Virtual Disk Manager Users Guide

Virtual Disk Development Kit

Virtual Disk Manager Users Guide

Virtual Disk Manager Users Guide Item: EN-000046-01

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at: http://www.vmware.com/support/ The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates. If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to: docfeedback@vmware.com

2008 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more U.S. Patent Nos. 6,397,242, 6,496,847, 6,704,925, 6,711,672, 6,725,289, 6,735,601, 6,785,886, 6,789,156, 6,795,966, 6,880,022, 6,944,699, 6,961,806, 6,961,941, 7,069,413, 7,082,598, 7,089,377, 7,111,086, 7,111,145, 7,117,481, 7,149,843, 7,155,558, 7,222,221, 7,260,815, 7,260,820, 7,269,683, 7,275,136, 7,277,998, 7,277,999, 7,278,030, 7,281,102, 7,290,253, 7,356,679, 7,409,487, 7,412,492, 7,412,702, 7,424,710, and 7,428, 636; patents pending. VMware, the VMware boxes logo and design, Virtual SMP, and VMotion are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

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Contents

AboutThisBook

5 7

UsingVMwareVirtualDiskManager

AboutVirtualDiskManager 7 UsesofVirtualDiskManager 8 VMwareDiskMount 8 RunningVirtualDiskManager 8 ExamplesUsingVirtualDiskManager 10 CreatingaVirtualDisk 10 ConvertingaVirtualDisk 10 IncreasingtheSizeofanExistingVirtualDisk 10 RenamingorRelocatingaVirtualDisk 11 DefragmentingaVirtualDisk 11 ShrinkingaVirtualDisk 12

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Virtual Disk Manager Users Guide

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About This Book

ThisVMwaremanual,theVirtualDiskManagerUsersGuide,providesanintroductiontousingthe vmware-vdiskmanagercommandlineutility.

Revision History
Thisbookisrevisedwitheachreleaseoftheproductorwhennecessary.Arevisedversioncancontainminor ormajorchanges.Table P1summarizesthesignificantchangesineachversionofthisguide. Table P-1. Revision History
Revision Date 20070420 20070607 20080128 20080407 20080407 Description of Changes FirstversionoftheVirtualDiskManagerUsersGuide. UpdatewithsupportforLinuxhostsandremotevirtualdisks. Added-toption5forthecompressedstreamvirtualdisktype. Added-Soptiontoswitchremotesystemfromtargettosource. ReissuedwithVMwareWorkstation6.5andVMwareServer2.0.

Intended Audience
ThisbookisintendedforanyonewhousesVMwareVirtualDiskManager.Userstypicallyincludepeoplewho dosoftwaredevelopmentandtestingorworkwithmultipleoperatingsystemsorcomputingenvironments: systemadministrators,applicationdevelopers,QAengineers,andanyonewhowantstocreate,manage,and modifyvirtualdiskfilesfromscriptsoratthecommandline.

Documentation Resources
ToaccessthecurrentversionsofVMwareAPIandSDKdocumentation,goto: http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/sdk_pubs.html ToaccessthecurrentversionsofotherVMwaremanuals,goto: http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs

Documentation Feedback
VMwarewelcomesyoursuggestionsforimprovingourdocumentation.Sendyourfeedbackto: docfeedback@vmware.com

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Virtual Disk Manager Users Guide

Technical Support and Education Resources

Thefollowingsectionsdescribethetechnicalsupportandeducationalresourcesavailabletoyou.

