Understanding Snapshots and Their Impact on Datastore Space
Question
An administrator places a 300 GB virtual machine named "Finance1" on a 2 TB datastore containing other virtual machines.
After virtual machine placement, the datastore has 200 GB of free space.
The accounting department takes a nightly snapshot of Finance1, then deletes the previous snapshot.
The administrator is concerned about snapshots filling the datastore.
Which statement is true regarding snapshots? (Choose the best answer.)
Answers
Explanations
Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer
A. B. C. D.A.
When a snapshot is taken of a virtual machine, a new virtual disk is created in the same datastore as the virtual machine's virtual disks. This new virtual disk is used to store changes made to the virtual machine's virtual disks, while the virtual machine continues to write changes to the original virtual disks.
Option A is not necessarily true because the size of a snapshot depends on the amount of data being written to the virtual disks of the virtual machine. If Finance1 is generating a lot of data, the snapshot size could grow larger than the available free space on the datastore in less than 24 hours.
Option B is the correct answer because any snapshot has the potential to fill up the datastore to capacity. This can happen if the snapshot grows larger than the available free space on the datastore, which can occur if the virtual machine generates a lot of data or if multiple snapshots are taken.
Option C is not true because vCenter Server does not have a built-in mechanism to prevent snapshots from filling up the datastore beyond 95%. It is the responsibility of the administrator to monitor the available space on the datastore and ensure that snapshots are not taking up too much space.
Option D is not true for this scenario because the SEsparse format is not guaranteed to be used for the snapshots of Finance1. Even if it is used, the snapshots can still fill up the datastore if they grow larger than the available free space.
To prevent snapshots from filling up the datastore, the administrator should monitor the available space on the datastore and either increase the size of the datastore or limit the number and frequency of snapshots taken of virtual machines on the datastore. Additionally, the administrator should periodically delete old snapshots that are no longer needed to free up space on the datastore.
