Resize VM disk and hot add disk in vCloud director?

[dkfbp]

Hi,

At the moment you can hot-add cpu and hot-add memory to a virtual machine in vCloud director. Two great features. But from a management perspective I would much rather have the option to hot-add disks and hot-extend disks in virtual machines. Extending disks and adding disks on the fly is a very common practise in vSphere.

Does anyone have any input on this? Can it be done through the API? Or is it on the road map for a future version of vCloud Director?

[lamw · Accepted solution]

Yes this is possible using the vCloud API, take a look at this blog post by Jake Robinson that shows you how using the new vCloud Director cmdlets - http://geekafterfive.com/2012/02/24/vcloud-apigui-throwdown-part-2/

[milton123]

I think this a great Idea!!!

It should be the road map for a future version of vCloud Director.

Cheers, Yours Udin

[finnzi]

Hi all,

Just tried the PowerCLI code from Jake's Blog:

(($vm.ExtensionData.Section | where {$_ -is [VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud.Views.OvfVirtualHardwareSection]}).item | where {$_.ResourceType.value -eq 17})[0].hostresource[0].AnyAttr[0]."#text" = $newsize gives me this error:

Unable to index into an object of type VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud.Views.OvfRASD
.
At C:\Users\finnurg\Documents\Work\resize.ps1:8 char:153
+ (($vm.ExtensionData.Section | where {$_ -is [VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud.Views
.OvfVirtualHardwareSection]}).item | where {$_.ResourceType.value -eq 17})[ <<<
< 0].hostresource[0].AnyAttr[0]."#text" = $newsize
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (0:Int32) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CannotIndex

(newsize is set)

I checked out the ouput of:

(($vm.ExtensionData.Section | where {$_ -is  [VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud.Views.OvfVirtualHardwareSection]}).item |  where {$_.ResourceType.value -eq 17})

It shows me this:

Required              : True
Configuration         :
Bound                 :
AnyAttr               :
Address               :
AddressOnParent       : 0
AllocationUnits       :
AutomaticAllocation   :
AutomaticDeallocation :
Caption               :
ChangeableType        :
ConfigurationName     :
Connection            :
ConsumerVisibility    :
Description           : Hard disk
ElementName           : Hard disk 1
Generation            :
HostResource          : {}
InstanceID            : 2000
Limit                 :
MappingBehavior       :
OtherResourceType     :
Parent                : 3
PoolID                :
Reservation           :
ResourceSubType       :
ResourceType          : 17
VirtualQuantity       :
VirtualQuantityUnits  :
Weight                :
Any                   :

I see no size there.

Any ideas on how one could get this working?

[jake_robinson_b]

Basically your error says that you are trying to get an member of an array where there is no array. You need to go deeper to find the size.

Try this:

(($vm.ExtensionData.Section | where {$_ -is [VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud.Views.OvfVirtualHardwareSection]}).item | where {$_.ResourceType.value -eq 17}).hostresource[0].AnyAttr[0]."#text"

Cheers,

Jake

[finnzi]

Works like a charm.

Thanks alot !

[JustinLambe]

Hi,

I was running into the same error, and the above solved it for me as well however I am have run into a new error on the final (updateserverdata) step:

PowerCLI C:\> (($vm.ExtensionData.Section | where {$_ -is [VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud.Views.OvfVirtualHardwareSection]}).item | where {$_.ResourceType.value -eq 17}).hostresource[0].AnyAttr[0]."#text" = $newsize
PowerCLI C:\> ($vm.ExtensionData.Section | where {$_ -is [VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud.Views.OvfVirtualHardwareSection]}).updateserverdata()
Exception calling "UpdateServerData" with "0" argument(s): "Invalid hard disk parameters specified. The following parameters are invalid or conflict with other configured devices in the virtual machine:    Adaptor Type: SCSILSILOGIC, Bus Number: 0, Unit Number: 0"
At line:1 char:123
+ ($vm.ExtensionData.Section | where {$_ -is [VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud.Views.OvfVirtualHardwareSection]}).updateserverdata <<<< ()
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

The VM is a thin provisioned linked clone, using LSI Logic Parallel SCSI.

Do you know what might cause this error?

EDIT: Nevermind, I worked it out. It was because of linked clones.

Thanks,

Justin

Message was edited by: JustinLambe

[cvrich]

I am running to much of the same issue... Below is what is being returned...

Exception calling "UpdateServerData" with "0" argument(s): "Argument ''uriTempl
ate' must not be null' cannot be null.
Parameter name: 'uriTemplate' must not be null"
At C:\users\rharber\desktop\modifydrive.ps1:7 char:123
+ ($vm.ExtensionData.Section | where {$_ -is [VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud.Views.
OvfVirtualHardwareSection]}).updateserverdata <<<< ()
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

[Exwork]

Under vCD 5.1.1, you can extend the size of existing disks. Hot adding disks is also possible.

I assume there's also a way to do this via the API.

[rastarockman]

Were you able to figure out the UpdateServerData for disk resize. I am getting the same error on vcd 5.1.

[rastarockman]

In vCloud Director 5.1.2 the following works to Resize a hard disk:

#VM to update

$vm = Get-CIVM MyVMName

#Size of Hard Disk in MB

$newsize = “32768”

#Retrieves the hardware section of VM

$drive = $vm.ExtensionData.getvirtualhardwaresection()

# [3] needs to be updated with Disk number, the first disk will be [0]

($drive.Item | where {$_.ResourceType.value -eq 17})[3].hostresource[0].AnyAttr[0]."#text" = $newsize

#Update Server with new size

$drive.updateserverdata()