convert the disk to Eager Zerod Thick

[max2479]

I have shutdown my db server with FT disks and migrated to another host.

Error message: failed to open (Thin/TBZ disks cannot be opened in multiwriter mode.). 

This migration removed formatting of the disk based on what I have read in this article (http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=103357...) and I am unable to power it on. Checked it and looks like it did:

vim-cmd /vmsvc/device.getdevice 240 | grep -i "Hard Disk 5" -A 14

            label = "Hard disk 5",

            summary = "41,943,040 KB",

         },

         backing = (vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo) {

            dynamicType = <unset>,

            fileName = "[iscsi_vsa_03] vmdb12/vmdb12_4.vmdk",

            datastore = 'vim.Datastore:4df78c93-28dd82b4-30a3-001b21378e78',

            diskMode = "persistent",

            split = false,

            writeThrough = false,

            thinProvisioned = false,

            eagerlyScrub = <unset>,

            uuid = "6000C298-9a1e-41e5-674c-06f841d4c925",

            contentId = "162229b0fda7a14745246a8a3e255285",

            changeId = <unset>,

~ #

in here VMware recommends to convert the disk http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=1035823

• If the VMDK virtual disk is of type Thin, convert the disk to Eager Zerod Thick using the vmkfstools --inflatedisk command. For example:

vmkfstools --inflatedisk /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreName/VMName/VMName.vmdk
  
  Note: The inflate command reports the percentage of completion.
  
  
• If the VMDK virtual disk is of type Thick, convert the disk to Eager Zeroed Thick using the vmkfstools --eagerzero command. For example:
  
  vmkfstools --eagerzero /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreName/VMName/VMName.vmdk
  
  Note: The eager zero command does not report the percentage of completion.

1. Do I need to run both commands?

2. Will this have an affect on the data that on those disks?

[vmroyale · Accepted solution]

Hello.

The disk is not thin provisioned (thinProvisioned = false), so the "vmkfstools --inflatedisk" command is not needed.  Running the "vmkfstools --eagerzero" command should not impact any data on the disk, but it is always a good idea to make sure you have a backup before running any disk commands.

Good Luck!

[max2479]

Thank you. it worked and both servers are on line.

Still don't understand why migrating to a different datastore removes formatting. Vmware support say it should not but it happened to both of my clustered servers.