Snapshot manager indicating snapshots are already deleted.

[beyondvm]

So here is what happened. In the environment I am working on now some administrators had some extremely stale snapshots (circa 2 months AAAH) and when we went to apply them the process timed out and now the snapshot manager still shows that they are there but when I try to delete them it throws an error indicating that they are already deleted. I haven't had a chance to check and see if the delta files are actually gone yet but the VMs still function correctly. Thoughts?

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[java_cat33]

Can you please post a screenshot listing the files for the virtual machine? This way I'll be able to advise whether they're running on a snapshot still.

Otherwise, edit the settings of the VM - check the file name of the hard disk being referenced and post this information back.

[VMmatty]

Have you tried taking another snapshot and then deleting it right away? I've found that can sometimes resolve issues like this.

[thecakeisalie]

This happens often when deleting large snapshots, but typically the snapshot manager will actually show no snapshots are running on the VM at all. To remove the snapshots from the tree you can do this:

• make sure the VM isn't running off the snapshots (edit settings -> check hard disk is pointed at vmname.vmdk and not vmname-00000x.vmdk)

• SSH into the host, and run "vmware-cmd -l", then copy the path to the VMX of the VM you're working on

• type "vmware-cmd /path/to/vmname.vmx hassnapshot" and see if it thinks it is still running on a snapshot (1 for yes, 0 for no), in your case it will likely say 1

• cd into the VM directory, and "mv vmname.vmsd vmname.vmsd.old"

• run "service mgmt-vmware restart && service vmware-vpxa restart", then wait for the host to show up 'not responding' in vCenter, then wait for it to become responding in vCenter again

• check snapshot manager to make sure the snapshots are deleted

• just to verify all is well, use 'take snapshot' to take a new snapshot of the VM, then run 'delete all' through snapshot manager again

[dinny]

There is a utility written by mittel called snap_hunter which just queries the files on the actual disk to see what is there.

That may be handy for you in this case?

(It runs from the service console - so probably only works for ESX as opposed to ESXi though)

If you can't find it, I have a slightly enhanced verion that I can email to you if you pm me with your email address.

Dinny

[beyondvm]

Seems the GUI just times out but the snapshots still are successfully replayed eventually. thanks for the help guys.

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