Error after vSphere update

[cas_three]

[merged]

I'm trying to backup my VM, but keep getting 5/30/2012 1:47:00 AM :: Error: File <unspecified filename> is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore '<unspecified datastore>

I have made sure that my block size is set to 8mb. I don't know what else to do?

Thank you!

[xunil321]

[merged]

Dear all,
at the beginning of a backup job for our VM we are getting this (famous) message:
File <unspecified filename> is larger than the maximum size
Of course we had a look to this topic here: Backup job failing on 1 VM
but this is not the answer to our problem.
Indeed our VM has 2 disks but they are within the same vmfs5 datastore:
Disk01 – 80GB stored on STORE01 with a 1MB Block size
Disk02 – 1998,04687GB stored on STORE01 with a 1MB Block size
STORE01 has still around 165GB free space.
Is this free space vpossibly to less?
Thanks for any hint!
Rainer

[Vitaliy S.]

Where is the VMX file located at?

[xunil321]

Sorry for the delay, dear Vitaly!
Our VMX file is located in the STORE01 datastore
ie [STORE01]/TEST folder where TEST is our VM's name.
Disk02 is in [STORE01]/TEST_1.
Should I show the TEST.vmx content?
Regards, Rainer

[Vitaliy S.]

Are you able to create the snapshot of this VM through vSphere Client manually?

[xunil321]

No!
I got the same error:
File <unspecified filename> is larger than the maximum size

[Gostev]

Then this issue has nothing to deal with Veeam. Read the beginning of this topic.

[KeithW]

I realized this is "off topic", but in the interests of helping out a fellow administrator, reference this link for your solution. In essence, the disparity in block sizes between your VMFS datastores is what is causing the issue, if you migrate the VMDKs to datastores with the same block size you should be fine.

https://support.quest.com/SolutionDetai ... d=SOL76519

[Gostev]

Actually, this issue is described in Veeam's own support KB as well
http://cp.veeam.com/knowledgebase/article/KB1091

[mgd5]

Hi

when performing backup with proxyservers is it the proxy that handels the snapshot?. I have had an error where the server that is backuped got error that the vmdk is bigger than the maximum file size supported on datastore.

first when i tried to backup both server being backed 542 GB and proxyserver was on a 1024GB 80GB free vmfs with a 2mb blocksize. moved 500GB server it to a new VMFS with 4 mb blocksize an ran backup only to find out the same error. First when i moved proxyserver to the same vmfs as backed server the backup started to run ok.?????


Regards

MGD

[mgd5]

-

[foggy]

Christer, while I can explain the error before migrating the VMs to the new datastore (this is right what this thread all about), I can only guess regarding the error after the migration of the VM being backed. Are you sure the error was exactly the same in this case?

[mgd5]

Yes in the agent.log presents the same error. as i said earlier now that proxy and vm being backed up is on the new datastore it works. therfor my question, is it backupproxy who handels the snapshot?

[foggy]

Actually, neither proxy nor any other Veeam B&R component does perform any snapshot processing. All we do is issue a snapshot creation VMware API call and all the rest is done by VMware.

My guess was that proxy could not hotadd the VM's disks when it resided on a different datastore, but in this case the error would be different (and failover to network should be disabled).

[hongman]

Hi

This is NOT a question of if Veeam can back itself up, I have already read the threads which say it can as long as certain features are turned off in the settings.

I am running Veeam 6.5 and on vSphere 5.1. The VM also has some storage attached as backup datastores.

Now, all I want to do is backup the system drive (OS) so my job is as follows:

Name: Veeam Server
Virtual Machines: Added VM, selected only System Disk (summary here still shows VM size as 1.9TB though)
Storage: Backup Proxy - Automatic | Backup Repository - One of its own backup drives
Advanced: Reversed Incremental | VMware Tools quiescence is OFF
Guest Processing: No options ticked

The error I get is " Creating VM snapshot Error: File <unspecified filename> is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore '<unspecified datastore>"

I think this is because it is still "seeing" the backup datastores which are a couple of TB.

How do I get around this?

[veremin]

(summary here still shows VM size as 1.9TB though)

It’s a known bug that is going to be fixed in the next release.

As to exclusion issue, please be aware that this setting has to do with Veeam backup/replication processing only, meanwhile, VMware snapshot is operation that happens on all disks at once regardless of the options set in VB&R. As a result, you get a typical VMware failure that occurs when the snapshot file at its maximum size is unable to fit into a datastore.

As a potential workaround, you might want to set unrequired disks as independent ones via vSphere client, and also exclude them in VB&R console.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[doc_ufo]

Hi,

I'm trying to configure my veeam backup, but I hit:
Error: File <unspecified filename> is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore '<unspecified datastore>

The calculated size of the VM is 7.7TB, provisioned size is 9.54TB split into different datastore each at 1.99TB

I've tried selecting different VM disk but all give me the same calculated size of 7.7tb which should be the case, i.e my system drive is only allocated 20gb.

