Delete a snapshot

Delete a snapshot when you no longer need it, or to clear the way for deleting the volume it was taken from. A protected snapshot must be unprotected first.

Before you begin

The snapshot’s URN.
Permission pvs.snapshot.delete on the snapshot, and pvs.snapshot.unprotect if it’s protected. See Roles.
A snapshot that reports COMPLETED or ERROR. A PENDING snapshot can’t be deleted yet; wait until the copy finishes.

Important: The platform doesn’t check whether an image uses the snapshot. Once you unprotect or delete a snapshot, creating volumes from it and launching instances from an image built on it are refused.

Unprotect the snapshot

Skip this section if the snapshot reports protectionStatus: UNPROTECTED.

Unprotect the snapshot. This works on a COMPLETED snapshot and on an ERROR snapshot, and also settles a snapshot whose protectionStatus is FAILED.

origin storage unprotect-snapshot --snapshot-urn <snapshot-urn>

With the API, use the unprotectSnapshot mutation:

mutation {
  pvs {
    unprotectSnapshot(input: { snapshotUrn: "<snapshot-urn>" }) {
      accepted
      message
    }
  }
}

Check the snapshot until it reports protectionStatus: UNPROTECTED.
Terminal window
```
origin storage get-snapshot --snapshot-urn <snapshot-urn>
```

Delete the snapshot

Delete the snapshot.
Terminal window
```
origin storage delete-snapshot --snapshot-urn <snapshot-urn>
```
With the API, use the deleteSnapshot mutation:
```
mutation {
  pvs {
    deleteSnapshot(input: { snapshotUrn: "<snapshot-urn>" }) {
      accepted
      message
    }
  }
}
```
A delete request for a snapshot that isn’t UNPROTECTED is refused with the message snapshot must be unprotected before it can be deleted.
Check the snapshot until it reports status: DELETED.
Terminal window
```
origin storage get-snapshot --snapshot-urn <snapshot-urn>
```
A deleted snapshot drops out of origin storage list-snapshots at once. You can still look it up by URN, with no time limit.

If this fails

If the deletion is accepted but fails, the snapshot stays in your list as ERROR with a statusReason. Its copy may still exist, and it still blocks deleting its volume. Delete it again. If it’s still protected, unprotect it first.

Next steps

Delete a volume

Before you begin

Unprotect the snapshot

Delete the snapshot

If this fails

Next steps

Related