Extend RDM when Hard Disk is in Virtual Compatibility mode.

[jberg29]

Hello All, thanks much for any help you should bring.

I'm trying to extend a volume. The volume is a RDM. It is setup in Virtual Compatibility Mode.

I'm able to extend the Lun on the SAN. When I do a rescan in Virtual Center I can see the larger volume. But when I go into the Windows OS Disk Management and Rescan the Disks I do not see the extended volume.

I have tested this using Physical Compatibility mode and it works.

How do I go about extending this volume? Is it possible to do this while the server is?

Jeff

[Lightbulb]

Shut down the guest, delete the RDM mapping, recreate the RDM mapping and then boot up VM. You should see the space now in disk manager.

[jberg29]

So there is no way to do this while the server is powered on?

If this is the case, what is the benefit of using Virtual Compatibility Mode vs. Physical Compatibility Mode?

With Physical mode I can add drive space while the server is powered on.

Thanks.

[Lightbulb · Accepted solution]

There is no way that I know of to extend the virt RDM without the VM being down for some period of time.

The advantage of Virtual compatability mode is tha the RDM can participate in snapshots and behaves more like a vmdk. there are advantages and disadvantages to each type. See

http://pubs.vmware.com/vi35/server_config/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=server_confi...

http://vmzare.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/vmware-raw-device-mappingrdm/