Backups not removing snapshots

[bshubinsky]

It appears after all my full backups, I get this message when trying to continue to do jobs:

RemoveSnapshot Failed, snapshotRef "snapshot-396", timeout "36000000"
Unable to access file <unspecified filename> since it is locked.

When I check the snapshot manager, there is a consolidated backup helper still remaining and I can't remove it manually.

I'm running the latest Veeam backup on ESXi 4.1

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello Boris,

"Consolidated Helper-x" snapshots are created by ESX(i) host itself during snapshot commit operation, so it is not Veeam Backup which is locking these/holding these snapshots. Snapshot Veeam Backup creates is called "VEEAM BACKUP TEMPORARY SNAPSHOT" (you can see it while the backup is running).

I would suggest you creating a new snapshot manually and after that, go back into Snapshot Manager and select delete all snapshots. It should help you to get rid of the consolidated helper and the new snapshot.

Thank you!

[joergr]

Boris,

could it be you got an old VMware Consolidated Backup Server somewhere which is still configured to run? No kiddin, i have seen such a scenario at a network of a friend of mine - no one knew this machine was still pulling VCB-Backups - And they had exactly your problem

best regards,
Joerg

[jgremillion]

We had this issue once when our VCenter database was bad. I ended up having to reinstall a fresh VCenter and Database and the issue cleared up. If your Vcenter is not healthy and performing optimally you'll have all sorts of issues with snapshot creation and removal.

-Joe