After many days of researching/googling, i can't find out the solution to my problem:smileyplain:...
Here is my situation, i have a flat base disk, a delta1 disk based on base disk, and a delta2 disk based on delta1 disk. How do i merge the delta2 disk to delta1 disk but not base disk?
More backgound: i'm using SSD as datastore and is very constrained by space. All my VMs on the ESXi host are linked clones from a flat base disk using the method decsribed here:
http://sanbarrow.com/linkedcloneswithesxi.html
the VMs are working great, except that snapshots and its associated delta disks are never deleted. I've tried Disk Consolidation without success. It always gives error like "unable to access file since it is locked". This is kinda making sense since my other running VMs are using that base disk.
Thus what i'm looking for is a way to consolidate/merge the delta disks up to a specified level, not all the way back to the base disk. I can do this using VM Workstation but can't find a way to do this in ESXi.
I took another look at your files and thought about options to remove all snapshots easily by merging them into the linked clones first delta .vmdk file. I did some tests in my lab environment and found a solution that worked for me. If you want to try it, make sure you backup the 2 folders (base VM and clone VM) before you do anything, in order to be able to revert to the current state in case it doesn't work for you!
Here are the steps:
What the lines in the .vmsd file are supposed to do, is to make ESXi aware that this is a linked clone with it's own "base" disk. Once everything worked as expected, the .vmx file should point to "DXP3Download.vmdk" as its virtual disk and all snapshot files should be gone. As I mentioned before, there are some snapshot files which don't show up in the log files, so these files (most likely 000032-...) may need to be deleted manually.
Remember, you do this at your own risk. However, "No risk, no fun!".
André
you could always converter the vm as a v2v
then remove the old one..
emm...i didn't quite get what does v2v do and how can it help here?
Not sure, but from what you explained I assume this could be an issue with the "linked clone's" .vmsd file!? Can you please post some files to see whether they contain any hints? The VM's .vmsd, .vmx and latest vmware.log file (which contains the error message).
André
v2v, basically clone your virutal machine so you can just have 1 vmdk, instead of worrying about merging them
ah just re-read you are constrianed by sapce and need to wkr off your base disk...
that is not going to help then
ok here is more information. I've attached logs, configs and it's very first delta disk.
As you can see the first delta disk
DXP3/DXP3Download/DXP3Download.vmdk
is based on
DXP3/DXP3/DXP3.vmdk
and the current delta disk is
DXP3/DXP3Download/DXP3Download-000054.vmdk
but i only have 2 snapshots with 1st one based on
DXP3/DXP3Download/DXP3Download.vmdk
and the 2nd one based on
DXP3/DXP3Download/DXP3Download-000002.vmdk
What am I missing? Which .vmdk files do you see in the VM's folder?
According to the log files there are ~30 active snapshots on "DXP3Download.vmdk"? The .vmsd file does not contain information about these snapshots, so they don't show up in the Snapshot Manager and therefore cannot be deleted from there.
What might be necessary is to create a .vmsd file with the correct snapshot chain to be able to delete the snapshots.
André
well the problem is, when a snapshot is deleted, it's associated delta disk is not merged up to its parent but are left intact. the snapshot information is removed from the vmsd so can't be seen in the snapshot manager but the delta disk is still part of the chain for all future snapshots. this is taking a lot of spaces.
here is the directory content:
1024 drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19.3k Jul 14 01:48 .
8 drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1.1k Jul 13 04:13 ..
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000001-ctk.vmdk
148480 -rw------- 1 root root 144.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000001-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 466 Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000001.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000002-ctk.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000002-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 473 Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000002.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 12 23:09 DXP3Download-000003-ctk.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:09 DXP3Download-000003-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 473 Jul 12 23:09 DXP3Download-000003.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000004-ctk.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000004-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 473 Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000004.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000005-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000005.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000006-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000006.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000007-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000007.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000008-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000008.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000009-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000009.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000010-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000010.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000011-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000011.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000012-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000012.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000013-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000013.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000014-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000014.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000015-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000015.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000016-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000016.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000017-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000017.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000018-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000018.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000019-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000019.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000020-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000020.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000021-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000021.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000022-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000022.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000023-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000023.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000024-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000024.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000025-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-000025.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000026-ctk.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000026-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 473 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000026.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000027-ctk.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000027-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 473 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000027.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000028-ctk.vmdk
50176 -rw------- 1 root root 48.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000028-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 473 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000028.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000029-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000029.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000030-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:06 DXP3Download-000030.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000031-ctk.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000031-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 473 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000031.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000032-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000032.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000033-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000033.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000034-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000034.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000035-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000035.vmdk
