Before we can use vmkfstools to shrink the vmdk file we must zero out any. Vmware esx 4 reclaiming thin provisioned disk unused space. So i wanted to shrink my vmdk size as much as possible. Vmware admins also need to keep an eye on capacity alerts, because thin provisioned vms grow over time. Please note that i dont want to focus on reclaiming space from underlaying luns. Nov 23, 2014 this post demonstrates various ways to identify the disk usage of a thin provisioned virtual disk. I am wanting to shrink a drive from 200 gb capacity down to 100 gb. You have to obtain the uuid of the disk you want to shrink.
I have shrunk the volume within the vm to 250gb and have the rest as unallocated space. The format is open and well documented, which means it can be supported by other virtualization software, such virtualbox and qemu. Shrinking thinprovisioned vmware disks in linux lets consider an example. Free up esxi local drive vmfs datastore space after deleting. Vmware advanced vmdk size reclamation for thinprovisioned. Historically this was done with scsi reservations, and could cause some performance related issues if a lot of thinly provisioned vms were growing. Shrink a vmware virtual machine disk vmdk virtualman.
Mar 01, 2012 if the vmdk is provisioned as thin, then each time the vmdk grows new blocks added, the vmfs datastore would have to be locked so that its metadata could be updated with the new size information. Dont waste time reclaiming space on thin provisioned vms. When you have some vms with thin provisioned disks, you may have noticed that these will continue to grow, and never shrink, even after cleaning out data from within the vm. Heres how you can pull it off in two steps, the first one within the guest os the mac os x and the. The vms are thin provisioned, but a year of io has caused the vmdks to expand on the datastore. Here im wanting to change the provisioned size of the drive within the virtual machine properties page on the vsphere client.
How to compact virtualboxs vdmk file size vladimir ivanov. Shrink a vmware virtual machine disk vmdk from my technical experience in vmware world, i have met a lot of customers which asking me to shrink the size of a. This allows you to regain space from a thick provisioned disk, but it does not allow you to reduce the physical appearance of the guests disks, nor will it help if they are already thin provisioned. Ive managed to holepunch a thin provisioned drive before after zeroing the free space on a windows server before. The vms are thinprovisioned, but a year of io has caused the vmdks to expand on the datastore. Some things should be simple, shrinking a thin provisioned virtual disk should be one of them, its not. Shrink disks in windows do a v2vconversion in vmware converter, with reconfig of the disk. Open terminal shell and issue the following command.
To shrink a vmdk we can use an esx command line tool vmkfstools, but first you have to zero out any free space on your thin. If they are thick disk, this will reclaim unused space, however it doe snot reflect this on the disks sizes within the guest. How to shrink vmdk with a couple of powershell scripts. The thin provisioned vmdk is really a oneway traffic phenomenon. Vmware admins also need to keep an eye on capacity alerts, because thinprovisioned vms grow over time. Best way to shrink the vmdk of a linux vmware guest ars. It was using only 100gb and i had a backup mount as nfs to my storage. Linux or freebsd guest become root su, then run vmwaretoolbox. Shrink vmware vmdk files virtual machine images tend to grow over time, causing exported machine images to be unnecessarily large. While it can go down, if a large amount of disk consumption is removed, the. Shrink a thin provisioned vmdk disk november 7, 20 november 3, 20 vmware 7 comments when maintaining a horizon view environment i like to keep my parent images as small as possible and over time a thin provision disk can start to grow on you if you dont watch it be it from downloading installers, updates, or even running disk defrag.
Shrinking thinprovisioned esxi disks miscellaneous. Currently im planning to create big, thin provisioned disks but with a small lvm volume on them. Right now, the provisioned storage is close to 100 tb and the real used space is below 100 gb on each server. Jul 07, 2018 the webpwnized youtube channel is dedicated to information security, security testing and ethical hacking. How to shrink vmdk file of vm in vsphere virtualization blog. The issue is that the former sysadmins created many vms with thin provisioned disks of 8 tb. To shrink a vmdk we can use an esx command line tool vmkfstools, but first you have to zero out any free space on your thin provisioned disk. To shrink a vmdk we can use an esx command line tool vmkfstools, but first you. Free up esxi local drive vmfs datastore space after. On windows guests we can use the sysinternals tool sdelete replace the drive. Best practices for thinprovisioning linux servers on vmware ask question.
