Andy's VMware vSphere tip#7: SNAPSHOTS (Hyper-V calls them Checkpoints!) Believe it or not one of EE most asked questions in the VMware Topic area, at least one question a week is asked in the VMware Topic, and the response by many VMware Administrators, is "my datastore has filled up, my VM has stopped working, and says retry or abort - I've checked and there are no snapshots reported in Snapshot Manager!"

I'll tell you it It lies to you.... quickly check VM Folder on the datastore, if you see a file -0000x.vmdk - the likelihood is you have a snapshot!

and guess what I wrote an EE Article here

https://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/VMWare/A_10300.html

If you use a backup product which is vSphere aware, it will use the Storage API - Snapshot method to backup your VMs, and most often leaves the VM running on a snapshot, and you are not aware.

CHECK DAILY FOR SNAPSHOTS as part of your VMware Daily Admin either manually, write a script, set a vCenter Server Alarm.

or use Snapwatcher by Opvizor - see here https://try.opvizor.com/snapwatcher/

Catch your VM snapshots before they catch YOU!

If you find yourself with a snapshot issue, out of your depth STOP! do not ignore it Ask for help on EE in the VMware Topic area, it's serious, and corruption can occur if not dealt with promptly and correctly.

Have a Good Weekend...

Andy