Recreating a datastore / migrating the existing VMs

[eversys]

We have a VMware ESXi 4.0 installed on a SD-card and our datastore is   on a dedicated internal RAID array. Our datastore is running out of   space, so we have decided to recreate our internal HDD array from a   RAID10 1,2TB* to a RAID5 2,1TB** to give us more disk space for the   datastore. In order to do this, we need to recreate the array - hence,  killing the existing datastore.

What is the best way of  migrating our datastore from  the old array to a new one using vSphere?  Any tips would be appreciated.  Many thanks.

* Currently we have 8 x 300GB HDDs as RAID10 which gives us a 1,2TB datastore

** We want to setup the same 8 x 300GB HDDs as RAID5 which will give us a 2,1TB datastore

[AWo]

If the old datastore gets destroyed you need to move all files from the datastore to a temporary datastore if you do not want to do a backup and a restore. Depending on your license you can move the guests completely while they are online (svMotion) or offline (vmotion). Recreate the datastore and move them back.

AWo

[eversys]

Thanks for your quick reply AWo! We are using the free ESXi version - are we also able to download/use "svMotion" or "vmotion"? If not, how do we going about moving the files?

[AWo]

You need vCenter for vMotion or if you only have one free ESXi server  you need the remote CLI:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp4_41_vcli_inst_script.pdf

http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vcli/vcli41/doc/reference/index.html

Look for the "vifs" command.

AWo

[eversys]

Thanks for the feedback. I have had a look at the vSphere CLI. When trying to run "vifs.pl", I get the following error:

Error connecting to server at 'https://localhost/sdk/webService': Perhaps host is not a vCenter or ESX server

Any ideas?

Just an idea... could I use the inbuild file manager within the vSphere  client to copy the dirs from the datastore and then with the new array,  recreate the dirs and re-copy back?

[AWo]

Post the command you have used and describe what you try to do.

AWo

[eversys]

Whoops, my mistake - I had a typo. Nevertheless, when I do a:

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\bin>vifs.pl --server 192.168.1.1 --listds

The Content Listing is blank. Via the CLI, how can I view my datastore name and get a listing of the folders and files within? Can I use the CLI to copy a whole dir structure?

[AWo]

vifs.pl --server <IP of your ESX or vCenter Server> --username <vCenter or ESX user name> --password <the users password> --listds

To copy a file:

vifs.pl --server <IP of your ESX or vCenter Server> --username  <vCenter or ESX user name> --password <the users password> --move <source> <target>

See: http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vcli/vcli41/doc/reference/vifs.html

AWo

[eversys]

With the syntax I used, it prompted me for a username and password. Regardless, I put the whole syntax in as you mentioned and my Content Listing is still blank

Using the vSphere client and file browser, I see that my dirs have at least 10 files - is there a way of copying a whole dir as it would be a bit tedious to have to copy each file individually - or what about using the file browser itself and the upload dir function?

Thanks for your continued help.

[AWo]

I tried it with "--listds" and everything was fine.

You can copy the whole dir by using "vifs.pl --username <user> --password <password> --server <ESX or vCenter IP> --copy  "[<Datastore Name>] /<Source Dir>/" "[<Datastore Name>] /<Target Dir>/"

Be aware that this is case sensitive. Do you use the ESX IP address and the root user defined there?

I tried it and it worked.

AWo