Supporting clones with consolidated snapshots

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• create a clone of a virtual computing instance (VCI) in a snapshot tree provided by a software defined data center;
• and
• create a consolidated snapshot including tuples from a diskchain of the clone in the snapshot tree responsive to a determination that the snapshot tree exceeds a threshold.

A system, comprising:

• a clone engine configured to create a clone of a virtual computing instance (VCI) in a snapshot tree provided by a software defined data center;
• and
• a consolidated snapshot engine configured to create a consolidated snapshot including tuples from a diskchain of the clone in the snapshot tree responsive to a determination that the snapshot tree exceeds a threshold.