82944 -rw------- 1 root root 80.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000036-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000036.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000037-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000037.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000038-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000038.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000039-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000039.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000040-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000040.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000041-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000041.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000042-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000042.vmdk
65536 -rw------- 1 root root 64.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000043-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000043.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000044-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000044.vmdk
33792 -rw------- 1 root root 32.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000045-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000045.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000046-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000046.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000047-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000047.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000048-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000048.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000049-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000049.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000050-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000050.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000051-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 402 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000051.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000052-ctk.vmdk
17408 -rw------- 1 root root 16.0M Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000052-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 473 Jul 12 23:07 DXP3Download-000052.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 12 23:08 DXP3Download-000053-ctk.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 24.0k Jul 12 23:08 DXP3Download-000053-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 473 Jul 12 23:08 DXP3Download-000053.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 640.5k Jul 13 04:58 DXP3Download-000054-ctk.vmdk
148480 -rw------- 1 root root 144.0M Jul 14 00:33 DXP3Download-000054-delta.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 473 Jul 13 04:58 DXP3Download-000054.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 23 Jul 13 02:11 DXP3Download-0a8cb101.hlog
1048576 -rw------- 1 root root 1.0G Jul 13 04:58 DXP3Download-0a8cb101.vswp
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 17.7k Jul 12 23:08 DXP3Download-Snapshot1.vmsn
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 27.5k Jul 12 23:08 DXP3Download-Snapshot3.vmsn
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 24.0k Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download-delta.vmdk
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 8.5k Jul 13 05:03 DXP3Download.nvram
0 -rw------- 1 root root 372 Jul 12 23:05 DXP3Download.vmdk
0 -rw------- 1 root root 911 Jul 13 03:57 DXP3Download.vmsd
8 -rw------- 1 root root 3.2k Jul 13 05:04 DXP3Download.vmx
0 -rw------- 1 root root 267 Jul 13 02:42 DXP3Download.vmxf
0 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Jul 14 01:48 dir.txt
3072 -rw------- 1 root root 2.2M Jul 12 23:08 vmmcores-1.gz
5120 -rw------- 1 root root 4.1M Jul 12 23:08 vmware-10.log
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 236.7k Jul 12 23:08 vmware-11.log
1024 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 134.8k Jul 13 02:11 vmware-12.log
1024 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 188.4k Jul 13 03:57 vmware-13.log
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 277.3k Jul 12 23:08 vmware-8.log
1024 -rw------- 1 root root 794.0k Jul 12 23:08 vmware-9.log
1024 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 229.8k Jul 13 05:31 vmware.log
47104 -rw------- 1 root root 46.0M Jul 13 04:58 vmx-DXP3Download-176992513-1.vswp
will merging the delta disk require the help of a vmsd file? i feel that there is enough information in the vmdk and -delta.vmdk files.
Hi,
Please follow below link for deleting snapshots from command line.
Good Luck!!
Balu.
Hi
The best and easy method for your issue is to use virtual to virtual conversion (V2V) you can use vmware converter standalone verision of you can use the one which comes with the vcenter bundle and install it in the vcenter.
manully deleting and manging this much snapshot files is risky, there is a chance to get crroupted.
http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/
This somehow looks like being kind of messed up. Most of the snapshot .vmdk files appear in the vmware.log file but some do not. Without a proper .vmsd file it's not possible to delete individual snapshots (at least not without a lot manual steps). Anyway, in this case with the virtual disk only being 10GB, I'd recommend you either follow the other posters recommendation to do a V2V or - as an alternative - create a clone of the virtual disk with all its snapshots. To create a cloned virtual disk, power off the VM and run the following command in the VM's folder:
vmkfstools -i DXP3Download-000054.vmdk DXP3Download-Clone.vmdk
where "DXP3Download-000054.vmdk" is the current virtual disk file mentioned in the .vmx file. Once cloned replace the VM's virtual disk, test whether everything looks ok and then delete the obsolete .vmdk files. Unless you are sure which files to delete, I recommend you first move them to a temporary folder and delete them later on.
André
krishna_v78's suggestion of using command line seems to follow the same principle of regular disk consolidation: create one more snapshot and delete all, except the mentioning of "Quiesce guest file system". I can give it a try if i can understand what it means.
sparrowangels…' and Gkeerthy's suggestion of v2v looks the same as virtual disk cloning? it looks to me that it will creat a independent base disk which is not exactly what i am looking for here. this particular VM is 10GB but my total SSD space is 120GB only...plus, i have other VMs with the same problem but with much larger disk space (thin-provisioned of course). so i still need to find a solution for this problem. (in fact, i only have 7.44GB space left now...which is not good by any standard:(
a.p. seems to be implying that if i can reconstruct a proper .vmsd file then i can delete the snapshots one by one and the delta disks will be merged up one by one and not all at once. so the question remaining will be, how to reconstruct a proper .vmsd file?
Quiesce guest file system - In short, making disk suitable for backup by clearing dirty buffers and also from memory. it will pause all the processes running on the VM for a while. Pl refer below URL for more info.
B.K
I took another look at your files and thought about options to remove all snapshots easily by merging them into the linked clones first delta .vmdk file. I did some tests in my lab environment and found a solution that worked for me. If you want to try it, make sure you backup the 2 folders (base VM and clone VM) before you do anything, in order to be able to revert to the current state in case it doesn't work for you!
Here are the steps:
What the lines in the .vmsd file are supposed to do, is to make ESXi aware that this is a linked clone with it's own "base" disk. Once everything worked as expected, the .vmx file should point to "DXP3Download.vmdk" as its virtual disk and all snapshot files should be gone. As I mentioned before, there are some snapshot files which don't show up in the log files, so these files (most likely 000032-...) may need to be deleted manually.
Remember, you do this at your own risk. However, "No risk, no fun!".
André
that worked like a magic! i'll try it on other VMs too!
seems the key is the "sentinel0" thing. thanks so much for pointing this out~