ESXi - Create virtual machine snapshot File is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore

[TeresaBauer]

I have a strange problem with my VM. Flat file size is 274249809920 and I have about 130 GB free space on datastore. But I have error:

File is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore

An error occurred while taking a snapshot: msg.disklib.TOOBIGFORFS.
An error occurred while saving snapshot file "/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-Snapshot31.vmsn".
An error occurred while saving the snapshot: msg.disklib.TOOBIGFORFS.

This is a log:

Spoiler

2024-03-13T10:41:11.879Z| vmx| I120: VigorTransportProcessClientPayload: opID=7480E1F8-00000086-9427 seq=49286: Receiving Snapshot.Take request.
2024-03-13T10:41:11.879Z| vmx| I120: SnapshotVMX_TakeSnapshot start: 'Test2', deviceState=1, lazy=1, logging=0, quiesced=0, forceNative=0, tryNative=0, saveAllocMaps=0 cb=20BB46B0, cbData=323A7050
2024-03-13T10:41:11.946Z| vmx| I120: DISKLIB-LIB_CREATE : DiskLibCreateCreateParam: vmfsSparse grain size is set to 1 for '/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-000001.vmdk'
2024-03-13T10:41:11.946Z| vmx| I120: SNAPSHOT: SnapshotPrepareTakeDoneCB: Prepare phase complete (The operation completed successfully).
2024-03-13T10:41:11.959Z| vcpu-0| I120: Destroying virtual dev for scsi0:0 vscsi=8471
2024-03-13T10:41:11.959Z| vcpu-0| I120: VMMon_VSCSIStopVports: No such target on adapter
2024-03-13T10:41:11.982Z| vcpu-0| I120: SnapshotVMXTakeSnapshotWork: Transition to mode 0.
2024-03-13T10:41:12.002Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-VMFS : "/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-flat.vmdk" : open successful (1114133) size = 0, hd = 0. Type 3
2024-03-13T10:41:12.002Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-LIB_BLOCKTRACK : Resuming change tracking.
2024-03-13T10:41:12.002Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-VMFS : "/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-flat.vmdk" : closed.
2024-03-13T10:41:12.145Z| vcpu-0| I120: Progress -1% (msg.checkpoint.saveStatusWithName)
2024-03-13T10:41:12.145Z| vcpu-0| I120: Checkpointed in VMware ESX, 6.0.0, build-3029758, Linux Host
2024-03-13T10:41:12.995Z| vcpu-0| I120: Progress 0% (none)
2024-03-13T10:41:15.389Z| vcpu-0| I120: GuestRpc: Reinitializing Channel 0(toolbox)
2024-03-13T10:41:15.389Z| vcpu-0| I120: GuestMsg: Channel 0, Cannot unpost because the previous post is already completed
2024-03-13T10:41:15.390Z| vcpu-0| I120: GuestRpc: Reinitializing Channel 1(toolbox-dnd)
2024-03-13T10:41:15.390Z| vcpu-0| I120: GuestMsg: Channel 1, Cannot unpost because the previous post is already completed
2024-03-13T10:41:15.637Z| vcpu-0| I120: Progress 101% (none)
2024-03-13T10:41:15.645Z| vcpu-0| I120: Closing all the disks of the VM.
2024-03-13T10:41:15.645Z| vcpu-0| I120: Closing disk scsi0:0
2024-03-13T10:41:15.647Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-CBT : Shutting down change tracking for untracked fid 466607438.
2024-03-13T10:41:15.647Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-CBT : Successfully disconnected CBT node.
2024-03-13T10:41:15.731Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-VMFS : "/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-flat.vmdk" : closed.
2024-03-13T10:41:15.744Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-VMFS : "/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-flat.vmdk" : open successful (29) size = 274249809920, hd = 0. Type 3
2024-03-13T10:41:15.744Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-LIB_BLOCKTRACK : Resuming change tracking.
2024-03-13T10:41:15.766Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-LIB_CREATE : DiskLibCreateCreateParam: vmfsSparse grain size is set to 1 for '/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-000001.vmdk'
2024-03-13T10:41:15.766Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-LIB_CREATE : CREATE CHILD: "/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-000001.vmdk" -- vmfsSparse cowGran=1 allocType=0 policy=''
2024-03-13T10:41:15.766Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-LIB_CREATE : CREATE-CHILD: Creating disk backed by 'default'
2024-03-13T10:41:15.766Z| vcpu-0| I120: DiskLibCreateCustom: Unsupported disk capacity or disk capacity (274249809920 bytes) grainSize 1 is too large for vmfs file size.
2024-03-13T10:41:15.774Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-LIB_CREATE : Failed to create link: The destination file system does not support large files (12)
2024-03-13T10:41:15.774Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-LIB_CREATE : DiskLib_CreateChild: failed to create child disk: The destination file system does not support large files (12).
2024-03-13T10:41:15.774Z| vcpu-0| I120: SNAPSHOT: SnapshotBranchDisk: Failed to branch disk: '/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM.vmdk' -> '/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-000001.vmdk' : The destination file system does not support large files (12)
