This article provides a workaround to address the snapshot consolidation issue caused by the failure to load the CBT module during the ESXi boot process.
Symptoms:
- Snapshot consolidation fails to complete after upgrading the ESXi version to 7.0 U1 using the DELL Custom Image.
- Virtual machine and Hostd logs will report a failure in opening the Change Tracking (CTK) file, resulting in the consolidation error: "ESXi tracking filter not available"
- The following errors can be found in the virtual machine log file:
</vmfs/volumes/<Datastore UUID>/<Virtual Machine Name>/vmware.log>
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.629Z| vcpu-0| A000: ConfigDB: Setting scsi0:1.redo = ""
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.629Z| vcpu-0| I005: DISK: OPEN scsi0:1 '/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/5f46c24a-########-####-##########7c/Test_1-000002.vmdk' persistent R[]
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.631Z| vcpu-0| I005: AIOGNRC: Failed to open '/vmfs/devices/disks/5f46c24a-########-####-##########7c' : Could not find the file (60003) (0x2013).
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.631Z| vcpu-0| I005: OBJLIB: Device '/vmfs/devices/disks/5f46c24a-########-####-##########7c' not present, retrying to create one.
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.641Z| vcpu-0| I005: DISKLIB-LIB_BLOCKTRACK : Resuming from change tracking info file /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/5f46c24a-########-####-##########7c/Test_1-000002-ctk.vmdk.
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.645Z| vcpu-0| I005: DISKLIB-CTK : Could not open change tracking file "/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/5f46c24a-########-####-##########7c/Test_1-000002-ctk.vmdk": Change tracking invalid
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.651Z| vcpu-0| I005: DISKLIB-CTK : Change tracking invalid; reinitializing.
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.683Z| vcpu-0| I005: ConsolidateEnd: Snapshot consolidate complete: ESXi tracking filter not available (5).
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.261Z verbose hostd[3457085] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/5f46c24a-########-####-##########7c/Test.vmx opID=kg4v90cf-4586521-auto-2qaze-h5:70279734-6-78-1f35 user=vpxuser:company\exampleuser] Removeallsnapshots received. Consolidate: true
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.262Z info hostd[3457085] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/5f46c24a-########-####-##########7c/Test.vmx opID=kg4v90cf-4586521-auto-2qaze-h5:70279734-6-78-1f35 user=vpxuser:company\exampleuser] State Transition (VM_STATE_ON -> VM_STATE_REMOVEALL_SNAPSHOT)
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.359Z verbose hostd[3457085] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/5f46c24a-########-####-##########7c/Test.vmx opID=kg4v90cf-4586521-auto-2qaze-h5:70279734-6-78-1f35 user=vpxuser:company\exampleuser] Consolidate disks after snapshot removal.
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.415Z verbose hostd[2102328] [Originator@6876 sub=Vigor.Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/5f46c24a-########-####-##########7c/Test.vmx] Consolidate Disks message: Consolidation failed for disk node 'scsi0:0': ESXi tracking filter not available.
- Consolidation failed for disk node 'scsi0:1': ESXi tracking filter unavailable.
- An error occurred during disk consolidation: "ESXi tracking filter was not available.