ESXi

 View Only

  • 1.  Stale VMDK file and Snapshot

    Posted Sep 12, 2011 03:55 PM

    i have a stale VMDK file and a snapshot file that i have no clue how and why it's in the directory of this VM.  I've checked a hundered time to make sure it's not being used anywhere and ther is no trace that it's being used.  Under Edit Settings there is only one hard disk in that datastore location however there are two VMDK files listed.  There is also a 000001.vmdk file associated with that stale VMDK file.  I ran the command  vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.get and there are no snaphots.  I also created a snapshot then did a DELETE ALL in snapshot mrg.  The files are still there.  Can i assue that i can manually delte these files??  Any help is appreciated.  Thanks



  • 2.  RE: Stale VMDK file and Snapshot

    Posted Sep 12, 2011 05:30 PM

    To be sure that the snapshot isn't use you can see the last timestamp on it.

    Andre



  • 3.  RE: Stale VMDK file and Snapshot

    Posted Sep 12, 2011 06:15 PM

    Thanks for teh input guys.  The time stamp on those files are march 1 of this year.  Safe to say they are not in use.  i will check the log file as well.  Thanks again !!!



  • 4.  RE: Stale VMDK file and Snapshot

    Posted Sep 12, 2011 06:38 PM

    The timestamp for snapshot files does not indicate whether the snapshot is in use or not. It's always only the last snapshot in a snapshot-chain, to which ESXi writes. All other snapshot files in the snapshot-chain are treated read-only.

    André



  • 5.  RE: Stale VMDK file and Snapshot
    Best Answer

    Posted Sep 13, 2011 05:01 AM

    Correct, you must see the whole chain.

    But in this case was the only delta file (or I think so as was writte in the first post).

    Andre



  • 6.  RE: Stale VMDK file and Snapshot

    Posted Sep 12, 2011 05:38 PM

    Actually the only reason why I saw obsolete snapshot files so far, was because of manual modifications (e.g. reassigning the vmdk file to a VM using the GUI). Anyway, from what you describe, it really looks like these files are not used anymore. To be sure you should take a look at the latest vmware.log file in the VM's folder. If the files are not referenced, you may delete them. However, I recommend you create a sub-folder and move the file to it first, then - if the VM runs without issues - you can safely delete the file and the sub-folder.

    André