Large snapshot delete operations time out in VirtualCenter
search cancel

Large snapshot delete operations time out in VirtualCenter

book

Article ID: 309617

calendar_today

Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
Large snapshot delete operations time out in VirtualCenter.
  • The vpxd log contains entries similar to:

    vpxd-7.log 3642 [2008-08-05 14:35:00.500 'App' 3416 info] [VpxLRO] -- BEGIN
    task-9756 -- vm-9257 -- vim.vm.Snapshot.remove --
    C8FFE4B7-A915-4F34-9D75-148BD6526DF2
    vpxd-7.log 4459 [2008-08-05 14:50:09.859 'App' 3416 info] [VpxLRO] -- FINISH
    task-9756 -- vm-9257 -- vim.vm.Snapshot.remove --
    C8FFE4B7-A915-4F34-9D75-148BD6526DF2
    vpxd-7.log 4460 [2008-08-05 14:50:09.859 'App' 3416 info] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR
    task-9756 -- vm-9257 -- vim.vm.Snapshot.remove: vim.fault.Timedout:

    Note: This log entry indicates that the operation takes more than 15 minutes, which is the VirtualCenter default timeout period.
  • If a snapshot operation was created as a result of a VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) backup, the VCB job fails
  • If a VCB jobs fails, the pre_*.log file for the backup job reports:

    pre_xx-xxxnnnnnnnnnn.log:['vcbMounter' nnnn error] Error: Other error encountered: Snapshot creation failed: Operation failed since another task is in progress.


Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 

Resolution

Note: Most of the snapshot related issues are improved with changes to the Delete All snapshot process in the patch releases for ESX/ESXi 7.0 and 8.0 . For more information see:
A virtual machine that has a snapshot backed by one or more large transaction disks (-delta files) can take longer to commit than the default timeout period of 15 minutes.
 
Even though VirtualCenter reports the operation as timed out, it is continuing to consolidate on the ESX host. For very large -delta files, the operation can take hours to complete. As a result, subsequent snapshot operations (such as those requested by VCB) may fail. To workaround this issue, point VCB to the ESX host directly instead of through VirtualCenter.
To monitor the progress of the snapshot deletion, see Command to monitor snapshot deletion in VMware ESX/ESXi (1007566).
 
 
For details on consolidating snapshots manually, see https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/316575/



Additional Information