A Delete Unused Snapshots action task has a Failed status in the Recent Task list.

Problem

The Delete Unused Snapshots action did not run successfully.

The Recent Tasks list indicates that a Delete Unused Snapshots action has a task status of Failed. When you evaluate the Messages list for the selected job, you see this message. 

Remove snapshot failed, response wait expired after:[120] seconds,
	 unable to confirm removal.

Cause

The delete snapshot process involves waiting for access to datastores. The wait time is 600 seconds to access the datastore and delete the snapshot. If the delete request is not passed to the datastore in that time, the action does not finish the delete snapshot action.

Solution

  1. To determine if the snapshot was deleted, check its status in vCenter Server .
  2. If it was not, submit the delete snapshot request at a different time.