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sanjaygupta
Contributor
Contributor

Error while copying a large (3GB+) image from a samba (windows) share in ESX 3.5

Hi

I am trying to copy a large vmdk file from a windows machine. I have mounted the windows share and I was able to copy a smaller file (about 2GB) successfully.

However, one vmdk file is over 3GB and after several minutes it finally blows up complaining 'out of disk space' etc. I have more than 20GB available on the hard drive. It appears this is a RedHat Linux issue.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Sanjay

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weinstein5
Immortal
Immortal

I am little confused as what you are attempting to do - so you are compying the vmdk from a VMware Server machine to where? Is the Linux machine you are copying to a VM?

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Texiwill
Leadership
Leadership

Hello,

To where are you placing the file over 2GBs? If it is NOT a VMFS then you will could run into issues as RHEL3 has file size limits. Hence why it is suggested to either use the 2gbsparse type file (up to 2gbs in size) or use VMware Converter to import VMs into ESX.


Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

CIO Virtualization Blog: http://www.cio.com/blog/index/topic/168354

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

--
Edward L. Haletky
vExpert XIV: 2009-2023,
VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill
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sanjaygupta
Contributor
Contributor

Sorry for not clarifying. I am logged onto the ESX console as root. From the ESX console I have mounted a windows share (on a separate XP machine) which has vmdk files of Vmware workstation.

So yes I am trying to copy to a vmfs file system. The files are over 3GB. I can't use converter as it errors out. Converter has given me a lot of grief in that I get the same error with ESX 3.0 and after upgrading to ESX 3.5 as well.

I had posted a separate thread for the converter but the responses did not help. So my choice (if I have to continue to use ESX) is to import the vmdk using vmkfstools.

Thanks

Sanjay

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kastlr
Expert
Expert

Hi,

when I remember right, the cp command from ESX doesn't handle files larger 2GB correctly.

I did run into a similar issue when I copied a dvd iso image from a windows share into a vmfs datastore.

So either try to upload files with the Datastore Browser or use a tool like WinSCP.

Hope this helps.

Ralf


Hope this helps a bit.
Greetings from Germany. (CEST)
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Texiwill
Leadership
Leadership

Hello,

Other ways to copy from CIFS to VMFS include scp, and dd. I would use 'scp' actually.... scp /cifs/filename /vmfs/volumes/....

It should handle over 2GBs easily. Interesting that VMware COnverter failed, is it the one within the VIC or the standalone? I use the standalone version all the time with no issues.


Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

CIO Virtualization Blog: http://www.cio.com/blog/index/topic/168354

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

--
Edward L. Haletky
vExpert XIV: 2009-2023,
VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill
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sanjaygupta
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks Ghost.

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sanjaygupta
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks Texiwill. Will give scp a shot today.

I tried the standalone version of converter. Its weird it worked in the beginning for a few days. Then I added a second scsi hard drive and it stopped working. That was with ESX 3.0.1.

I reinstalled 3.0.1 , reformatted the drive etc. It did not help. Even after upgrading to ESX 3.5 I get the same error. If you are interested in my original thread for that, here it is:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/826848

I am running converter on my windows xp desktop which also has vmware workstation installed. I am trying to convert workstation images to ESX.

Any help will be appreciated.

Regards

Sanjay

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Texiwill
Leadership
Leadership

Hello,

Were you able to answer 'anykey's' questions on the original post?


Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

CIO Virtualization Blog: http://www.cio.com/blog/index/topic/168354

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

--
Edward L. Haletky
vExpert XIV: 2009-2023,
VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill
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