VI Client Snapshot Buttons Disabled

[CIS1Q]

Help please.

I have created twelve Virtual Machines on our ESX 3.5 Server. I want to snapshot each of them so that I may revert to the snapshot at a later date. For six of the VMs, the Snapshot Buttons are enabled and I have created snapshots - for the other six VMs, the Snapshot Buttons are disabled so I have not been able to create snapshots. There is plenty of available freespace on the VMFS volume but regardless of this, I deleted the snapshots that I had created and checked the status of the Snapshot Buttons. The Snapshot Buttons remained enabled for the same VMs as before and the Snapshot Buttons remained disabled for the same VMs as before. I created the VMs in exactly the same way. The only difference is that the six VMs that it is possible to create snapshots for were created from P2V vmdks whereas the other VMs were created from vmdks that were imported from VMs created under VMware GSX Server imported from /vmimages using vmfstools -i command to the /vmfs/volumes/disks.

1. Can anyone suggest what the cause of this issue may be, please?

2. What causes the Snapshot Buttons to be disabled for specific VMs?

3. Can I reconfigure the Snapshot Buttons to be enabled for a specific VM?

Any assistance greatly appreciated

Joe.

[philvirt]

Joe,

Check the disk type. Switching the disk to an independent disk either non-persistent or persistent can cause you to loose the snapshot capability.

Regards,

Fil

[CIS1Q]

Hi Fil,

Thanks for your response.

Sure enough, the VM Disks for the VMs that I cannot snapshot are Independent Persistent disks. All I need to do now is to discover why. I created these VMs in exactly the same way that I created the others that I can snapshot. The only difference is that the disks that I imported for the ones that work were created through P2V - the others were from VMware GSX Server VMs.

I've awarded Helpful points because I still need to discover why the disks imported from the VMware GSX Server VMs end up as Independent Persistent.

Regards

Joe.

[CIS1Q]

Well, thanks to guidance to Persistent, Independant Disks; I have now resolved the issue.

Having tried a number of different approaches - deleting the VMs exporting the vmdks to VMware Windows and making sure that I could create snapshots there, then importing the vmdks back with no luck, etc. - I finally hit on the solution.

I reimported the original vmdks and created VMs using them. As before, the snapshot icons were not usable. However, from the VMware Infrastructure Client; I highlighted one of the VMs, clicked on Inventory ==> Virtual Machine ==> Upgrade Virtual Hardware. When that completed, the snapshot icons were usable. When I went back to Inventory ==> Virtual Machine, the Upgrade Virtual Hardware was not available. I did the same on with the other five VMs and all is OK. I hadn't spotted Upgrade Virtual Hardware before and, obviously, hadn't seen it on any of the other VMs.

I have updated this in order to mark it as answered and to make this information available to anyone else who might experience the same problem.

Many thanks

Joe.