Is there any way to extend a VMFS Volume ?

[TonyJK]

We are migrating the SAN to a new one. According to DELL Engineer, during SANCopy, we can expand the size of LUN in the new Storage Array. For Windows Server, we can use the command diskpart.exe to extend the partition.

I just wonder if the LUN that contains the VMFS is extended, is there any way to extend the VMFS volume size ? OR we can only create another VMFS volume ? Is there any size if we extend the VMFS size (if possible) ?

Thanks

[sbeaver]

You can not extend a VMFS volume that way but you can create another VMFS partition from the increased space and combine the 2 VMFS partitions to make a VMFS extent but you will find a vocal group of people here on the forums that would recommend not doing this

Steve Beaver

VMTN Forum Moderator

*Virtualization is a journey, not a project.*

[RParker]

Like steve said, it's best to make a NEW VMFS volume, because you can't extend the current VMFS volume.

Move your VM's to the new VMFS volume, and delete the old one. Yes, we are aware this could take some time, but the practice of extents (combining multiple VMFS volumes into larger ones) is a REALLY bad idea.

[RobBuxton]

You can do it with extents as suggested, but discouraged below.

Another option to consider for the future are raw device mapped (RDM) devices.

You present these directly to a particular VM Guest and these can be extended if required. Useful for those large and changing storage requirements.