combine snapshot

Similar Questions

• ESXi 4 - how to get rid of snapshots manually?

  Hi all

  on an ESXi 4, ran more disk space. Reason is that there were several snapshots for a virtual machine. After moving other virtual machine in another data store the shots were engaged by the use of the Snapshot Manager.

  The snapshots disappeared from the hierarchy of the instant Manager as expected.

  So far so good.

  However, the snapshot files has not disappeared from the data store. And: The files are always needed to start the virtual machine, as they are concatenated sort according to the configuration file and start-log. In first vmdk-data of the config file it seems to contain some information about the geometry of the disc etc inside?

  In addition, the size of the 1st disk could not become changed by the settings dialogue vSphere-Client-as this is the 2nd drive.

  How to combine snapshots or what to do to get rid of unused snapshots and delete files? In the end, I didn't have one for the 1st disk vmdk file. (Without any reference to the old clichés but never used.)

  Suspicion and advice is appreciated.

  Thank you and best regards

  Ralf

  Something strange is happening here. Although the disc is identified as "Thick" configured in the properties of the virtual, the vmdk Watch ddb.thinProvisioned = "1" file computer that could explain the size of GB ~ 26, displayed in the datastore Explorer! In this case, you would not be able to commit snapshots, because you have only 19GB of disk space and you temporarily need at least 45 ~ 50 GB.

  Could you do another check please and run a ls-lisa on the command line to check the size of the vm01sbsdc020 - flat hard.

  You have another VMFS at least 70 GB data store (better more) free space on the disk? In this case, we could go the safe way and to clone the virtual disk without touching the original of the vmdk files.

  André

  PS: Add "... because you have only 19GB of disk space and you need at least temporarily ~ 45-50 GB." in order to clarify the reason for which the snapshot cannot be removed with thin basic disk put in service.

• How to take a snapshot of my screen of firefox

  I want to take a snapshot of my mobile firefox

  Hi Roshan,

  Depending on your Firefox OS device, you can take a screenshot with one of the following key combinations:

  • Power + Home button
  • Power + Volume down

  You can also see the help article for more details: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-take-screenshots-firefox-os

  I hope you find this information useful. Please let us know if you have other questions about your Firefox OS device.

  Thank you

  -Ralph

• big blur on dvd still snapshots

  Running XP Pro on laptop Lenovo X 60

  I have vob on hard drive files. To use Windows Movie Maker, I had to modify the extension to .mpg. When I play the movie, then go to freeze or even create a snapshot of executives he always fuzzy. It's NOT blur of camera movement. When you play the movie, there is no blur. When you stop it or you try to save an image, it is blurred in the picture. He goes in and out of blur. I also tried Media Player Classic. It seems that it is taking several images and combining them maybe. I tried searching for accelerators or some kind of interlacing to turn off. Does not work so far. I don't see a response through google.

  Running XP Pro on laptop Lenovo X 60

  I have vob on hard drive files. To use Windows Movie Maker, I had to modify the extension to .mpg. When I play the movie, then go to freeze or even create a snapshot of executives he always fuzzy. It's NOT blur of camera movement. When you play the movie, there is no blur. When you stop it or you try to save an image, it is blurred in the picture. He goes in and out of blur. I also tried Media Player Classic. It seems that it is taking several images and combining them maybe. I tried searching for accelerators or some kind of interlacing to turn off. Does not work so far. I don't see a response through google.

  =================================
  Fact is... video captures are never as strong as always
  a good digital camea coups.

  Try to make your freeware screen capture
  VLC Media Player. (FWIW, it can also record segments
  video... See article below)

  (FWIW... it's always a good idea to create a system)
  Restore point before installing software or updates)

  VLC Media Player
  http://www.videolan.org/

  For the installer for your screen Capture... Open VLC and
  Reach... Tools / Preferences / video button / video
  Instant image section.

  In the directory field... Search for and select a folder
  to save your captures po (for example... you could
  Create a new folder on your desktop and select)

  TO... Prefix... check the box... Sequential numbering.

  TO... Format, choose JPEG or PNG.

  Finally... on the left, click on the Save"" button.

  Now... Play the video and pause by pressing on your
  SPACEBAR when you see a screen you want to capture.

  To capture the screen... type...  SHIFT + S

  Press space to advance to the next photo...
  ect... etc...

  VLC 1.0 records video of the DVD
  http://Lifehacker.com/5318807/VLC-10-records-video-from-DVDs

  Volunteer - MS - MVP - Digital Media Experience J - Notice_This is not tech support_I'm volunteer - Solutions that work for me may not work for you - * proceed at your own risk *.

• Question about Equallogic snapshots.

  Hello forum

  I could not confirm this, but instant never need to commit anything to the basic volume?

  Lets say I have 10 snapshots and delete the oldest? There will be a load of e/s to validate these instant changes?

