Snapshots cannot be created or deleted

[chinesvwc]

I'm trying to create a snapshot in about 4 different servers but am getting the error "Cannot complete the operation because the file or folder <unspecified filename> already exists." Each server has a whole lot of snapshots. I figured out that the snapshots existed through console access while looking through the datastores. However when viewing the servers from the vSphere client under snapshot manager, no snapshots show. I've been reading that one way to fix this problem is to create a snapshot and then if the snapshot takes, do a delete all in snapshot manager. However I'm stuck because of the previous error. Can anyone offer any advice? As a side note, I inherited these clusters, I did not set the servers up or take the snapshots. Thanks for any help recieved ahead of time.

[danm66]

I think your best option is going to be cloning the disks by using vmkfstools -i lastsnapshotname.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/lunwithspace/folder/filename.vmdk . The cloning operation will consolidate the snapshots into the new disk with the base disk, that's why you point it at the last snapshot in the chain.

You'll have to shutdown the VM to work on the disks. After you have cloned the disk, it's usually easier to create a new VM with not disks and then add the cloned disks to it.

The limit is 32 snapshots per disk so if you have exceeded that number, then that may explain your snapshot failure.

[chinesvwc]

Are clones safe? Taking a clone was a solution presented to us by vmware support for a server that had missing snapshots. He told us that we could lose the source server if the clone failed.

[danm66 · Accepted solution]

I don't know if they are or not. I've always just stuck with vmkfstools...