Challenge
A VMware snapshot is snapping an entire VM even though we have excluded some of the VMDKs in Veeam’s job properties.
Cause
When Veeam issues the Snapshot API call, we will still snapshot the entire VM. This is done through VMware. We will still only backup the selected VMDK’s however.
Solution
To solve, you can set the excluded VMDK’s in VMware for the selected VM as independent. Independent disks are unable to have snapshots taken of them.
Another note to be considered is VMware is also unable to snapshot PRDM’s.
More Information
Here is a KB on understanding how VMWare snapshots work: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1015180