2024-03-13T10:41:15.774Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-VMFS : "/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-flat.vmdk" : closed.
2024-03-13T10:41:15.774Z| vcpu-0| I120: SNAPSHOT: SnapshotBranch failed: The destination file system does not support large files (5).
2024-03-13T10:41:15.987Z| vcpu-0| I120: MainMem: Completed pending lazy checkpoint save (0).
2024-03-13T10:41:16.019Z| vcpu-0| I120: SNAPSHOT: SnapshotDeleteWork '/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM.vmx' : 32
2024-03-13T10:41:16.019Z| vcpu-0| A115: ConfigDB: Setting displayName = "MyVM"
2024-03-13T10:41:17.468Z| vcpu-0| I120: Checkpoint_Unstun: vm stopped for 5509686 us
2024-03-13T10:41:17.468Z| vcpu-0| I120: SCSI: switching scsi0 to push completion mode
2024-03-13T10:41:17.472Z| vcpu-0| A115: ConfigDB: Setting scsi0:0.redo = ""
2024-03-13T10:41:17.472Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISK: OPEN scsi0:0 '/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM.vmdk' persistent R[]
2024-03-13T10:41:17.498Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-VMFS : "/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM-flat.vmdk" : open successful (10) size = 274249809920, hd = 419290443. Type 3
2024-03-13T10:41:17.498Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-DSCPTR: Opened [0]: "MyVM-flat.vmdk" (0xa)
2024-03-13T10:41:17.498Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-LINK : Opened '/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM.vmdk' (0xa): vmfs, 535644160 sectors / 255.4 GB.
2024-03-13T10:41:17.498Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-LIB_BLOCKTRACK : Resuming change tracking.
2024-03-13T10:41:17.526Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-CBT : Initializing ESX kernel change tracking for fid 419290443.
2024-03-13T10:41:17.526Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-CBT : Successfuly created cbt node 18fddd4b-cbt.
2024-03-13T10:41:17.526Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-CBT : Opening cbt node /vmfs/devices/cbt/18fddd4b-cbt
2024-03-13T10:41:17.526Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-LIB : Opened "/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM.vmdk" (flags 0xa, type vmfs).
2024-03-13T10:41:17.526Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISK: Disk '/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM.vmdk' has UUID '60 00 c2 99 29 fd 0f f4-b7 69 78 36 8e 00 16 61'
2024-03-13T10:41:17.526Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISK: OPEN '/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM.vmdk' Geo (33342/255/63) BIOS Geo (33342/255/63)
2024-03-13T10:41:17.526Z| vcpu-0| I120: Creating virtual dev for scsi0:0
2024-03-13T10:41:17.526Z| vcpu-0| I120: DumpDiskInfo: scsi0:0 createType=11, capacity = 535644160, numLinks = 1, allocationType = 1
2024-03-13T10:41:17.526Z| vcpu-0| I120: SCSIDiskESXPopulateVDevDesc: Using FS backend
2024-03-13T10:41:17.526Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKUTIL: scsi0:0 : geometry=33342/255/63
2024-03-13T10:41:17.529Z| vcpu-0| I120: SnapshotVMXTakeSnapshotWork: Transition to mode 1.
2024-03-13T10:41:17.529Z| vcpu-0| I120: SnapshotVMXTakeSnapshotComplete: Done with snapshot 'Test2': 0
2024-03-13T10:41:17.529Z| vcpu-0| I120: SnapshotVMXTakeSnapshotComplete: Snapshot 0 failed: The destination file system does not support large files (5).
2024-03-13T10:41:17.530Z| vcpu-0| I120: VigorTransport_ServerSendResponse opID=7480E1F8-00000086-9427 seq=49286: Completed Snapshot request.
2024-03-13T10:41:17.533Z| vcpu-1| W110: GuestRpc: application toolbox, changing channel 65535 -> 0
2024-03-13T10:41:17.533Z| vcpu-1| I120: GuestRpc: Channel 0, guest application toolbox.
2024-03-13T10:41:17.533Z| vcpu-0| W110: GuestRpc: application toolbox-dnd, changing channel 65535 -> 1
2024-03-13T10:41:17.533Z| vcpu-0| I120: GuestRpc: Channel 1, guest application toolbox-dnd.
2024-03-13T10:41:17.540Z| vmx| I120: TOOLS autoupgrade protocol version 2
2024-03-13T10:41:17.540Z| vmx| I120: Vix: [12078389 mainDispatch.c:4210]: VMAutomationReportPowerStateChange: Reporting power state change (opcode=2, err=0).
2024-03-13T10:41:17.542Z| vmx| I120: TOOLS Received tools.set.version rpc call, version = 9541.
2024-03-13T10:41:17.542Z| vmx| I120: ToolsSetVersionWork did nothing; new tools version (9541) matches old Tools version
2024-03-13T10:41:18.133Z| vcpu-0| I120: HBACommon: First write on scsi0:0.fileName='/vmfs/volumes/4fed9cdb-f4c87744-4f22-e4115b0edfde/MyVM/MyVM.vmdk'
2024-03-13T10:41:18.133Z| vcpu-0| I120: DDB: "longContentID" = "86ebcb33549d1963a67297053b9a880d" (was "5f5be1123096ec708c187a919062e53f")
2024-03-13T10:41:18.791Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-CHAIN : DiskChainUpdateContentID: old=0x9062e53f, new=0x3b9a880d (86ebcb33549d1963a67297053b9a880d)

