Is it safe to delete .vmsn files?

[iohr]

We have a VM that has previously experienced snapshot failures. That problem has been resolved via great advice here:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/2015057#2015057

Now there are a lot (534) vmname-Snapshot???.vmsn files. If this Virtual Machine currently has no snapshots in the Snapshot Manager on the vSphere Client, is it safe to delete these files?

[Troy_Clavell]

yes, if there are no snapshots on the guest(s) it is safe to delete the .vmsn file

.vmsn	<vmname>-Snapshot.vmsn	This is the snapshot state file, which stores the running state of a virtual machine at the time you take that snapshot
	<vmname>-Snapshot<###>.vmsn	This is the file which stores the state of a snapshot

[continuum]

you can not trust snapshotmanager when it says that there are no snapshots.
This only means that the vmsd-file is blank.
Look up the filename used for your vmdks - if you have anything like name-00000*.vmdk you still use snapshots.

[nielse]

It might work if you create a new snapshot and then do a "delete all" snapshots action to get rid of the extra files.

[abirhasan]

Take a snapsots and delete all .vmsn file. Please make sure that you have taken backup your snapshorts in your another drive or write a DVD/CD.

abirhasan   

[a_p_]

I agree with Troy Clavel, if there are no active snapshots on the VM  - no references to vmname-00000x.vmdk files in the VM's configuration file (.vmx) - you can delete the .vmsn files. Theses files are only needed if you want to revert to a snapshot anyway.

If you want, post (attach) a list of all the files in the VM's folder as well as the current .vmx file. This way we can tell you which files you can safely delete from the folder to clean it up.

André

[iohr]

File List:

---

ourvmname-aux.xml
ourvmname-bc1a9f6d.hlog
ourvmname-bc1a9f6d.vswp
ourvmname-ctk.vmdk
ourvmname-flat.vmdk
ourvmname.nvram
ourvmname.vmdk
ourvmname.vmsd
ourvmname.vmx
ourvmname.vmxf
ourvmname_1-000002-delta.vmdk
ourvmname_1-000002.vmdk
ourvmname_1-000003-delta.vmdk
ourvmname_1-000003.vmdk
ourvmname_1-000004-delta.vmdk
ourvmname_1-000004.vmdk
ourvmname_1-ctk.vmdk
ourvmname_1-flat.vmdk
ourvmname_1.vmdk
vmware-20.log
vmware-21.log
vmware-22.log
vmware-23.log
vmware-24.log
vmware-25.log
vmware.log

---

We have two disks on this vm:

ourvmname.vmdk

ourvmname_1.vmdk

I have attached the vmx file

[iohr]

I have deleted the vmsn files with no issue. Could you tell me if there are any other files we can safely delete?

[a_p_]

According to the configuration file, the snapshot .vmdk files are obsolete (for whichever reason). What I would do is to power off the VM, create a sub-folder on the datastore and move the snapshot files to this folder to be able to restore them. Then power on the VM again. If everything works without issues you may delete the sub-folder.

I'd also recommend to take a quick look into the vmware.log file to make sure these files are not referenced.

files to move to the sub-folder:

ourvmname.vmsd

ourvmname_1-000002-delta.vmdk
ourvmname_1-000002.vmdk
ourvmname_1-000003-delta.vmdk
ourvmname_1-000003.vmdk
ourvmname_1-000004-delta.vmdk
ourvmname_1-000004.vmdk

André