Error Message

The VmwareDisks_A.log from %VCS_HOME%/log will report the error below:

VCS ERROR V-16-10061-22523 VMwareDisks::offline:Failed to detach disks from VM on ESX with error 'Invalid configuration for device '0'. Cannot remove virtual disk from the virtual machine because it or one of its parent disks is part of a snapshot of the virtual machine.'

The issue occurs when the path for the VMware disks (.vmdk files) provided in the DiskPaths attribute of the VMwareDisks resource are paths for snapshot disks instead of the parent disks. 

Example:

Note: A vmdk suffixed with -00000#.vmdk represents a snapshot disk.  

During an offline task for the VMwareDisks resource, VCS requests a Detach Disk operation for the disks provided in the DiskPaths attribute in the context of the user provided in the ESXDetails attribute.

It then waits until the disks are detached from the VM/cluster node at ESX level. However, as per VMware design, a snapshot disk cannot be detached from a virtual machine (VM) until it is merged with the parent disk. 

This is reported with the error as captured by the VMware API and logged into the %VCS_HOME%/log/VMwareDisks_A.log

This could be related to a backup of the VM being performed. 

To address this issue, ensure all snapshots are deleted/reverted before attempting an offline or failover operation from VCS.

1) To delete the snapshot(s), right click on the VM from Vsphere console -> Snapshots -> Delete all snapshots

2) If there is a need to perform a consolidation of the snapshots, then right click on the VM from Vsphere console -> Snapshots -> Consolidate

Or

Confirm if a backup of the VM is being performed and if so, wait for the VM backup to complete or terminate the backup of the VM as needed.