Online Support
YoucansubmitquestionsorpostcommentstotheDeveloperCommunitySDKsandAPIsforum,whichis monitoredbyVMwaretechnicalsupportandproductteams.Toaccesstheforum,goto: http://communities.vmware.com/community/developer

Support Offerings
TofindouthowVMwaresupportofferingscanhelpmeetyourbusinessneeds,goto: http://www.vmware.com/support/services

VMware Professional Services

VMwareEducationServicescoursesofferextensivehandsonlabs,casestudyexamples,andcoursematerials designedtobeusedasonthejobreferencetools.Coursesareavailableonsite,intheclassroom,andlive online.Foronsitepilotprograms andimplementationbestpractices,VMwareConsultingServicesprovides offeringstohelpyouassess,plan,build,andmanageyourvirtualenvironment.Toaccessinformationabout educationclasses,certificationprograms,andconsultingservices,goto: http://www.vmware.com/services/

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Using VMware Virtual Disk Manager

VMwareVirtualDiskManager(vmware-vdiskmanager)isautilitythatallowsyoutocreate,manage,and modifyvirtualdiskfilesfromwithinscriptsoratthecommandline.ItrunsonWindowsandLinuxsystems, andhasthesamecommandlineoptionsonboth. Thischaptercontainsthefollowingsections: AboutVirtualDiskManageronpage 7 RunningVirtualDiskManageronpage 8 ExamplesUsingVirtualDiskManageronpage 10

About Virtual Disk Manager

VirtualDiskManagermanipulatesvirtualmachinedisk(VMDK)files,whichinVMwaresystemssubstitute forphysicaldisk.OneofVirtualDiskManagerskeyfeaturesistheabilitytocloneandconvertvirtualdisks fromthelocalsystemtoaremotesystem,orfromaremotesystemtothelocalsystem. Anotherfeatureallowsyoutoenlargeavirtualdisksothatitsmaximumcapacityislargerthanwhenyou createdit.Ifyouneedmorediskspaceonagivenvirtualdiskbutdonotwanttoaddanothervirtualdiskor useghostingsoftwaretotransferthedataonavirtualdisktoalargervirtualdisk,youcanalterthemaximum sizeofthedisk.Thisisnotpossiblewithphysicalharddrives. Anotherfeatureallowsyoutochangedisktypes.Whenyoucreateavirtualmachine,youspecifyhowdisk spaceisallocated.Youhavetwochoicesforatotaloffouroptions: PreallocatedorgrowableAllspaceforthevirtualdiskisallocatedinadvance(flat),orallocatedspace beginssmallbutgrowsasneededforthevirtualdisk(sparse). SingleormultiplefilesVirtualdiskisstoredinonebigfile(monolithic),orstoredasaseriesofsmaller virtualdiskfiles(split). WithVirtualDiskManageryoucanchangewhetherthevirtualdisktypeisflatorsparse,monolithicorsplit. Youcanchangepreallocateddiskintogrowablediskasneeded,andchangewhetherthevirtualdiskisstored inasinglefileorsplitintomultiple2GBfiles. Forexample,youmightallocateallthediskspaceforavirtualdisk,butlateryoumightneedtoreclaimhard diskspaceonthehost.Youcanconvertthepreallocatedvirtualdiskintoagrowabledisk,andremovethe originalvirtualdiskfile.Thenewgrowablevirtualdiskislargeenoughtocontainallthedataintheoriginal virtualdisk,andmoreoverisabletogrowwhenyouadddatatoit. Asanotherexample,youcouldmoveavirtualmachinefromanoldVMwareserverthatcouldnothandlefiles largerthan2GB,convertingthesplitvirtualdiskintoasinglegrowablefile. Asathirdexample,youcanconverthosteddisktomanageddiskinaVMFSfilesystemonanESXhost. NOTEVirtualdiskmustbeoffline,withthevirtualmachinepoweredoff,formostoperations.

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Virtual Disk Manager Users Guide

