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Because of possible rollback issues, we can't just detach the VMDK file from Server1 and attach it to Server2 and call it a day. So the question: what's the easiest way to clone/copy the drive at the requested time? We've already notified the application owner that this will most likely require some downtime for Server1. We need all of the data on the E drive of Server1 to be on Server2 at a specific point in time (Server2 is going to be replacing Server1).

Feb 25, 2007  Subscribe to Systems Engineering and RDBMS via Email. Exporting and Importing Virtual Machines Using ‘vmkfstools’. (remember that VMWare GSX Server and Workstation run on Windows). The vmkfstools command and switches required to. Dec 05, 2011  If one extent member went offline, it has been difficult to find which physical LUN corresponds to the extent that went offline. VSphere 5.0 introduces the ability, via vmkfstools, to check which extent of a volume is offline.

I have done this many times using this method. I'm not sure what was unclear about what I said. 1.) Shutdown Server1 2.) Attach new VMDK to Server1, needs to be large enough to house the data on E: 3.) Mount Acronis Trueimage Workstation Boot CD ISO on disc drive of Server1 4.) Boot Server1 from Disc Drive 5.) Clone E: onto new VMDK 6.) Detach new VMDK from Server1, then attach to Server2 If I'm misunderstanding something here, please set me right. I have been in the same scenario several times. I've had no issues with this. As I said above, I've also used this method to 'resize' a Thick Provisioned VMDK as well, by cloning a drive that was too large to a smaller VMDK, and then swapping the SCSI id of the new and old VMDKs.

I don't understand how any of what I said didn't make sense. When I hear of rollbacks, it makes me think people might be using VMware technologies as a poor mans backup. I think there are a number of solutions to your situation here, I would just leverage backups as they should be and not rely on the virtual infrastructure shell game as a replacement for it. For example, if you feel like you are making changes to SERVER1 prior to making disk changes between SERVER1 and SERVER2, get a backup. Yes, a lot of fancy things could be done here with clones to side-step backups but depending on your environment, backups should be a standardized process and as a CYA it is a great thing to leverage. It protects you as you try all the fancy shell games. Because of possible rollback issues, we can't just detach the VMDK file from Server1 and attach it to Server2 and call it a day.

Ok so let's say your maintenance window begins at 10pm. (and I am assuming a lot of things here, like a backup process that is flexible and willing to work with you). Schedule a full backup the night before your upgrade. Have your new server set up and ready to go.

So when you enter your maintenance window, get an incremental backup that will hopefully be quick. Once you have your backup, we can get fancy.

Detach data drive for app and move it over to new guest server. Install/configure new version of app and test. If it works - great. If not, put the disk back to the original guest and restore the data drive that was previously moved. OR use the other answer that talks about using vmkfstools to clone and you will sidestep any back-end recovery time but the time will be spent up front cloning the disk. One option: copy it. It's really not that difficult, but it will take a while: start SSH on an ESXi host, the originating VM should be shut down.

Cd /vmfs/volumes/// cp #.vmdk.//.vmdk cp #-flat.vmdk.//-flat.vmdk The file names shouldn't change if you're going to make a direct copy without modifying the files. If you do change the name, you'll have to update a field in the _#.vmdk file. To explain a little bit, in VMFS, each disk is comprised of two files.vmdk and -flat.vmdk; this is assuming no snapshots or other trickery. The.vmdk file is what is referred to as the descriptor, it has very little information in it, but very important information in it. Essentially everything used to describe the disk (size, heads, LBA, all that disk geometry stuff) is in the descriptor.