Can't Snapshot a VM

[tmunn]

We are running into a problem snapshotting a VM on one of our ESX hosts (vSphere 4 Standard). We get the lovely "operation is not allowed in the current state" and this is stopping us from backing up the machine via Veeam. I see lots of posts for this error but didn't find any that pertained specifically to snapshotting that didn't just suggest rebooting the box. It is a production server and I was hoping to avoid doing that if at all possible. Just wondering if anyone has any insights or clues as to what might be amiss here.

Thanks in advance and here is the solidly reproducable  vSphere client message we get immediately after initiating the snapshot.

Create virtual machine snapshot
Schedule
The
operation is
not allowed
in the
current state
.
RX\tmunn
vCenterSvr.rx.umaryland.edu
3/4/2011 9:04:06 AM
3/4/2011 9:04:06 AM
3/4/2011 9:04:07 AM

Thanks,

Tim Munn

University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy

[tmunn]

I took the opportunity to reboot/bounce the server overnight in the hopes that it would resolve the snapshotting problem but unfortunately the problem still persists. Is there anywhere I can look to see in more detail what is causing the snapshotting to fail/not be allowed?

A sister VM running the same Win2008 OS using the same datastore snapshots succesfully without issue.

[a_p_]

This issue could also be caused by a "bad" setting in the VM's configuration (vmx) file. Maybe the latest vmware.log gives some hints on what causes the issue. Please attach the latest vmware.log as well as the vmx. In addition to those files, post a listing of all files in the VM's folder (ordered by name) showing names, extensions, sizes and date/time (a screen shot of the datastore browser windows is fine).

André

[tmunn]

André -

Here you go. Thanks for any help you can offer.

-

Tim

[a_p_]

There's not much I can see in these files. The last time the snapshot worked was Feb, 24th, after this time there's no trace of a snapshot in the logfile. However there are some errors concerning the virtual CDROM drive. Did you by any chance delete the "WindowsServer2008.iso"? I'd suggest you set the VM's virtual CDROM drive to "Client Device" unless you need access to the ISO. I also saw the VM's folder name contains a "_1" at the end, which usually means there is or was a VM with the same name in the inventory. Did you create this VM from scratch or did you somehow clone or import it?

André

[tmunn]

André

The ISO still exists and actually the sister machine that I can snapshot successfully has the same ISO mapping.

Nevertheless I've tried changing the CD-ROM mapping and I get the lovely "the operation is not allowed in the current state" when I try to apply any changes to the CD-ROM access method.

The machine and its sister were both built fresh from scratch about a year ago or more by my network admin who has recently departed. Why the schedule_1 machine exists is a bit of a mystery and whether it was cloned or something else is a mystery too.

To further compound things, in browsing around the datastores I see the schedule folder (original perhaps) sitting on our 2nd datastore. We were exploring HA but I don't believe we were ever happy or comfortable with its setup. The file mod dates in this 2nd folder show 3/3/11 which may be the last time I tried a Veeam backup of the 'schedule' system.The schedule_1 vm files have mod dates that span a wide range but only the .nvram and vmware.log file show 3/4/11 mod dates.

Does this perhaps point to a clone/copy that may still be in an indeterminate state or referencing files in another datastore? I'm including a file listing of the 2nd datastore (schedule folder).

Thanks for all your help - hopefully this is an interesting problem.

[a_p_]

The file list shows two things. Firstly the VM in this folder is a template (Schedule.vmtx) and secondly from the time stamps it looks like Veeam is trying to backup this template rather than the "Schedule_1" VM. Could you please post the vmware.log and vmtx file from the template folder!?

Since backup worked until Feb, 24th, I assume something has changed in the backup (Veeam) configuration. So this might be another place to find out what happened.

André

[a_p_]

What's the name of the "schedule_1" VM in the inventory? And what's the name of the "schedule" template in the inventory (in the templates view)?

Maybe there's some mismatch in the naming which causes "irritation". If you do not currently need the template you could temporarily unregister (remove from inventory) it.

about:

Nevertheless I've tried changing the CD-ROM mapping and I get the lovely "the operation is not allowed in the current state" when I try to apply any changes to the CD-ROM access method

That's strange. Are you sure you are trying to modify the settings in the VM rather than the template. Does the VM (in the settings) point to the "schedule_2" folder?

André

[tmunn]

Feb 24th may mark the date when a colleague moved our vcenter setup from an XP host to a Win2008. I've asked my colleague to confirm the date based on his recollection.

I am attaching the vmtx file and the vmware.log from the template folder.

I'm also including screenshots of the machine inventory as reflected by our vcenter box and from one of our hosts where the 'schedule' machine is actually running. Only get 5 uploads for a post...

I've also taken a screenshot of where in the GUI I was changing the CD-ROM mapping - pretty sure it is the right place.

Re: What's the name of the "schedule_1" VM in the inventory? And what's the name of the "schedule" template in the inventory (in the templates view)?

I used the VM & Templates and unchecked Show VMs in Inventory and I get nothing displayed. There didn't seem to be a Templates Only view beyond this.

From this it sounds like perhaps vCenter, during the XP->2008 conversion, has inferred via whatever discovery occurs that the template is in fact a VM and gotten rather confused about what is where. Thoughts?

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

As you mentioned before, an interesting issue

Maybe something went wrong with the VM during the relocation of vCenter. What I would try to do, is to shut down the VM, remove it from the inventory, (DON'T delete from disk -  this would probably also solve the snapshot issue, but definitely not in a way you would be happy with), delete the ctk file (this is used for changed block tracking and will be re-created during the next backup/snapshot) and then add the VM to the inventory again by right clicking the vmx file. Once this is done, try to set the virtual CDROM dirve to "Client Device". If this works, you may need to reconfigure the backup of this VM in Veeam too.

André

[tmunn]

André

Just brought the machine down, removed it from inventory, deleted the ctk file after downloading coz I was a chicken sh*t and added it back to inventory. Machine started up properly (to be expected hopefully) and just completed a snapshot of the machine.

Thank you very much for your analysis and suggestions!!

Cheers,

Tim