Unable to access file <unspecified filename> during Consolidation

[BLeitson]

One of our VM's on a ESXi 5.1 host is reporting that it needs to be consolidated. When we tell it to consolidate the snapshots it failes with the error "Unable to access file <unspecified filename> since it is locked". I have tried to create a new snapshot and delete all. I've tried to look up the locked file via SSH with no luck.

The vmdk's do not live on the local host's HDD, they are on a networked SAN (if that makes a difference).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[memaad]

Hi,

What backup utility you use to take backup. Also what is size of snapshot disk. If  size is in some kb then you can discard it.

Regards

Mohammed

[BLeitson]

Currently we are using Symantec BackupExec 2012 (hopefully not much longer) and the reported snapshot size in vShpere is around 2.5GB

[memaad]

Here ie few things that you can test.

If VM is powered Off, here is command that you use to check who is having lock.

Connect to host using SSH, "PUTTY" , then  change to VM directory , run this command "  "touch *"  It will tell you which file is busy.

Then run this command   "vmkfstools -D  busy-filename", from vmkernel logs or message logs it will tell you mac address of machine having lock.

Here is KB http://kb.vmware.com/kb/10051 for it in detail. IF this does not help,

Your backup utility is having lock on this VM.

Regards

Mohammed

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

I'm too fighting such issues each couple of weeks - using another backup application - and in most cases restarting the Management Services on the host on which the VM is registered solves the issue.

André

[BLeitson]

When restarting the management services, are the VM's affected? (ie: Will the servers that are turned on on that host be down or have any

repercussions?)

[memaad]

Hi,

No. If you have set VM to power  On with host power On, then it can be,

Regards

Mohammed

[a_p_]

Usually restarting the Management Agents does not affect the powered on VM's. The only issue that I know of which can occur is that VM's, which are configured for autostart/shutdown (which should not be the case in a cluster) may shutdown. Just make sure there's nothing like vMotion, ... active at the time you restart the Management Agents.

André

[BLeitson]

Currently, we only have the Essentials license so I dont even have vMotion.

Just to clerify, restarting Management Services will not affect powered on VM's if none of them are set to autostart/autostop and no vMotion or other actions are taking place at the time of the restart?

[memaad]

Hi,

Then no issue, go ahead and restart management agent.

Regards

Mohamed

[a_p_]

I agree with memaad. Restarting the Management Agents should not affect the VM's in this case.

André

[BLeitson]

Restarting the Mangement Services did the trick.

Thank you very much!