Re: Mount a vmdk file

listener · ‎11-08-2010

How can I use the vMa to mount a vmdk file to read the geometry information? I know I can do this with the VDDK but the call is sorta slow, depending on how the network is.

I'd like to be able to open up a vmdk file or a -flat file, but I'm not sure how to mount /vmfs/volumes in the vMa?

thanks,

- h

listener · ‎11-08-2010

Let me put that another way, I know how to I can get into the datastore with VI Ext to see what vmdk files are there. I've used this

before: http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/visdk41pubs/ApiReference/index.html

Previously, in the ESX console, I could open a -flat.vmdk file, and read it and write it back with Perl system calls. I wanted to do something similar in the vMa. The question is, is it possible? And do I have to mount /vmfs/volumes?

thanks,

-h

lamw · ‎11-08-2010

VDDK is the API you'll want to use to remotely access a VMDK, if your'e using the vmware-mount utility, it relies on fuse which is not the fastest thing in the world. If you use the actual VDDK API, you should be able get much better performance as this is the same API that all backup vendors are using which provides the whole vStorage API for Data Protection which includes change block tracking/etc.

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