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Hi Karthik, Yes, you can create the RDM also with the same method, although I have not tried it myself, but it is possible. As far as assigning the vmdk to the VMs you can easily do so using the VI Client. You can also use the below sample code snippet for the same to do it programmatically. >.# $vm_view =====> Virtual Machine Managed Object >.# $disk_file ===> Complete path of the vmdk file. like "[datasore-1] diskLibrary/disk.vmdk" >my @device_config_specs = (); >my $devices = $vm_view->config->hardware->device; >foreach my $device (@$devices) { if ($device->deviceInfo->label eq "SCSI Controller 0") { $controller = $device; last; } >} >unless ($controller) { Util::trace(0, "Controller not found.\n"); return; >} >my $disk_backing_info = VirtualDiskFlatVer2BackingInfo->new(diskMode => "persistent" , fileName => $disk_file); >my $disk = VirtualDisk->new(controllerKey => $controller->key, unitNumber => 2, key => -1, backing => $disk_backing_info, capacityInKB => 2048); # capacityInKB doesn't really matter while adding an existing vmdk, but the parameter is required so you need to specify >my $devspec = VirtualDeviceConfigSpec->new(operation => VirtualDeviceConfigSpecOperation->new('add'), device => $disk); >@device_config_specs = (@device_config_specs, $devspec); >my $vmspec = VirtualMachineConfigSpec->new(deviceChange => \@device_config_specs); >eval { $vm_view->ReconfigVM( spec => $vmspec ); Util::trace(0,"\nVirtual machine '" . $vm_view->name . "' is reconfigured successfully.\n"); >}; >if ($@) { Util::trace(0, "\nReconfiguration failed: "); if (ref($@) eq 'SoapFault') { if (ref($@->detail) eq 'TooManyDevices') { Util::trace(0, "\nNumber of virtual devices exceeds " . "the maximum for a given controller.\n"); } elsif (ref($@->detail) eq 'InvalidDeviceSpec') { Util::trace(0, "The Device configuration is not valid\n"); Util::trace(0, "\nFollowing is the detailed error: \n\n$@"); } elsif (ref($@->detail) eq 'FileAlreadyExists') { Util::trace(0, "\nOperation failed because file already exists"); } else { Util::trace(0, "\n" . $@ . "\n"); } } else { Util::trace(0, "\n" . $@ . "\n"); } >} Hope the above helps. ~ Sidharth

Hi Sidharth, Thanks for your reply, finally i created vmdk my question is the same procedure for creating RDM also? after creating vmdk i am trying to assign it to a vm but it is not successful.you have any idea or sample code you have to assigning it to a vm. it would be very helpul for me if you help me in scenario. --Karthik

Hi Karthik, You are right in picking the correct method for the vmdk creation. The sample syntax that you need to use is as follows: my $name = "[Datastore] folder/myvmdffile.vmdk"; my $spec = FileBackedVirtualDiskSpec->new( adapterType=>"busLogic", diskType=>"preallocated", capacityKb=>"2048" ); eval { $virtualDiskManager_view->CreateVirtualDisk(name => $name, datacenter => $dc_mor, # mor of the datacenter spec => $spec);}; if ($@) { print "error : " . $@; } Please note that the minimum size of the disk is 1 MB. Thus try to give a higher value than 1 MB for the capacity. You can change the adapter type and disk type as per your choice and environment. Hope the above helps. ~ Sidharth

1) The createType should be quoted, so this is a bug in OVFTool. It has no adverse consequences, though, since none of the tools require the quotes. 2) In addition to the "old-style" sparse extents, "SPARSE" also covers ACE compressed/encrypted sparse extents, and now "streamOptimized" which is a variant of the ACE compressed sparse extent format. "SPARSE" basically just means that the extent file has a sparse extent header which you must read to get more information about the extent. We decided that "streamOptimized" was sufficiently different from "monolithicSparse" that it should have its own createType, mainly because of differences in how the grain tables are allocated (on-demand instead of pre-allocated), and the embedded metadata grains. The flags in the sparse extent header should be enough to stop "old" implementations from trying to access the disk, but by using a new createType we make extra sure. There is some redundancy in the information in the disk descriptor, especially for monolithic formats. For other disk formats, such as raw devices, disks with mixed extents, etc., the information is necessary and not redundant. The disk descriptor is designed to handle all disk types in a consistent manner, which leads to the redundancy you observed in the simple case. The VMDK specification () has more information about the streamOptimized format, though I'll admit it could be more elaborate.

if you want an example of this, have a look at VCplus (http://www.run-virtual.com/?page_id=184) and/or VM disk free (written in perl) that uses this guestinfo information to retrieve disk information within the virtual machines.

Thanks a lot - got it working now. Hey - this new option is pretty useful for a cold clone cd - now you can clone large data disks by copying just the data you want with robocopy Ulli ___________________________________ description of vmx-parameters: VMware-liveCD:

What is esx305.localdomain in your command line? I am guessing this would work: vmware-mount Q: /i:"ha-datacenter/vm/xp-sp2" "[local12gigs] xp-sp2/xp-sp2.vmdk" /h:10.0.0.35 /u:root /s:password /v:1 -Sudarsan

I don't get it ? Thanks for the screenshot - but how do I specify for an ESX host ? I tried vmware-mount Q: /i:"ha-datacenter/esx305.localdomain/vm/xp-sp2" "[local12gigs] xp-sp2/xp-sp2.vmdk" /h:10.0.0.35 /u:root /s:password /v:1 Storage name is 'local12gigs' and the editor for disks displays '[local12gigs] xp-sp2/xp-sp2.vmdk' ___________________________________ description of vmx-parameters: VMware-liveCD: