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scgsgsparky
Contributor
Contributor

Snapshot Doesn't Show in Manager

Has anyone ever encountered a situation where there seem to be a snapshot in the Datastore but when you have look in Snapshot Manager for the VM, it doesn't show any snapshot.  In the Datastore of the VM in question I have 2 base vmdks.  1 vmdk is called MyVM1.vmdk and thats provisioned 60GB with 20GB used.  The other vmdk is called MyVM1_1.vmdk and thats provisioned 500GB with 300GB used.  There are also 2 other vmdks called MyVM1-000001.vmdk and MyVM1_1-000001.vmdk.  Both are provisioned the same as the base vmdks but the space used is significantly less ie one has 1GB used and the other has 10GB used.  In the VM settings the disks used are MyVM1-000001.vmdk and MyVM1_1-000001.vmdk.

How can I consolidate the snapshot?

Another thing i notice is that there lots of  vmsn files which may have been created by DPM, whats the implication of deleting these?

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11 Replies
AWo
Immortal
Immortal

If you have snapshot files these are the <disk file name>-00000x.vmd ones. So it seems that both disks (MyVM1.vmdk and MyVM1_1.vmdk) had at least a snapshot once.

Post your .vmx file of the guest and the content of the small .vmdk (descriptor files). The headers will tell us more.

You might get rid of them by creating a new snapshot, waiting a few minutes and delete it afterwards. That should vommit all other snapshots, as well.

AWo

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
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scgsgsparky
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you for your help.

Does the VM have to be shutdown for me to access the vmx?

and "the content of the small .vmdk (descriptor files). The headers will tell us more. " how would i do this?

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idle-jam
Immortal
Immortal

you can download the file via datastore browser from vsphere client and open it via a text editor

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J1mbo
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I've run into this a couple of times and found that taking a new snap-shot and then delete all snapshots consolidated it all back down to where it should be.  Possibly, after taking a new snapshot you might find something like "consolidation-helper-0" in the snapshots list.

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scgsgsparky
Contributor
Contributor

I tried that and it errored out.. i assume i need to shutdown the VM first before trying to download it.

Also are you suggesting i download a 10GB file and then open that file up??

@j1mbo:  Thank you for you input and I plan to try this as you and awo suggests but I want to make sure i have a proper backup, problem is i have no space to clone it nor and i need to find a way to download all the files to a temporary location somewhere on my network.  I've had thing go wrong before where deleting the snapshot caused the VM to stop working.

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xingchan
Contributor
Contributor

I had the same problem when using vmware data recovery. The snapshot was created by data recovery but the delete went wrong. You should see this in the logging. Creating a new snapshot by hand would show all other snapshots. If you have multiple snapshot don't use delete all button. Instead delete the snapshots one by one.

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scgsgsparky
Contributor
Contributor

Thank for that, it so happens that we do use VDR and its been erroring out because it cant create a snapshot but i couldnt track down what the problem was.  Its likely that this is the cause.  I will take your advise onboard when deleting the snapshots.

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scgsgsparky
Contributor
Contributor

Nice one, I will have a look at all of that.

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AWo
Immortal
Immortal

The datastore browser doesn't show you that the virtual disk is separated into at least two files. The small descriptor text file, called <diskname>.vmdk and the flat file holding the data called <diskname>-flat.vmdk. I asked only for the small file containing only some text.

However, if creating a new snapshot and committing it will do tthe job you don't need to post anything.

AWo

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
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scgsgsparky
Contributor
Contributor

OH ok, didnt realise the Datastore browser did that so im guessing i have to console in or something.

I plan to try creating a snapshot and then deleting it as advised but I'd like a good backup first which im working on (looks like a weekend job Smiley Sad ).

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