vSphere Storage - ESXi 5.1 - Documentation - VMware

vSphere Storage
n Dynamically add a new extent. The datastore can span over up to 32 extents with the size of each extent
of more than 2TB, yet appear as a single volume. The spanned VMFS datastore can use any or all of its
extents at any time. It does not need to fill up a particular extent before using the next one.
NOTE Datastores that only support hardware assisted locking, also called atomic test and set (ATS)
mechanism cannot span over non-ATS devices. For more information, see “VMFS Locking
Mechanisms,” on page 157.
Increase VMFS Datastore Capacity in the vSphere Client
When you need to create virtual machines on a datastore, or when the virtual machines running on a datastore
require more space, you can dynamically increase the capacity of a VMFS datastore.
Use one of the following methods to increase a VMFS datastore:
n Add a new extent. An extent is a partition on a storage device. You can add up to 32 extents of the same
storage type to an existing VMFS datastore. The spanned VMFS datastore can use any or all of its extents
at any time. It does not need to fill up a particular extent before using the next one.
n Grow an extent in an existing VMFS datastore, so that it fills the available adjacent capacity. Only extents
with free space immediately after them are expandable.
NOTE If a shared datastore has powered on virtual machines and becomes 100% full, you can increase the
datastore's capacity only from the host with which the powered on virtual machines are registered.
Prerequisites
Required privilege: Host.Configuration.Storage Partition Configuration
Procedure
1 Log in to the vSphere Client and select a host from the Inventory panel.
2 Click the Configuration tab and click Storage.
3 From the Datastores view, select the datastore to increase and click Properties.
4 Click Increase.
5 Select a device from the list of storage devices and click Next.
Option Description
To add a new extent Select the device for which the Expandable column reads NO.
To expand an existing extent Select the device for which the Expandable column reads YES
6 Review the Current Disk Layout to see the available configurations and click Next.
7 Select a configuration option from the bottom panel.
Depending on the current layout of the disk and on your previous selections, the options you see might
vary.
Option Description
Use free space to add new extent Adds the free space on this disk as a new extent.
Use free space to expand existing
extent
Expands an existing extent to a required capacity.
168 VMware, Inc.