  Also, if someone could point me to any type of indepth explanation of this technique of snapshot, I would be interested to read all that.

  Thank you!

  N ° current data are already on the base volume.  There is nothing to commit.   Only if you are completely restoring a volume from a snapshot will be there in writing for the base volume.

  On the site of Equallogic Support KB:

  Solution title TABLE: how the snapshot reserve space is allocated and used

  Solution details Snapshot Reserve Allocation and use

  -------------------------------------

  In a series group PS, snapshots can protect against errors, of a volume

  virus or the database. A cliché represents the content of a volume

  at the time you created the snapshot. Creating a snapshot does not disturb

  access to the volume, and the snapshot is instantly available allowed

  iSCSI initiators.

  Before you can create snapshots for a volume, you must allocate space (called

  snapshot pool) for snapshots. You set the value of the snapshot reserve

  When you create or modify a volume. Snapshot reserve benefits from the same

  as the volume of the pool data.

  When snapshot data consume entire supply snapshot, the Group remove is

  the oldest snapshots to free up space for new images or sets the volume and

  snapshots offline, according to the policy you selected for instant recovery

  space.

  The functionality for creating snapshots is called hybrid allocate when writing.

  Operation of sharing and snapshot of the page

  -----------------------------------

  A PS Series Group organizes the physical storage into logical segments called pages.

  Each page is composed of several logical blocks. This is similar to the way file

  systems combine areas of physical disk in 'clusters' or 'chunks '. Each page has

  a reference count which records the number of volumes and snapshots that share

  the page.

  When you create a volume, the group creates an internal table, called the volume

  table, which contains pointers to pages that use the volume. When you create

  a snapshot of a volume, the group creates a snapshot table by making a copy of

  the volume table, which is usually an operation in memory that the Group

  run in a transactional manner. For each page of volume in use, the support group increases the

  reference count to indicate that the volume and the snapshot share page.

  Because the group does not move or copy the data or allocates a new pages, photos

  are fast and efficient.

  Reserve of the snapshot stores the differences between the data on the volume and snapshot data

  (in addition to differences between the data of multiple snapshots). When you

  first create a snapshot, the page for the volume and the snapshot tables are

  In brief identical copies and the snapshot consumes no snapshot

  reserve. A reading of the same logical block of the volume application or the

  snapshot returns the same data because the application is reading from the same page.

  However, if you write a page that has a volume and a snapshot of share, snapshot

  reserve is consumed.

  Here's a simplified example of a snapshot operation. In general, no.

  additional I/o operations are needed to manage the data volume or snapshot.

  However, other internal operations can occur due to virtualization and

  data balancing on berries of the PS Series.

  If an application performs a write to 8 KB for a volume containing a snapshot, the

  Group:

  1. determine what page is modified by the write operation.

  2 - If the page is not shared, writes the data to the page.

  3. If the page is shared:

  . (a) allocates a new page of disk space and reduces the instant to reserve

  . the volume of a single page.

  . (b) update the page of volume table to point to the newly allocated page.

  . (c) mark the newly allocated page as having new data on the volume and the references of the

  . original page for unchanged data.

  . (d) writes the data to the new page.

  When writing is complete, if you read the data on the volume, you have access to the

  new page and new data. However, if you read the same logical block of the

  Instant, you get the original data, because the snapshot will always point towards the

  original page. Similarly, if you set a snapshot online, write to the snapshot.

  feature hybrid write protects the original data volume by allocating

  a new page for the new snapshot data.

  Only the first page of writing to a volume shared (or snapshot) consumes additional

  snapshot reserve. Each subsequent entry is considered identical to a writing on a

  non-shared the page because the original data are already protected.

  Functionality similar to hybrid allocate when writing is used in cloning operations.

  However, unlike when you create a snapshot, cloning a volume immediately

  consumes space additional group. If a clone is moved to another pool, data

  is copied during the operation of moving pool.

  Restoring a Volume from a snapshot

  ----------------------------------

  Because of the layout table, restore a volume from a snapshot is very

  quick. First of all, the group automatically creates a snapshot of the volume by copying

  the volume table to a new table of snapshot. Then the Group transposes the page tables

  the volume and the snapshot you selected for the restore operation. NO.

  additional space is required, and no data is moved.

  Deletion of Volumes and Snapshots

  ------------------------------

  Because volumes and snapshots to share pages, if you delete a volume, you

  automatically remove all the clichés associated with the volume.

  You can manually delete snapshots (for example, if you need more of)

  snapshot data). In addition, the group can delete snapshots automatically in the

  following situations:

  1 - failure instant free reserve. If the snapshot data consume the snapshot

  . reserve, the group either deletes the oldest snapshots to free up space for new

  . snapshots or sets the volume and snapshots in offline mode, according to the policy

  . you have chosen for the snapshot space recovery.

