Issues with vmkfstools -i. Help to convert a vmdk to a RDM.

[CCJNL]

I am trying to convert a 675GB .vmdk to an RDM on an EqualLogic iSCSI LUN that is 750GB. I was successful previously on ESX3.5 but now I am on vSphere (ESX 4.0) and having no luck.

I have VMware Round Robin Multipathing setup and am using the VMware Software Initiator for connectivity to the SAN. I have tried using a LUN that did not have Round Robin enabled and still had no luck.

Command:

vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/SRS-Restore/CCSRS/CCSRS_2.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/Datastore0/CCSRS/SRS_F_rdm.vmdk -d rdm:/vmfs/devices/disks/vmhba33:0:7:0

Error:

Destination disk format: raw disk mapping to '/vmfs/devices/disks/vmhba33:0:7:0'

Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/SRS-Restore/CCSRS/CCSRS_2.vmdk'...

Failed to clone disk : The destination file system does not support large files (12).

[CCJNL]

I found the answer!

It looks like in vSphere that the device naming convention has changed and if you list the contents of /vmfs/devices/disks you will no longer see any devices like vmhba1:0:4:0. Now in ESX 4.0 you apparently have to use naa naming.

So the rdm has to be references like so:

rdm:/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6090a018a0b93f924aa964131a0090b1

[ATKElkton]

just out of curiosity... does this process leave the original disk alone and simply "clone" to the new disk - giving two copies? (well... one a VMDK, the other RAW...)

Also... will it preserve the formatting of the virtual disk (i.e. ntfs vs ext3) or does it matter?

and... (finally) can you go to larger destination disk?

I'll go try this stuff in the meantime and let everyone know what I come up with.

[CCJNL]

Yes, it leaves the original VMDK intact.

Yes, you can go to a larger destination, in fact that is exactly why I was doing this, I needed to move to a larger disk and decided an RDM would be best.

[ATKElkton]

Fantastic news. Any other advice before I go start tinkering? Does the source have to be offline before converting?

I've looked for adidtional info and don't see much about the experience nor the caveats for effective use.

Thanks so much for your responses on this.

[CCJNL]

VM has to be powered off or VMDK has to be disconnected.

[us3rn4me0923]

Thank you for your posts - it saved a lot of time and a tech support call. I've provided the output as an example. Again, thanks for the assistance

# vmkfstools -i wfi-test02_1.vmdk -d rdm:/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6000d77400008e896598740d2bdxxxxx /vmfs/volumes/4ab12056-dedcf49d-a441-0024xxxxxxxx/wfi-test02/wfi-test02_2.vmdk

Destination disk format: raw disk mapping to '/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6000d77400008e896598740d2bdxxxxx'

Cloning disk 'wfi-test02_1.vmdk'...

Clone: 100% done.

#

[igiul]

Hello all,

In response to CCJNL:

The file that you are trying to clone is 675GB. What is your datastore block size ?

I´m refering to this part of the command ' /vmfs/volumes/Datastore0/CCSRS/SRS_F_rdm.vmdk' .Because is your block size is 1MB, then you are limited to creating a file of 256 Gb max size.

In this case, you must delete the datastore, and add it again with a block size of 4 MB. ( 2MB block size is for 512 Gb max size)