Cannot create a snapshot with 2TB virtual disk?

[gregsn]

I have a virtual file server with a 2TB virtual disk (vmdk).  When I try to create a snapshot of the system (in order to back it up), I get the following error:

File <unspecified filename> is larger than the maximum size supported by the datastore '<unspecified datastore>.

The datastore which the file server is located on is formatted with VMFS 5.54 with 1MB block size.  It is a 12TB datastore with about 6TB free.

[logiboy123]

This KB might help you;

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1012384

I would consider using RDM's instead.

Regards,

Paul 

[gregsn]

Thanks for the info.  According to article, I cannot create snapshots of disks sized 2048GB-512bytes regardless of the VMFS version.  The largest disk I could create a snapshot of would be ~2032GB (2048GB - ~16GB snapshot overhead).  Is this correct?

[logiboy123]

I suspect you are correct, unfortunately I cannot confirm in my test lab at this time.

Regards,

Paul

[Dave_Mishchenko · Accepted solution]

That's correct.  If you want to take a snapshot, then the maximum size is 2032 GB.   And that's the case even if you thin provision the disk.