vSphere Storage - ESXi 5.1 - Documentation - VMware

Renaming a Virtual Disk
This option renames a virtual disk file at the specified path on the VMFS volume.
You must specify the original file name or file path oldName and the new file name or file path newName.
-E --renamevirtualdisk oldName newName
Cloning a Virtual Disk or RDM
This option creates a copy of a virtual disk or raw disk you specify.
-i --clonevirtualdisk srcfile -d --diskformat [zeroedthick|thin|eagerzeroedthick|rdm:device|
rdmp:device|2gbsparse]
You can use the -d|--diskformat suboption to specify the disk format for the copy you create. A non-root user
is not allowed to clone a virtual disk or an RDM.
Example for Cloning a Virtual Disk
This example illustrates cloning the contents of a master virtual disk from the templates repository to a virtual
disk file named myOS.vmdk on the myVMFS file system.
vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/myVMFS/templates/gold-master.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/myVMFS/myOS.vmdk
You can configure a virtual machine to use this virtual disk by adding lines to the virtual machine configuration
file, as in the following example:
scsi0:0.present = TRUE
scsi0:0.fileName = /vmfs/volumes/myVMFS/myOS.vmdk
Migrate Virtual Machines Between DifferentVMware Products
Typically, you use VMware Converter to migrate virtual machines from other VMware products into your
ESXi system. However, you can use the vmkfstools -i command to import virtual disks in 2gbsparse format
into ESXi and then attach this disk to a new virtual machine you create in ESXi.
You must import the virtual disk first because you cannot power on disks in 2gbsparse format on the ESXi
host.
Procedure
1 Import a disk in 2gbsparse format into the ESXi host by running the following command. Make sure to
select the disk format compatible with ESXi.
vmkfstools -i -d
2 Use the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client to attach the disk you imported to a virtual machine in
ESXi.
For information, see the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration.
Extending a Virtual Disk
This option extends the size of a disk allocated to a virtual machine after the virtual machine has been created.
-X --extendvirtualdisk newSize [kK|mM|gG]
Chapter 25 Using vmkfstools
You must power off the virtual machine that uses this disk file before you enter this command. You might
have to update the file system on the disk so the guest operating system can recognize and use the new size
of the disk and take advantage of the extra space.
VMware, Inc. 261