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Unable to use Snapshots or perform a backup on virtual machines configured with bus-sharing (1006392)

Symptoms

When working with a combination of Raw Device Mapping (physical or virtual), Microsoft Clustering (MSCS), Snapshots,Consolidated Backup, and/or Data Recovery, you may experience these symptoms:

  • Cannot take a snapshot
  • The snapshot feature does not appear to be available on virtual machines and the option is greyed out
  • When attempting to set a SCSI controller to shared, you may see an error similar to: 
Device 'SCSI controller 1' is a SCSI controller engaged in bus-sharing.
  • When attempting to create a snapshot, the operation may fail with the error:
Snapshot creation failed: Virtual machine is configured to use a device that prevents the snapshot operation: Device '' is a SCSI controller engaged in bus-sharing.

Cause

Consolidated Backup (VCB), Data Recovery (vDR),  Microsoft Clustering (MSCS), Snapshots, and Raw Device Mappings(RDM) all have their own limitations and requirements that need to be adhered to. The following are a list of requirements:
  • VMware Consolidated Backup requires the use of snapshots to create a backup.
  • VMware Data Recovery requires the use of snapshots to create a backup.
  • Microsoft Cluster nodes that exist across different physical hardware require virtual controllers to be in bus sharing configuration.
  • Snapshots of a Microsoft Cluster node virtual machineusing the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator to connect to storage is not supported.
  • Snapshots are not supported on Physical mode Raw Device Mappings.
  • Snapshots are not supported on disks connected to controllers configured for bus-sharing configuration.
Based on the above limitations, we can make the following conclusions:
  • Microsoft Clustering requires bus-sharing and therefore cannot be used in conjunction with use Consolidated Backup, Data Recovery, or Snapshots.
  • Virtual machines with a Raw Device Mapping in physical mode cannot be used in conjunction with use Consolidated Backup, Data Recovery, or Snapshots. 
For more information, see:

Resolution

Workaround

If you require bus-sharing:

If you do not require bus-sharing:

Tags

cannot-take-snapshot  create-snapshot  create-snapshot-fails

See Also

This Article Replaces

1014311, 1004972, 1013158, 1021679

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