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VCDxNSX
Contributor
Contributor
‎07-17-2017 08:27 AM

Question about ESXi Snapshots !

Hi folks,

I have a question, When I create a VM with a Fixed size vHard Disk and then I snapshot the VM I know that the vHD now is a Read-only Disk and new data written into the Delta Disk well.Now let suppose that my originial fixed disk created with 20GB and my Delta disk now is 30GB when I Consolidate it or Merge what will happen.

I want to understand this point, So many thanks to you in Advance.

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3 Replies
BenLiebowitz
Expert
Expert
‎07-17-2017 08:37 AM

Consolidation or Deleting a snapshot will merge any changes with the original.  The Snapshot VMDK won't grow larger than the original.  If you're original provisioned for 40gb, the snapshot VMDK will grow to a maximum of 40gb. 

I hope this helps.

Ben Liebowitz, VCP vExpert 2015, 2016, & 2017 If you found my post helpful, please mark it as helpful or answered to award points.
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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership
‎07-17-2017 08:39 AM

A snapshot can only grow up to the provisioned size of its base virtual disk (plus some overhead for metadata). So if the base disk has initially been created as a thick provisioned virtual disk, you don't have to worry about the snapshot consolidation. If the base disk has been thin provisioned, it may grow up to its provisioned size while committing the snapshot(s), depending on the data in the snapshot.

André.

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vijayrana968
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
‎07-17-2017 08:53 AM

The snapshot size starts with 16 MB.

The size then depends on the I/O changes inside the VM.

But the snapshot size never goes beyond the size of the base disk.

Reference: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1025279

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