| Practice | Why it helps | |----------|---------------| | Regular backups (image-level) | Fast recovery from any corruption | | Use | Snapshots increase complexity & risk | | Avoid filling datastores >95% | Prevents descriptor write failures | | Enable VMFS heartbeat | Detects storage issues early | | Use UPS + battery-backed RAID | Prevents write interruptions | | Periodically run vmkfstools -x check | Finds corruption early | | Keep VMware Tools updated | Improves I/O handling | | Migrate from flaky storage | Faulty SAN/NAS is a top cause |