Grow an rdm in virtual compatibility mode?

[gdesmo]

I have a windows 2003 vm. The san group has grown a d drive it has mapped. Esx now knows the additional space is there on the lun after a rescan.

But my vm cannot see the additional space in diskpart or disk mgmt. I also tried to use vmkfstools to grow it but it did not work. the disk is curentlly 20G I am testing an increase to 22G.

root@cedevesx02:/vmfs/volumes/dev5/test1 # vmkfstools -X 22G test1_1.vmdk

Failed to extend disk : One of the parameters supplied is invalid (1).

-rw------- 1 root root 20G Mar 28 2008 test1_1-rdm.vmdk

-rw------- 1 root root 414 Jul 22 12:41 test1_1.vmdk

[norregaard]

Have you tried to increase .vmdk size from within VI client?

[gdesmo]

That option is not available when using a mapped raw lun.

[norregaard]

Fair enough. What about this article:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100445...

[ThompsG · Accepted solution]

Morning,

Unfortunately when using RDM in virtual compatibility mode you need to remove the RDM from the guest and re-create it before Windows will know about the increase in size. This is because the metadata regarding this disk is stored in the VMDK which is not updated unless you remove and re-add.

If you use physical compatibility mode then this is not the case. You can just rescan the ESX host then rescan within Windows and then extend the disk.

Kind regards,

Glen

[bobross]

Glen said:

>Unfortunately when using RDM in virtual compatibility mode you need to remove the RDM from the guest and re-create it before Windows will know about the increase in size. This is because the metadata >regarding this disk is stored in the VMDK which is not updated unless you remove and re-add.

Absolutely true for DAS and most SAN. Not true for some SAN. The SAN I use can do this, automatically, via Web Services. No VI interaction or ESX command line needed. It handles the VMDK metadata.

[CiscoKid]

There is no need to shutdown and removed the vRDM from the VM Guest. Just make the size changes on the array, rescan the HBA on all ESX servers in the cluster and then vMotion the VM Guest to another host. You should now see more the unallocated space in the VM Guest. From here you can use diskpart to extend the volume. I done this using HP XP12000, HP EVA 4400/6000/6400/8100 and EMC Clariion CX-300 arrays with 100% success. Please award points should you find this information useful. Thanks.

[ericville62]

Excellent advice. Worked great for me once I VMotioned to another host, the VM was finally able to see the free space. Just had to dispart it.

Thanks again

- Eric