Shrink a vmdk virtualbox disk image stack overflow. That way i could more easily grow the lvm volume and the filesystem size as needed, even online. Ive managed to holepunch a thin provisioned drive before after zeroing the free space. How to shrink a vmdk using vmware converter techrepublic. There are a few tools available to do this on windows and linuxhosts. Changing thick or thin provisioning for vmdk vmware hdd. What is the best way to follow here to fix those vms. Dec 05, 2011 the document solution to reclaim the free space also in the vmfs is fill the free blocks in the guest os with zeroed on windows can be done with sdelete and on linux with dd and then use a storage migration cold or hot with storage vmotion to move the vm file from one datastore to another. In case of a unixoide os linux, freebsd, solaris, use dd. I want to reduce the vmdk by 2 gb so after the shrink vmdk size.
As expected, no data had been freed on storage level by deleting it inside windows. The answer to shrink a thin vmdk is, after using sdelete app, to use vmotion to move or copy your vms, or if you dont have vmotion, to use converter standalone to do the convert your vms. The webpwnized youtube channel is dedicated to information security, security testing and ethical hacking. This command assumes that your working directory is the directory that contains the vmdk file. There is no dynamic shrink of a vmdk or thin provision reclaim of vmdks though some storage systems will provide that with drivers or physicalmode rdms. Storage vmotion to thin disk does not reclaim null blocks 2004155. Shrink vmdk file download vmdk linux software fuseqemu v. After cleaning up the vm itself and running sdelete, its time to shrink the vmdk. To shrink a thinprovisioned vmdk the guest filesystem has to be zeroed out.
To convert virtual disk to thin provisioned virtual disk use a command and procedure similar to the above, but specify type 6 thin provisioned disk. Vmdk software free download vmdk top 4 download offers free software downloads for windows, mac, ios and android computers and mobile devices. In linux, the dd tool can be used in a similar manner. In this example when cloning it will stop at 50% during the clone because our new vmdk is half the size of the original. If the vmdk is provisioned as thin, then each time the vmdk grows new blocks added, the vmfs datastore would have to be locked so that its metadata could be updated with the new size information. Filled the vmdk with data and later deleted this data. At some point, to utilize the storage efficiently, one may naturally consider using a thin provisioned virtual device but that thing bloats up at the end of the day, and the worst thing is that it doesnt become any smaller even after you delete some data from it. If you delete files from within the vm wanting to gain the space back, it just dont work.
Would it be possible to shrink the disk first in windows down to 100gb then shrink the vmdk to 100gb also. Will thinprovisioned vms shrink automatically just as they would grow automatically. Im only talking about shrinking thinprovisioned disks. Make a clone of the vmdk that is set to only read and write to a different size. Shrink thin provisioned vmdk solutions experts exchange.
Shrink the disksremove unused disks in the disk management tool in windows a mmc snapin in windows s2008 install vmware vcenter converter 5. Vaai thin provisioning block reclaimunmap in action. Howto shrink a thin provisioned virtual disk vmdk posted by fgrehl on november 24, 2014 leave a comment 25 go to comments thin provisioned disks are a great feature to save capacity as you virtual machines filesystem will never use the full capacity. The method of changing disk provisioning type using cli involves copying current vmdk file to a new thin provisioned disk and removing old thick disk. Reallythis is a mission critical task, but let us go through this procedure to show up how to do this. Here is a look at the provisioned and used space from a vmdk perspective. However, whilst thinprovisioned disks can semalessly grow themselves, they cannot be shrunk as easily.
Dave is a principal software analyst for a uk based. I dont have vmotion on my vsphere i use the simple vsphre client, so i tried the second solution with converter standalone, and it worked quick guide. If youve thinprovisioned a vmdk under esxi and need to reduce it for whatever reason, the official vmware documentation suggest to migrate the vm to another datastore using vmware converter which is not always practical, thankfully an alternative exists. While it can go down, if a large amount of disk consumption is removed, the storage usage display may not necessarily go down. There is an emphasis on web application security but many other topics are covers. Yes, if you import an ovf, it will give you options of what you want to do with the disk, if you use storage vmotion, it will ask you the same options, if you want. If you have a virtual disk that grows as data is added, you can shrink it as described in this section.
And, thats actually why you need to reduce vmdk size somehow. The disk management utility scans all the file system, that is available and reports a maximum size the os partition that can be reduced, this is based on current file system usage. Reduce vmware virtual machine disk to shrink vmdk size. The vmdk virtual machine disk file format is a type of virtual appliance originally developed by vmware. I know i cannot shrink a thin provisioned drive and everything ive read says use the vm converter and it requires a downtime. Shrink windows server 2008 r2 vm disk and shrink vmdk. Nov 07, 20 shrink a thin provisioned vmdk disk november 7, 20 november 3, 20 vmware 7 comments when maintaining a horizon view environment i like to keep my parent images as small as possible and over time a thin provision disk can start to grow on you if you dont watch it be it from downloading installers, updates, or even running disk defrag. You can verify the disk type from the virtual machine settings page. Vmware is the global leader in virtualization software, providing desktop and. This post demonstrates various ways to identify the disk usage of a thin provisioned virtual disk.
