Snapshot consolidation is needed, but unable to access file since it is locked

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

In the vCenter Server GUI, a selected VM will have the warning displayed: "Disk consolidation is needed."

When trying to consolidate disks, the task fails, citing file locks or busy/in-use disks.

Using vmfsfilelockinfo on the disk files noted as busy or locked: read only

lsof | grep -i machinename returns 

#######      hostd           file            ###  /vmfs/volumes/########-########-####-############/vmname/vmname#.vmdk

Environment

vCenter Server 8.0

ESXi 8.0

Cause

Read only locks not cleared from either backup, snapshot or replication processes

Resolution

Place host in to maintenance mode.

Move other vms off the host, either through  DRS or vMotion.

Once only the problem vm is on the host, reboot the host the lock is held on.