deleting old snapshots

[ejenner]

I've been told by HPE support (we have a support agreement which costs us a ton of cash every year) that we have lots of old snapshots built up on our 3PAR and this is why VSS is failing on our backup (Veeam). 

Despite asking for the information on how to view / delete snapshots I've not had any response for several days. 

It's possible the cause of our VSS errors are related to some other problem with our configuration such as badly configured volumes which don't allow enough space for snapshots but I think it's the first problem. 

Anyone got any clear instructions for viewing and deleting old snapshots?  I prefer 3PAR console to CLI.  But if CLI is the only way to do it then either is fine. 

[sbhat09]

Hello,

Here is the methods to filter and remove the snapshots. 

From SSMC GUI:

Go to main menu
Select Virtual Volumes
apply the filters (type -> snap) as shown in the image below to list only snapshots.
Select the snapshots one a time or multiple
Go to actions menu and delete the selected snapshots

From CLI:

Use the exact command: removevv -snaponly -pat *
CLI shows the snapshot name to delete one after the other.
Type 'y' and hit enter to delete. Type 'n' and hit enter to skip a specific snap.
CLI continues to offer 'yes' or 'no' options for all the snapshots one after the other.

Please note: You will not be able to delete the snapshot if there is an active 'retention policy' or 'retention period' set for the snapshots. 

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[ejenner]

I have the older HP 3PAR Management Console.  Can the snapshots be viewed in this older version of the console? 

I tried the CLI instructions and I can see the snapshots, not sure how many there are but there seems to be a lot of them! 

Is there any way that deleting snapshots can impact production data or are they entirely unrelated?  Bearing in mind this has affected our backup I am hesitatant to proceed without 100% reassurance that the command you specified does not delete anything other than snapshots, the live data is something separate? 

[Sheldon Smith]

I haven't looked at the old 3PAR Management Console in years. As I recall, when you look at a voume, there is a plus sign "+" to the left. Click on that shows the associated snapshots.

Deleting HPE 3PAR snapshots does not affect production data. A snapshot keeps a copy of what used to be in the production data. As stuff is written to production data, production no longer needs "what used to be". The "what used to be" is only needed if you need to "go back". Get busy deleting those old snapshots!

It sounds like whatever is creating the backups is not setting an expiration ("used by") date on the snapshots. The "setvv" command can be used to add an expiration window (how long to wait until the snapshot should be considered obsolete) with the "-exp" option. For example, "-exp 14d" will set a volume to quaify as expired two weeks from now. While a volume may be flagged as expired, if it is being used (presented to a host) or it has a child volume that is being used, it is skipped by the hourly expired-volume cleanup job.

Whatever is creating the snapshots in fhe first place should be setting an expiration date on the snapshots as it makes them. And looking at the screenshot, those look like time stamps on the end of the snapshot names.

Please look through 

• HPE 3PAR Concepts Guide
• HPE 3PAR Command Line Interface Administrator Guide
• HPE 3PAR Command Line Interface Reference

HPE's Pointnext Technology Services could help you clean things up.

[sbhat09]

Hello

I think the snapshots can be viewed in older management console also. But it has been many years I haven't used the older console and I don't remember the exact navigation steps.'

The command I provided will delete only snapshots for sure and nothing else. None of the volumes will be impacted. You may proceed with this.

Or,

To identify which snapshots to delete, run the command 'showvv' and copy the output to excel. Apply delimiter and separate columns. Apply filter to the 6th column (Type) and (optionally to 7th and 8th columns as well) list only the snapshots which you want to delete.  

Then use the snapshot names in 2nd colums (Name). Prefix 'removevv -snaponly' to all the snapshot names you want to delete and run the command one after the other.
The option '-snaponly' will ensure none of the base volumes to delete accidentally.

Ex: removevv -snaponly SnapVolName

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[ejenner]

I can see "Type" is "Virtual Copy" - these are the files the CLI command would delete? 

[sbhat09]

Hi Ejenner,

Yes. That is right.

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[ejenner]

The backup product is Veeam.  Latest version. 

[ejenner]

I've got a load of VVs which have been 'exported' to Hyper-V hosts.  Why are they showing as exported?  Can I delete those as well?  They look the same as the others in terms of how they're named. 

[ejenner]

Is there anything else that has to happen for these snapshots to disappear?  The numbers in the 3PAR console are staying the same and there's been no improvment in functionality. 

Is there a system process which must run to process the deletions I've requested? 

[sbhat09]

Hi Ejener,

As I don't have visibility to the export status of the volumes you mentioned, can't comment with confirmation. You can validate the export status of the volume with your internal data or you can validate with the support engineer who is handling your support case. They can check logs and confirm you.

