To monitor the snapshot deletion using esxtop in ESXi 4.x/5.x:
Log in as root to the ESX/ESXi host using SSH.
Run the esxtop command.
Note: This command works only if the virtual machine is powered on.
Press V to see only running virtual machines.
Note: This is not the same as using the v option.
Find the virtual machine running the consolidation.
Type e to expand.
Enter the Group World ID (value from GID column).
Press Enter.
Make a note of the World ID (ID column) of the snapshot consolidation process:
In ESX/ESXi 4.x, the process is called SnapshotVMXCombiner.
In ESXi 5.x, the process is called vmx-SnapshotVMX.
Type u to display the disk device statistics.
Type e to expand and enter the device where the snapshot consolidation process is writing to.
For example:
naa.xxx value
Notes:
For a regular vmdk file, the device is the datastore that the flat file is located.
For a flat vmdk, identifying the datastore device ID can be done by running esxcfg-scsidevs -m.
For RDM, the vmkfstools -q against the pointer file reveals the vml ID, which needs to be correlated with the output of ls -l /vmfs/devices/disks/ to get the device ID.
Identify the Group World ID from step 6.
Note: You may need to sort by MBREAD/s ( press R) or MBWRTN/s (press T) to see the process at the top of the screen.
Review the number IOPS and throughput for the Consolidation process (WRITES/s and MBWRTN/s columns) to ensure that there is activity and the process is working.