DrorAmbar's Posts

Thank you Andre for your reply, I appreciate the tips. It was our VoIP vendor who created it before a previous software upgrade. The previous vendor set it up. Before that, we didn't use VMWare for our VoIP servers and switches and that vendor pushed for it, but it looks like they didn't know exactly what they were doing.

First, thank you so much for your patience and guidance. It looks like I have snapshots on two machines only. Here's what I got: ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1 [root@ESXi-Encino:/vmfs/volumes/56a6b74e-cffcbcd4-4c2a-9457a5527304/ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1] ls -lisa total 280505376 8429188      8 drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          3220 Jan 13 22:34 .       4   1024 drwxr-xr-t    1 root     root          1960 Mar 18  2016 .. 520134276 37028864 -rw-------    1 root     root     37916921856 May 13 18:55 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1-000001-delta.vmdk 524328580      0 -rw-------    1 root     root           338 Jan 13 22:34 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1-000001.vmdk 515939972 16777216 -rw-------    1 root     root     17179869184 Nov  4  2016 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1-Snapshot1.vmem 511745668   2048 -rw-------    1 root     root       1301090 Nov  4  2016 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1-Snapshot1.vmsn 448831108 16777216 -rw-------    1 root     root     17179869184 Jan 13 22:34 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1-e78a5214.vswp 16817796 209715200 -rw-------    1 root     root     214748364800 Nov  4  2016 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1-flat.vmdk 50372228   1024 -rw-------    1 root     root          8684 May 12 20:08 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1.nvram 21012100      0 -rw-------    1 root     root           507 Oct 20  2016 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1.vmdk 25206404      0 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root           479 Nov  4  2016 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1.vmsd 12623492      8 -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          2998 Jan 13 22:34 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1.vmx 436248196      0 -rw-------    1 root     root             0 Jan 13 22:34 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1.vmx.lck 54566532      8 -rw-------    1 root     root          3864 Jan 26  2016 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1.vmxf 440442500      8 -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          2996 Jan 13 22:34 ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1.vmx~ 163618436   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        303285 Nov 24  2018 vmware-13.log 234921604   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        269420 Nov 24  2018 vmware-14.log 272670340   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        329779 Dec  6  2018 vmware-15.log 339779204   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        350954 Dec 24  2018 vmware-16.log 394305156   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        990171 Jun  1  2019 vmware-17.log 415276676   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        963882 Jan 13 21:09 vmware-18.log 444636804   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        661578 May 13 15:14 vmware.log 432053892 195584 -rw-------    1 root     root     200278016 Jan 13 22:34 vmx-ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1-3884601876-1.vswp [root@ESXi-Encino:/vmfs/volumes/56a6b74e-cffcbcd4-4c2a-9457a5527304/ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1] df -h Filesystem   Size   Used Available Use% Mounted on VMFS-5     458.2G 375.7G     82.5G  82% /vmfs/volumes/datastore1 vfat         4.0G  23.6M      4.0G   1% /vmfs/volumes/56a6b74f-ea979f22-3bc9-9457a5527304 vfat       249.7M 183.5M     66.2M  74% /vmfs/volumes/77d56276-6242e12b-3bb3-5e40eb924faa vfat       249.7M   8.0K    249.7M   0% /vmfs/volumes/55016d7b-9fdca45f-9666-00de496181c6 vfat       285.8M 208.1M     77.7M  73% /vmfs/volumes/56a6b74e-87f7a1c2-b0f7-9457a5527304 [root@ESXi-Encino:/vmfs/volumes/56a6b74e-cffcbcd4-4c2a-9457a5527304/ShoreTel-ENC-DVS1] ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1 [root@ESXi-WLA:/vmfs/volumes/56a62e3a-f12aed25-f905-5820b1068e18/ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1] ls -lisa total 168979488 8403204      8 drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          3220 Nov  5  2019 .       4   1024 drwxr-xr-t    1 root     root          1960 Nov  3  2016 .. 696269060 26166272 -rw-------    1 root     root     26793463808 May 13 18:47 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1-000001-delta.vmdk 700463364      0 -rw-------    1 root     root           338 Nov  5  2019 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1-000001.vmdk 692074756 8388608 -rw-------    1 root     root     8589934592 Nov  4  2016 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1-Snapshot1.vmem 687880452   2048 -rw-------    1 root     root       1294078 Nov  4  2016 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1-Snapshot1.vmsn 494942468 8388608 -rw-------    1 root     root     8589934592 Jul 21  2019 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1-eaac7caa.vswp 16791812 125829120 -rw-------    1 root     root     128849018880 Nov  4  2016 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1-flat.vmdk 50346244   1024 -rw-------    1 root     root          8684 May 12 19:25 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1.nvram 20986116      0 -rw-------    1 root     root           507 Jul  9  2016 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1.vmdk 25180420      0 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root           481 Nov  4  2016 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1.vmsd 12597508      8 -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          2740 Nov  5  2019 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1.vmx 482359556      0 -rw-------    1 root     root             0 Jul 21  2019 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1.vmx.lck 75512068      8 -rw-------    1 root     root          3864 Jan 25  2016 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1.vmxf 562051332      8 -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          2740 Nov  5  2019 ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1.vmx~ 109066500   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        908206 Dec 15  2018 vmware-25.log 184563972   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        306515 Dec 24  2018 vmware-26.log 251672836   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        273116 Dec 24  2018 vmware-27.log 339753220   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        502491 Mar 25  2019 vmware-28.log 440416516   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        902540 Jul 20  2019 vmware-29.log 490748164   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        614289 Nov  4  2019 vmware-30.log 566245636   1024 -rw-r--r--    1 root     root        824368 May 13 14:32 vmware.log 478165252 195584 -rw-------    1 root     root     200278016 Jul 21  2019 vmx-ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1-3937172650-1.vswp [root@ESXi-WLA:/vmfs/volumes/56a62e3a-f12aed25-f905-5820b1068e18/ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1] df -h Filesystem   Size   Used Available Use% Mounted on VMFS-5     271.8G 233.7G     38.0G  86% /vmfs/volumes/datastore1 vfat       285.8M 208.1M     77.7M  73% /vmfs/volumes/56a62e3a-c10256a5-dcda-5820b1068e18 vfat         4.0G  17.9M      4.0G   0% /vmfs/volumes/56a62e3a-fd7e600d-028f-5820b1068e18 vfat       249.7M 183.5M     66.2M  74% /vmfs/volumes/a37c227f-0ef7f916-59c1-edbe21b399ae vfat       249.7M   8.0K    249.7M   0% /vmfs/volumes/11a27e75-aa4e1c8d-ffd8-2ec23eefaa07 [root@ESXi-WLA:/vmfs/volumes/56a62e3a-f12aed25-f905-5820b1068e18/ShoreTel-WLA-DVS1]

