vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-storage-guide

vSphere StorageThis option creates a virtual disk at the specified path on a datastore. Specify the size of the virtual disk.When you enter the value for size, you can indicate the unit type by adding a suffix of k (kilobytes), m(megabytes), or g (gigabytes). The unit type is not case sensitive. vmkfstools interprets either k or K to meankilobytes. If you don’t specify a unit type, vmkfstools defaults to bytes.You can specify the following suboptions with the -c option.• -a specifies the controller that a virtual machine uses to communicate with the virtual disks. You canchoose between BusLogic, LSI Logic, IDE, LSI Logic SAS, and VMware Paravirtual SCSI.• -d specifies disk formats.Example for Creating a Virtual DiskThis example illustrates creating a two-gigabyte virtual disk file named rh6.2.vmdk on the VMFS file systemnamed myVMFS. This file represents an empty virtual disk that virtual machines can access.vmkfstools -c 2048m /vmfs/volumes/myVMFS/rh6.2.vmdkInitializing a Virtual DiskUse the vmkfstools command to initialize a virtual disk.-w --writezerosThis option cleans the virtual disk by writing zeros over all its data. Depending on the size of your virtualdisk and the I/O bandwidth to the device hosting the virtual disk, completing this command might take along time.CAUTION When you use this command, you lose any existing data on the virtual disk.Inflating a Thin Virtual DiskUse the vmkfstools command to inflate a thin virtual disk.-j --inflatediskThis option converts a thin virtual disk to eagerzeroedthick, preserving all existing data. The optionallocates and zeroes out any blocks that are not already allocated.Removing Zeroed BlocksUse the vmkfstools command to convert any thin, zeroedthick, or eagerzeroedthick virtual disk to a thindisk with zeroed blocks removed.-K --punchzeroThis option deallocates all zeroed out blocks and leaves only those blocks that were allocated previouslyand contain valid data. The resulting virtual disk is in thin format.Converting a Zeroedthick Virtual Disk to an Eagerzeroedthick DiskUse the vmkfstools command to convert any zeroedthick virtual disk to an eagerzeroedthick disk.-k --eagerzeroWhile performing the conversion, this option preserves any data on the virtual disk.Deleting a Virtual DiskThis option deletes a virtual disk file at the specified path on the VMFS volume.-U --deletevirtualdisk264 VMware, Inc.