psingh1
Contributor
Contributor

how to prevent a thin disk from inflating while formating and making partitions on vmdk

Hi,

I've created a thin disk to hold >50 GB. The actual install size is merely 2.1 GB. I want to save space in packaging, but when ever i format the disk and initially install Linux OS the disk inflates and i lose the thin provisioing feature. Also, if i create a VM with thin disk when i try to export it from vSphere client or ovftool i end up with a fully inflated flat disk. Is there a way of preventing the thin disk from inflating while format or while exporting out of the ESXi4.0 datastore ?

Thanks,

Praveen

Reply
0 Kudos
weinstein5
Immortal
Immortal

The Thin Disk will expand when you place information on the virtual disk - it should not be growing to your 50 GB limit but should equal the amount of informaiton the linuxinstall will place on the disk -

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful
Reply
0 Kudos
radarwave
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same problem too.

I copied the Esxi images to another datastore, then add it to inventory. Before I copied it, all the disks are Thin type, but after I copied them, all turns to Thick disks.

I would like to know how to keep the disks to be thin, hope someone can help, thanks a lot.

Reply
0 Kudos
AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal

A normal copy (for example with cp) will convert disks to thick.

You can copy the disk with vmkfstools. Or with vCenter Server clone feature.

For export the VM, VMware Standalone Converter 4 could keep the the thin format.

Or also VCB could be a solution (but it use his format).

Andre

Andre | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
Reply
0 Kudos
Nikhil_Patwa
Expert
Expert

Hi radarwave

I have also experienced the same problem of hard disk not being Thin but Thick while using VMWare Standalone Converter, by default the converter uses the Thick format of hard disk in the destination even if the source hard disk is Thin. What I always do is check the hard disks and edit from Thick to Thin, this way my hard disks after convertion will be Thin and so am able to save much needed hard disk space in my datastore.

Hope this information helps you.

Nikhil

Reply
0 Kudos
psingh1
Contributor
Contributor

I got around the problem by creating a VM offline. Created a New VM in ESXi 4.0 and downloaded the vmx files from datastore browser, deleted the vmdk files. then on local host created the vmdk using

vmware-vdiskmanager -c -t 0 -a lsilogic -s 20GB myDisk.vmdk

Associated the newly created vmdk by editing the vmx (not required if using the same name). Uploaded the vmx folder with the vmdk using datastore browser on vsphere client connected to ESXi 4. Powered on the VM installed application software and the powered off, and downloaded the VM by exporting from vsphere client as ova image.The V/ova size on disk was ~322MB.

Reply
0 Kudos