Committing snapshots when there are no snapshot entries in the snapshot manager
Details
The snapshot manager shows no snapshots but there are one or more sets of -00000X.vmdk and -00000X-delta.vmdk files in the directory with the virtual disk. The .vmx file points to one of the -00000X.vmdk files, usually the highest numbered file, indicating that the snapshot file is in use.
Solution
Create a new snapshot and delete it. The delete commits down through the entire tree of snapshots. This means all snapshots on the virtual machine are committed and the snapshot files are deleted. You must have some storage available as the new snapshot requires a minimum of 16MB. If the virtual machine needs to remain running, you must allow for the snapshots to grow as the older snapshots commit.
To commit all snapshots:
Log into the ESX Server service console.
Type vmware-cmd -l and press Enter.
Expected output:
/vmfs/volumes/UUID/VMNAME/VMNAME.vmx
Type vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/UUID/VMNAME/VMNAME.vmx hassnapshot and press Enter to confirm that there is a snapshot. If the output displays a blank value or value of 1, a snapshot is present. If the output displays a value of 0, there is no snapshot present.
Type vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/UUID/VMNAME/VMNAME.vmx createsnapshot "<name>" and press Enter to create a new snapshot.
Note: You can use any name you like. The name appears in the snapshot manager.
Type vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/UUID/VMNAME/VMNAME.vmx removesnapshots and press Enter to remove the snapshot.
Additional Information
The remove snapshot process can take a long time to complete if the snapshots are large.
If you entered the removesnapshots command via an SSH tool (such as PuTTY or secureCRT) the SSH session must be left open. Closing the SSH program aborts the process. If leaving an SSH session open for an extended time is unacceptable, run the command from the physical console.
The commit process takes longer if the virtual machine is running and requires more free space on the data store.
The commit process has no progress that you can follow. As long as the date on the files continues to update, the process is working.
When the commit has completed successfully, there are no -00000X.vmdk or -00000X-delta.vmdk files left unless they were not part of the snapshot tree. These files can be deleted. To confirm the commit succeeded, view the .vmx file and verify that virtual disks are not pointing to a base disk (-flat.vmdk ).
If the .vmx contains a disk that is still pointing to a snapshot file, the commit process failed. The virtual disk must be cloned using vmkfstools -i. The source file name is the current active -00000X.vmdk as identified in the .vmx file. Once the clone is complete, point the virtual machine to use the newly cloned disk. The original base disk and snapshot tree can be deleted.
