Avamar: VMware Backup fails "An error occurred while saving the snapshot: Exceeded the maximum number of permitted snapshots"

Summary: VMware backup failing with avvcbimage Error <44034>: vSphere Task failed (snapshot error=45): 'An error occurred while saving the snapshot: Exceeded the maximum number of permitted snapshots.'. ...

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Symptoms

The following errors for the backup failure are seen in the VM logs. 
avvcbimage Error <44034>: vSphere Task failed (snapshot error=45): 'An error occurred while saving the snapshot: Exceeded the maximum number of permitted snapshots.'. (Log #2) 
avvcbimage Error <44020>: Snapshot 'Avamar-1698324731ca9bd0948923986b47834cac43433b3a88bbg9d1' creation for VM '[datastore] <vmname>/ <filename>.vmx' task creation encountered a problem (Log #2) 
avvcbimage FATAL <0000>: [IMG0003] The VMX '[datastore] <vmname>/ <filename>.vmx' could not be snapshot. (Log #2) 
avvcbimage Error <0000>: [IMG0009] Create Snapshot: snapshot creation or pre/post snapshot script failed. (Log #2) 
avvcbimage Error <0000>: [IMG0009] Create Snapshot: snapshot creation/pre-script/post-script failed. (Log #2)


Cause

There is a vSphere parameter that controls the maximum snapshot allowed to create for a specific VM.
The parameter name is snapshot.maxSnapshots and set to 0 or lesser value, which means not enough snapshot are allowed to get created.

Resolution

The image backup process requires temporary creation of a virtual machine snapshot. The snapshot controls are driven by VMware vCenter. So, we need to change the snapshot parameter values from the vCenter end.

To resolve this issue please follow the below instructions:

  1. Login to vCenter
  2. Power down the virtual machine.
  3. Right-click the virtual machine in the Web Client and click Edit Settings.
  4. Click the VM Options tab, under Advanced, select the Edit Configuration option.
  5. Search for a string name called snapshot.maxSnapshots and increase its value.
  6. Click OK to save the changes.
  7. Power on the virtual machine and test the backup
Caution: Only modify the snapshot.maxSnapshots parameter with the guidance of VMware technical support. Increasing the number of allowed snapshots beyond the maximum value of 32 is not supported.

Additional Information

For more details see this VMware article https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1031280.

Affected Products

Avamar, Avamar, Avamar Client, Avamar Client for Linux, UNIX, MacOSX, Avamar Client for VMware, Avamar Data Store Gen4S, Avamar Data Store Gen4T, Avamar Data Store Gen5A, Avamar Server, Avamar Virtual Edition
Article Properties
Article Number: 000215505
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 26 Oct 2023
Version:  4
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