what is sesparse.vmdk? what happens if I delete them?

[SmokeR8672]

esxi 6.5

one my VM have sesparse.vmdk files which too large and i want delete it. in esxi i click "delete all" snapshots  - snapshots was deleted. in the web application they are not. but on datastore still keep some sesparse.vmdk. when i click "consolidate disks" i get "not enough disk space". what to do? what happen if i delete these sesparse.vmdk?

[hussainbte]

from version 6.5 the snapshots are by default taken in sesparse format. earlier it used t vmfs sparse.

the benefit it sesparse allows for automatic unmap in case the data is deleted .. this help in storage space reclamation for thin provisioned LUNs which was a manual procedure in earlier versions.

Snapshot Formats on VMFS

[SmokeR8672]

yep, and so, can i delete this couple of files without damage for VM?

[bhards4 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

No, Just do the disk consolidation or snapshot consolidation in place of deleting directly the disk.

Manually deleting the disk may cause issue on the VM , Like it may not poweron due to mismatch of CID and PID of disks.

-Sachin

[maxchilenet2017]

You need free space for consolidation, at least twice the size of the machine, in no way I recommend that you manually delete them.

[tmgts]

I have a truble with consolidation - process freezes on 100%. Folder with files of this VM become busy. Reboot of host by software commnds become impossible - ping lost, but  screen of hw console is same as working host. After hw reset host and VM's starts normaly. I'm found files as VMname-0000x-sesparse.vmdk In folder of truble VM. Folder jf this VM become bysy if I try do delete this files any ways - Client or CLI by SSH.The truble VM stil have a message? that consolidation is needed, but the second try was quickly secssful. I move theese files to enother folder on same volume without any problems, but I don't now how remove them.