Snapshot Failure on Unprotected VM or JetStream Protected VM Restored from Backup

This article applies to all JSDR software versions.

Problem

VMs not protected by JetStream DR or unprotected VMs experience snapshot creation failure.

Cause

When a VM protected by JetStream DR is restored from a backup or migrated to a different cluster without a graceful cleanup of JetStream DR protection, there is a possibility that one or more disks still hold the JetStream DR “VM storage policy.” Similarly, if a disk protected by JetStream DR is removed and then added to another non-protected VM, the JetStream DR policy may be retained leading to VM snapshot failures with an error message such as “An error occurred while saving the snapshot: Operation failed” or “An error occurred while taking a snapshot“.

Solution

1. Identify Affected VMs and Disks:
   • Verify if the VMs or any of their disks are still associated with the Jetstream DR “VM storage policy.”
     
     
2. Remove Jetstream DR Policies:
   • If any of the VM disks (not under Jetstream DR Protection) are found to still be associated with the Jetstream DR “VM storage policy,” reset them by changing the policy to something other than the JetStream DR storage policy or the datastore default policy.
     
     
3. Verify JetStream DR policies have been removed from all non-protected VMs with disks experiencing problems. Then try to take a manual shapshot to ensure they are working properly.

Do not manually change the VM storage policy of any Jetstream DR protected VM.
If you encounter issues with snapshots, engage the JetStream Software support team and submit a current MSA support bundle and VMware logs of the VM with problems, including all rotations.

This article applies to VMs not protected by JetStream DR (which can be validated from the Health View report).