VMware datastore full

When a VMware datastore fills up, deleting whatever looks biggest is the quick fix, but a file that looks abandoned may still belong to a machine, and removing a snapshot needs free space before it gives any back. 2501 finds what is filling the datastore, removes only what your policy allows, and reports the space it recovered, all within limits you set.

Snapshots are the usual cause. A snapshot is not a still copy: it records every change the machine makes after it is taken, so one kept long after the change it protected keeps growing. Folders left behind by machines that no longer exist are the other usual cause.

What 2501 does

The VMware Datastore Operator takes the capacity alert from your ticketing system and finds what is using the space: the snapshots behind the growth, and folders that belong to no machine. It removes the snapshots your policy allows once each machine is safe to work on, in small batches, checking that the space came back before going further and escalating when it did not. It reports the datastore's usage before and after, files that look orphaned with their size, and what is left for a person.

You stay in control

• You choose the level: investigate only, act after a person confirms, or act on its own within your rules. The level is set per specialty, not per ticket.
• No file is deleted on a guess: anything that looks orphaned stays until it is confirmed that no machine uses it.
• A datastore too full to clean is handed over: when there is too little room to merge a snapshot back, it flags the datastore for a person to move machines elsewhere.
• Your snapshot policy decides: what may be removed and what must stay. Protected snapshots and exceptions are left for a person to review.

Frequently asked

Why does removing a snapshot not free space at once? Its recorded changes are first merged back into the machine's disk, which takes time and some free room.

Can it just report what is using the space? Yes. In investigate-only mode it lists what is using the space, and removes nothing.

Related

• VMware Datastore Operator
• Disk partition full
• Guardrails: what an agent may never touch