A couple of storage questions.

[viperjock]

Hello,

I've got a couple questions that I really could use a sanity check on. They might seem really simple, but I am derping out, particularly the 2nd one (I admit I am not as familiar with storage as I would like to be).

1. Migrating a 2012 r2 file server to a new 2022 server: Fails to power on after adding existing .vmdk's. Error included "failed to lock the file", "module 'Disk' power failed, and "Cannot open the disk *insert .vmdk here* or one of the snapshot disks it depends on" I was attempting to add the existing vdmk's to the new file server after I created the new VM.

2. Bringing the new virtual disks online and partitioning them in Windows: If I have a thin provisioned virtual hard disk that is configured for 1 TB, then when I bring that disk online and create a simple volume in Windows, I have an empty disk with nothing in it that has a potential capacity of 1 TB. My Windows Server has a new 1TB simple volume that is empty, vSphere shows the 1TB virtual disk, but my SAN (where the volumes live) sees nothing because I haven't moved any data from the old server to the new.

[Mark Edwards]

Ok couple of sanity checks, the disk(s) you're trying to move across, i assume they are secondary disks, and not the Primary Boot Volume?

Does the source VM have any snapshots, and are the source VM and new VM on the same host? It sounds like the source VM still has a reference or lock on the vmdk you're trying to attach to another VM. Have a look at this article and see if it helps - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1038189

 

Not sure what the actual question is on part 2? Are you querying why you don't see the emtpy think provisioned vmdk on the SAN?

 

HTH

[viperjock]

the disk(s) you're trying to move across, i assume they are secondary disks, and not the Primary Boot Volume

Correct. the vmdk(s) that I am attempting to add to the new VM are different files from the primary boot volume. Examples of vmdk files: FS01_2.vmdk, FS01_3.vmdk.

Does the source VM have any snapshots:

The source VM does not currently have any snapshots, though our automatic backup process creates them, so one might have existed during my attempt on the source. The new file server is on a different host than the original (original is on esxi02, new is on esxi01)

 

The second question concerns storage usage after I provision the disks in Windows Server. I've alloted the disks, they are currently listed as offline in windows server. If I activate them in server, will it then expand the disk(s) to its configured size? or will the datastores just fill the storage as it is used. Does a 1 TB disk become 1 TB after the simple volume is made in Windows, or does the virtual disk itself have a limit of 1 TB (since it is thin provisioned). Though I think I have answered this. The virtual disk is thin provisioned and has a limit of 1 TB, nothing will be in actual storage until data is written to it. I was having trouble wording my concerns while creating simple volumes in Windows.

 

I will try to add a .vmdk to the new VM while I can see the source not have a snapshot and the 2 VMs on separate hosts.