JAEN

Virtualization

vmkfstools

CautionVMDK surgery

vmkfstools -X 200G <vm.vmdk>

Grows, clones and hole-punches VMDKs straight on the datastore — for vCenter-less hosts and GUI outages.

Examples

  • vmkfstools -i src.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/ds2/copy.vmdkClone a VMDK
  • vmkfstools -i src.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/ds2/copy.vmdk -d thinClone as a thin-provisioned disk
  • vmkfstools -K /vmfs/volumes/ds1/vm01/vm01.vmdkReclaim zeroed blocks, leaving a thin disk (VM powered off; not on NFS datastores)
  • vmkfstools -e /vmfs/volumes/ds1/vm01/vm01.vmdkCheck the snapshot chain for consistency

Syntax

vmkfstools -X size <vmdk>(拡張) / -i src dst(クローン) / -K <vmdk>(ゼロ回収)

Key points

  • Point it at the descriptor file (vm01.vmdk), not the -flat.vmdk.
  • An extended disk cannot be shrunk, and the guest OS still has to grow its partition.
  • Disks with snapshots cannot be extended. Consolidate the snapshots first.

When it does not work

  • Specifying a size smaller than the current one fails. -X takes the new total size.
  • Device or resource busy means the VM is powered on or another host holds the lock.

Before you run it

Triple-check VMDK paths.

Related commands

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