Trying to clone a very large 2TB VMDK file via ssh on esxi 5.5 using vmkfstools command. After about 68% completion (and 12+ hours), i get the error connection timed out. This happened twice already. Is there way to extend the timeout or disable it all together?
Do you use any third party application for copying that?
If not, you can test Veeam Backup&Replication (Free Edition) for copying that.
im using the vmkfstools command because the vmdk file I am cloning was originally from vmware workstation. im cloning it to get it to work with esxi 5.5. does veeam clone workstation vmdks into esxi 5.5 compatible vmdks?
workstation vmdk can be converter ted using the vmkfstools, and if your getting timed out i would check the logs and see if the storage is causing the time out.?
VMware KB: Cloning and converting virtual machine disks with vmkfstools
Also yes veeam clone does convert the vmdk to esxi which is compatible.
Thanks,
Avinash
okay i installed veeam backup and replication free. can someone explain to me how to clone vmdk files with it? I just see the option to clone already existing VMs, but mines isnt a VM its just the vmdk file on my data store. im new to vmware and esxi, so sorry for the naive question.
Couldn't you just do a cp via SSH? If it's just a VMDK (raw single file), a cp could work also.
The source and destination volumes are the same or different? Is it local or shared storage? The /var/log/vmkernel.log and the /var/log/hostd.log should log some helpful information about the reason for the timeout.
Cheers!!
i dont think a cp would work cause as stated earlier, the original vmdk is a workstation version. i need it to be cloned into a esxi compatible version.
source and destination volumes are different. local storage. ill try taking a look at those log files, thanks.
again since i went through the trouble of installing veeam backup, would anyone who has experience with it guide me through how use it to clone a vmdk file thats on a local datastore volume?