  2 - maximum number of snapshots, created from an agreed timetable. If you set up a

  . timetable for the creation of snapshots, you can specify the maximum number of

  . photos you want to keep. Once the program creates the maximum number

  . clichés, the group will delete the oldest snapshot for planning

  . to create a new snapshot.

  Snapshot are deleted in the background queue. The group travels

  the snapshot page table and decremented the reference count on every shared page.

  Any page that has a zero reference count is released into free space. Pages

  with a zero reference count are not released because they are shared with

  the volume or other snapshots.

  Because stereotypes can be automatically deleted, if you want to keep the

  given to a snapshot, you can clone the snapshot.

  Reserve snapshots use agreement

  ------------------------------------

  The snapshot reserve is consumed only if you write a shared volume or snapshot

  page. However, it is difficult to establish a correlation between the amount of data written in one

  volume (or snapshot) with the amount of instant reserve consumed as a result.

  especially if you have multiple snapshots.

  Because the pages consist of several logical blocks, size e/s and distribution

  volume merge affect overall performance of e/s in addition to the snapshot

  reserve its use.

  For example, do much written about a narrow range of logical blocks in a volume

  consumes a relatively low amount of reserve of the snapshot. This is because as Scripture

  the same logic block more than once, does not require not additional snapshot

  reserve.

  However, doing random number wrote a range of logical blocks in a

  volume can consume a large amount of reserve of the snapshot, because many other

  pages are affected.

  In general, use instant reserve depends on the following:

  1. number of entries that occur in the volume (or snapshot) and at least one

  . snapshot exists. In general, more Scriptures tend to use more snapshot reserve.

  . Although multiple writes to the same logical block do not require additional

  . space.

  2 - the range of logical blocks, on which occur the Scriptures. Written in a wide range of

  . logical blocks tend to use more instant reserve written in a narrow

  . rank, because more of the written word are to different pages.

  3. number of snapshots of the volume and timing of the write operations. Most

  . snapshots that you create more snapshot reserve is necessary, unless there is

  . few entries on the volume or snapshots.

  4 - age of snapshot. Snapshots older tend to consume more snapshot reserve only

  . the clichés of recent because the group must retain the original data for a

  . longer time.

  Design Snapshot reserve

  -----------------------

  You cannot create snapshots until you book instant space. Snapshot reserve

  is set as a percentage of the reserve volume (space) for the

  volume.

  When you create a volume, by default, the volume uses instant group-wide

  reserve adjustment. (The reserve in the scale default setting is 100%. You

  can change this default value.) You can change the reserve snapshot setting when you

  create a volume or later, even if the volume is in use.

  Although the snapshot reserve is not used until the volume or writing snapshot occur, it

  is consumed immediately free pool space. For example, if you create a

  fully allocated (not thin provisioned) 200 GB volume and specify a snapshot of 50%

  pool of reserve, free space is immediately reduced to 300 GB (200 GB for the volume

  reserve and 100 GB for Snap reserve), even if there are no pages in use.

  Therefore, before you create a volume, you should consider how many snapshot

  reserves, if any, to assign to the volume. The reserve of the snapshot set to zero (0)

  If you do not want to create snapshots.

  The optimal size of the snapshot reserve depends on the amount and type of

  changes in the volume and the number of shots you want to keep.

  By example, if you set the snapshot reserve 100%, and then create a snapshot.

  You can write to each byte of the volume without missing snapshot

  reserve. However, if you create another snapshot and then write in each byte of

  the volume, the first snapshot is deleted in disk space available for the new snapshot. If

  you set the instant reserve at 200%, there would be a sufficient reserve of snapshot

  for the two snapshots.

  A very conservative strategy in terms of instant reserve sizing is to put the snapshot

  book value at 100 times the number of shots you want to keep. This

  guarantees that keep you at least the number of snapshots, regardless of the

  the number of entries on the volume. However, this strategy is generally allocates

  book an excessive amount of snapshot, because that rarely crush you all the

  the data in a volume during the lifetime of a snapshot.

  The best way to instant size reserves is to assign an initial value to the reserve

  and watch how instant you can keep over a period of time specified under a

  normal workload. If you use tables to create snapshots, allow the

  calendar of work for several days.

  To get an initial value for a snapshot reserve volume, you must estimate

  the quantity and the type of entries in volume and the number of snapshots, you want

  keep. For example:

  -If you wait a few Scriptures or writings which are concentrated in a narrow range

  . logical blocks and you want to keep only a few shots, start with a value

  . 30%.

  -If you wait several entries or entries that are random in a wide range of

  . logical blocks and you want to keep more than a few shots, start with a value

  . 100%.

  If the snapshots are deleted until you reach the desired number of snapshots,

  increase the percentage of snapshot reserve. If you reach the desired number

  shots without consuming much of the instant free reserve, decrease the

  percentage of reserve snapshot. Continue to follow instant reserve and

  adjustments as needed.

