ESXi 6.0, max disk size for VM?

[_MikeW_]

I'm having an issue with a VM that we're wanting to give 5-10TB of space. The problem is when we use > 2TB the kickstart fails (rhel7). We're using BIOS (not EFI) and hoping there is a way around this issue that doesn't involve EFI?

Is there a cap on the size of a disk we can put on a VM?

I've been trying to find some decent write ups on topics like this but no luck.

[douglasarcidino]

Using the configurations maximum documents will assist you in this. https://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere6/r60/vsphere-60-configuration-maximums.pdf

The maximum file size is 62TB on a 64TB datastore. You can absolutely configure it to be the size you are looking for so it must be an issue with the kickstart or how you have RHEL configured to install.

Can you do a manual install just to test? Also, are you using VMFS3, VMFS5 or NFS?

[_MikeW_]

I'll check out the linked docs.

The odd thing about the kickstart is if I push it below 2TB and get it kicked and up and running. Then I down the VM/OS. Boost the disk size to 10TB,then power the VM back on it doesn't show up (the extra 8TB) in the OS or from vCenter VM list (although when editing the VM it clearly shows 10TB set).

Actually, you can see what I mean... (attached image)

We run VMFS5.

[_MikeW_]

To follow up:

Down the VM

Add +10TB to filesystem on the existing VM, doesn't show.

Add another disk to system (doesn't mater size/etc) both changes now show.

Remove the spare disk and the 10TB filesystem still shows (in vCenter).

Even after vCenter shows "10TB" on the filesystem for the VM and rebooting the OS I can't seem to get the "extra" space added to sda3 to add to /data.

Here is what the setup looks like after I've "extended" /data with what should have been +9ish TB?

(Here is the directions I followed to do so, https://www.rootusers.com/how-to-increase-the-size-of-a-linux-lvm-by-expanding-the-virtual-machine-d...‌ there used to be a similar step by step on the vmware site but it seems missing now VMware KB: Extending a logical volume in a virtual machine running Red Hat or Cent OS Friend of mine suggested that I need vmware to use a "gpt" filesystem and not the mbr type but I can't find options like that specific for the VM. I did find the datastore is partition format GPT....).

/home/mikew> parted -l

Model: VMware Virtual disk (scsi)

Disk /dev/sda: 11.0TB

Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B

Partition Table: msdos

Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags

1      1049kB  525MB   524MB   primary  ext4         boot

2      525MB   2040GB  2040GB  primary               lvm

3      2040GB  2199GB  159GB   primary               lvm

Model: Linux device-mapper (linear) (dm)

Disk /dev/mapper/vg_db2-lv_data: 2162GB

Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B

Partition Table: loop

Disk Flags:

Number  Start  End     Size    File system  Flags

1      0.00B  2162GB  2162GB  ext4

Model: Linux device-mapper (linear) (dm)

Disk /dev/mapper/vg_db2-lv_var: 16.1GB

Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B

Partition Table: loop

Disk Flags:

Number  Start  End     Size    File system  Flags

1      0.00B  16.1GB  16.1GB  ext4

Model: Linux device-mapper (linear) (dm)

Disk /dev/mapper/vg_db2-lv_swap: 4261MB

Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B

Partition Table: loop

Disk Flags:

Number  Start  End     Size    File system     Flags

1      0.00B  4261MB  4261MB  linux-swap(v1)

Model: Linux device-mapper (linear) (dm)

Disk /dev/mapper/vg_db2-lv_root: 16.1GB

Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B

Partition Table: loop

Disk Flags:

Number  Start  End     Size    File system  Flags

1      0.00B  16.1GB  16.1GB  ext4

[continuum]

/home/mikew> parted -l

Model: VMware Virtual disk (scsi)

Disk /dev/sda: 11.0TB

Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B

Partition Table: msdos
That will not work - as you see the disk size larger than 2TB is no problem - its the msdos partitiontable.
You MUST use GPT
If you cant use parted use gparted or gdisk.
I would suggest to use gdisk - that can convert MSDOS-table to GPT - but you should try that in a testsystem first - dont know what LVM does if the partitiontable underneath it is converted

[_MikeW_]

I was able to resolve this by adding this one line to the kickstart script:

part biosboot --size=1

part /boot --fstype=ext4 --size=1000

part pv.008002 --grow --size=1

part biosboot --size=1

Once I did that it seems the "clearpart --all --initlabel" defaulted to gpt instead of msdos. That's the only conclusion I can come to at least because parted -l showed the proper label type.