Snapshot issue for exchange

[elvinpng1627]

Hi all,

I got a serious problem right now. I just noticed that I have been running my exchange cas server and mail server on a snapshot that is from last year Sept 2014. I read up on getting the snapshot removed and having the server running on the latest image. So, I proceed to remove the snapshot under ""Snapshot Manager". The process is taking very long and I went to shut down that VM that is removing the snapshot. Right now, It has been running the "Snapshot removal" for the past 4 days and still at 66% since then.

The common practise is to let a snapshot run for 24-72 hours, I was not aware of this issue as I just took over this current position. Am I missing anything here??

Is it common to let a 4 months old snapshot run for so long? Is my shutting down of that VM causing the hanging of task?

Hope I get get some assistance here!!

[Ram8]

Hi,

What was the ESXi/ESX version that your VM is running on?

As a work around to check if the process is running, ssh into esxi server:

Navigate to the VM directory and type

watch -d 'ls -lut |grep "delta"'

Try to observe the change in delta size.

Thanks,

Ram.

[elvinpng1627]

Hi Ram,

I'm running VMWare ESXi Version 5.5.0 Build 1331820.

I just do as you said and the size seems to be same after 5 minutes.

There are two files:

-rw-------    1 root     root     957142274048 Jan 30 05:58 xxxxxx_1-000001-delta.vmdk

-rw-------    1 root     root      52432896 Jan 30 04:57 xxxxxx_1-000002-delta.vmdk

Does this means that it is stucked for good?

[ClintColding]

I've ran into this issue before and resolved it with this post: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/VMWare/Q_27997784.html

For a machine that has a snapshot that old I would power it down and then commit.

[JPM300]

Snapshots shouldn't be running for that long.  Its a common misconception however.  Snapshots should be taken prior to doing any major changes, as soon as the change is deemed good, that snapshot should be committed back in.  If your require a long term restore plan in the event the changes causes issues down the road a proper backup / restore procedure should be in place and backups performed prior to the change.  Running on snapshots eats up a LARGE amount of disk space as its constantly tracking any changes since the snapshot was taken. It also has a small CPU overhead.  When merging snapshots that have been running for a long time it can take days to merge it back in sometimes.  Or it can also sometimes get hung during the process.  If you are not seeing any change in the delta's I would follow the KB article posted earlier to call VMware Support and have them walk you through committing this.

Here is a link to a powershell script to check for snapshots in the environment:

https://communities.vmware.com/message/2202527

If your not comfortable with power shell Cloud Physics has a great product with an easy to use GUI to search for things like this which comes with a button called Snapshots Gone Wild to find outstanding snapshots.

[elvinpng1627]

Hi Clint, the link you provided seems to require premium member to be able to view..

Any other ways to view it?

[elvinpng1627]

Is there any ways I can stop the process of snapshot removal?

I'm concerned about data corruption. Is there any way I can bring my VM up again?

I have no options to power it up right now..

[elvinpng1627]

Was wondering if there is any ways I can kill the process or commit the snapshot without shutting down the ESXI?

Because there's other VMs that are critical running on it at the moment.