Snapshot consolidation "error: maximum consolidate retries was exceeded for scsix:x"

Whenever you cannot perform snapshot consolidation in VMware ESXi 5.5 and ESXi 6.0.x.Performing a snapshot consolidation in ESXi 5.5 fails.

or

When attempting to consolidate snapshots using the vSphere Client, you see the error:

maximum consolidate retries was exceeded for scsix:x

Consolidate Disks message: The virtual machine has exceeded the maximum downtime of 12 seconds for disk consolidation.

 This issue occurs because ESXi 5.5 introduced a different behavior to prevent the virtual machine from being stunned for an extended period of time.

This message is reported if the virtual machine is powered on and the asynchronous consolidation fails after 10 iterations. An additional iteration is performed if the estimated stun time is over 12 seconds.This occurs when the virtual machine generates data faster than the consolidated rate.

To resolve this issue, turn off the snapshots consolidation enhancement in ESXi 5.5 and ESXi 6.0.x, so that it works like earlier versions of ESX/ESXi. This can be done by setting the snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync to TRUE.

  Note: If the parameter is set to true, the virtual machine is stunned for long time to perform the snapshot consolidation, and it may not respond to ping during the consolidation.

To set the parameter snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync to TRUE using the vSphere client:

Shut down the virtual machine.

Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit settings.

Click the Options tab.

Under Advanced, right-click General

Click Configuration Parameters, then click Add Row.

In the left pane, add this parameter:

snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync

In the right pane, add this value:

TRUE

Click OK to save your change, and power on the virtual machine.

To set the parameter snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync to TRUE without shutting down the virtual machine, run this Powercli command:

get-vm virtual_machine_name | New-AdvancedSetting -Name snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync -Value TRUE -Confirm:$False