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SkyGoh
Contributor
Contributor

Removing of Snapshots in ESXI 6.5 does not reduce space in the vSAN

Hi All,

Was removing several snapshots via my vSphere Web Client and noticed that the space on my storage is not reduced significantly, this happen only recently.

I am constantly removing a significant amount of snapshots so usually the reduction in storage space is obvious but recently I noticed this problem on my vSAN.

Anyone has any idea why is this happening or is there any way for me to reduce the space or do some housekeeping to reduce it ?

I also noticed there is several .vmdk in my datastore namely, vmdk01, vmdk02, so on and so forth.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

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8 Replies
MikeStoica
Expert
Expert

What version of vSAN you have? Automated storage reclamation TRIM/UNMAP were introduced in vSAN 6.7U1

Can you run this command esxcli storage vmfs reclaim config get -l=VMFS_label|-u=VMFS_uuid - you will get info about the space reclamation configuration?

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SkyGoh
Contributor
Contributor

Good Day Mike,

Sadly, I am currently running vSAN 6.5. It does not have that function in place.

The weird thing is that even though I deleted more snapshots. It does not free up spaces like it used to anymore.

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diegodco31
Leadership
Leadership

Maybe not show snapshot manager.

Please provide a complete list of files in the VM's folder. cd /vmfs/volumes/<datastore>/<VMname>),

Diego Oliveira
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dcodiego
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SkyGoh
Contributor
Contributor

Hi All,

This happened recently as well. Not sure if it is related to the vSAN being clogged up.

pastedImage_0.png

pastedImage_1.pngThis is the overview.

The VC does not reflect accurately as well.

pastedImage_2.png

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SkyGoh
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Diego,

Good day to you, do you mean take a VM and access it, then take copy the list of names in as an example ?

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diegodco31
Leadership
Leadership

Hello

Log in as root to the ESX host using SSH.

  1. Navigate to the virtual machine directory containing vmdk virtual disk files. Run the cd command to change the current directory.

    For example:

    # cd /vmfs/volumes/Datastore_name/Virtual_Machine_name/
  2. Run this command to list files in the directory:

    # ls -al
Diego Oliveira
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dcodiego
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SkyGoh
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Diego,

Thanks for the help, I understand what you meant but I was referring to something else.

But it is ok, below is the ls

pastedImage_0.png

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gutiguti
Contributor
Contributor

Question had been: Removing Snapshots does not reduce Size in vSAN.

Resolution can be: (step by step

1) Delete some Snaphshots

2) You need to have at minimum 2 different Data storages where you have access

3) Migrate  the Master with vMotion to another storage (you only need to migrate Datastorage)

4) Migrate back to your normal storage

5) Size is reduced now