Why can't I snapshot my VM from vCenter?

[klausnimble]

Hi,

I have VMs running in ESXi 4.0 managed by vCenter Server.

These VMs have one virtual disk connected to a non-shared SCSI controller, and a set of shared (via SCSI "virtual" bus sharing) virtual disks set as independent/persistent.

The "Take snapshot" function is greyed out for these VMs, no matter whether they are on or off. I guess it is due to the shared disks/controllers?

Why can't I take a snapshot, as all the shared disks are "independent" anyways?

Is there any possibility to allow a snapshot, maybe through the API, to get around the vCenter logic that does not allow to take a snapshot of these VMs?

Thanks

Klaus

[steveanderson3]

I did some testing with this, after setting up an oracle RAC poc environment. Once you set the second scsi controller in a clustered set up to shared mode, you lose the ability to do any snapshots. I validated this with a windows vm as well. The behavior is the same.

It looks like our oracle dba's will just have to be careful when they do the install!

[admin]

Hi,

Once you change the SCSI bus sharing to Physical or Virtual you wont be able to take snapshots of that VM. And I dont think there is some way in which you can take a snapshot of VMs with shared disks.

-Sandeep