  How Thin Provisioning button Snapshot Reserve

  ----------------------------------------------

  The snapshot reserve is based on a percentage of volume reserve (allocated space

  a volume). For a volume fully provisioned, the reserve volume is equal to the

  stated volume size. However, a thin volume put into service, the volume of reserve

  is initially very inferior to the reported size (default is subject to minimum volume

  10% of the reported size) and increases as the written volume occur.

  If you change a thin volume supplied in a volume fully provisioned, the

  amount of reserved snapshot increases automatically, because the volume of reserve

  increase in the size of the stated volume.

  If you change a volume of fully provisioned to thin-provisioned, the amount of

  snapshot of reserve decreases automatically, because the volume of reserve declines.

  However, if the snapshot resulting reserves will be too small to store all the

  existing snapshots, the group will automatically increase the instant reserve

  percentage of value that preserves all existing snapshots.

  Reducing the use of instant reserve

  -------------------------------

  Over time, you can reduce the use of instant reserve by periodically (for example,

  Once a month) defragmentation of databases and file systems. Defrag operations

  try to consolidate segments of files in a volume and, consequently, to reduce the scope

  logical blocks addresses used in the pages of the volume.

  Defragment the data read operations from one place and then write data to a new

  location. So increased use of instant reserve during and immediately

  after defragmentation, because existing snapshots will use more of the usual

  amount of the snapshot reserve. However, snapshots created after defragmentation

  operation must use less instant reserve, because the data on the volume are more contiguous.

  When a volume is highly fragmented, potential reduction of the snapshot reserve

  use can be dramatic, especially after removing the large before you defragment

  snapshots. Defrag operations can also reduce the I/O load on the group,

  because the contiguous data makes more efficient i/o operations, in order to improve the

  e/s overall performance.

  Latest defragmenters are good to reduce the fragmentation that is not seeking to be

  too thorough. Some defragmenters also try to combine the inactive data

  further restricting the likelihood of changes to shared pages. However, are not

  Defragment too frequently.

  Sector alignment may also affect the use of snapshot of the space, especially in

  larger volumes. File systems must be correctly aligned with the sector. It comes

  described in technical reports for VMware and Windows environments.

• Unable to take snapshots

  Hi all

  I really appreciate that you take the time to read my post.  I'm relatively new to vmware and I need assistance.

  One of my virtual machines is no longer shots. I first noticed the problem when our data backup appliance, unitrends, began to report errors when you try to back up the virtual machine.
  Their support was eventually locate the problem of unable to take a snapshot. I confirmed this by trying to take a snapshot directly with Vsphere.

  The exact error I get when trying to take a snapshot is as follows:

  *********************

  An error occurred when taking a snapshot: msg.fileio.generic.

  An error occurred saving the snapshot: msg.fileio.generic.

  *********************

  I am running 5.5 ESXi and Vsphere Client 5.5.0.  I already tried many things...

  
  -Restarted the VM

  -Uninstalled and reinstalled vmtools.

  -Tried to install vmtools without VSS (volume shadow copy)

  -J' have tried different combinations of services are turned on and off. (Instant VMware virtual disk, VSS provider)

  -Follow the following three items:

  (1) KB VMware: cannot create an instant downturn because the snapshot operation exceeded the deadline for...
  (2) http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US & cmd = displayKC & externalId = 1031298
  (3) VMware KB: suspended creating snapshot fails with the error: an error occurred during the recording of the snapshot: msg.snapsho...

  -Also tried freeing up space inside the virtual machine itself and that does not work either.

  
  I am at wits end and have unfortunately not support with VM...

  Help, please!

  Summary:
  Snapshots do not work.

  Data backup appliance: Unitrends
  Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machine

  Home - ESXi 5.5
  VSphere - 5.5.0

  Error:

  An error occurred when taking a snapshot: msg.fileio.generic.

  An error occurred saving the snapshot: msg.fileio.generic.

  Thanks again for your help!

  Hey everybody,

  Just thought I should update.  I ended up migrating the virtual machine in another data store, because I could not remove old clichés about the original data store.

  Then, I realized that VM virtual disks had all be thick placed in service. While they took place when there was no real data on them.

  Finish by removing one of the vdisk and that solved the problem! Back ups are busy.

  Thanks to you all!

• Snapshots are broken now

  Hey guys, I'm having a major problem here. With the help of 5.5U1 and last Veeam.

  Something three days stuck in a process of Veeam backup and after that all snapshots of tasks of backup created, and then never erased.

  So yesterday I discovered SSH to each protected VM veeam production had like 90 delta files and they were not appear in the Snapshot Manager. In addition, 'delete all snapshots' failed. And create the new snapshot failed too. After fiddling around with the restart of management on hosts services and add or remove snapshots, I was able to consolidate most of the snapshot successfully.

