Block Size resize?

itdaddy

hey guys lie to me and tell me there is an easy way to change block size in a data store. I have a vm I am creating and well it is 300 GB and
the block size for my datastore is only 1MB wow nooob huh!

I have Esxi 4.1 hypervisor isnt there a way to increase the datastore that I have to a different block size.

I only have 2 vms on the datastore. 1 is a server small one.
the other is the vcenter loadedon a server..
I could redo the vmserver but yikes!

is there a way to not have to do this?

jibbajabba

I am afraid the only way is reformatting the datastore which will destroy the data on it. So you'd need to make a backup before obviously.. Or get some temporary storage on. Easiest way is ISCSI really (then use svmotion off and on again).

cyberguypr

Correct. It is a destructive operation. Per KB1003565:

The VMFS block size should be chosen carefully when creating VMFS datastores, as there is no way to change the block size of a VMFS datastore once it is created. The datastore must be reformatted with the required block size.

itdaddy

stupid question guys but I can just right click and deletd datastore
and recreate one with a say 4MB block size or larger right?
I dont have to install the entire esxi 4.1 hypervisor do it?

thanks guys

jibbajabba

itdaddy wrote: »

stupid question guys but I can just right click and deletd datastore
and recreate one with a say 4MB block size or larger right?
I dont have to install the entire esxi 4.1 hypervisor do it?

thanks guys

You technically can .. but it will destroy everything on it ... When you say Hypervisor - do you mean ESX'i' ? In that case it should be fine. The full version of ESX installs the service console VM onto the first datastore so that would be somewhat silly to delete

itdaddy

yep the vcenter is on the datastore. I made the vm and installed vcenter on it.

I can just copy the vms to a share and then recreate datastore
and make sure this time it is jumbo enough to handle a 300 GB
vm yikes..learned my lesson welll. Thank God I didnt make that many
vms. hahhah thanks guys for your guidance....you are super!

jibbajabba

I didn't mean the vCenter - you obviously have to remove any vm, vcenter or not. I mean the Service Console,which basically is the operating system of full ESX. Best thing is, browse the datastore and see if there is anything on it

instant000

itdaddy wrote: »

yep the vcenter is on the datastore. I made the vm and installed vcenter on it.

I can just copy the vms to a share and then recreate datastore
and make sure this time it is jumbo enough to handle a 300 GB
vm yikes..learned my lesson welll. Thank God I didnt make that many
vms. hahhah thanks guys for your guidance....you are super!

Becoming an expert means that you've made lots of mistakes.

QHalo

How about storage vmotioning your machines to another LUN and then redoing the block size on the original?

itdaddy

that is what I wanted to do was remove the 1 vm and the vcenter vm on that datastore and then delete the datastore and recreate a datastore
with a larger blocks size. I should not have to reinstall the entire esxi hypervisor do I???
instant000
very true very true

cyberguypr

No need to reinstall anything. When I say destructive operation I mean in regards to the data store. The block size is a property of the data store, not of the ESXi install. Was this a production box?

itdaddy

it is going to eventually be production. it is one I built.
I have one server on it as a vm and another vm as the vcenter.
I shut both off in root infrastructure client and need a way to copy both vms off of this server to another server to then eventually put back
on the new datastore with athe block size increased.

I have tried the mount command like on our old ESX 3.5.
but darn vmware they took this function away. on our new ESXI 4.1 it doesn't seem to work the same way I have been reading and I have no clue now how to mount a windows share to the esxi??

any hints? how I can mount a windows share to it??? the esxi??
I did it easey on the esx 3.5 but not working very good on the esxi 4.1?

jibbajabba

Simply download the folders. Right click the datastore, click 'browse datastore' and click the VM, the hit 'download folder' and you can download it o your local PC.

itdaddy

I can do that for one for the servers but for the vcenter, I cannnot do that for since vcenter is a vm in the datastore which I have to delete.

there is no browse to data store in the root infrastructure client is there???

meadIT

Download Veeam FastSCP and use that to copy all of the VM's files to a local PC, restructure the datastore, then use it to upload them back to the new datastore. This utility allows you to browse and copy the datastores, sort of like an FTP client would.

itdaddy

omg man thank so much wow will let you know how it works. thanks a lot
i was like man the old esx would let me mount a windows share easy
but this new esxi is very limited (probably for a resaon) thanks so much.