My Virtual Disks are always created as thin provisioning

[NaorL]

Hi.

My intention is to share a Virtual Drive between 2 VMs in ESXi 4 environment.

To my understanding, I have to create a thick Virtual Disk, set the Virtual Disk under different SCSI controllers (per VM) set as 'LSI Logic parallel' and Virtual.

But the machine doesn't start and I got the error:

**VMware ESX cannot open the virtual disk,

"/vmfs/volumes/48e2e8fb-e5d70807-8e89-00237da0bfda/vStorageServer/vStorageServer_1.vmdk" for clustering.

Please verify that the virtual disk was created using the 'thick' option. Cannot open the disk

'/vmfs/volumes/48e2e8fb-e5d70807-8e89-00237da0bfda/vStorageServer/vStorageServer_1.vmdk' or one of the

snapshot disks it depends on. Reason: Thin/TBZ disks cannot be opened in multiwriter mode..

**

I've tried for hours to create a thick virtual disk but with no success, I followed the Cluster installation guide and found on other forums instructionson how to use the -d zeroedthick or eagerzeroedthick but with no succes.

Does anyone have idea how to solve it?

Thanks,

Naor ()

[RParker]

Did you try VM Converter? That will create 'thick' disk images.

[NaorL]

I've used the VMWare Converter Standalone and selected flat Virtual Disks, but sharing the created disk gave me the same result.

What's interesting that vSphere always writes that the disk is Thick, even when it is not - see the attached images.

[srinivasvivek]

Before trying to use the VD for cluster mode, try to Storage VMotion using thick option to another datastore and then back again

[beyondvm]

The "thick" disks that you need are not the opposite of thin provisioned disks, confusing I know. You have to use the CLI or RCLI appliance to create the disks, see this guide, page 22. The guide is for vi3 but the same applies to vSphere (ESXi 4).

Service Console: vmkfstools -c <size> -d eagerzeroedthick -a lsilogic /vmfs/volumes/<mydir>/<myDisk>.vmdk

Remote CLI: vmkfstools.pl --server <server_address> --username <user> -password <user_password> -c <size> -d eagerzeroedthick -a lsilogic /vmfs/volumes/<mydir>/<myDisk>.vmdk

Since you are using ESXi you will have to use the RCLI Appliance. The key here is the "eagerzeroedthick" or "zeroedthick" which is different than the regular thick disk. Hope that helps!

---

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www.beyondvm.com

[AndreTheGiant]

Which kind of shared storage are you using?

Andre

[OraVM]

Though Not reccomended for production systems ,

You can login to the "unsupported" console of esx1 which is reserved for support , and run the vmkfstools to create a thick disk.

David Davis tells you how to get into unsupported console ->

Regards,

[NaorL]

Thanks for your answers.

I've tried them all but yet no solution.

I'm not using a shared disk between ESXi servers, but want to use a share disk between VMs on same server.

Thanks,

Naor.

[Rumple]

You will not be able to share a disk between VM's unless you are using a cluster technology like Micrsoft Cluster Services, and then there are specific configuration requirements you will need to follow to make it work.

If you just setup a disk for 2 VM's to access you are going to corrupt the disk as each system is going to write a signature to the drive and the other system will lose access.

If you want to try, I would check out the MSCS documentation for vmware and see what mode you need to set the disk in so vmware will ignore any locking on the disk (or locking file will not be created)

[OraVM]

HI ,

I have created virtual disks and built a MSCluster with two VM's on the same esxi server ( not shared across multiple servers).

prcedure : -

- Login to the console in 'Tech Support Mode" or "Unsupported Mode"

At esxi screen console , press Alt+F1

Enter the root password , login.

- Note down the full path of the datastore from the insfrastructure client and create thick virtual disks

If you want to place hte shared disks ona different folder , you can create the folder in the Datastore browser .

create thich disk using vmkfstools command

vmkfstools -c <size> -d eagerzeroedthick -a lsilogic /vmfs/volumes/<mydir>/<myDisk>.vmdk

- On the cluster VM's , attach the disks to a different SCSI Virtual device node ( example : SCSI ( 1.0).

Add the shared disks as "independent persistent"

This will add an additional controller , once the changes are applied.

Execute this on both nodes.

Please note that the scsi luns should map to the same disk ,

disk 1 cnnected to scsi1.0 should be connected to the same scsi1.0 on the node 2.

-On both nodes , Edit the new controller ( Scsi controller 1) properties and set the scsi bus sharing to "Virtual".

-On both nodes , From the Vm properties>Options>Advanced>General>Configuration Parameters , add a row ,

NAME	VALUE
disk.locking	false

- Boot windows EE on both nodes , add the disks in Disk administrator

- shutdown dode 2 , install cluster from cluster adminstrator , set the quorum device

This is needed since cluster service has to take control of the disks.

- startup node 2 , add to cluster.

Further Reading :-

Hope it Helps!

Good day , and Regards,

[OraVM]

Hello ,

If you are looking for sharing file system disks , idont think its supported on windows.

Third party cluster file systems may help.

Regards,