Powercli new-snapshot -> New-Snapshot The method is disabled by 'com.vmware.vcDr'

[NicOr]

I'm trying to get some error control when taking a 'new-snapshot' of a VM (protected by SRM), see below code :

$VMname = <VMname>

$snapname = <snapshotname>

try {

    Get-VM -Name $VMname| New-Snapshot -Name $snapname -Memory -Quiesce -ErrorAction Stop

    "SNAPSHOT - OK" | Tee-Object -FilePath $logPath -Append

    }

catch

    {

    $_ | Tee-Object -FilePath $logPath -Append

    "SNAPSHOT nemen mislukt" | Tee-Object -FilePath $logPath -Append

    exit 1

    Break

    }

The code is failing for VM that are protected with SRM and I'm getting the error :

New-Snapshot : 25/02/2015 11:47:28    New-Snapshot        The method is disabled by 'com.vmware.vcDr'   

At C:\Tools\Windows_Updates\CreateSnapVM - Copy.ps1:34 char:27

+     Get-VM -Name $VMname| New-Snapshot -Name $patchname -Memory -Quiesce -ErrorA ...

+                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [New-Snapshot], MethodDisabled

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_VMServiceImpl_CreateSnapshot_ViError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.NewSnapshot

Anyone any idea how the get some errorcontrol on the 'New-snapshot' command for SRM protected VMs ?

Any help appreciated.

[admin · Accepted solution]

Are you sure you are trying to perform this operation on the protected VM and not the placeholder VM?

[NicOr]

Thank you for your reply. Indeed I refined the code so the snapshot is now always taking on the protected VM, and no longer the placeholder too.

[armandogm]

Hi NicOr,

I am getting a similar error when doing a backup of a SRM protected VM, difference is that the backup is performed by EMC EBR, which is basically the same as VDP. My error is:

avvcbimage Warning <16004>: Soap fault detected, Snapshot task - NOT ok, Msg:'SOAP 1.1 fault: "":ServerFaultCode [no subcode]

"The method is disabled by 'com.vmware.vcDr'"

I was wondering if maybe I am also trying to backup the placeholder and since you mentioned you modified the PowerCLI code to backup the protected host instead the placeholder, I was wondering if you could post it here.

Thanks in advance.

[admin]

Hi armandogm,

here is a powercli snippet I use to retrieve the placeholder VMs.

Get-VM | where {$_.ExtensionData.Config.ManagedBy.extensionKey -like "com.vmware.vcDr*" -and $_.ExtensionData.Config.ManagedBy.Type -ieq 'placeholderVm'}

The key thing to noticed is that the ManagedBy.extensionKey is set on placeholder VMs. If I wanted to get a list of VMs excluding both the placeholder VMs and the test VMs (that replace the placeholders during a DR test). I would take the script above and modify it to something like:

Get-VM | where {$_.ExtensionData.Config.ManagedBy.extensionKey -notlike "com.vmware.vcDr*"}