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[sbhat09]

Hi Ejenner,

It depends on the auto-deletion, auto expiration policy set in the backup job. If the excessive older snapshots are not set to  auto deletion, accumulation of snapshots is expected behaviour.

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[ejenner]

Not seen that setting before.  Is that a setting in Veeam? 

[sbhat09]

Yes. Backup policy configuration is completely on the backup software (Veeam).

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[ejenner]

Did you see my other question? 

After deleting snapshots through CLI I'm not seeing any differences in the numbers in the 3PAR Management Console.  It also isn't making any difference to the success of backups.  They're still failing with the same VSS error. 

Is something else required to commit the changes? 

[ejenner]

looking more closely, concentrating on a particular snapshot. 

I found it in the CLI and the Management Console. 

Pressed 'y' to delete.  Refreshed the console by closing it and opening it. 

Snapshot still visible in the console?  How can that be? 

[sbhat09]

Hi Ejenner,

Please list the existing snapshots and VVs with the command 'showvv'. And identify the snapshot to delete.

Delete the snapshot with 'removevv' command. Ensure that it has been deleted successfully.

List the VVs and snapshots again with 'showvv' command. And check if the snapshot you deleted is not there in the list.

The management console may take sometime to refresh with realtime data. So, the removed snapshot still shows there.

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[ejenner]

There is a way in the old 3PAR Management Console to 'remove' the snapshot so I've attempted that. 

When you select 'remove' you get the following screens.  Maybe this is why they're not deleting in CLI? 

[sbhat09]

Hello Ejenner,

Please validate Veeam backup configuration and ensure they are the snapshots to delete. Select and click on ok/yes to delete. Wait for sometime for the Management console GUI to update. Or you can check in CLI (to confirm that the snapshot is deleted) after sometime.

For better accuracy, I advise to use CLI:
1. List the snapshots
2. Delete the snapshots
3. List again to verify (compare with previous listing) that they are deleted.

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[sbhat09]

Hello Ejenner,

Was that useful to you in removing excessive snapshots and make some free space? Please let me know if you need further assistance on this.

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[ejenner]

yes you helped to get it fixed.  But for a 3PAR occassional dabbler who does not do much on 3PAR it was difficult to trust in the process. 

I also think it was never going to work through CLI due to the number of additional questions which were popping up when doing it through the Management Console. 

I've deleted all the snapshots through the Management Console but it seems they take a long while to actually remove themselves from the configruation. 

You can see Snp Used and Snp Free are starting to move towards each other.  But at the moment trying to perform backups is still a bit hit-n-miss.  So not out of the woods yet. 

[sbhat09]

Hi EJenner,

To summerise the conversation since yesterday (+some new inputs),

The problem:
There are large amount of snapshots created for few volumes. Those snapshots have accupied huge space in your 3PAR.

Plan of action 1:
1. Snapshots are there since march 2019. Please identify how many of the older snapshots you need to keep and for how long.
2. Collect the command outputs of 'showvv' and 'showvv -d'. Export the output to excel and apply filters to list only the snapshots to delete.
3. Prefix 'removevv -snaponly' to the snapshot name to delete. That will be the exact CLI command to delete the snapshot.
4. Run the command one after the other to quickly and safely remove the snapshots. The option '-snaponly' in the command eliminates the chances of deleting base volumes accidentally.

Or,

Plan of action 2:
Install a newer version of SSMC (The new 3PAR management console). There you will provide much sophisticated options to filter and delete several snapshots at once. SSMC will be much advanced and easier GUI than the older management console.

And,
Plan of action 3:
1. After this exercise, based on your requirement about 'how many' and 'how long' to retain the historical snapshots, reconfigure the backup jobs so that it auto-delete the older snapshots which are no more required.
2. Please check if Veeam backup offers any option to delete older/unwanted snapshots (existing) by changing some settings. If yes, you can ignore both the above plan of actions.
3. Also consider if you can have a separate backup device (like HPE StoreOnce) to store the backups instead of storing them locally 3PAR. It will be much safer and efficient.

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[ejenner]

When I downloaded the SSMC file from the website it came as a .star file and I couldn't see what that was supposed to be used for.  It was as if the software ran from the 3PAR itself.  The old Managment Console is an .exe on your workstation. 

[sbhat09]

Hello EJenner,

What is the version of SSMC you downloaded? The current version 3.7 (any version above 3.3) is a virtual appliance (ovf) of its own. You need to deploy it like an OS or a VM directly in vCenter. No need to install as an application (.exe) on a server/VM.

Regards,
Srinivas Bhat

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[ejenner]

Is it hyper-v compatible? 

Can you link me to the correct download page?