  However, I always still have some questions, difficult to know:

  (1) a very large VM still has a complete chain-deltas attached to one of its VMDK. vCenter offers to "consolidate", but then consolidation fails with "cannot allocate memory". Theres a lot of RAM available on the host, like 100 GB +, and memory-wise, it's a small VM. There are like 0, 8 x the size of the virtual machine to free space on the data store, but as all deltas take about 10 GB combined, I think that this should not be a problem, too. There was a similar problem with a big other VM, but it was resolved by turning off the virtual machine and then consolidate. It does not help down with power on this virtual machine.

  Still a bit, I think it's a question of data store space, however I do not see why so much free space would be needed to commit snapshots. Is there any maybe so as to make this file a delta at the same time?

  (2) creating new images is now broken. If I try to create a new snapshot of any virtual computer on the hosts involved (even if its engine turned off and no one protected Veeam platoon), it fails with ' a general error has occurred: The delta files are then created, but the pictures do not appear in the Snapshot Manager. However, if I reboot with /etc/init.d/hostd restart management services and restart etc/init.d/vmxa, these shots failed suddenly appear in Manager and work as they are supposed to. And can be removed successfully.

  If I try to take a picture once again, it fails with the same error, and the cycle continues.

  I tried to restart a server ESXi, but who has done nothing more management restarting services already do. The behavior is the same if I create/delete snapshots in the Web Client via vCenter or if I directly on the host computer in the clish.

  I have a suspicion that this is what has caused the problem of Veeam in the first place, given that taking snapshots apparently fails, but it actually happens in the backstage. It's what might be broken and why?

  We have not a vmware active support contract, and I think that Veeam guys will say that it is a matter of vmware. I have yet to hear a response, but my experience with them tells me that this is what's going to happen.

  So, you're my only hope

  Thanks in advance.

  OK guys, thanks for your comments, I solved the problem.

  #1 has been resolved by restarting the ESXi. After that the command of Consolidation has worked like a charm.

  The pile of COW was probably close to being complete before restarting (after two days with 5 virtual machines running with 90 snapshots + each), and that's why the building had failed.

  Problem #2 was incredibly obscure. What has caused all this strangeness was disconnected from a NFS data store where a large number of installation ISOs if it is located. It was off just on the NAS, without disassembling correctly vSphere.

  It turns out that ALL virtual machines I tried to taking snapshots had an ISO in the CD-ROM set up pointing to the data store. (disconnected, but always present in the config).

  So, looks like that ESXi when you have a unavailiable resource in the configuration of the VM. It throws an error that could mean anything at home, then silently with the creation of a snapshot in the background. Crazy...

  What has helped me discover this was sweeping the newspaper spend on one of the hosts after he tried to create a snapshot.

  Thanks to you two, you certainly have me headed in the right direction!

• Snapshots vs Backup

  Hi guys,.

  I am little confused the black and white shots and backup.

  1. If I take a snapshot to a location different .is it a backup of virtual machine?

  2. If I delete the virtual Parent computer... the snapshot won't work?

  The answers will be appreciated... Thank you

  Tarun Gupta

  Hello

  See below links KB on the best practices of Snapshots and better understand the snapshots

  VMware KB: Best practice for snapshots of virtual machine in VMware environment

  VMware KB: Understand the clichés of the virtual machine in VMware ESXi and ESX

  As explained in the KB Instant are not backups.

  Snapshots are not complete copies of the original disk vmdk files.

  The take a snapshot does not create a complete copy of the original disk vmdk file, rather it copies only the delta records. The changelog in the snapshot file is combined with the original files from disk to be part of the current state of the virtual machine.

  If basic disks are removed, the snapshot files are useless.

  Do not use any single for more than 24 to 72 hours snapshot.

  You can just clone the virtual machine if you need a backup of that VM, it would be better if you have a backup/protection of data with VDP (vSphere, Data Protection) or any other product from third party for the backup.

  What vSphere licenses do you have?

  If you have Essentials + and above, you can make free use of VDP

  VMware KB: vSphere Data Protection (WTP) FAQ

  Q: do I need additional licenses to use WTP 5.1?

  WTP is supplied with vSphere Essentials more and more.

• Instant snapshot of VMWare and SAN

  How the instant different(or similar) snapshots SAN VMWare?

  Thank you

  The case of use as well as the method of snapshots is very different.

  As NuggetGTR says table instant base will take a snapshot of the entire lun/volume, but instant VM are just for each individual VM.

  How snapshots are created are very different and this determines the use case. EG Netapp table according to snapshots are very effective and take very little space, because (simplifying here) they mark all blocks in the volume in read-only - so you have an overview of the entire volume and because it is not copying all the data it is very fast and not take place.  As new data are written/modified/deleted it says new blocks and blocks alone reading in the snapshot are not deleted or modified.  This makes it very effective and good for backups long term.  However, as this is an array based snapshot is done at the block level and Netapp doent know what data are, could be a SQL database or the virtual machine.  honing to get application-consistent backups, to a plugin abreast of the API as Snapmanager for SQL or VSC for VMware.