Hey Joerg, I think you answered a few of my questions on Dell's forum. I have a question in regards to snapshots. You wrote that snapshots contains running data. With that said, one of my servers has disk's properties grayed out and max size in disk provisioning showing N/A so I can't expand its hard disk space. I searched and found out that in order to resolve this issue I need to remove snapshots. I did find out in Snapshot manager that there was one taken by the previous vendor before a ShoreTel server upgrade. Is it safe to remove that snapshot? Here's the link to where it says that the solution is to remove the snapshot: Disk Provisioned Size Greyed Out

Thank you daphnissov. I'll answer your questions inline the best I can: Explain your limitation. Is this a perceived limitation or an actual one? How are you measuring it? What have you tried or not tried? As I mentioned, there are 4 servers but I will start with the most challenging one. The server was built per a previous vendor's guidelines and approved by them  to be used as a ShoreTel HQ server. Then a new vendor suggested to rebuild that server as a VM. They did it for us. The server has a total capacity of 148.5 GB. It has ESXi 6.0 installed on it with one guest that the HQ server was rebuilt on (running Win 2012 R2). Datastore1 capacity is 141 GB where free space is 18.5 GB. Provisioned storage size is 116.17 GB I gathered that information from the client app. I can attach screenshots if needed. I have not tried anything yet. There is another issue with storage but it has to do with the server running on that guest where the software upgrade requires a minimum of 40 GB free space. The vendor configured the server with 2 drives, drive 1 with 80 GB and drive 2 with 20 GB. I can remove drive 2 + the 18.5 GB mentioned above, and with that I have 38 GB to add to drive 1. Based on the limitation, identify whether you need a separate storage device or not. My guess is that there is a need for a separate storage solution based on the info above. Is that a fair guess? Perform in-guest, file-based or config-based backup of needed items to restore if all else fails. I will need more guidance here. We backup daily the ShoreTel server database which can be used to rebuild the server if the worst happens, of course we want to avoid that. If I have to use a 3rd party solution, what would be a good option (meaning, that it's not only backing up, but can also successfully recover...)?

Thank you everyone for your quick replies. So as you mentioned, rather than trying to describe “the solution”, I will describe the issue (which I should have done in the first place – my apologies) As mentioned earlier, there are 4 ESXi 6.0 servers. Our vendor needs to perform upgrades to the VoIP applications on these servers. I need a rollback method in case something goes wrong. The vendor recommended on taking snapshots. I was under the impression that snapshots (which I’m aware are not a replacement for backups) are something like a “system restore” to allow a quick rollback. Since we have storage limitations (and performing storage upgrade is something we cannot do now for various reasons but will in the future), snapshots cannot be taken. That is why I mentioned QNAPs, but I understand that this is not recommended. With the storage issue described above what would be a good practice that is not too complicated to be able to rollback if needed? Again, the reason I mentioned QNAP is because it is advertised as VMWare compatible. With that said, my intention is not to use for hosting. If not for snapshots, then perhaps to make full copies of VMs assuming it’s one of legit methods and if so, how? Other ideas are always appreciated. - Dror