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

vSphere StorageYou must power off the virtual machine that uses this disk file before you enter this command. You mighthave to update the file system on the disk so the guest operating system can recognize and use the new sizeof the disk and take advantage of the extra space.NOTE You cannot hot-extend virtual SATA disks, or any virtual disk if the capacity after extension is equalto or greater than 2TB.You specify the newSize parameter in kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes by adding a k (kilobytes), m(megabytes), or g (gigabytes) suffix. The unit type is not case sensitive. vmkfstools interprets either k or K tomean kilobytes. If you don’t specify a unit type, vmkfstools defaults to kilobytes.The newSize parameter defines the entire new size, not just the increment you add to the disk.For example, to extend a 4g virtual disk by 1g, enter: vmkfstools -X 5g disk name.You can extend the virtual disk to the eagerzeroedthick format by using the -d eagerzeroedthick option.NOTE Do not extend the base disk of a virtual machine that has snapshots associated with it. If you do, youcan no longer commit the snapshot or revert the base disk to its original size.Upgrading Virtual DisksThis option converts the specified virtual disk file from ESX Server 2 format to the ESXi format.-M --migratevirtualdiskCreating a Virtual Compatibility Mode Raw Device MappingThis option creates a Raw Device Mapping (RDM) file on a VMFS volume and maps a raw LUN to this file.After this mapping is established, you can access the LUN as you would a normal VMFS virtual disk. Thefile length of the mapping is the same as the size of the raw LUN it points to.-r --createrdm deviceWhen specifying the device parameter, use the following format:/vmfs/devices/disks/disk_ID:PExample for Creating a Virtual Compatibility Mode RDMIn this example, you create an RDM file named my_rdm.vmdk and map the disk_ID raw disk to that file.vmkfstools -r /vmfs/devices/disks/disk_ID my_rdm.vmdkYou can configure a virtual machine to use the my_rdm.vmdk mapping file by adding the following lines tothe virtual machine configuration file:scsi0:0.present = TRUEscsi0:0.fileName = /vmfs/volumes/myVMFS/my_rdm.vmdkCreating a Physical Compatibility Mode Raw Device MappingThis option lets you map a pass-through raw device to a file on a VMFS volume. This mapping lets a virtualmachine bypass ESXi SCSI command filtering when accessing its virtual disk.This type of mapping is usefulwhen the virtual machine needs to send proprietary SCSI commands, for example, when SAN-awaresoftware runs on the virtual machine.-z --createrdmpassthru deviceAfter you establish this type of mapping, you can use it to access the raw disk just as you would any otherVMFS virtual disk.266 VMware, Inc.