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noobnoob71
Contributor
Contributor

Conversion from vSAN Snapshots to VMFS6 compatible Snapshots (vsansparse to sesparse)?

I know that VMDKs of VMs can be converted between formats but can i convert snapshots created on a vSphere environment with vSAN datastore and manually copy them over to another vSphere environment with VMFS6 datastore which is air-gapped? and still be able to boot/perform future snapshots on the vSphere environment with VMFS6 datastore?

2 Replies
Lalegre
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Hey noobnoob71​,

If i understood well you want to copy the Snapshot file from vSAN to VMFS. That is not possible to do even vSAN to vSAN or VMFS to VMFS. It is not possible just to move the Snapshot manually.

If you have a VM with an Snapshot in vSAN and you want to do an Storage vMotion or a cloning of that VM that is possible but the Snapshot will be consolidated as part of that process.

However you can specify a different datastore for Snapshot location but i could not find any documentation if it is supported to dedicate a VMFS Datastore for snapshots if your VM is in vSAN or viceversa. Here is the KB detailing the whole process: VMware Knowledge Base

noobnoob71
Contributor
Contributor

Hey Lalegre, grateful for the swift reply, didn't expect to have an answer so quickly. :smileygrin:

I managed to download the snapshot files by using PowerCLI and also by accessing through the /folder/ directory via the web browser.

I am aware that cloning consolidates the snapshots.

I also saw https://cormachogan.com/2015/07/22/migrating-a-vm-with-snapshots-tofrom-vsan/ where he migrated from vSAN to NFS using Storage vMotion (without consolidation?)

The process is similar to what I am trying to acheive, but i cannot try it as I only have a single vSAN datastore currently.

Hence, converting from vsanSparse (vSAN) to SEsparse (VMFS6) without Storage vMotion is something I am trying to do right now.

The suggestion of specifying a different datastore for Snapshot location is interesting, also cant try it as I only have a single vSAN datastore currently.

So I am trying to manually download the individual files and see if there is any unorthodox way to convert a vSAN snapshot to a VMFS6 compatible snapshot.