Uses of Virtual Disk Manager

YoucanuseVirtualDiskManagerto: Automatethemanagementofvirtualdiskswithscripts. Createvirtualdisksthatarenotyetassociatedwithaparticularvirtualmachine.Thisisusefulformaking templatestospeedcreationofvirtualmachine. ConvertanexistinglocalvirtualdisktoaremoteESXvirtualdisk. Createacompresseddiskoptimizedforstreaming. Switchthevirtualdisktypefrompreallocatedtogrowable,orfromgrowabletopreallocated.Whenyou changethedisktypetogrowable,youreclaimsomediskspace.Youcanshrinkthevirtualdisktoreclaim evenmorediskspace. Expandthesizeofavirtualdisksoitislargerthanthesizespecifiedwhenyoucreatedit. Defragmentvirtualdisks. Prepareandshrinkvirtualdiskswithoutpoweringonthevirtualmachine. Renameandmovevirtualdisks. NOTEYoucannotuseVirtualDiskManagertocreateortoshrinkphysicalharddrives. YoucanuseVirtualDiskManagerwithvirtualdiskscreatedunderVMwareServer,VMwareWorkstation5 orhigher,VMwareFusion,VMwarePlayer,VMwareGSXServer,VMwareACE(unencrypteddisksonly),and VMwareESX/ESXiserver(onlypreallocateddisksoftype4).

VMware Disk Mount

SomediskmanagementactivitiesrequireyoutomountaVMDKasavolumeorfilesystemavailabletothe hostorguestoperatingsystem.SeetherelatedmanualVMwareDiskMountUsersGuideformoreinformation.

Running Virtual Disk Manager

BackupyourvirtualdiskfilesbycopyingthemelsewherebeforemakingchangeswithVirtualDiskManager. To run Virtual Disk Manager 1 Openacommandpromptorterminalonthehost. PathisprobablysetcorrectlybytheVMwareinstallation,butyoumighthavetochangetothedirectory whereyouinstalledVMwareVirtualDiskManager. 2 Typethevmware-vdiskmanagercommandtodisplayusageinformation.

Thecommandsyntaxisoneof:
vmware-vdiskmanager <options> <diskname> vmware-vdiskmanager <options> <drive|mountpoint>

Use<diskname>tospecifythenameofavirtualdiskfile(VMDK)thatyouwanttocreate,manage,ormodify. Thevirtualdiskfilemusthavea.vmdkextension.Youmayspecifyapathinfrontofthefilename.Forexample: C:\DocumentsandSettings\<user>\My Documents\MyVirtualMachines\VMname\newvmdisk.vmdk (onaWindowshost)or/path/to/disk/newvmdisk.vmdk(onaLinuxhost).Ifyoumappedanetworkshare onthehost,youcancreatethevirtualdiskonthatsharebyprovidingpathinformationwiththediskname. Use<drive|mountpoint>tospecifythedriveletterormountpointassociatedwithavirtualdiskthatwas mountedusingVMwareDiskMount.Youmustmountavirtualdisktoprepareitforshrinking. SeeTable 1,VMwareVirtualDiskManagerOptions,onpage 9foradescriptionofcommandlineoptions. SeeExamplesUsingVirtualDiskManageronpage 10forsamplecommandstoperformvarioustasks.

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Using VMware Virtual Disk Manager

