Managing snapshots in vSphere Web Client

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to manage snapshots using the vSphere Web Client.

Note: For more information, see the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide.  For 6.5 here This guide contains definitive information. If there is a discrepancy between the guide and the article, assume the guide is correct.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0

Resolution

The various snapshot management tasks include:

• Taking a snapshot in the vSphere Web Client
• Reverting to a snapshot in the vSphere Web Client
• Consolidating snapshots in the vSphere Web Client
• Deleting snapshots in the vSphere Web Client

Note: For information on managing snapshots, see the Using Snapshots To Manage Virtual Machines section of the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide.

Taking a snapshot in the vSphere Web Client

Notes:

• If you are taking a memory snapshot of a virtual machine that has multiple disks in different disk modes, verify that the virtual machine is powered off. For example, if you have a special purpose configuration that requires you to use an independent disk, you must power off the virtual machine before taking a snapshot.
• To capture the memory state of the virtual machine, verify that the virtual machine is powered on.
• To quiesce the virtual machine files, verify that the virtual machine is powered on and that VMware Tools is installed.
• Required privilege: Virtual machine.State. Create snapshot on the virtual machine.

To take a snapshot in the vSphere Web Client:

1. Right-click the virtual machine in the inventory and click Take Snapshot.
   
   Note: To locate a virtual machine:
    
   1. Select a datacenter, folder, cluster, resource pool, host, or vApp.
   2. Click the Related Objects tab and click Virtual Machines.
       
2. Enter a name for the snapshot.
3. Enter a description for the snapshot. This step is optional.
4. Select the Snapshot the virtual machine’s memory option to capture the memory of the virtual machine. This step is optional.
5. Select the Quiesce guest file system (Needs VMware Tools installed) option to pause running processes on the guest operating system, so that file system contents are in a known consistent state when you take the snapshot. This step is optional.
   
   Note: Quiesce the virtual machine files only when the virtual machine is powered on and you do not have to capture the virtual machine's memory.
    
6. Click OK.

Reverting to a snapshot in the vSphere Web Client

Notes:

• When you revert to a snapshot, you immediately restore the parent snapshot of the virtual machine.
• When you revert to a snapshot, disks that you added or changed after the snapshot was taken are reverted to the snapshot point. For example, when you take a snapshot of a virtual machine, add a disk, and revert the snapshot, the added disk is removed.
• Independent disks are also removed when you revert to a snapshot that was taken before the disk was added. If the latest snapshot includes an independent disk, its contents do not change when you revert to that snapshot.

To revert to a snapshot in the vSphere Web Client:

1. Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and click Revert to Current Snapshot.
   
   To locate a virtual machine:
    
   1. Select a datacenter, folder, cluster, resource pool, host, or vApp.
   2. Click the Related Objects tab and click Virtual Machines.

Note: The virtual machine power and data states are returned to the states they were in at the time you took the parent snapshot. If the parent snapshot is a memory snapshot, the virtual machine is restored to an on power state.

Consolidating snapshots in the vSphere Web Client

Notes:

• The presence of redundant delta disks can adversely affect virtual machine performance. You can combine such disks without violating a data dependency. After consolidation, redundant disks are removed, which improves virtual machine performance and saves storage space.
• Snapshot consolidation is useful when snapshot disks fail to compress after a Delete or Delete all operation or if the disk did not consolidate. This might happen, for example, if you delete a snapshot but its associated disk does not commit back to the base disk.
• The Needs Consolidation column in the vSphere Web Client shows the virtual machines to consolidate.
• Required privilege: Virtual machine.State.Remove Snapshot on the virtual machine.

To consolidate snapshots in the vSphere Web Client:

1. View the Needs Consolidation column. To view the Needs Consolidation column:
    
   1. Select a vCenter Server instance, a host, or a cluster.
   2. Click the Manage tab and click Virtual Machines.
   3. Right-click the menu bar for any virtual machine column and click Show/Hide Columns > Needs Consolidation.
      
      Note: A Yes status indicates that the snapshot files for the virtual machine should be consolidated and that the virtual machine's Tasks and Events tab shows a configuration problem. A No status indicates that the files are good.
       
2. To consolidate the files, right-click the virtual machine and click All vCenter Actions > Consolidate.
3. Check the Needs Consolidation column to verify that the task succeeded. If the task succeeded, a No value appears in the Needs Consolidation column.
4. If the task failed, check the event log for failed conditions, such as running out of disk space.
5. Resolve the issue and then retry the consolidation task. The configuration problem should now be resolved and the Needs Consolidation value must be set to No.
   
   Note: To determine the size of any given snapshot, use the DataStore Web Browser to view the files.

Deleting a snapshot in the vSphere Web Client

Notes:

• Snapshot Manager can be used to delete a single snapshot or all snapshots in a snapshot tree.
• Use care when deleting a snapshots. For more information on deleting snapshots, see the Deleting Snapshots. section of the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide.
• Ensure that you are familiar with the Delete and Delete all actions and how they might affect virtual machine performance.

To delete a snapshot in the vSphere Web Client:

1. Right-click the virtual machine and click Manage Snapshots.
   
   To locate a virtual machine:
    
   1. Select a datacenter, folder, cluster, resource pool, host, or vApp.
   2. Click the Related Objects tab and click Virtual Machines.
       
2. In the Snapshot Manager, click a snapshot to select it.
3. Select whether you want to delete a single snapshot or all snapshots.
   
   Delete – Consolidates the snapshot data to the parent snapshot and removes the selected snapshot from the Snapshot Manager and virtual machine.
4. Delete All – Consolidates all of the immediate snapshots before the You are here current state to the base parent disk and removes all existing snapshots from the Snapshot Manager and virtual machine.
5. Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box.
6. Click Close to exit the Snapshot Manager.

 

Additional Information

• Committing snapshots when there are no snapshot entries in the Snapshot Manager
• Determining if a virtual machine is using snapshots
• Snapshot Manager fails to detect snapshots of VMs