Newly Added Disk to Protected VM (with Snapshots) Reports Protection Cancelled

This article applies to all JSDR software versions.

Problem

The protection status of a new disk added to a recoverable protected VM appears as “cancelled.”

If a VM is currently being protected and in a “recoverable” state and a new disk is added to the VM, the protection status of the disk may change to “cancelled” after the disk is initialized. The problem generally occurs when a new disk is added to a protected VM that already holds a VMware snapshot.
 

The protection status of the VM is still recoverable, but its icon turns yellow highlighting a problem with the newly added disk.
 

Solution

1. Click the Details link of the VM with the yellow flagged protection status icon.
    
   
    
2. This allows the cancelled disk to be identified.
    
   
    
3. Delete all existing snapshots of the VM.
   • Also, verify if any disk consolidation is necessary for the VM and perform that task as necessary.
      
4. After clearing snapshots, re-protect the VM.

Alternatively, it is possible to remove the new disk, delete any snapshots, and then re-add it.
(This approach can reduce the time it takes for the VM to become recoverable because all VM data will not need not to be replicated to the object store.)

In general, it is recommended to make sure there are no pre-existing VM snapshots captured before adding a new disk to a JetStream protected VM.

Please note this issue is not a defect of JetStream software. It is due to limitations of VMware ESXi.