Dear Guys,
I found these files inside the disk are very Big, can I delete sesparse.vmdk directly?
If the system(VM) still work after delete these files,I hope everyone can provide an effective solution to delete these files, Many thanks!
No you cannot directly delete these files if you wish for your virtual machine to continue working
The sparse file is part of a snapshot it appears that you have had two on this particular machine for a significant amount of time. this is bad practice as you have already found they grow large very quickly.
the only way to safely get rid of this is to commit the snapshot (I am assuming that you want to keep the data that is in the files)
Thank you very much for your reply!
According to your statement,If I delete the files is a huge risk to me.
I think I can rename these files if VM is closed. When I find that VM can resume running, I think these files can be deleted. Many thanks!
Hi,
You shouldn't manually interfere here. As the other person said, commit the snapshots. By consolidation or deleting all snapshots.
Be aware, since you have 2 snapshots, the commit MAY take more time hence I would recommend doing commit in off-business hours since the VM may go un-reachable during this process.
If you have more queries, let me know.
You can refer one similar thread here:
what is sesparse.vmdk? what happens if I delete them?
I think I can rename these files if VM is closed. When I find that VM can resume running, I think these files can be deleted. Many thanks!
No!
Deleting, or renaming .vmdk files will result in either data loss, or at least a non-working VM.
Please post the output of ls -lisa from the VM's directory on the datastore, and let us know how much free disk space you currently have on the datastore. This is necessary to recommend steps a possible solution.
André
As Andre and I have already stated DO NOT MESS with your file systems. as Andre stated post the output of ls - lisa to enable us to advise on how to move forward. You will need a little more space in your datastore than the size of your original disk to commit a single snapshot, you have two I am not sure of the size of your original disk, but you will need the size of the original disk plus the size of your two snapshots and the rest of your machine in available space in your data store.
if that is not available then there are other options. but first show the output of that command please.
This depends on how the file is created and if existing entry of snapshot still remains.
You can check and consolidate any outstanding snapshots and then perform storage vmotion to other datastore. If files do not follow then these files are more likely leftover of your previous backup or snapshot.
Sometime these files are tiny chunks and left over by backup that never been consolidated properly.
Hello Tom
I'm having exactly the same problem, I'm using Acronis Backup system, and I'm currently running out of space in the data store because of these sesparse files. My big concern right now is that I'm not able to see these snapshots listed in the vSphere panel.
So, my question is, how can I get rid of these files before my DS runs out of space?
Hello
Thank you for getting back to me, please the info below
One more note here: the VM has 3 disks, its a DB server and the two disks that are having this problem are the two 960GB located one in Data 1 and the other in Data 2; this last DS is the one that is giving me a hard time.
This issue started 20 days ago, and from I can see the user changed the permissions for the whole drive unit to protect it and just SQLSERVER can make changes on the disk, not sure if this could be relevant here.
What you are mention make sense however if I try to delete some old sesparse files are not possible, it says are locked.
total 1758607488
836 128 drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 90112 May 22 16:08 .
4 1024 drwxr-xr-t 1 root root 73728 May 22 16:08 ..
12584708 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 10:24 Server 1_2-000001-ctk.vmdk
8390404 50656256 -rw------- 1 root root 55623884800 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000001-sesparse.vmdk
41944836 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000003-ctk.vmdk
33556228 27900928 -rw------- 1 root root 32510078976 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000003-sesparse.vmdk
37750532 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 4 10:36 Server 1_2-000003.vmdk
54527748 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000004-ctk.vmdk
46139140 75124736 -rw------- 1 root root 80586346496 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000004-sesparse.vmdk
50333444 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 5 05:35 Server 1_2-000004.vmdk
67110660 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000005-ctk.vmdk
58722052 101920768 -rw------- 1 root root 107897675776 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000005-sesparse.vmdk
62916356 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 6 06:27 Server 1_2-000005.vmdk
79693572 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000006-ctk.vmdk
71304964 84664320 -rw------- 1 root root 90333933568 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000006-sesparse.vmdk
75499268 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 7 06:39 Server 1_2-000006.vmdk
92276484 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000007-ctk.vmdk
83887876 87640064 -rw------- 1 root root 93344305152 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000007-sesparse.vmdk
88082180 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 8 06:31 Server 1_2-000007.vmdk
104859396 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000008-ctk.vmdk
