AOMEI Cyber Backup
Fixed: VMware Remove all Snapshots Takes Long Time
Snapshots can provide fast recovery options, enable secure experimentation, and facilitate efficient management of VM state, but you may encounter situations where it takes too much time to remove a snapshot.
By Amelia / Updated on December 13, 2024
Snapshot removal extremely slow
I started a snapshots removal a few hours ago on a roughly 600 GB server. It had 2 snapshots one 6 months old and one about a mouth old. So far in the past 3 hours it’s only reached 2% complete. I haven’t tried to cancel anything yet and the VM was powered off before starting. I feel like this is extremely slow.
- Question from Reddit
Snapshots are a powerful VMware feature that lets you capture the state of a virtual machine (VM) at a specific time. VMware Snapshots are useful for testing, backups, and system rollbacks. However, deleting all snapshots from a virtual machine can sometimes take an unexpectedly long time, which can impact virtual machine performance. In this article, we will explain why it takes too long to remove all snapshots and the steps to take so.
Why Remove all Snapshots in VMware Takes Time
Some of the following factors may cause VMware remove all snapshots takes long time.
Each snapshot adds a layer of complexity to the snapshot chain. Merging data from multiple delta disks back to the base disk requires numerous I/O operations, especially if the VM is running snapshots for a long time.
2. Disk Activity During Deletion
If the virtual machine is still running when the snapshot is deleted, disk writes will continue, increasing the workload. This can significantly lengthen the consolidation process.
3. Storage Performance
The speed of the underlying storage infrastructure, no matter whether local SSDs, SANs, or NAS, plays a critical role. A storage system with high latency or low throughput can create a bottleneck in the snapshot consolidation process.
How to Remove all Snapshots in VMware
Removing all snapshots in VMware can be accomplished using either VMware vSphere Client or VMware Workstation, and the following are detailed steps.
Using VMware vSphere Client
Step 1. Log into VMware vSphere, navigate to Hosts and Clusters, and select the VM that you want to remove all snapshots.
Step 2. Right-click the VM and select Snapshots > Manage Snapshots, then the Snapshot Manager window will display all existing snapshots.
Step 3. Click the Delete All button, and confirm the action when prompted.
Step 4. Navigate to the Tasks & Events tab to monitor the snapshot removal process.
Using VMware Workstation
Step 1. Launch the VMware Workstation and open the snapshots you want to remove.
Step 2. Go to VM > Snapshots > Snapshot Manager.
Step 3. In Snapshot Manager, click the Delete button.
Step 4. VMware Workstation will display a progress bar for the snapshot removal process, and wait for the operation to complete.
An Easy Way to Backup VMs with Snapshots
If VMware removes all snapshots takes long time, it may cause problems such as degradation of virtual machine performance and data corruption. But if you take a backup of your data before removing all snapshots, it will reduce such risks. AOMEI Cyber Backup is a tool designed to keep your data safe and secure by taking a backup of your virtual machine. While using AOMEI Cyber Backup, you can also enjoy the following features.
Easy to Operate: With user-friendly intuitive, you can create a backup task with several clicks without installing any agents.
Schedule Automatic Backup: You can automate the backup tasks to run daily, weekly, monthly, etc. which also offers regular recovery points.
Fast Disaster Recovery: Instant restore VMware VMs to a usable state, reducing business downtime and financial loss without the need to recreate or reconfigure.
Centralized Management: A centralized web console to manage your VMware virtual machines regardless of sockets and hosts.
Step 1. Download AOMEI Cyber Backup and add vCenter or Standalone ESXi host as the source device.
Step 2. Navigate to Backup Task > + Create New Task to set up a backup task.
- Select virtual machines and destination for backup.
- Schedule the backup task and choose the retention period for each backup.
- Specify Cleanup tasks to automatically delete the old backup copies that exceed the retention period you specified.
Step 3. Click Start Backup to execute the operation, after completing, you can find the task in the Backup Task tab.
Step 4. Click Restore, select the recovery point from the backup versions, and then Restore new location. It allows you to restore an entire virtual machine to create a new identical virtual machine in the same or another datastore/host.
Q&A about VMware Snapshots Removal
Q: How long does snapshot deletion take in VMware?
A: The deletion process runs for 3 hours by default.
Q: What happens when you delete all snapshots?
A: Delete all snapshots operation will commit every snapshot of the chain directly to the Base Disk of the virtual machine.
Q: How do I cancel a snapshot task in VMware?
A: You can click the Cancel link under the snapshot task. In the Cancel task dialog box, click Cancel task.
Q: How long should you keep VMware snapshots?
A: As a best practice for ransomware recovery, configure snapshot schedules with a retention of at least 90 days.
Conclusion
Deleting snapshots in VMware is a complex process that can be time-consuming, especially for large active virtual machines. However, by avoiding the causes of VMware remove all snapshots takes long time and following the steps provided in this article you can reduce the time spent.
