ESXi VMDK Alignment

[RParker]

VSphere 5.0 will *ONLY* be without service console.  some tools STILL require SC access, how is VM Ware going to address these tools?

Will we be able to run mbr align tools to align disks, or will there be integrated ways in vSphere 5 to address this.  If this is not addressed BEFORE vSphere release, this WILL be a serious problem since we have no way to align disks...

[DSTAVERT]

Long time no see. Welcome back.

[mittim12 · Accepted solution]

I haven't used it yet but I think VMware Converter 5 will allow you to align disk.   I found this blog post with some print screens, http://www.thelowercasew.com/fix-partition-alignment-with-vmware-converter-5-0-beta.  

[Troy_Clavell]

VMware Converter 5.0 will do alignment.

[RParker]

DSTAVERT wrote:

Long time no see. Welcome back.

Yes, it took me this long to "control" myself..hahaha

[RParker]

mittim12 wrote:

I haven't used it yet but I think VMware Converter 5 will allow you to align disk.   I found this blog post with some print screens, http://www.thelowercasew.com/fix-partition-alignment-with-vmware-converter-5-0-beta.  

That's great news, thanks.

[RParker]

Troy Clavell wrote:

VMware Converter 5.0 will do alignment.

NICE! New Icon?

[Troy_Clavell]

yeah, see what happens when your gone.  There are new sheriffs in town

[JAndrews42]

gparted will re-align

Ask NetApp when their tools will support ESXi, which has been out for 4 years now.

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Note: The ESX Host Utilities 5.2.1 do NOT support VMware ESXi releases. NetApp® Virtual Storage Console for VMware® vSphere™ does support ESXi. Also seeKnowledgeBase article #44784 for details on best recommended practices for ESXi.

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[mcowger]

EMC will also make sure that all their tools have no service console requirement before ESXi rolls out.

[JAndrews42]

ESXi rolled out in 2007 - they gave it out on 2GB thumb drives at VMworld that year.

[mcowger]

Sorry - that should have read ESXi 5

[JAndrews42]

Don't mind me, I'm just a little irritated that they've had this much time and still don't have ESXi tools.

[HendersonD]

Three thoughts on this:

1. I brought up a VM running Ubuntu and copied mbrscan and mbralign to this VM. I can now mount my NFS datastore to this VM and check alignment of my VMs with mbrscan and align VMs with mbralign. This will only work with an NFS datastore for VMs however but it does work fine

2. If your VMs are running Windows, Windows 2008 or 2008 R2 are already aligned. I have been slowly switching my Server 2003 VMs over to server 2008 R2. I have not brought up a new Server 2003 VM in quite awhile.

3. If I do need to bring up a new Server 2003 VM I have an aligned template I can use. I made this template way back in ESX 3.5 and made sure it was aligned. I am now running ESXi 4.1.

[titaniumlegs]

Good stuff.  Couple points...

Re #1, latest mbralign will no longer un in Linux.  It scans through /vmfs/volumes looking for VMX files that reference the VMDK you're aligning.  You could probably create a dummy /vmfs/volumes dir on Linux, but it kinda defeats the purpose.  Also, the newer version leverages an offload ZAPI on the filer.  Kinda like VAAI for mbralign. 

#2, You said "Windows" I assume you mean "Windows 7"?  Also, if you install from scratch, the partitions should be aligned.  IF you upgrade "in place" from a previous, misaligned VM, the result will not be aligned.

#3, That is a best practice!  In fact, VSC cloning checks alignment of the original and complains if it's not.

Share and enjoy!

[titaniumlegs]

mbralign for ESXi will ship with VSC 2.1.1 in Sept. 

[titaniumlegs]

"how is VM Ware going to address these tools?"

To be fair, VMware has been telling software developers to get out of the service console for years.  It's not just their problem - it's up to all those SW companies.  It's also not just storage-related tools.

Fortunately, most vendors seem to be catching on and are developing ESXi modules that can be installed via VMware-supported tools, including autodeploy.  Agents/plugins for VAAI for NFS are an example where vendors don't have much choice - that's how you have to do it.