Table 1. VMware Virtual Disk Manager Options

Option Parameters -c -d -k Description Createsalocalvirtualdisk.The-a,-s,and-toptions,andavirtualdiskname specifiedby<diskname>,arerequiredwhencreatingavirtualdisk. Defragmentsthevirtualdiskspecifiedby<diskname>.Youcandefragmentonly growablevirtualdisks,notpreallocatedorremotevirtualdisks. Shrinksthevirtualdiskspecifiedby<diskname>.Beforeyoucanshrinkavirtual disk,youmustprepareallitsvolumesforshrinkingusingthe-poption.Youcan shrinkonlygrowablevirtualdisks,notpreallocatedorremotevirtualdisks. Renamesthevirtualdisknamedby<sourcedisk>tothevirtualdisknamedby <targetdisk>.Byspecifyingdirectorypaths,youcanplacetherenamedvirtual diskinadifferentdirectory,eitherwithitsoriginalnameorwithanewname. Preparesthevirtualdiskmountedat<drive>(Windows)orat<mountpoint> (Linux)forshrinking.Ifthevirtualdiskispartitionedintodifferentvolumesorfile systems,youmustseparatelymountandprepareeachoneforshrinking. Converts(clones)thevirtualdisknamedby<sourcedisk>,creatinganewvirtual disknamedby<targetdisk>. Forlocal<targetdisk>the-toptionisrequiredtospecifytype. Forremote<targetdisk>onanESXhost,usethe-h,-u,and-foptions. Forthevirtualmachinetorecognizetheconvertedvirtualdisk,editthevirtual machinesettingstoremovetheexistingvirtualdiskfromthevirtualmachine,then addtheconverteddisktothevirtualmachine. -x <n>[GB|MB|KB] Expands(grows)thevirtualdiskspecifiedby<diskname>tothegivencapacity <n>,whichyoucanspecifyingigabytes(GB),megabytes(MB),orkilobytes(KB). Thenewcapacitymustbegreaterthantheoriginalcapacity.Youcanexpandlocal virtualdisksonly.Youcannotchangethesizeofaphysicalharddrive. DisablesVirtualDiskManagerlogging. Otherwise,messagesthatVirtualDiskManagergeneratesarerecordedinalogfile vdiskmanager.logstoredinatemporarydirectory. -a [ide|buslogic|lsilogic] Specifiesthediskadaptertype.Thisoptionisrequiredwhenyoucreateavirtual disk.Chooseoneofthefollowingadaptertypes: ideanIDEadapter,forcompatibilitywitholdsoftware. buslogicaBusLogicSCSIadapter,forhighperformance. lsilogicLSILogicSCSIadapter,forhighperformanceonnewsystems. -s <n>[GB|MB|KB] Specifiesthesizeofthevirtualdisk.Thisoptionisrequiredwhenyoucreatea virtualdisk.Youcanspecifydisksize<n>ingigabytes(GB),megabytes(MB),or kilobytes(KB).Sizemustbe1MB(2000sectors)orgreater. Donotusethe-soptionwhenyouexpandavirtualdisk;specifydisksizeusing the-xoptioninstead. -t [0|1|2|3|4|5] Specifiesthevirtualdisktype.Thisoptionisrequiredwhenyoucreateorconvert avirtualdisk.Chooseoneofthefollowingtypes: 0createagrowablevirtualdiskcontainedinasinglefile(monolithicsparse). 1createagrowablevirtualdisksplitinto2GBfiles(splitsparse). 2createapreallocatedvirtualdiskcontainedinasinglefile(monolithicflat). 3createapreallocatedvirtualdisksplitinto2GBfiles(splitflat). 4createapreallocatedvirtualdiskcompatiblewithESXserver(VMFSflat). 5createacompresseddiskoptimizedforstreaming. -h <hostname> -u <username> -f <passwordfile> -P <portNumber> -S SpecifiesthehostnameorIPaddressofaremoteESXhost. SpecifiestheusernameforconnectingtoaremoteESXhost. Specifiesthenameandlocationofaplaintextfilethatcontainsthepasswordfor connectingtoaremoteESXhost. SpecifiesaTCPportnumberforcommunicatingwiththeremoteESXhost.Thisis optionalanddefaultsto902. Switchestomakethesourcevirtualdiskremote,insteadofthetargetdiskremote.

-n <sourcedisk> <targetdisk>

-p

-r <sourcedisk> <targetdisk>

-q

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Virtual Disk Manager Users Guide

Examples Using Virtual Disk Manager

ThefollowingexamplesillustratehowtouseVirtualDiskManager. NOTEAlwaysbackup(copy)yourvirtualdiskfilesbeforechangingsize,defragmenting,orrenamingthem.

Creating a Virtual Disk

To create a new virtual disk ChangedirectorytothelocationwhereyouwantthenewVMDKandtypethiscommand:
vmware-vdiskmanager -c -a lsilogic -s 40GB -t 0 mydisk.vmdk

Thiscreatesa40GBSCSIvirtualdisknamedmydisk.vmdk.Typezeromeansthatthespaceiscontainedina singlevirtualdiskfile,andthatdiskspaceisgrowable,notpreallocated.

