Snapshot and Related Issue

It takes the Frozen state of the memory- we can go forward or backward

• Each snapshot creates it own delta .vmdk file
• (myvm-000001-delta.vmdk, myvm-000002-delta .vmdk)
• Parent disk becomes read only
• The size of the snapshot file can never exceed the size of the original disk file - it grows 16 MB incremental
• When we ―delete‖ the snapshot – changes are written into the parent disk and the current is deleted.
• when we ―revert‖ to the snapshot – changes are discarded and go back to the parent or specified state
• *-delta.vmdk- the delta file is a bitmap of the changes to the base VMDK. it can never grow larger than the flat VMDK.
• *.vmsd – text format file – stores the Meta data and information about the snapshot.
• *.vmsn- snapshot state file (like power state….) 

Snapshot Issue:-

A snapshot was not properly removed and/or hung during the removal process.  The virtual machine is now in an unusable state.

Cause:

The cause of the snapshot failing may vary by configuration.

Solution:

You should perform the following actions to manually remove the Snapshots from the Virtual Machine (VM)

1)      On the ESX Host run the following command

a.       service mgmt-vmware restart

                                                               i.      This will stop the hung snapshot removal process

                                                             ii.      This will most likely cause the VM to be labeled as “inactive” in VirutalCenter

2)      In VirtualCenter do the following

a.       Right click the “inactive” VM and select Remove from Inventory

3)      Using the Datastore Browser do the following

a.       Browse to the folder of the VM files

b.      Rename all VMSN files to VMSN.OLD

c.       Rename all VMSD files to VMSD.OLD

4)      On the ESX Host you will need to do the following.

a.       Change to the folder that holds all the VM files

b.      Copy the VMX File to VMX.OLD

                                                               i.      cp name.vmx name.vmx.old

c.       Modify the VMX file using NANO

                                                               i.      Command: nano name.vmx

                                                             ii.      Change the “SCSIx:y.fileName =” lines to point to the original VMDK filenames

1.      Example Original VMDK filename: name_1.vmdk

2.      Example Snapshot VMDK filename: name_1-000001.vmdk

                                                            iii.      Save the VMX file

1.      Ctrl – O then Enter

                                                           iv.      Exit Nano

1.      Ctrl – X

5)      Add the VM back to the VirtualCenter Inventory

a.       Using the Datastore Browser

                                                               i.      Right click the VMX file and select Add to Inventory

                                                             ii.      Follow the wizard