ESXi v7+V8 free - VM exports stop at 36GB, no snapshots

[fars]

Hi, with no warning my ESXi free v7.0.3h stopped exporting the VDMK file for my VMs at 36GB, always the same point.

It doesn't matter which VM, or which PC I download to.  I upgraded it to v8.0 and same thing.

This never used to be a problem.  I've rebooted everything plus reconnected physical network connections.

Am totally confused.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Would be so welcome.

Thanks !

[Alex_Romeo]

Hi,

What browser using? try to change it.

regards,

Alex_Romeo

[fars]

Thanks - same result with Chrome/Firefox/Brave.  Strange that it always stops at the same byte (well on firefox as it leaves partial download file).

Also fails using ovftool.exe at same point.  Have restarted all network equipment and replugged ethernet cables.

VM in question works fine, I use it daily - but it is shutdown when export attempted.  Also has no snapshots. 

Also tried with VPN killed off as well but didn't help.

Am so confused.  Any suggestions super welcome

[fars]

In the end could not determine what caused it.

Logging said some issue with file and a large hash name. Presumably something corrupted because identical spec VM downloaded fine. Strange that this one with the issue worked OK, just wouldn't download.

Trying to copy the vdmk file locally within the ESXi server always failed after a significant portion had been copied.

In the end recreated the VM from scratch, and all good - downloads fine.

[Alex_Romeo]

Hi,

Another solution is to link to "https://<ip-vcsa>or<FQDN>/folder". navigate to the virtual machine folder and click on the individual files to start the download.

regards,

Alex_Romeo

[fars]

Hi Alex,

I couldn't even get it to copy the individual VDMK file to a new datastore location without an error after it had been running for a few minutues, so in the end gave up and recreated machine from scratch again.

The new one (even though identical) backs up just fine - everything is normal.

The old one is gone now.

Thanks for the suggestions, was appreciated

Regards, Far

[fars · Accepted solution]

OK putting this here for reference for other people.  The issue was caused by Samsung 980pro 2TB PCIe4 SSDs failing.

It is now well documented that the drives have issues and are failing at way faster than the rate they should for a part with a 5year warranty.  In my case one lasted maybe 6months and another exhibiting similar export termination issues after just 2 months. 

They were actively cooled with fan specifically in heatsink attached in to them.  With a different brand drive there are no problems.

Samsung have released a firmware fix to try and mitigate the issue, but the drive has to be functional to apply it...

Apparently there are also issues with the 990 series.  However all prior ones are rock solid and I have many back to 950series that are all still running fine.