During the snapshot deletion process, it is difficult to observe the progress. While the snapshot deletion is taking place, the following may occur:
The hostd process does not respond
It is difficult to determine status of snapshot deletion
Purpose
While there is no way to track snapshot deletion progress, you can monitor the directory and wait for the contents to indicate completion.
Resolution
Perform the following:
Log in as root to the ESX Server using SSH.
Change directory to the correct folder containing the vmdk file(s).
Examine the directory listing by issuing the command: ls -al
Determine if there are any VM_NAME-00000#.vmdkfiles,VM_NAME-00000#-delta.vmdkfile,or similar. Look for numbered files following the dash in the name. These files indicate the presence of snapshots.
Use the following command to monitor the snapshot deletion process:
#watch "ls -Ghtu --full-time *.vmdk"
Where:
G – inhibits display of group information to shorten the output display h – prints sizes in a readable format like 1K 234M 2G t – sorts by modification time u – with -lt: sorts by and shows access time full-time – like -l --time-style=full-iso
This command continuously monitors the contents of the directory. You should notice the snapshot files dissapear once they are deleted.
Additional Information
Note: VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMware VMFS) is not like a normal, local file system. Do not treat /vmfs like a general-purpose file system. For example, do not store temporary or data files under /vmfs. Operations such as chmod, chown, and any commands that use the open() function or that otherwise modify file properties that are very fast on normal non-distributed file systems are significantly more costly on distributed file systems like VMware VMFS.
Avoid these operations unless absolutely necessary. For example, as a result of the high expense of open() calls, tail -f file is relatively safe, but tail file can cause problems.
