
After the quiesced snapshot is created, you should see a ***vss_manifests*.zip file in the VM folder in the data store. To eliminate the problem, simply remove the floppy drive from the VM configuration:Īn alternative method for determining whether the snapshot is created correctly is to use the Datastore Browser component in the vSphere client. Notes: The VSS error with the Event ID 12289 that we can see on the screenshot is not a problem. When a snapshot is created with the quiesced=ON, snapshot memory=OFF options (see the screen shot at the beginning of this post), the application logs display the following event from the VSS writers: You can check this all the way to the application level.įirst, check the Event Viewer.

There are several ways to determine whether a snapshot is created correctly. How to Ensure the Snapshot was Correctly Created Using VSS? We’re going to review the first option when the Quiesced set to ON. Note that VMware completely controls the process of creating the snapshot itself. Quiesced = ON, Memory = OFF Quiesced = OFF, Memory = OFF When preparing for a VMware snapshot, the backup software for VMware vSphere uses the following settings:

When the VSS writers finish this operation, they report to the VMware Tools Service - via the VMware Snapshot Provider - that the job is complete and the system is ready for a snapshot. All the registered VSS writers - which you can view using the " vssadmin list writers" command - receive the request and prepare applications for backup by writing transactions from the memory to disk. This is what we want to explore.įirst, when using the VMware Snapshot Provider service in VMware Tools, you start the process of creating a new Volume Snapshot Service (VSS) snapshot inside the guest operating system (OS). Unfortunately, this description does not clarify what happens with the virtual machine during the process. This process might include such operations as flushing dirty buffers from the operating system's in-memory cache to disk, or other higher-level, application-specific tasks.”

According to a VMware® Knowledge Base article, “Quiescing a file system is a process of bringing the on-disk data of a physical or virtual computer into a state suitable for backups.
