Undetected Snapshots in Snapshot Manager and Snapshot Chain
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Undetected Snapshots in Snapshot Manager and Snapshot Chain

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Article ID: 316545

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server VMware vSphere ESXi VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

For troubleshooting snapshots that are not detected by the snapshot manager and consolidating the snapshots when the consolidate option is grayed out in the Host UI and vCenter Web Client.  ​​​​VM is running on a snapshot, but snapshots are not present in the snapshot manager. 

  • Datastore space usage does not align with virtual machine totals.
  • Datastores fill up unexpectedly.
  • Snapshots exist in the datastore but are absent from the snapshot chain.
  • The "Consolidate" option is unavailable or grayed out.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x, 7.x, 8.x

VMware Cloud Foundation 4.x/5.x

Cause

Undetected snapshots can be caused by: 

  • Insufficient datastore space during snapshot operations.
  • API failures between backup providers and VMware.
  • Network or storage events.
  • Abrupt VM shutdowns during snapshot tasks.

Resolution

Run disk consolidation from the vSphere Client. If the option is grayed out, use one of the following methods:

Option A - Recreate Snapshot Inventory and Tracking 

  1. Access the Esxi host via SSH with root privileges
  2. Create a temp subdirectory inside the affected VM directory.

    mkdir /vmfs/volumes/####_Datastore/####_VM/temp

     3. Move files ending in .vmsd, -ctk.vmdk, and .vmsn to the temporary subdirectory:

        mv /vmfs/volumes/####_Datastore/####_VM/####_VM.vmsd /vmfs/volumes/####_Datastore/####_VM/temp

     4. Reload the .vmx file Reloading a vmx file without removing the virtual machine from inventory

     5. Create a new non-memory snapshot to recreate inventory and change tracking

     6 . Select Delete All in the Snapshot Manager and run Consolidate. 

Note: The files moved in step 2 can be safely deleted ,once the VM is consolidated. 

Calculating consolidation progress - How to calculate Virtual Machine snapshot consolidation

Option B - Clone the Disk Using vmkfstools

  1. Identify disks running on snapshots.
  2. Ensure sufficient datastore space to create a copy of the disk(s). 
  3. Power down the VM. 
  4. Run the command.

     Note : When cloning a disk, initiate the clone from the last disk. Example: if the VM is pointing to Example_VM-000009.vmdk and you have to initiate the clone from Example_VM-000009.vmdk 

         nohup vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/####_Datastore/####_VM/####_VM-000009.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/####_Datastore/####_VM/####_VM_Clone.vmdk -d thin

   Note: The nohup creates a text file that tracks the cloning process in the current running directory.  

  1. Detach the disk with snapshots from the VM and attach the cloned disk. 
  2. Power on the VM, and ensure the cloned disk is working as expected. 

Note: Once it is verified that the VM is running and stable with the cloned disk, the original disk and snapshots can be safely deleted . It is recommended to let the run for a few days to make sure there is no unexpected behavior on the cloned disk. 

Option C: Recreate the VM Using HCX For environments where manual consolidation fails, use VMware HCX to migrate and recreate the VM without the snapshot chain.

 

 

Additional Information

Prevention 

To speak with a Support Engineer, see Contact Broadcom Support

As these snapshots will not show up in Snapshot Manager, we recommend checking periodically for these snapshots using vROPs, PowerCLI, RVTools, or the ESXi shell.  

*Run this command from the root directory of an ESXi host. This command will only check for snapshots in datastores that the ESXi host has access to.* 

find /vmfs/volumes/*/ -name "*000*.vmdk" | xargs ls -lh | awk '{ print $5,"\t"$6,$7,$8"\t",$9"\t",$10}' 

 

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