DeleteSnapshots Failures and CNS Warnings on vCenter 9.1 - vSAN Snapshot Service Appliance 8.0.3.1

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

Use this article to troubleshoot continuous DeleteSnapshots task generation and Cloud Native Storage (CNS) synchronization warnings in environments utilizing the vSAN Snapshot Service Appliance. These issues occur due to version incompatibility when upgrading to newer vCenter and vSAN architectures.

Symptoms

• Continuous generation of DeleteSnapshots tasks in vCenter Server.
• Persistent Cloud Native Storage (CNS) synchronization warnings.
• Unexplained vSAN used capacity growth.
• Snapshot count discrepancies between vSAN Data Protection UI and Space Efficiency reports.
• Snapshot Service Appliance logs referencing CleanupOrphanSnapshots, DeleteOrphanSnapshots, and OrphanSnapshotScrubberJob failures with "General vSAN error."

 

Environment

vCenter Server 9.1
vSAN ESA 9.1.0
vSAN Snapshot Service Appliance 8.0.3.1

Cause

The vSAN Snapshot Service Appliance 8.0.3.1 is an unsupported legacy component on vCenter Server 9.1 with vSAN ESA 9.1.0. This incompatibility prevents the appliance from successfully executing snapshot deletion tasks against the updated architecture, leading to orphan snapshot buildup and capacity consumption.

Resolution

1. Plan and execute the convergence of the existing vSAN Snapshot Service Appliance 8.0.3.1 to the consolidated Protection and Recovery 9.1 appliance.
2. Recreate user-defined permissions that reference snapservice roles, as these do not carry over during the appliance change.
3. Allow the newly deployed Protection and Recovery 9.1 appliance time to automatically run cleanup jobs to clear orphaned snapshots and reclaim vSAN capacity.

Additional Information

• Steps to converge to VMware Live Recovery

• Protection and Recovery 9.1 Release Notes