Using thin provisioned virtual disks can provide many benefits. When you work with a thin disk provisionned vm, you are copying new files into a vm, then deleting them, again and again, this process grow the thin disks over time. Used storage vmotion to migrate this vmdk to a different data store. We will learn how to do it without vmware converter as when using. May 14, 2018 the method of changing disk provisioning type using cli involves copying current vmdk file to a new thin provisioned disk and removing old thick disk. Vmware vmdk shrink and storage thin provisioning 101. To look at more granular information about the amount of space consumed on the vmfs5. Shrink a thinprovisioned vmdk if youve thinprovisioned a vmdk under esxi and need to reduce it for whatever reason, the official vmware documentation suggest to migrate the vm to another datastore using vmware converter which is not always practical, thankfully an alternative exists. Identify disk usage of a thin provisioned virtual disk. Nov 09, 2015 free up esxi local drive vmfs datastore space after deleting data in a thin provisioned windows vm. Open the finder app and retrieve the actual name of the hdd you need to shrink for example, macintosh. This will just reduce the vmdks usage on the vmfs datastore not resize the provisioned size of a thin disk.
The document solution to reclaim the free space also in the vmfs is fill the free blocks in the guest os with zeroed on windows can be done with sdelete and on linux with dd and then use a storage migration cold or hot with storage vmotion to move the vm file from one datastore to another. While thin provisioning adds storage as needed, it does not work in reverse, removing unneeded storage for the vm. To shrink a thin provisioned disk vmdk use a thirdparty tool within the guest operating system to zeroout disk blocks that may have. Nov 24, 2014 howto shrink a thin provisioned virtual disk vmdk posted by fgrehl on november 24, 2014 leave a comment 25 go to comments thin provisioned disks are a great feature to save capacity as you virtual machines filesystem will never use the full capacity. Zero free space using sdelete to shrink thin provisioned vmdk.
There are various tools available to create zeroed blocks. I have a virtual machine with a 10 gb thin provisioned disk. What is the best way to shrink a thin provisioned disk. Locate your the name of the vmdk you want to shrink. Single point of control to provision and apply policies to all of your. Please note that, there may be more than one vmdk disk files when you unpack the virtual machine archive. Reclaim disk space from thin provisioned vmdk files in esx. I am looking on how to shrink a vm so the vmdk is only the size it really uses. Reclaim disk space from thin provisioned vmdk files in esxi server. Vaai thin provisioning block reclaimunmap in action vmware. Aug 01, 2011 the thin provisioned vmdk is really a oneway traffic phenomenon.
Power down your vm fire up the vmware converter standalone software connect to your. Edit settings in your vm and attach the new disk you just made and remove the originalbut dont delete it after seeing that. Reclaiming unused vmdk space with storage thin provisioning. Reclaim disk space from thin provisioned vmdk files in esx by lunarg on december 12th 2014, at 12. Howto shrink a thin provisioned virtual disk vmdk shrink vmdk file. Power off the virtual machine, or disconnect the virtual disk you want to shrink. Best way to shrink the vmdk of a linux vmware guest. In my case it was 8gb disk assigned and hence the value was 83886080. Free up esxi local drive vmfs datastore space after deleting data in a thin provisioned windows vm. How can i reduce thin provisioned allocation of vmdk that. Best practices for thinprovisioning linux servers on vmware. After reimporting the vm from the previously exported. The secure, reliable and active vmdk repair software by virtual disk recovery software solutions. This is the case with both thick provisioned and thin provisioned disks.
Sep 06, 2012 so i wanted to shrink my vmdk size as much as possible. Since shrink was disabled for thinprovisioned disk under windows 7 32bit, i have found an advice to run sdelete. To connect to the esxi host cli over ssh, you have to enable ssh service in the esxi settings and allow incoming connection on tcp22 port manage. The size we are taking of vmware virtual machine disk vmdk, in this example, is 50gb, and we will shrink the size to 25 gb. Using sdelete and vmkfstools to reclaim thin vmdk space.
To look at more granular information about the amount of space consumed on the vmfs5 volume, we can use some cli commands. It offers you to recover your corrupt vmdk data files. How can i reduce thin provisioned allocation of vmdk that is. Yes, if you import an ovf, it will give you options of what you want to do with the disk, if you use storage vmotion, it will ask you the same options, if you want to convert disk type, but it will not shrink the disk.
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