The virtual machine snapshot initiated through the backup software is not generating the manifest files.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Not able to create quiesced snapshots in the process of backup & restore.
• When a quiescing snapshot is created the manifest file in the VM folder is missing the writer.xml files in it.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.X

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.X

Cause

The parameter "disk.enableUUID" was not set to "TRUE" on the impacted VMs.

Resolution

 

• Log in to the ESXi Host: Access the ESXi host where the virtual machine (VM) is running via a Putty session.

• Run the Command: Execute the following command to check the VM configuration file:

   

  Example : # cat /vmfs/volumes/DS_UUID/VM_Name/VM_Name.vmx | grep -i enableUUID

• Validate the Result: If the command does not return 'disk.EnableUUID = "TRUE"', it indicates that the setting is either missing or incorrect. Then set the parameter to "TRUE" as per KB # 334873 :  Cannot find "disk.EnableUUID = "TRUE"" parameter in vmx file, when creating Windows Server 2016 virtual machine using Host Client 

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
The backup was completed but it was neither reported on VMware's side nor on the backup vendor's side.
However, the metadata was not reported back to VMware and there was an error reported which is mentioned below. Making it unable to restore from backup.

Note: The error isn't visible until debug logging is enabled on hostd.

Increasing VMware vCenter Server and VMware ESXi logging levels 

Example on the errors seen in the hostd logs:

Create Snapshot translated error to vim.fault.ApplicationQuiesceFault

Create Snapshot message: An error occurred while saving the snapshot: Failed to quiesce the virtual machine.
--> An error occurred while taking a snapshot: Failed to quiesce the virtual machine.

Time to gather snapshot information: 12 msecs. needConsolidate is false.

Error on the vSphere UI: "An error occurred while quiescing the virtual machine. see the virtual machine's event log for details. An error occurred while taking a snapshot: Failed to quiesce the virtual machine. An error occurred while saving the snapshot: Failed to quiesce the virtual machine"