely unexpected and both of them make zero sense.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I reported the first one before the release but did not noticed this one until now.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;VMware should explain the new functionality.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2020 15:49:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518677#M43471</guid>
      <dc:creator>continuum</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-24T15:49:35Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518678#M43472</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;I understand the point you were making now.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2020 15:59:27 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518678#M43472</guid>
      <dc:creator>scott28tt</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-24T15:59:27Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518679#M43473</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Sorry to bother you again Continuum, but I believe this to be relevant for the thread.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;As per our tests and the feedback provided by our users, this blocks on the flat.vmdk files (always when the VM is running on a snapshot) observed in ESXi 7.0.0 seem to be random, which is double puzzling. What I mean is that some -flat.vmdk files are read just fine, while others are blocked, this is in the same host and under the exact same circumstances.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;This opens again the door to believe that it could be a bug instead of intentional, although being intentional would still make sense, some apparently random behaviour points at a possible bug.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;(*) I deleted my previous post, as it doesn't make sense to offer my opinion on something that I still can't grasp to comprehend.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2020 12:18:27 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518679#M43473</guid>
      <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-29T12:18:27Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518680#M43474</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;I'm afraid that it's unfortunately not a bug, but by idesign.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;From this weeks Veeam newsletter:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;~snip~&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;SPAN style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Tahoma, Arial;"&gt;... The issue is caused by a change in vSphere 7: it now locks ALL delta files in the snapshot chain for exclusive access. Previous vSphere versions did not lock &lt;SPAN style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;read-only&lt;/SPAN&gt; delta files exclusively,&amp;nbsp; ...&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;SPAN style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Tahoma, Arial;"&gt;~snip~&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;From that, I assume that all &lt;EM&gt;.vmdk&lt;/EM&gt; files (flat, delta, sesparse) in the snapshot chain are locked now.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;André&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2020 12:43:08 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518680#M43474</guid>
      <dc:creator>a_p_</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-29T12:43:08Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518681#M43475</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Nice find... but if this were to be an intentional behavior how would backup products behave then? Is it different when requesting to read it using VADP.... ? &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;As a backup admin, I get a little bit concerned even though we're not running vSphere 7.... yet. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;/Rubeck &lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2020 12:56:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518681#M43475</guid>
      <dc:creator>Rubeck</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-29T12:56:38Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518682#M43476</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Well probably &lt;STRONG&gt;Veeam&lt;/STRONG&gt; has first hand information, or maybe they just observed the same thing.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Vmkfstools&lt;/STRONG&gt; being able to access those &lt;STRONG&gt;-flat.vmdk&lt;/STRONG&gt; files without issue is an indication that the new behaviour is there by design.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;But, why would VMWare do such a nasty thing?, ESXi is in the end an OS.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2020 12:59:14 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518682#M43476</guid>
      <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-29T12:59:14Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518683#M43477</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;That's looks like a way to fence off SME's and encourage them to buy a license. Nonetheless not very wise, as can backfire with a drop in the use of Free version. Anyway...&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2020 13:12:14 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518683#M43477</guid>
      <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-29T13:12:14Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518684#M43478</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;The new locking procedures also disables several of the workarounds we used to repair VMs with previous versions.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;This does not only affect users of the free ESXi but it seriously affects all ESXi users.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Another example: in previous versions we could create linked clones manually - that will no longer work.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:50:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518684#M43478</guid>
      <dc:creator>continuum</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-29T15:50:32Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518685#M43479</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Just some more good arguments on top of the table. I believe whoever is taking this decissions has not thought about it twice, nonetheless he's probably smarter than me; thus he might have thought about it thrice, now the thing is that the vast majority of sysadmins will just do it once.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Just a curious thing to add: some of our customers who are trying our software on ESXi 7.0.0 report that the blocking doesn't happen everytime. In some cases they are indeed able to access the -flat.vmdk file and back it up.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2020 14:20:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518685#M43479</guid>
      <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-30T14:20:09Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518686#M43480</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Looks like vmkfstools -i is one way to work around the lock.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Did you find a second way to work around the lock ?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;That sounds promising - please investigate those cases and keep us updated.&lt;BR /&gt;I am looking into releasing the locks by editing the heartbeat-section. But that will be a workaround which is not suitable for regular backup jobs.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2020 16:53:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518686#M43480</guid>
      <dc:creator>continuum</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-04-30T16:53:38Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518687#M43481</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Not yet, running vmkfstools on some .vmdk file to then send a SIGSTOP to the process seems too awkward to be taken into consideration, at least to me (update: tried, it didn't work).&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I will try to find out why those files are blocked in a seemingly random way. I will share all that I can find here, nonetheless you seem to have a deeper knowledge of ESXi than I do.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2020 10:15:53 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518687#M43481</guid>
      <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-05-01T10:15:53Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518688#M43482</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;gt; I am looking into releasing the locks by editing the heartbeat-section. But that will be a workaround which is not suitable for regular backup jobs.&lt;BR /&gt;No hope on that road : no chance to manipulate the locks while the VM is running. Tried it but both the device and the .vh.sf are readonly for commands like dd.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2020 23:54:24 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518688#M43482</guid>
      <dc:creator>continuum</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-05-01T23:54:24Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807: -flat.vmdk files are read locked when a snapshot is taken</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518689#M43483</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;What about releasing the locks before switching the VM on?. If this is to be done in the hearbeat.section, I believe it won't be valid for clustered scenarios, but could very well serve spare ESXi hosts systems.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Also it's worth noting that the physical disks can be read one byte at a time, which is useless for backups, but may be useful for other situations.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I was able to get some .vmx files from the VMs that are being backed up as well as the ones that are not.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I suspect that some variable in the .vmx file can be the reason why some -flat.vmdk files are not being locked.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I will perform a comparative study on this.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2020 10:02:40 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/VMware-ESXi-7-0-0-build-15843807-flat-vmdk-files-are-read-locked/m-p/518689#M43483</guid>
      <dc:creator>DanielJGF</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2020-05-04T10:02:40Z</dc:date>
    </item>
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