Cannot Quiesce Vcenter snapshot

[Keith800]

When I perform a snapshot on Vcenter 5.0 SP1 by unchecking (disable) "Snapshot  the virtual machine's memory", and setting (enable) "Quiesce guest file  System", I get the error "Create virtual machine snapshot vcenter An  error occurred  while quiescing the
virtual machine. See the virtual machine's event log for details."

I've  tried this on another host having vcenter (using the above settings)  and get the same results. If I change the settings on Vcenter snapshots,  they work, and snapshots on other vm's/hosts work with no issue. These  settings are used in Arcserve Backup and I need some help in getting  this to work. Thanks.

[vmroyale]

Hello and welcome to the communities.

Note: Discussion successfully moved from vSphere Management SDK to Backup & Recovery

[Keith800]

Thank you Brian. Didn't realize I was in the wrong forum.

[vmroyale]

No worries on the move!

So, if you enable the memory snapshot and the file system quiesce (both options) then everything works great on the vCenter VM?

Why are you trying to skip the memory on the vCenter Server?

Where is your vCenter database and which db is it?

Feels like a piece is missing from the puzzle...

[Keith800]

So, if you enable the memory snapshot and the file system quiesce (both  options) then everything works great on the vCenter VM?

Correct. I've had other people (in other businesses) try this scenario and  have the same issue.

Why are you trying to skip the memory on the vCenter Server?

This is how Arcserve backups run, and I would like to be able to have an  offsite backup of our entire configuration.

Where is your vCenter database and which db is it?

localhost, SQL server native client 10.0, which I believe is SQL studio  express.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Which DB is it".

[Keith800]

I found the issue. Vmware tools is installed on Vcenter. I disabled the vmware tools service and now I can quiesce the backups.

[Keith800]

Vmware tools is installed on Vcenter. I disabled the vmware tools service and now I can quiesce the backups.

[donfede]

Negative - we found that even with the VMware Tools Service disabled on vCenter, the system became unresponsive, disconnecting vSphere Clients.

Our workaround was to connect direct ESX host running the vCenter VM; power down vCenter; and get a cold-snapshot.

donfede

[ldelloca]

The problem is not vCenter but its database, it seems to be vCenter since usually on small environments they are on the same VM. The problem is related to the freeze of the database and so the loss of reply from ESXi when requesting the snapshot.

Veeam for example has create a KB about this error when using VSS, but you can apply it also to VMtools quiescence: http://www.veeam.com/kb1051

Solution is to directly map the ESXi server where the db is running, instead of vCenter itself. Take care if using DRS, you would need an affinity rule to keep the VM on the same ESXi.

Luca.