  VMware based snapshots of a virtual machine are created by sleep (possibly) the guest operating system and then marking the. VMDK a new read-only. VMDK is created for the virtual machine that will handle the reads/writes new data and the original. VMDK will manage the readings for the old data.  This process is repeated for each snapshot that is taken.

  More the string of snapshots (and. VMDK) files the most impact on the performance of the virtual machine.  Also when you delete a snapshot must merge the. Files VMDK back together which can take a long time and have a performance hit of old clichés.  They will be also eats more space!

  These are intended to serve as a term 'safety nets' shot so that you can quickly return as any change - not as a long-term backup solution.

  They are a great tool to use in conjunction with array-based snapshots.  Using Netapp for example, you can install the VSC in vcenter and use it to plan the snapshots table in conjunction with the snapshots of VMware.

  This will fix a nice snapshot of each virtual machine with a consistent state Vmware hard, then the snapshot of the table will be instant volume/LUN with all these beautiful .vmdks suspended/static, then it will remove snapshots of Vmware.

  Some best practices:

  • The snapshots are not backup. A snapshot file is only a log of changes to the original virtual disk. Therefore, do not count on it as a direct backup process. The virtual machine is running on the most current snapshot, not the original disk vmdk files.
  • Snapshots are not complete copies of the original disk vmdk files. The take a snapshot does not create a complete copy of the original disk vmdk file, rather it copies only the delta records. The changelog in the snapshot file is combined with the original files from disk to be part of the current state of the virtual machine. If basic disks are removed, the snapshot files are useless.
  • Delta files can reach the same size as the original file of the basic disk that's why storage provisioned to a virtual machine grows an amount up to the original size of the virtual machine, multiplied by the number of snapshots on the virtual machine.
  • The maximum supported snapshots in a string is 32. However, VMware recommends you to use only 2-3 shots in a string.
  • Do not use any single snapshot for more than 24 to 72 hours. Snapshots should not be maintained for long periods of time for application or Virtual Machine version control purposes.
  • • This prevents snapshots to grow so large to cause problems when deleting / engaging them to the original virtual machine disks. Take the shot, make the changes to the virtual machine and delete / commit snapshot as soon as you have verified the condition of operation of the virtual machine.
    • Be especially diligent with use of the snapshot on the virtual machines, high-transaction, such as e-mail and database servers. These clichés can develop very quickly in size, filling data store space. Commit snapshots on these virtual machines as soon as you have verified the State of work appropriate to the process that you are testing.
  • If using a third party product that takes advantage of snapshots (such as backup of virtual machine software), regularly monitor systems configured for backups to ensure that no snapshots remain active for long periods of time.
    • Snapshots must be present for the duration of the backup process.
    • Photos taken by software of third party (called via API) may not appear in the Snapshot Manager vCenter. Check regularly for snapshots via the command line.

  Here is a good article on vmware snapshots:

  http://KB.VMware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalID=1015180

• Cannot migrate/snapshot/consolidate/clone a vm due to

  I get the error 'Unable to access file < file name >' unspecified when I try to do a migration, clone or snapshot (they all involve making a snapshot, I guess that's why).  The esxi 5.0, same NFS volume for the source and destination host (the same fails when you try to move in a local data store).  Virtual MACHINE works very well on his part.  No 3rd party backup software has been used.

  vSphere error:

  Clone the virtual machine

  Cannot access the file < file_name indeterminate >

  Time: 16/10/2013 18:53:04

  Target: db01.domain.com

  vCenter Server: WIN - CAT

  section relevant vmware.log for this virtual machine in an attempt to clone:

  http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=KAR1B2Zj

  So turns out somehow the esxi host has been corrupted (no idea how) and had mounted his vfat on each drive partitions... This was compounded by problems with NFS on this particular host.  The host is restarted (had to take down the guest unfortunately Virtual PC migration would not work), returns to the top and was able to migrate again.  Had to wipe and reinstall esxi on this host.  Not the best result, but it seems that it was a combination of NFS and visorfs.

• Recover a VMDK Snapshoted file

  I have a very big problem and I don't know how to deal with and that's it:

  VM working, I have just two files and the others have disappeared:

  SPSDEV01.VMDK

  SPSDEV01 - 000001.vmdk

  And the problem is obvious: when I create a new virtual machine and represent a like a hard drive, it does not contain my returned files

  If represent the other he says that there is no such thing as parent file

  So, what should I do?

  I'm really in a very bad situation.

  Is it possible to combine or merge these files or extract files from them?

  You said the "SPSDEV01.vmdk" appears in the .vmx file, but in the file attached, it is "SPSDEV01 - 000001.vmdk '!

  In any case, here are the steps that I would recommend to create a new virtual disk, so that the current files will not get affected.

