Ask an Expert What tools are available for disk management on ESX Server?

Answer:

You can use the vmkfstools command line utility to create and manipulate virtual disks, file systems, and physical storage devices. vmkfstools comes with all versions of VMware ESX Server.

Examples for ESX 3.0 environment:

1. Viewing VMFS Volumes / Partitions Information

To display VMFS volumes /partition information, type

The response looks like this:

2. Creating a virtual disk

To create a virtual disk, use the following command:

This command creates a 1 GB virtual disk at a given location, with all space allocated at creation time. The –a option specifies SCSI controller type that should be used to communicate with the virtual disk.

3. Extending a virtual disk

The vmkfstools command can also be used for extending a virtual disk to the new specified length.
For example, to extend a disk to a size of 2 GB, type

Always specify the virtual disk descriptor file with the vmkfstools command. After expanding the disk file, it is necessary to run a partition manipulation tool in the virtual machine to expand the partition seen by the guest OS.

4. Deleting virtual disks

Type the command

Note: you can also perform tasks 1 - 4 by means of Virtual Infrastructure Client.

5. Importing and exporting virtual disks

Another typical administrative task is to move a virtual machine either from an ESX server to another VMware platform, or the other way around. This task involves a format conversion of the virtual machine disks.

To export a virtual disk from VMFS volume, you need to specify ‘2gbsparse’ disk format. Disks in this format can be used with other VMware products.

To import a virtual disk named ‘Win XP.vmdk’ to VMFS volume, type:

To get the full listing of command options, type vmkfstools or man vmkfstools in a console session.

2 Comments
	Mike (May 24, 2007) Do you know should I use vmkfstools before I make a backup copy on Windows of a vmdk via scp tool? What do you mean by switching to another VMware platform, GSX Server?
	gaston (July 06, 2007) How can i shrink a disk?