Forgotten VMware Snapshots? Automate Detection and Alerting with PowerCLI

In any VMware environment, snapshots are powerful but risky tools. They're great for backups or quick rollback points during updates, but leaving them for too long can seriously degrade performance, consume excessive datastore space, and even cause backup failures.

Tools like RVTools give you visibility into your snapshots, but wouldn’t it be better if you could automate the process and be proactively alerted when snapshots become a problem?

​That’s exactly what we’ll do in this blog—let’s build a PowerCLI script that checks for old snapshots and alerts you automatically.

The Problem: Forgotten Snapshots

Snapshots are meant to be temporary. VMware recommends deleting them within 24–72 hours in most production environments. However, admins often forget to clean them up—especially in environments with multiple teams or large numbers of VMs.

Leaving snapshots too long can result in:

• Slower VM performance
• Datastores filling up unexpectedly
• Failed backup jobs
• Risky system state assumptions

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