  • the virtual machine power off
  • Edit 'SPSDEV01 - 000001.vmdk' and set the value of 'parentCID' to the base value of the disk (SPSDEV01.vmdk) "CID" to repair the chain instant
  • Create a new subdirectory in the folder of the virtual machine named for example "Clone".
  • from the command line in the folder of the virtual machine, run:
    vmkfstools-i SPSDEV01 - 000001.vmdk Clone\SPSDEV01.vmdk
    to clone the virtual drive - including his snapshot - in a new virtual disk.

  Create a new virtual machine and once done, move the virtual disk cloned to the new virtual computers folder, and then open the virtual machine settings and replace the virtual disk with the cloned. Now try to turn on the virtual machine.

  Before using the production server, I would recommend that you run chkdsk for all readers to solve any problems with the file system.

  André

• Commit 6 months old snapshot

  Background information:

  In order to free up space on our warehouses of data, I'm going to clean up some of our virtual machines and more specificially the clichés that some of them are running on.

  There are two servers that have been broadcast on stereotypes that have been created in July 2011, one is a Windows 2003 production SQL Server, the other a production IIS 2003 (both on different data stores) server.

  The physical blades run ESXi 4, using vSphere 4 update 3 to mange them.

  With the SQL Server data store has ~ 70GB of free space available.

  From what I see the snapshot (000001.vmdk) has increased to about 34.5 GB and the original disk is 55GO thick provisiong.

  There is only a single snapshot of the server.

  Concern:

  I read that 4U3 vSphere, when using delete all snapshots, will be just to merge the two files together and then remove the snapshot file. However, how am I insured that there is enough space on the data store so that he could combine the two files. In my calculations, worst case senario would be that the merged file approximately 78.5 GB. That is to say that all that is in the snapshot will be merged into the original file.

  Question:

  According to the above information, this cause of the deletion of snapshot to cause the data store would hit capacity and as such, the merger of the two files to fail?

  Also, from the previous expirences, can someone estimate how long it will take for merge and delete the snapshot, assuming that this power be training?

  Thank you very much in advance!

  -Alex

  Let me put it together:

  • the ESXi host is running version 4.0 Update 3
  • the virtual machine has a drive virtual provisioned thick (55 GB)
  • the current size of the snapshot file is 34.5 GB
  • available disk space on the data store is 75GB

  If all this is true, there should be no problem with a "Delete All" linking the Snapshot Manager. Given that the virtual disk is supplied thickness the snapshot data blocks replace the blocks according to the basic disk and basic disk will not grow in size. Additional space only you temporarily need is to "Consolidate support" snapshot that is created if you run the 'Delete All' with the virtual machine. However, with 75 GB of free disk space, this is no problem.

  Due to the size of the snapshot consolidation/merger may run a few hours - depending on your storage system - (please do not become inpatient) and according to the performance of the host virtual machine respond more slowly. What you absolutely must make sure, is that no other snapshot is created while the deletion process is running (for example, through a backup application).

  André

• Problem deleting snapshots

  I tried to make my smaller Windows XP VM for about a week now. I was scanning through many forums, have almost tried everything.

  The problem started when the main player of the Mac started to get tight on space. I used the disk inventory X to see what has been filling the disk and saw that my Windows XP VM, which has only one virtual disk of 40 GB, was about 87 GB. I opened the pacckage and there are 37 games of vmdk files.

  I did most of my tinkering on a copy of the virtual machine (had to buy an external hard drive, I so had the space to do!) but I had a few initial changes if the GUI on the original virtual machine.

  I tried to remove some of the snapshots (a combination of manual and auto-protect instant) but I kept getting the error "there was an error while trying to delete the snapshot. "Impossible to clean deleted files: the specified virtual disk needs to be repaired. The snapshot disappear if GUI.

  Instant MISTLETOE does currently show no snapshots, but the settings / Hard Disk sectionsays I can't do anything on the drive because there are snapshots. Can I take a new snapshot with success but when I remove it I get the error message above.

  I looked at the file .vmsd using a text editor, and it seems that it might be damaged. He registered 12 snapshots, and many of them have the same UID and refer to the same file. I saw an ad or KB article forum who suggested deleting the file .vmsd and let VMWare re-create it, but again, I can't take a snapshot, then delete it with success.

  My last attempt was to follow the steps listed here:

  http://KB.VMware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US & cmd = displayKC & externalId = 1020000

  When I do this, I am able to do successfully a new virtual disk, but when I start the new machine this drive, I have a computer that is more than a year.

  I move up the chain of the CIDs in the vmdk files, and while they are not in order, they don't seem to have a single linear chain.

  I could really use some help.

  The environment is Mac OS x Leopard, Fusion 2.0

  You always have a copy of the Virtual Machine that is operating normally and has not been modified by your DIY?

  If Yes, I would like to use Paragon go virtual to create a new Virtual Machine from it.  This would be the fastest and easier to solve this problem.

