Expanding the space on existing LUN

[JamesConaway]

I wanted to confirm that the steps below are still the best method for expanding the space on a LUN formatted with a single VMFS partition, and make sure I haven't missed someone who came up with a more elegant solution.

1. Create a new LUN with the require space.

2. Move any VM's hosted on LUN with inadequate space to this new LUN.

3. Unpresent the LUN to the ESX hosts and delete it from the storage device.

Unpresent using the following KB:

Unpresenting a LUN containing a datastore from ESX 4.x and ESXi 4.x

The increase option within the VI client creates an extent for the VMFS partition and extents are a tool of the devil.

[marcelo_soares · Accepted solution]

With vSphere 4 you can hot-expand the LUN on the storage, then increase the size of it. This will not generate any extents. I think is far more elegant and I can say it works with Clariion, Equallogic, Symmetrix and EVA (I saw it happening and no problem at all)

Marcelo Soares

VMWare Certified Professional 310/410

Virtualization Tech Master

Globant Argentina

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