5/31/2017 VMKFSTOOLSExamplesWorkingWithVirtualDisks

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VMKFSTOOLSExamplesWorkingWithVirtual
Disks
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VMFSTOOLSissomethingIperhapsdontuseasregularlyasIdlikeandasaresultfindmyselfhavingto
refertothedocumentationprettymuchanytimeIdoanythingwithit.WiththatinmindIthoughtIddocument
someexamplesofwhatvmkfstoolscandohere,soIllhavesomethingtoreferbackto.

Simplyput,vmkfstoolsisavSphereclitoolformanagingVMFSvolumes.Itwillallowyoutoperform
operationsagainstboththefilesystemandthevirtualdiskfiles.HereIllbeconcentratingonlookingatwhat
wecandowithvirtualdisks.

VMKFSTOOLSVirtualDiskOptions
Runningvmkfstoolsattheclipromptwilldisplaytheoptionsavailabletous:

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5/31/2017 VMKFSTOOLSExamplesWorkingWithVirtualDisks

CreateaVirtualDiskwithvmkfstools
Tocreateavirtualdiskwecanrunvmkfstoolsc2048mtestdisk1.vmdk

Asaresult,weendupwith2filesthevirtualdiskdescriptorfile,andthevirtualdiskitself:

BydefaultthiswillcreateathickdiskusingaBusLogicvirtualadapter.Tocreateathinprovisionedvirtualdisk
weneedtousethediskformatoption,vmkfstoolsc5Gdiskformatthintestdisk2.vmdk.

Runninglslacanbemisleadingasitreportsthenewdiskssizeasbeingitsmaximumpossiblesize,inthiscase
5GB:

Butwecanconfirmthefilesactualsizeondisk,andthereforeconfirmthatitisthinprovisionedbyrunningdu
ah.

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5/31/2017 VMKFSTOOLSExamplesWorkingWithVirtualDisks

Thisshowsthefilesizetobezero,whichiswhatwewereexpectingfroman,asyetunused,thinprovisioned
disk.

Toconvert,orinflate,thevirtualdiskfilesothatitischangedtotheeagerzeroedthickformatwecanusethe
inflatediskoption.Thisactionpreservesanyexistingdataonthevirtualdisk.Dependingonthesizeofthedisk,
thismaytakesometime.

Oncecomplete,runningduahnowshowsthefiletobeusingthe5GBthatwasoriginallyconfiguredasits
maximumsize:

ExtendingaVirtualDiskwithvmkfstools
Ifthe5GBwespecifiedisntenough,wecanincreasethesizeofthevirtualdiskbyrunningvmkfstoolsX6GB
test.vmdk.Wecanconfirmthechangebyagainrunningduah.

CloneaVirtualDiskwithvmkfstools

Wecanalsousevmdkfstoolstocloneavirtualdisk.Thisisusefulifwejustneedacopy,orinthiscaseifwe
wishtoconvertthediskbacktobeingthinprovisioned.Wecandothisbyrunningvmkfstoolsitest2.vmdk
test2clone.vmdkdthin

Thethinprovisionedcloneofthediskrevertsto5GBasthisisthesizewehadpreviouslysettobeingeager
zeroed:

DeleteaVirtualDiskusingvmkfstools

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5/31/2017 VMKFSTOOLSExamplesWorkingWithVirtualDisks

Nowwehavethethinprovisionedclone,wemaywanttodeletetheoriginalvirtualdisk.Thisisdoneby
runningvmkfstoolsUtest2.vmdk.

Whendeletingvirtualdisksfromthecliitisrecommendedtousevmkfstoolsratherthanthelinuxrmcommand
purelybecausevmkfstoolsdeletesboththevirtualdiskfileanditsdescriptor,withoutyouhavingtolistboth
filesinyourrmcommand.

RenamingaVirtualDiskusingvmkfstools
Finally,andtocompletethispost,Iwillrenametheclonedvmdkfilesothatitreflectstheoriginalname.Weuse
vmkfstoolsEtodothis:

Again,likewithdeletingvmdkfiles,whenrenamingitisbettertousevmkfstoolsratherthanthemvcommand,
asthisrenamesbothoftherelevant.vmdkfiles.

Theresquiteabitmoretothistoolthanwhatscoveredhere,includingworkingwithRDMsandtheVMFS
filesystemitself,whichIllbeputtinginafuturepost.

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Taggedas:esx,esxi,vmkfstools

{1commentreaditbeloworaddone}

georgeharrisJanuary5,2016at5:43am

Verynicearticle.ManythankstoGabrielle.Lfordirectingmehere.

aquestionIhavebeenabletosuccessfullycreatetheVMFS5virtualdiskanditshowsupinthe
datastore(6TBdisc=5.46TBavailable).Howeverthevspheredesktopclientwillnotaddanythingover
4TBtotheVM.

whatisthevmkfstoolscommandtodothissuccessfully?Examplebelow:

vmkfstoolsc6144G/vmfs/volumes/my6TBdrive/gmedia/gmedia.vmdk

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5/31/2017 VMKFSTOOLSExamplesWorkingWithVirtualDisks

thisyieldstheerrorFailedtocreatevirtualdisk:Thereisnotenoughspaceonthefilesystemforthe
selectedoperation(13)

shouldIchooseadifferentsizewithan~10%overheadfactor?Ifso,whatcapacitydoIapplythe
overheadfactorto?

a)10%offullcapacity6144GB=5529GB

or

b)10%ofavailablecapacity5.46TBor4.91TB

Reply

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