Thin-provisioned VMDKs & vSphere Client?

[alistairc]

Hi Folks,

Just a quick one, I have a thinly provisioned VM created on a test ESXi 4U1 host; I'm connecting directly to the host via vSphere Client.

When I download a VM's folder onto my own machine using the datastore browser, the end results is a flat file on my machine... What's that about? If I have a 60GB thin provisioned disk with only 12GB allocated and want to take a copy, it ends up as a 60GB flat file transfer and wastes all that space on my machine...

Am I missing something obvious here?

Thanks,

Alistair

[Borja_Mari]

Hi,

the thin provisioning feature is only available on a VMFS and some NFS datastores.

When you copy a vm to your pc, it doesn't matter if the vm's vdisk is thick (flat) or thin, on your pc always it's thick (flat).

Then, the thin advantage is only on the datastore, not when you copy/transfer the vm to your pc.

For example, this not happens on vmware server 2 or workstation because the vm's are placed (pre-allocated or not) in the operating system filesystem.

Hope this helps :smileyhappy:

Regards/Saludos,

Pablo

Please consider awarding any helpful or corrrect answer. Thanks!! - Por favor considera premiar cualquier respuesta útil o correcta. ¡¡Muchas gracias!!

Virtually noob blog

[alistairc]

Thanks Pablo.. I am coming straight from VMware Server 1.x on Windows Server 2003 so that's why I wasn't sure..

Have to say I very much miss how easy it was to move/clone/rename/network VM-related files in the previous setup, VSphere Client datastore browser is extremely slow, clunky and unpleasant when compared to good old Windows Explorer operations. I guess that's what vCenter is for, but still...

If I go for the VCenter & VCB backup route (with the Symantec BackupExec 2010 VMware plugin), does this mean my VHDs are going to balloon to flat-size on each LTO4 backup tape?

Thanks,

Alistair

[Borja_Mari]

Hi,

if you do this tip when using VCB with your backup software just the used/allocated vm's data will be transfered to the tape.

Then your window backup time should be smaller :smileyhappy:

Regards/Saludos,

Pablo

Please consider awarding any helpful or corrrect answer. Thanks!! - Por favor considera premiar cualquier respuesta útil o correcta. ¡¡Muchas gracias!!

Virtually noob blog