Converting a Virtual Disk

To convert a virtual disk from preallocated to growable AssumingsourceDisk.vmdkexistsastype2or3,typethiscommandtoconvertit:
vmware-vdiskmanager -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 0 targetDisk.vmdk

ThisconvertsthediskfromitsoriginalpreallocatedtypetoagrowablevirtualdiskconsistingofoneVMDK file.VirtualDiskManagerreclaimssomespaceinthevirtualdisk,sotheVMDKneedstobeonlyaboutaslarge asthedataitcontainedatconversiontime. To convert a local virtual disk to a remote ESX virtual disk Forthisconversion,specifytype4forVMFSvirtualdisk,withremotediskoptions:
vmware-vdiskmanager -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 4 -h esx3.example.com -u admin -f password.txt "[storage1] <VMname>/targetDisk.vmdk"

ThisconvertsthelocalvirtualdisktoremotevirtualdisklocatedonthespecifiedESXhost.Afterconversion iscompleteandyouhavetestedtheconvertedvirtualdisktomakesureitworksasexpected,youmaydelete theoriginalvirtualdiskfile.Ifyoudeletetheoriginalfile,alsoremoveitfromanyvirtualmachinethatusesit. Toremoveit,chooseVM>Settings>Hardware,selectthevirtualdisk,andclickRemove. FortheESXhosttorecognizetheconvertedvirtualdisk,youmustaddthedisktothevirtualmachine.Choose Inventory>VirtualMachine>EditSettings,clickAdd,andfollowthewizardpromptstoaddtheconverted virtualdiskfile. CAUTIONWhencloningtoaremoteESXhost,VirtualDiskManageroverwritesanypreexistingVMDKfile. Thiscouldresultinlossofdata.Whencloningtolocaldisk,thedestinationVMDKisnotoverwritten.

Increasing the Size of an Existing Virtual Disk

To expand (grow) a virtual disk SpecifysizeandgivethefullpathtotheVMDK,orchangedirectorytoitslocation:
vmware-vdiskmanager -x 80GB mydisk.vmdk

Thisincreasesthemaximumcapacityofthevirtualdiskto80GB.Unlikedefragmentingandshrinking,you mayincreasethesizeofpreallocatedvirtualdisks(flattype2or3). VirtualDiskManagerexpandsthevirtualdiskbutdoesnotmodifyitscontents,sothepartitioninformation remainsthesame.Manyoperatingsystemscannotalterpartitionsizeaftercreation,soyoumighthaveto obtainthirdpartysoftware,suchasPartitionMagicorGNUParted,todothis.Suchsoftwareallowsyouto alterdiskpartitionssoavirtualmachinecanaccesstheadditionaldiskspace. Anothermethodofincreasingpartitionsize,easierinsomecases,wouldbetouseVMwareConverter.

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Using VMware Virtual Disk Manager

Renaming or Relocating a Virtual Disk

To rename or relocate a virtual disk 1 Removethevirtualdiskfromanyvirtualmachinethatcontainsthedisk. ChooseVM>Settings>Hardware,selectthevirtualdisk,andclickRemove. 2 Typeoneofthefollowingcommands: Torenamethevirtualdiskandkeepitinthesamelocation,type:
vmware-vdiskmanager -n mydisk.vmdk myNewDisk.vmdk

Torenamethevirtualdiskandlocateitinadifferentdirectory,type:
vmware-vdiskmanager -n mydisk.vmdk "..\<Another Path>\myNewDisk.vmdk"

OnLinuxhosts,type:
vmware-vdiskmanager -n mydisk.vmdk ../<anotherPath>/myNewDisk.vmdk

Tokeepthesamenamebutlocatethediskinadifferentdirectory,type:
vmware-vdiskmanager -n mydisk.vmdk "..\<Another Path>\mydisk.vmdk"

OnLinuxhosts,type:
vmware-vdiskmanager -n mydisk.vmdk ../<anotherPath>/

Addthevirtualdiskbacktoanyvirtualmachinesthatuseit. ChooseVM>Settings>Hardware,clickAdd,andfollowtheinstructionsinthewizard.

