Issue:
- Linux based virtual machines fail to take quiesced snapshots after upgrading ESXi and VMware Tools to 5.1.
- Using the vSphere Client to take a quiesced snapshot fails immediately with the error:
The guest OS has reported an error during quiescing. The error code was: 3 The error message was: Error when enabling the sync provider.
- The hostd.log of the host running the virtual machine contains errors similar to:
[3CB9EB90 verbose 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/<datastore>/<VMNAME>/<VMNAME>.vmx'] Handling message _vmx##: The guestOS has reported an error during quiescing.
--> The error code was: 3
--> The error message was: Error when enabling the sync provider.
Cause
This issue occurs due to a problem with the FIFREEZE/FITHAW ioctl feature within the guest that is utilized to quiesce the Linux filesystem, affecting kernel 2.6.32-24 and lower.
Resolution
To resolve this issue, update the kernel of your Linux guest virtual machine to 2.6.35-22 or higher.
To work around this issue without updating the kernel:
- Open the tools.conf file, located in the /etc/vmware-tools directory, using a text editor.
Note: If the tools.conf file does not exist, create a new, empty file.
- Add these lines to the file:
[vmbackup]
enableSyncDriver = false