[SOLVED] Help: Snapshot not showing in Snapshot Manager, but 0000002.vmdk still around

[tzimmermann]

Hello Community,

here is the problem: One of our most important servers (Windows 2008 R2, Exchange 2010) got a software update, so we used snapshots, which where deleted right after the update went smothly.

Now, a while later, I saw that the 000002.vmdk-file is still around and still referenced when I check the properties of the vm.

So, this has been going on unrecognized for some time now, the server has 3 virtual HDDs, two of which have those snapshotfiles, one is 25GB and the other short to 50GB.

I have been digging around the internet for quite some time now, and so far the only solution I found was to create a new snapshot and then chose "delete all" from the snapshot manager. Thus commiting all snapshot files at once.

Luckily, we still have some 700GB space on that volume, but I am not so sure about this procedure. With snapshots of this size, there could be a timeout (I think this was what happend the first time) or something else. When this server goes boom we have a problem. (of course there is a backup, but I am no Exchange Admin and that guy is on vacation, murphy...)

You think this is a good idea? Any other ideas?

Oh, our Environment:

vCenter 4.1 345043

ESXi 4.1 582267

Kindest regards,

Thomas

[sparrowangelste]

what you could do is make another snap then do a delete all.

that will consolidate your disks.

but make sure you have enough free free space since u have esx4

i think you do have enough though since u have 750gb...

[tzimmermann]

thanks for the answer!

I am still wondering if I should shut down the server or if it would be ok to let it run.

It will be considerably slower, that I know.

[sparrowangelste]

it should be ok to let it run.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100231...

here is some more info if you want to go over the kb

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Community,

with ESXi 4.1 in place you should not have any issues with timeouts, so I'd go ahead and follow the Create Snapshot -> Delete All route.

Two thought however since I don't know the workload. Consider deleting the snapshots after business hours (depending on the storage speed) and make absolutely sure there's no backup (or anything else) in place that tries to create another snapshot while the consolidation is running!

I'd go ahead and delete the snapshots with the VM powered on. IMO there's no need to do this with the VM powered off.

André

[tzimmermann]

Thanks for your encouragement.

I followed that path, created a new Snapshot, chose "Delete all" and everything was consolidated. yeah 🙂

Thanks again! I love this community 🙂