Defragmenting a Virtual Disk

To defragment a virtual disk Todefragmentalocalvirtualdisk,typethiscommand.
vmware-vdiskmanager -d myDisk.vmdk

Defragmentconsolidatessparsedisk,movingdatatolowernumberedsectors.Thisisindependentofany defragmentationtoolsintheguestoperatingsystem,whichworkonvolumesstoredinsidetheVMDK. Defragmentingdoesnotreclaimunusedspaceonavirtualdisk;todothis,youmustshrinkthedisk. Youcannotdefragment: Preallocatedvirtualdisks(flattype2or3) Physicalharddrives Virtualdisksthatareassociatedwithsnapshots. Followthisorderofstepswhendefragmentingandshrinkingvirtualdisk: 1 Runadiskfragmentationtoolinsidethevirtualmachine.Forexample,withaWindows98guestoperating system,runtheWindows98defragmentationtool. VMwarerecommendsthatyoudefragmentaguestsvirtualdiskbeforetakingthefirstsnapshotofa guest,orafterdeletingsnapshots.Otherwiseyoulosetheabilitytodefragmenttheguestsvirtualdisk, becauseafterasnapshot,changesaremadetotheredolog,nottheoriginalvirtualdisk.Moreover, defragmentationcanheavilymodifythevirtualdiskimage,resultinginaverylargeredolog. 2 3 4 Powerdownthevirtualmachineandusevmware-vdiskmanager-dtodefragmentitsvirtualdisk.This isthesameasclickingHardDisk>Utilities>Defragmentintheuserinterface. Runadiskfragmentationtoolonthehostcomputer,ifneeded.ModernfilesystemssuchasNTFSand Linuxext2andespeciallyext3arerelativelyresistanttodefragmentation. ShrinkthevirtualdiskasdescribedinShrinkingaVirtualDiskonpage 12.

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Virtual Disk Manager Users Guide

Shrinking a Virtual Disk

Ifyouhaveavirtualdiskthatgrowsasyouadddata,youcanshrinkthediskinordertoreclaimunusedspace. Ifthereisemptyspaceinthevirtualdisk,shrinkingreducestheamountofspacethattheVMDKfileoccupies onthehost.Shrinkingavirtualdiskdoesnotchangethemaximumcapacityofthevirtualdiskitself. PoweroffthevirtualmachinebeforeusingVirtualDiskManagertoprepareandshrinkgrowablevirtualdisks. Youcannotshrink: Preallocatedvirtualdisks(flattype2or3) Physicalharddrives Virtualdisksthatareassociatedwithsnapshots. Toprepareandshrinkthevirtualdiskinitscurrentstate,firstusethesnapshotmanagertodeleteexisting snapshots.Todiscardchangesmadesinceyoutookasnapshot,reverttothesnapshot. To shrink a virtual disk 1 UsetheVMwareDiskMountutilitytomountavolumeofthevirtualdisk.TheVMwareDiskMount utilityandtheVMwareDiskMountUsersManualareavailableontheVMwareWebsite. Changedirectorytothelocationofthevirtualmachine,forexampleWindows98,andrunvmware-mount:
cd C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\My Virtual Machines\Windows98 vmware-mount M: Windows98.vmdk

OnLinuxhosts,type:
vmware-mount /path/to/vmware/guest/Windows98.vmdk /mnt/win98

UseVirtualDiskManagertopreparethevolumeforshrinking. OnWindowstypethiscommand,whereM:isthedriveletterwiththemountedvolume:
vmware-vdiskmanager -p M:

OnLinuxhosts,specifythemountpointinsteadofthedrive:
vmware-vdiskmanager -p /mnt/win98

Theprepareoperationzeroesoutunusedsectorssothatshrinkrecognizesthesesectorsasunusedspace. 3 UnmountthevolumeusingtheVMwareDiskMountutility:
vmware-mount /d M:

OnLinuxhosts,type:
vmware-mount -d /mnt/win98

4 5

Repeatthemounting,preparing,andunmountingstepsforeachvolumeofthevirtualdisk. NowuseVirtualDiskManagertoshrinkthevirtualdisk:
vmware-vdiskmanager -k Windows98.vmdk

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