Automatic deletion of snapshots

[hwaltari]

All,

There is a neat per VM way to take snapshots automatically by a schedule. What I would like to accomplish is to also automatically delete those snapshots after certain number of days. The scenario would be: at certain date take the snapshot of all (windows) VMs, let separate automatic process update those VMs and, if all is well, say a week later delete those now unneeded snapshots. And if something goes south with the update I could restore the VM to the last snapshot.

So the question is, whether there is a way to automatically delete the snapshot via a schedule? This means within the vCenter. I could accomplish the same from an outside host or VM with PowerCLI, but that is not something I'm looking for.

Also would also be really nice if the snapshots schedule could be defined at the folder lever.

[TheBobkin · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Firstly, note you have posted this in the incorrect sub-forum - this is not a vSAN related query.

No there is no way to automate this via the GUI - use scripts or a 3rd-party application to achieve this.

Snapshots aren't backups, you should consider a more robust solution here such as adequately testing patches before mass deployment.

Bob