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Datastore Question
Hello,
My first post!
I have inherited a Vmware installation where the host has 3 VM's: SBS, SQL and one client workstation.
When I highlight the IP address of the Host and then select Summary the Datastore shows two disks in a RADI1 configuration.
140GB RAID1 Capacity: 136GB Free Space 1.30 GB
300GB RAID1 Capacity: 275 GB Free Space: 700MB
The problem is that both disks are getting low aon free space and the client Virtual PC is getting messages saying he is low on disk space.
When I log in to the Vitual PC, the c-drive shows 30GB of free space.
Not quite sure how to free space for the virtual PC or if I need to.
Perhaps I do not understand the difference between the datastore and the virtual disk for the virtual PC.
Any push in the correct direction would be appreciated.
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I would first log on to each virtual machine and see if there are temp files or any kind of files that can be deleted, things that are extraneous, obviously nothing important, if you aren't sure then leave it be. What kind of hardware is the server, name brand or clone? Are the virtual machines being backed up at all? Are you using VCenter? If you are using VCenter then you may have to build a new host and migrate the virtual machines or purchase external storage such as direct attached storage or a NAS.
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Welcome to the Community,
deleting files in the guests doesn't help at all. Usualy low disk space is caused by either thin provisioned virtual disks (i.e. an overcommitted datastore) or active snapshots. I'd suggest you open the Datastore Browser for each datastore and post a screen shot of the files in each VM's folder.
André
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Thanks for helping.
So I must free up space on the virtual machine and NOT the data store.
Why would the data store show such limited free space and the vm client show 30GB or more free?
Is not the datastore part of the available disk for the virtual client?
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Hi Friend,
Let me put my understanding on datastore & virtual disk space claculation.
Say
1.you have one host which is attached to one datastore of 100GB.
2. When you create 2 VMs say VM1 with 40GB (Thick provisioned) & VM2 with 50GB (Thick provisioned).
3. The space allocated to VMs (virtual disk) would be subtracted from total size of datastore. In our case, after creation of above two VMs, datastore size it will show it as 10 GB only (100-40-50)
4. When you login to individual VMs. If you have not used much space it will continue to show its own free space (here datastore has nothing to do with VM disk size).
5. THis is the current design as if you are trying to create 3rd VM on same datastore, you should know what is actual space remained on datastore.
Note: IN case of Thin provisioned VMs, behavior is different. Let me know if you want to know about thin provisioned VMs space management between datastore & virtual disks.
I hope now your doubt is solved.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks & Regards
Vikas, VCP70, MCTS on AD, SCJP6.0, VCF, vSphere with Tanzu specialist.
https://vThinkBeyondVM.com/about
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Disclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed here are strictly my own. I am solely responsible for all content published here. Content published here is not read, reviewed or approved in advance by VMware and does not necessarily represent or reflect the views or opinions of VMware.
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So if I reconfigure the VM to have a smaller disk size then the Datastore will show more free space?
At which point does low free space on the datastore become a problem?
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Here are some shots.
The 300GB drive has three folders attached. The first is empty the second two are below. Sorry about the Quality of the photos. I am running out the door on a service call but wanted to have your feedback.
Thanks for the help everyone.
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In your first post you said that the client shows 30GB free disk space on the C: drive. However the client VM on the 300GB datastore only has a 20GB virtual HDD, and it looks like this VM isn't even powered on!? Are you sure this client VM is in use, and the "real" client VM isn't located on the other datsatore?
To get a full overview, please run RVTools, export the data to an Excel file and attach the Excel file to a reply post.
What you can do to quickly increase the free disk sapce - assuming you didn't oversubscribe host memory - is to power off the SBS server, set a Memory Reservation and then power it on again. This will free up some disk space on the datastore due to a reduced size of the .vswp file (provisioned memory minus reserved memory).
André
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So if I reconfigure the VM to have a smaller disk size then the Datastore will show more free space?
At which point does low free space on the datastore become a problem?
Yes, if you configure VM to have smaller disk size the datastore will show more free space.
Answer to your second query: In fact,it depends on your workload, just one example: When SDRS is enabled on cluster space threshold default set is 80%.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks & Regards
Vikas, VCP70, MCTS on AD, SCJP6.0, VCF, vSphere with Tanzu specialist.
https://vThinkBeyondVM.com/about
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed here are strictly my own. I am solely responsible for all content published here. Content published here is not read, reviewed or approved in advance by VMware and does not necessarily represent or reflect the views or opinions of VMware.