Cannot delete consolidated helper 0 snapshot due to full HDD

[Gkanda]

HI, I need some help resolving this issue of deleting snapshot. There is a consolidated helper 0 snapshot in snapshot manager which is hogging all disk space. Now VM is in error state due to full hdd. I contacted veeam b&r support team but they referred me to VMware because I have to remove this only via CLI. We are using esx 4.0 with ha configuration. Can some body help me resolving this issue?

[LucD]

Have you already tried the procedure in KB1003302 ?

Move the VM to a datastore that has enough free space, and then remove all the snapshots from the VM.

[a_p_]

Welcome tot the Community,

prior to doing anything, it's important to fully understand the current situation. To start with, please provide some details, like the size of the datastore, whether the VM's virtual disks are thin or thick provisioned as well as the exact build number of the ESX 4.0 host.

In addition provide a full list of files in the VM's folder to see all snapshots and their sizes (the Snasphot Manager may not list all snapshots).

André

PS: Discussion moved from VMware vSphere™ PowerCLI to VMware ESX™ 4

[bobozin]

Create a new snapshot of the VM. (Dummy Snapshot)

When the snapshot is created the old “Consolidate Helper-0” is added to the snapshot manager.

Click the "Delete All" radio button.

After the remove snapshot task is completed ( the process can take a while depending on the size of the snapshot).

Run the find command & verify if the snapshot is really committed.

[a_p_]

The reason why I asked for the exact build is that "Delete All" with version prior to 4.0 Update 2 may cause even more issues, if multiple snapshots exist. This is due to the way snapshot chains are deleted/merged.

André