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SnapMirror snapshots not rolling off on source volumes of MirrorAllSnapshots cascade

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Applies to

  • ONTAP 9
  • SnapMirror

Issue

  • SnapMirror Snapshots on the source volume of the MirrorAllSnapshots cascade not rolling off automatically.
  • Cascade relationship: Cluster 1 --> Cluster 2 --> Cluster 3
CLUSTER1::> volume snapshot show -volume Pri_VOL1
                                                                 ---Blocks---
Vserver  Volume   Snapshot                                  Size Total% Used%
-------- -------- ------------------------------------- -------- ------ -----
Pri_svm Pri_VOL1
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-07_140500 76.23GB 4% 13%
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_100500 20.16GB 1% 4%
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_151354 118.3GB 6% 19%
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-16_173000 7.15MB 0% 0%
4 entries were displayed.
CLUSTER2::> volume snapshot show -volume Sec_VOL1
                                                                 ---Blocks---
Vserver  Volume   Snapshot                                  Size Total% Used%
-------- -------- ------------------------------------- -------- ------ -----
Sec_svm Sec_VOL1
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-07_140500 72.04GB 9% 12%
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_100500 20.73GB 3% 4%
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_151354 114.1GB 14% 18%
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-16_165000 10.33MB 0% 0%
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-16_173000 152KB 0% 0%
5 entries were displayed.
CLUSTER3::> volume snapshot show -volume Ter_VOL1
                                                                 ---Blocks---
Vserver  Volume   Snapshot                                  Size Total% Used%
-------- -------- ------------------------------------- -------- ------ -----
Ter_svm Ter_VOL1
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_105126 96.43 2% 8%
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_150500 54.85 3% 2%
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_140500 20.73GB 3% 4%
                  snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_151354 114.1GB 14% 18%
4 entries were displayed.
  • In the above example snapshot snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_151354 is locked with snapmirror owner tag as it is the common snapshot between cluster2 and cluster3, it will be released once second leg of the snapmirror is updated or resynced.

    ::*> volume snapshot show -fields create-time,busy,owners,snapmirror-label

    vserver volume   snapshot               create-time              busy  owners tags
    ------- -------- ---------------------- ------------------------ ----- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    <SVM>   <VOLUME> <SNAPMIRROR_SNAPSHOT>  Wed Dec 13 06:15:03 2023 false -      SMCreated=snapmirror,VOPL_owner_snapmirrorDP.<UUID>.base=snapmirror

  • Also may see these Error:16 alerts on some snapshots which require manual cleanup.

snapmirror_error indicates that Snapshot deletion failed.Sun Dec  7 15:08:11 +06 2025 DelSnapshotOwners:8dc57c7b-d233-11f0-bf45-d039eaca4be0 Operation-Uuid=cb012055-2979-4aa7-886a-1d0c89cef3fc Group=CGflexvol Operation-Cookie=0 sm_rpm_cg_src_xdp_snapshot_delete:10887 Workflow ID [300881] Snapshot "snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-07_140500" delete failed.
Mon Dec  8 11:07:00 +06 2025 DelSnapshotOwners:8dc57c7b-d233-11f0-bf45-d039eaca4be0 Operation-Uuid=b3096e45-4a7e-4aa1-89af-0029a525b7d9 Group=CGflexvol Operation-Cookie=0 sm_rpm_cg_src_xdp_snapshot_delete:10887 Workflow ID [322904] Snapshot "snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_100500" delete failed.

sktrace.log indicates that Snapshot deletion failed by Error:16Error:162025-12-07T09:08:11Z 9330884115488705     [20:0] SM_HIGH_8:  [sm_rpm.c:10884]: sm_rpm_cg_src_xdp_snapshot_delete([300881]): ASYNC-CG sc snap delete src failed:22:snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-07_140500 Error:16
2025-12-08T05:07:00Z 9474744221751263     [20:0] SM_HIGH_8:  [sm_rpm.c:10884]: sm_rpm_cg_src_xdp_snapshot_delete([322904]): ASYNC-CG sc snap delete src failed:42:snapmirrorCG.4d527d8e-8359-11f0-82e3-d039eaca5637_2153958245.2025-12-08_100500 Error:16*Error:16 is a very rare race condition in ONTAP where 2 operations run simultaneously and due to the resource constraints and busy WAFL, one of the operations fails to succeed, in this case the snap delete failed. 

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