Re: VMDK --> Single Growable file in ESXi

There is nothing like growable files?, what is this then?

Disk types:

      0                  : single growable virtual disk

      1                  : growable virtual disk split in 2GB files

      2                  : preallocated virtual disk

      3                  : preallocated virtual disk split in 2GB files

      4                  : preallocated ESX-type virtual disk

      5                  : compressed disk optimized for streaming

      6                  : thin provisioned virtual disk - ESX 3.x and above

So the vmware-vdiskmanager is for what?, the options above are from the diskmanager. Or are you going to tell me this tool is only for VMware workstation on Windows Clients?

Anyway i managed to use vmkfstools and made a clone of the VM, with the following command:

vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/datastore2/CentOS/CentOS.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/datastore2/CentOSclone/CentOS.vmdk -d thin

This command also makes one file of the VM.

But what is the essence of cloning? copy a VM while they are online, so it gives me the following error:

DiskLib_Check() failed for source disk Failed to lock the file (16392).

Now you (probably) going to tell me to use vCenter do do this. But vCenter is only compatible for Windows Server systems... I do not want to use a Windows environment! just want to clone the machines on the ESXi.

Thanks for your response!

Best Regards, Rens