96470788 69539840 -rw------- 1 root root 74908983296 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000008-sesparse.vmdk
100665092 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 9 06:31 Server 1_2-000008.vmdk
117442308 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000009-ctk.vmdk
109053700 83608576 -rw------- 1 root root 89240174592 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000009-sesparse.vmdk
113248004 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 10 06:24 Server 1_2-000009.vmdk
130025220 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000010-ctk.vmdk
121636612 71058432 -rw------- 1 root root 76449808384 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000010-sesparse.vmdk
125830916 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 11 06:31 Server 1_2-000010.vmdk
142608132 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000011-ctk.vmdk
134219524 84049920 -rw------- 1 root root 89684103168 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000011-sesparse.vmdk
138413828 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 12 06:24 Server 1_2-000011.vmdk
155191044 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000012-ctk.vmdk
146802436 91535360 -rw------- 1 root root 97299591168 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000012-sesparse.vmdk
150996740 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 13 06:32 Server 1_2-000012.vmdk
167773956 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000013-ctk.vmdk
159385348 107497472 -rw------- 1 root root 113606918144 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000013-sesparse.vmdk
163579652 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 14 06:39 Server 1_2-000013.vmdk
180356868 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000014-ctk.vmdk
171968260 78566400 -rw------- 1 root root 84084584448 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000014-sesparse.vmdk
176162564 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 15 06:46 Server 1_2-000014.vmdk
192939780 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000015-ctk.vmdk
184551172 78480384 -rw------- 1 root root 84009078784 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000015-sesparse.vmdk
188745476 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 16 06:28 Server 1_2-000015.vmdk
205522692 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000016-ctk.vmdk
197134084 87215104 -rw------- 1 root root 92907163648 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000016-sesparse.vmdk
201328388 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 17 06:31 Server 1_2-000016.vmdk
218105604 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000017-ctk.vmdk
209716996 62680064 -rw------- 1 root root 67674923008 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000017-sesparse.vmdk
213911300 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 18 06:36 Server 1_2-000017.vmdk
230688516 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000018-ctk.vmdk
222299908 81642496 -rw------- 1 root root 87217405952 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000018-sesparse.vmdk
226494212 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 19 06:37 Server 1_2-000018.vmdk
243271428 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000019-ctk.vmdk
234882820 61325312 -rw------- 1 root root 66414252032 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000019-sesparse.vmdk
239077124 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 20 11:36 Server 1_2-000019.vmdk
255854340 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000020-ctk.vmdk
247465732 59578368 -rw------- 1 root root 63310921728 May 22 06:27 Server 1_2-000020-sesparse.vmdk
251660036 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 21 06:40 Server 1_2-000020.vmdk
268437252 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 08:18 Server 1_2-000021-ctk.vmdk
260048644 12176384 -rw------- 1 root root 16470642688 May 22 08:18 Server 1_2-000021-sesparse.vmdk
264242948 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 22 08:17 Server 1_2-000021.vmdk
281020164 8192 -rw------- 1 root root 7864832 May 22 09:16 Server 1_2-000022-ctk.vmdk
272631556 11281408 -rw------- 1 root root 13743726592 May 22 16:08 Server 1_2-000022-sesparse.vmdk
276825860 0 -rw------- 1 root root 394 May 22 09:21 Server 1_2-000022.vmdk
1796 290291712 -rw------- 1 root root 1030792151040 May 4 05:17 Server 1_2-flat.vmdk
4196100 0 -rw------- 1 root root 534 May 22 09:52 Server 1_2.vmdk
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
VMFS-6 215.5G 22.5G 193.0G 10% /vmfs/volumes/datastore1
VMFS-6 1.7T 1.2T 592.2G 67% /vmfs/volumes/Data 1
VMFS-6 1.7T 1.6T 109.2G 94% /vmfs/volumes/Data 2
vfat 4.0G 22.4M 4.0G 1% /vmfs/volumes/6076ddd5-d334935e-3b24-90b11c20d1d3
vfat 249.7M 148.4M 101.3M 59% /vmfs/volumes/5c11f17d-47ebaf49-5794-05c7d52c053d
vfat 249.7M 4.0K 249.7M 0% /vmfs/volumes/6a345370-721c3e14-433f-26cd2c5851ce
vfat 285.8M 173.8M 112.0M 61% /vmfs/volumes/6076ddcf-5966bd12-4fa1-90b11c20d1d3
Did you try to delete Server 1_2-000001.vmdk already ?
Bad idea - makes troubleshooting more tricky than it has to be.
Please explain why most of the snapshots use the same timestamp - were the files moved to another directory ?
Ulli
I did that making a copy of the file first, off course, yes.
I have no answer to that question, all I can say is that this Vm is daily backed up using Acronis Backup and this started happening between May 2/4, I could get a feedback from the owner of the server that he made a security change removing system and administrators permissions from the using G: (located in data 2)
Since then it seems like the snapshots generated by Acronis during the backups can’t be deleted from the data store