Consulting ESXI 6.7 web client failed to upload 1.2T .VMDK file

[Wenjin]

Hello everyone, I currently use the web client to upload 1.2T .VMDK files to the vSAN storage and it fails. Attempting to upload using SFTP also fails. The progress is about 15% and an error is reported. Are there any restrictions on browsing the file upload ? Thank you!

[a_p_]

I never tried this myself, so my answer is based on the documentation.

• Did you create a folder to which you are trying to upload the .vmdk file? (see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2119776​)
• Which format does the .vmdk file have, i.e. is it "stream-optimized"? (see Upload Files or Folders to vSAN Datastores)

André

[Wenjin]

André:

     Thank you for your help! I used the function of Upload Folders, but it stopped at 15%，Is it possible to analyze the problem from where the logs are? Thank you!

[a_p_]

I'm currently not sure which log file to look at for such issues.

Anyway, can you please clarify how exactly you are doing the upload, What confuses me is the "I used the function of Upload Folders" you mentioned. Maybe some screenshots will help.

André

[Wenjin]

André:

     Thank you for your help! I already know why I failed to upload. From the link you gave me, I learned that to upload vmdk files to vsan storage, you must use stream-optimized vmdk files.

But my previous vmdk file was downloaded from non-vsan storage on ESXI 5.5. The file format is vmdk, not stream.vmdk.

I have one more question, how can I convert the vmdk file to stream.vmdk?

[a_p_]

To convert the virtual disk to the stream-optimized format, you' can use the vmware-vdiskmanager command line utility. It is included in VMware Workstation (no need to purchase a licence, the evaluation is sufficient), or - maybe the better choice - in the Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK)​.

One hint though. If the virtual disk files you've got contains snapshots ("...-00000x.vmdk" files), then make sure that you specify the latest snapshot file as the source for the command.

You can find the command syntax by running "vmware-vdiskmanager /?". What you will need is to convert the virtual disk to type 5 "compressed disk optimized for streaming".

e.g. vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -r sourceDiskName.vmdk -t 5 destinationDiskName.vmdk

André

[Wenjin]

André:

     Thank you for your help!  I seem to have successfully converted. The virtual machine file ServerName.vmdk that I downloaded from ESXI 5.5 is only 1KB, This file can be converted. The other ServerName-flat.vmdk file is still 1.2TB, This file cannot be converted. I am not sure if this is normal? If it is normal, can I successfully upload a 1.2TB vmdk file?

[a_p_]

Virtual disks in vSphere always consist of two parts, a small header/descriptor file (a text file), and the data file. For most tasks - including the conversion - you will have to use the header/descriptor file (which contains a reference to the data file). The conversion you should result in a single .vmdk target file, which you can then upload to the vSAN datastore. This task will split the stream-optimized file into a header/descriptor file in the VM's home object and the vSAN virtual disk object.

André

[Wenjin]

André:

     Thank you for your help! After the conversion, I now have three-point files, ServerName.vmdk, ServerName-flat.vmdk, and ServerNameStream.vmdk (the converted files). I do n’t know which files to upload now. I upload all three files? Or just upload two of them?

[a_p_]

It's only the new stream optimized .vmdk file which you need to upload. It contains the required metadata as well as the user data.

André

[Wenjin]

André:

     Thank you for your help! I have done the format conversion, but found that files larger than 300GB will fail to upload, and 100GB vmdk files can be uploaded normally. It seems that VSAN 6.7 has a size limit of 255GB? The vmdk file I copied from ESXI 5.5 has 1.2TB and the format is 340GB. How can I break through the limitation to upload my vmdk file?

[a_p_]

I can't tell you for sure, but this may be a limitation due to the vSAN segment size.

What you could try is to create a dummy VM with the exact same provisioned virtual disk size (1.2TB), export it as an OVF, replace the stream optimized .vmdk file, edit the .ovf file (replacing the .vmdk file name, and its file size), and finally import the OVF. The .ovf file  contains information about the virtual disk's provisioned size (populatedSize), which I think may make vSAN aware of the maximum required disk space.

André