We have another VMs of about 210GB; We can make a snapshot of those machines. We have problem only with this one.

Regards

[a_p_]

Which ESXi version, and what VMFS version is in use?
This somehow reminds me of VMFS3 limitations related to the 1MB block size.

André

[TeresaBauer]

ESXi 6.0.0 3029758

ESX Server License Type:
Product: VMware vSphere 6 Hypervisor Licensed for 2 physical CPUs (unlimited cores per CPU)
Product Features: Up to 8-way virtual SMP

Datastores type: VMFS3 (VMFS 3.46, Block size 1MB)

[swint]

This KB article seems to explain your exact issue. It appears to be in line with @a_p_ 's recollection. I'm not even going to ask why you're still maintaining a 6.0 host.

Creating a snapshot for an ESXi/ESX virtual machine fails with the error: File is larger than maximu...

[TeresaBauer]

I read this article before asking the group. But unfortunately, I don't know what to do in this situation 😞

Should I shrink the file using VMware Converter Standalone to Thin and then try to make a snapshot?

[a_p_]

In this case you may rather upgrade VMFS3 to VMFS5, which can be done on the fly.

Please see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2003813 for details.

André

[swint]

According to the KB I linked, it would seem the issue is related to the 274 GB size of your VM's flat VMDK. With VMFS 3 and its 1 MB block size, the max file size is 256 GB. I'm not sure converting to thin provisioned will help. Is it possible to trim the size of the VMDK to something smallert han 256 GB?

[TeresaBauer]

Yesterday with https://gparted.org/ I reduced the size of partitions to 210 GB. But the size of this vmdk is the same. Today I want to reduce the size of vmdk with Vmware converter ...

[TeresaBauer]

After converting my vmdk file to thin I can make a snapshot of this machine.