Safe to delete snapshot files ?

[jslegers1973]

Hello,

I'm having the following problem. See attachment.

Is it safe to delete the snapshots without reverting to it ? Can I do this with snapshot manager ?

I don't want to change the config of the server. Must I bring down the server ?

With kind regards,

John

[weinstein5]

Whatever you do - you must do it through the Snapshot Manager or otherwise you run the risk of corrupting your snapshot tree - yes you can delete the snapshots but do it carefully because by deleting the snapshots depending where you ar ein the tree you can committ the changes - and also by looking at the tree I have to assk why do you have so many snapshots? Is this a production VM or Test/Dev - best practice for production is only to use snapshots briefly primarily for backups -

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[jslegers1973]

Thanks for the reply. It is a production machine 😐 . Can I remove the snapshots from bottom up ? Must the server be turned off ?

[ESOcarlos]

I came up with the same problem. My snapshot tree looks like the attached file.

Would someone please walk me through the procedure?

Do I delete the snapshots in any order, from bottom up, or vice-versa?

I'm really worried I may damage the running VM.

I also ran into this:

http://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid179_gci1277577_mem1,00.html?ShortReg=1&mboxConv=s...;

Thank you so much,

Carlos

[avlieshout]

To delete snapshots, the server does not need to be turned off.

I suggest you to delete the snapshots one-by-one starting from the top. This way you need the least free diskspace.

When using the delete all button you might risk running out of diskspace!!

Depending on the size of the snapshots this can take a while. If you have large snapshots you might be better of by using VMware converter to clone the machine to a new VM as this might be faster.

-Arnim van Lieshout

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[ESOcarlos]

Thanks Arnim!

I deleted one snapshot to see what would happen.

It deleted it with no problems and the VM is still intact.

What's strange is that when I go to the 'Summary' tab the datastore free disk space remains the same. Am I missing a step after the deletion of the snapshot?

Thanks for the super quick reply!

[msemon1]

In Snapshot Manager I think you must choose GO TO instead of delete or delete all. If you choose delete or delete all the Snapshot(s) gets committed.

Mike

[ESOcarlos]

Go to will revert the VM to that snapshot.

From the Help File:

The following snapshot methods let you return to the original virtual machine:

• Inventory > Virtual Machine > Snapshot > Revert to Snapshot.

• The Go to button in the Snapshot Manager.

You are right about it committing:

To permanently remove a snapshot from VirtualCenter

1. Select a snapshot by clicking it.

Note: Clicking Delete commits the snapshot data to the parent and removes the selected snapshot.

What I need is to free disk space. By going to the Datastore Browser I see all these snapshot files and virtual disk files for the particular VM.

In my VM I only have one HDD but all these virtual disks show up on the datastore, is it safe to delete them?

Please see attached file. (Side note, I added then removed HDDs from the VM but I guess they remained in the Datastore?)

Thanks again for all the great support!

-Carlos

[avlieshout]

The summary tab is quite static.

Hit refresh. (rightmouse button?)

Arnim

[ESOcarlos]

Thanks Arnim,

Hehe I closed out of the client and re-opened it. I do not see a refresh option anywhere, I tried right-click :S

Unfortunately the disk space remains the same, probably because the snapshots commit before being deleted?

-Carlos

I didn't think it would be this hard to free up disk space.

[avlieshout]

Hehe.

You better manage your snapshots from now on.

There are powershell scripts available to generate reports. Just google for that.

Arnim

[ESOcarlos]

So I went to the configuration tab, there is a refresh option there.

It did increase disk space! Sweet!

Thanks guys