• Major trauma of the snapshot causing problems

  My mail server crashed recently and I could not restore the backup as it has more than 5 partitions and kept for lack of the restoration. In order to bring him back, I had to use flat files of a restoration of the snapshot. I used VMWare converter v 40 with flat files of the unknown and it worked.

  He was back for a little while and seemed very happy, but I couldn't run any snapshots on this. I found an article telling me to rename files vnsn and vmsx as old - I did and then I had the option/take e snapshot. To test this, I ran a snapshot for a minute and then tried to delete. Three hours later, it failed with insufficient disk space. The plan was simply to get the snapshot job, then delete the partition of 160 GB from the settings of the virtual machine, and then delete it. This would free of space in my future data fo RL store

  I now have a helper consolidated-0 only 7.8 GB of disk space and snapshot. It seems that there is a lot of snapshot that have always worked, but I don't know how.

  Is the best way to dig out me of this mess to clone the server for a new data store. I have a

  GB 1-24 C DRIVE partition

  App from 2 to 10 GB DRIVE

  DISC 3-160Gb data partition, ready to be removed

  DISK 4-30 GB Log partition

  5 to 100 GB DISK recovery partition

  6-350Gb of DISK Data Partition (RDM attached to the San) (was a virtual disk of 160 Go I still tied, but is no longer needed)

  Now, I'm stuck with a 500 GB complete data store. There are a couple of disks that have the prefixs 00004 and 000005, but there is no snapshot running before I ran it.

  Can someone please help me resolve this issue. I read that consolidate a cold clone in a new data store but I really think that I should get rid of this group helper-0 first of all - if this is the way to go.

  I've attached a screenshot of the datastore files

  I understand that correctly?

  Disk3 (testex2k7a_2hard) as well as Disk6 (testex2k7a_5hard) can be deleted?

  In this case I prepare the operating system for the removal of the disc, stop the virtual machine and remove the disks of the virtual machine (note the names associated vmdk). After checking the virtual machine works without problem with 2 deleted virtual disks, you can delete the corresponding data store, vmdk files which should free up a lot of disk space. Then - using the Snapshot Manager - remove the existing snapshot (consolidate Helper)

  Before doing anything, I would like to check this. Please attach your last file vmware.log as well as the file testex2k7a.vmx for your next post.

  Some comments about what you wrote:

  To test this, I ran a snapshot for a minute and then tried to delete. Three hours later, it failed with a low disk space...

  Disk6 (testex2k7a_5*.vmdk) seems strange to me. The base vmdk is smaller than snapshots, which resembles a thin provisioned disk. However a provisioning was introduced in version 4.0 and you also mentioned that disk6 is a RDM disk!

  I assumed that you have created a new snapshot and choose "remove all" in the Snapshot Manager. This, in combination with the Disk6, was probably the reason why you ran out of disk space.

  André

• Calculate the correct/snapshot time

  We have statspack runs every 10 minutes - so there's a fresh snap_id STATS$ SNAPSHOT to (for example) 10:00, 10:10, 10:20, 10:30 and so on.
  
  When there is a problem with the database, was asked to calculate various statistics immediately, as well as to display the corresponding statistics of the time equivalent a week ago. Of course, the problem could arise in (say) 10:12. So I sort of know that I would be interested in snapshots 10:10 and 10:20 last week.
  
  I can't just around my current sysdate for the next 10 minutes, however, because some databases could take regular pictures every 20 minutes, every hour or every half hour.
  
  So is there a generic part of SQL that would take my current sysdate, look at his STATS$ SNAPSHOT and train dynamically what are the two correct snapshots in use from around the same time a week previously, please? The rule simply being you get back exactly 7 days, then will find two clichés of the time closest to the combination current hour/minute.
  
  (Yes, on a database where the snapshots are taken every hour, if it is 10:12, I would be interested in snapshots of 10:00 and 11:00; if photos have been taken average about half an hour, I would look to find the 10:00 and 10:30; and if they are taken every 10 minutes, I'd be trying to find the 10:00 and 10:20 ones).

  Hello

  To find the nearest snap_times before and after the point exactly 7 days before the date d:

  SELECT     MAX (CASE WHEN snap_time <= d - 7 THEN snap_time END)     AS prev_snap_time
  ,     MIN (CASE WHEN snap_time >= d - 7 THEN snap_time END)     AS next_snap_time
  FROM     stats$snapshot
  ;
  

  If it is found be a line exactly 7 days before, then that date will be returned as prev_snap_time and next_snap_time.
  Once you know the exact time of pick up, you can get the values of those moments.

  I hope that answers your question.
  If not, post a small example of data (CREATE TABLE and only relevant columns, INSERT statements) for all of the tables involved and the results desired from these data.
  Explain, using specific examples, how you get these results from these data.
  Always tell what version of Oracle you are using.