vmware-vdiskmanager and disks > 2Tb

[ElCoyote_]

Hi everyone,

I've seen this issue with vmware workstation 10.x (haven't upgraded to WS11 yet).

By Using the Workstation GUI, I can create virtual sparse disks that are 8Tb in size have a SATA personality.

Here's one such example of a disk created using the GUI:

$ sudo cat c0t5d0.vmdk

[sudo] password for <user>:

# Disk DescriptorFile

version=1

encoding="ASCII"

CID=40d7b3fc

parentCID=ffffffff

isNativeSnapshot="no"

createType="twoGbMaxExtentSparse"

# Extent description

RW 4278190080 SPARSE "c0t5d0-s001.vmdk"

RW 4278190080 SPARSE "c0t5d0-s002.vmdk"

RW 4278190080 SPARSE "c0t5d0-s003.vmdk"

RW 4278190080 SPARSE "c0t5d0-s004.vmdk"

RW 67108864 SPARSE "c0t5d0-s005.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base

#DDB

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"

ddb.geometry.cylinders = "1069397"

ddb.geometry.heads = "255"

ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"

ddb.longContentID = "6907f597a5deaf0519a98a1140d7b3fc"

ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 9e 67 ed ca e0-16 e6 c4 73 cd df d1 75"

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "6"

I've been trying all sorts of options to do the same with vmware-vdiskmanager but no luck (still maxes out at 2Tb):

$ vmware-vdiskmanager -c -s 2047GB -a sata -t 0 SAN00.vmdk

VixDiskLib: Invalid configuration file parameter.  Failed to read configuration file.

Creating disk 'SAN00.vmdk'

Virtual disk creation successful.

$ vmware-vdiskmanager -c -s 8191GB -a sata -t 0 SAN00.vmdk

VixDiskLib: Invalid configuration file parameter.  Failed to read configuration file.

Creating disk 'SAN00.vmdk'

Failed to create disk: One of the parameters supplied is invalid (0x100003e80).

Any ideas? Or should I just be happy that the GUI works?

I need to create 2 * 16 * 8Tb virtual disks and I didn't feel like creating them by hand..

Vincent

[continuum]

Here is a workaround:

start with

vmware-vdiskmanager -c -s 2040GB -a sata -t 1 f:\2tb-satadisk.vmdk

edit the descriptorfile so that it looks like this:

# Disk DescriptorFile

version=1

encoding="windows-1252"

CID=fffffffe

parentCID=ffffffff

isNativeSnapshot="no"

createType="twoGbMaxExtentSparse"

# Extent description

RW 4278190080 SPARSE "2tb-satadisk-s001.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base

#DDB

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "10"

now create copies of the  "2tb-satadisk-s001.vmdk" so that you have  "2tb-satadisk-s002.vmdk",  "2tb-satadisk-s003.vmdk",  "2tb-satadisk-s004.vmdk",  "2tb-satadisk-s005.vmdk" and so on.

Finally edit the descriptor so that each slice has its own line

# Disk DescriptorFile

version=1

encoding="windows-1252"

CID=fffffffe

parentCID=ffffffff

isNativeSnapshot="no"

createType="twoGbMaxExtentSparse"

# Extent description

RW 4278190080 SPARSE "2tb-satadisk-s001.vmdk"

RW 4278190080 SPARSE "2tb-satadisk-s002.vmdk"

RW 4278190080 SPARSE "2tb-satadisk-s003.vmdk"

RW 4278190080 SPARSE "2tb-satadisk-s004.vmdk"

RW 4278190080 SPARSE "2tb-satadisk-s005.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base

#DDB

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "10"

Finally add a new vmdk to the vmx-file manually - the GUI-function to add an existing disk would complain and tell you that you can not add a 10TB-vmdk.

[dariusd · Accepted solution]

The "-t 0" option creates a single growable disk, which has an upper limit of 2TB.  Use "-t 1" to create a multi-extent disk.

With Workstation 10.0.5 on a Linux host here, I can use the command:

   vmware-vdiskmanager -c -s 8191GB -a sata -t 1 SAN00.vmdk

and it creates the disk in the form you seek, with five extents, just like the GUI created.

Cheers,

--

Darius

[ElCoyote_]

Hi Darius,

I'm on 10.0.5 and Linux too. Your cli works. I didn't know such a small boolean would have made such a great difference!

Now, where did the last1gb go? The GUI lets you specify exactly 8192gb but here we have only 8191gb.. Maybe that's what the GUI does.. I'll check when I get home...

Thanks for your help..

Regards

Vincent

[dariusd]

I don't know why I didn't try 8192GB, but that works too.  8193GB fails with a complaint about the disk's size not falling within acceptable range.

Cheers,

--

Darius