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:
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The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.
If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:
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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,
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Contents

AboutThisBook

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

Description of Changes

20070420

FirstversionoftheVirtualDiskManagerUsersGuide.

20070607

UpdatewithsupportforLinuxhostsandremotevirtualdisks.

20080128

Added-toption5forthecompressedstreamvirtualdisktype.

20080407

Added-Soptiontoswitchremotesystemfromtargettosource.

20080407

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.

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

Description

-c

Createsalocalvirtualdisk.The-a,-s,and-toptions,andavirtualdiskname
specifiedby<diskname>,arerequiredwhencreatingavirtualdisk.

-d

Defragmentsthevirtualdiskspecifiedby<diskname>.Youcandefragmentonly
growablevirtualdisks,notpreallocatedorremotevirtualdisks.

-k

Shrinksthevirtualdiskspecifiedby<diskname>.Beforeyoucanshrinkavirtual
disk,youmustprepareallitsvolumesforshrinkingusingthe-poption.Youcan
shrinkonlygrowablevirtualdisks,notpreallocatedorremotevirtualdisks.

-n <sourcedisk> <targetdisk>

Renamesthevirtualdisknamedby<sourcedisk>tothevirtualdisknamedby
<targetdisk>.Byspecifyingdirectorypaths,youcanplacetherenamedvirtual
diskinadifferentdirectory,eitherwithitsoriginalnameorwithanewname.

-p

Preparesthevirtualdiskmountedat<drive>(Windows)orat<mountpoint>
(Linux)forshrinking.Ifthevirtualdiskispartitionedintodifferentvolumesorfile
systems,youmustseparatelymountandprepareeachoneforshrinking.

-r <sourcedisk> <targetdisk>

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]

-q

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]

-s <n>[GB|MB|KB]

Specifiesthediskadaptertype.Thisoptionisrequiredwhenyoucreateavirtual
disk.Chooseoneofthefollowingadaptertypes:

ideanIDEadapter,forcompatibilitywitholdsoftware.

buslogicaBusLogicSCSIadapter,forhighperformance.

lsilogicLSILogicSCSIadapter,forhighperformanceonnewsystems.

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>

SpecifiesthehostnameorIPaddressofaremoteESXhost.

-u <username>

SpecifiestheusernameforconnectingtoaremoteESXhost.

-f <passwordfile>

Specifiesthenameandlocationofaplaintextfilethatcontainsthepasswordfor
connectingtoaremoteESXhost.

-P <portNumber>

SpecifiesaTCPportnumberforcommunicatingwiththeremoteESXhost.Thisis
optionalanddefaultsto902.

-S

Switchestomakethesourcevirtualdiskremote,insteadofthetargetdiskremote.

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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.

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.

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

Repeatthemounting,preparing,andunmountingstepsforeachvolumeofthevirtualdisk.

NowuseVirtualDiskManagertoshrinkthevirtualdisk:
vmware-vdiskmanager -k Windows98.vmdk

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