Please help as this is the first time im using veeam and it's quite frustrating when backing up data and is seriously considering changing software.

[foggy]

Vincent, please review the thread you've been merged into for considerations regarding this error. If after reviewing it, you still have any questions, feel free to ask here. Thanks.

[dellock6]

Basically, 1.99 TB is too large to keep a snapshot of it, you need smaller vmdk to be able to snapshot them.

Luca.

[veremin]

There is even an existing KB article regarding it; might be worth taking a look. Thanks.

[doc_ufo]

Im not sure the three solutions are for me. Veeam is installed on a standalone server and its working fine previously when the vm is calculated to be 5.5tb. Not sure what was working previously and not now.

[foggy]

Could you please try to create the snapshot of this VM manually using vSphere Client?

[magix]

Dear all,

I also have the same problem but I am not sure how to solve it even after having read all posts on this forum ! The error is :
"Creating VM snapshot Error: File <unspecified filename> is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore '<unspecified datastore>"

We have a virtual machine with 4 disks :
* Disk 1 : 8GB, Datastore_1 (max size 36GB)
* Disk 2 : 2GB, Datastore_1 (max size 30GB) [independent]
* Disk 3 : 400GB, Datastore_DataUsers (max size 407 GB)
* Disk 4 : 100GB, Datastore_3 (max size 712 GB)

The datastores :
* Datastore_1, VMFS 3.31, block size 1MB, max filesize 256GB
* Datastore_DataUsers, VMFS 3.31, block size 2MB, max filesize 512GB
* Datastore_3, VMFS 3.31, block size 1MB, max filesize 256GB

My first question is, how to know which disk or datastore makes impossible to take a snapshot ?
And more important, what would be the best solution to solve this problem ?

Thanks in advance for any help !

[foggy]

My first question is, how to know which disk or datastore makes impossible to take a snapshot ?

The one where VMX file for this VM is located. By default, on VMFS 3.x snapshots of all disks are created on the datastore where VMX file is stored.

And more important, what would be the best solution to solve this problem ?

You can use workingDir parameter to redirect the snapshot to the datastore with required max file size supported.

[magix]

And this is the free spaces on the datastores of my previous post :
* Datastore_1, 28 GB
* Datastore_DataUsers, 8 GB
* Datastore_3, 612 GB

[magix]

Thanks a lot foggy for your answer, I think I understand now !

OK so now I understand more clearly. As the vmx file of this VM is located on Datastore_1 with a max filesize of 256GB and one of the file/Disk of the VM has a size of 400GB, this makes the snapshot impossible.

Therefore I created a new folder on another datastore with max filesize 2TB and will change the workingDir of the VM as soon as I can power it off.

I will keep you informed in case of success !

[foggy]

Yep, make sure you redirect snapshots to the datastore that supports the required max file size and has enough available space to hold all the snapshots (seems that currently no datastore complies with both requirements).

[magix]

I have a datastore that looks ok : Datastore_Slow, block size 8MB, max file size 2048GB, free 600GB.

But now my problem is that I want to add workingDir, but VMWare doesn't seem to accept it (it is not saved).
Therefore I tried to change the VMX file directly.
I defined workingDir = /vmfs/volumes/4f830c21-b5c9f0f4-b4db-00215edb3e1a/WORKDIR/

It looks like it is working now... ! Thanks a lot for your help

[foggy]

You're welcome. Should any additional questions come up, feel free to ask.

[JohnGG]

Gday everyone, i have 6 servers on ESXi4.0.1 and i have a DR which is ESXi5.5, i have set up some replication jobs and 3 o the servers seem to fail.
On the production host it has VMFS 3.46 (esxi 4.0.1), data stores are (Datastore1 & Datastore2 & Datastore3 all have 8MB block, 1.85 Terabyte capacity (All Raid 5), DatastoreC-Drive(1 MB Block size Capacity 1.64 Terabyte (Raid 5)).
The DR has VMFS 5.6.0 (ESXi 5.5, Datastore1 1MB block size and capacity of 5.46 terabyte (Raid 10)).
Now the issue is some of the servers work replicate to the DR site just fine but there are 3 that refuse to replicate and throw the following error "Error: File <unspecified filename> is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore '<unspecified datastore>"
I did read that going from 8 to 1 meg block will fail but it does work with some of the servers.
Im using the latest veeam 7 and have a trial license while i try and get this sorted. I really wanted to buy Veeam but if i cannot get the replication to work then i would have to look for somethign else.
The server that does work has a C:\ drive with 1 mb block and a E:\ drive with a 8 meg block(All E: drives use the 8 MB block size datastores). When i tried backing up the mail server it threw that error above straight away but the SQLServer which has the exact same setup but the disks are a little smaller and replicates just fine.

Any solutions?