Specifications

VMware, Inc. 247
Chapter 9 Storage and File Systems
VMFS Volumes
In!ESX!Server!2.5,!a!VMFS‐2!volume!can!span!multiple!partitions,!across!the!same!or!
multiple!(up!to!32)!LUNs!or!physical!disks.!A!VMFS‐2!volume!is!a!logical!grouping!of!
physical!extents.!Each!physical!extent!is!part!of!a!disk,!for!example,!a!physical!disk!
partition.!That!is,
!a!physical!extent!is!a!disk!partition!that!is!part!of!a!VMFS‐2!volume.
By!contrast,!VMFS‐1!volumes!are!limited!to!a!single!physical!extent.
You!can!view!the!VMFS!volumes!on!your!ESX!Server!at!any!time!by!changing!
directories!to!the!/vmfs!directory,!then!listing!its!contents.!
You!can!use!vmkfstools -P
<VMFS_volume_label>,!to!obtain!more!details!about!your!VMFS!volume.
# cd /vmfs
# ls
vmhba0:0:0:2 vmhba0:0:0:6
The!entries!in!the!/vmfs!directory!are!updated!dynamically.!Any!changes!you!make!to!
VMFS‐2!volumes!through!the!VMware!Management!Interface!are!immediately!
reflected!in!this!directory.
For!more!details!on!vmkfstools,!see!“Using!vmkfstools”!on!page 249.
Labelling VMFS Volumes
If!you!create!a!VMFS!volume!on!a!SCSI!disk!or!partition,!give!a!label!to!that!volume!and!
use!that!label!when!specifying!VMFS!files!on!that!volume.!For!example,!suppose!you!
have!a!VMFS!volume!on!the!SCSI!partition!vmhba0:3:0:1!and!have!created!a!VMFS!
file!nt4.vmdk.!You!
can!label!that!volume!using!a!vmkfstools!command!such!as:!
vmkfstools -S mydisk vmhba0:3:0:1
You!can!then!refer!to!the!nt4.vmdk!file!as!mydisk:nt4.vmdk!(instead!of!
vmhba0:3:0:1:nt4.vmdk)!in!a!virtual!machine!configuration!file!and!in!other!
vmkfstools!commands.!See!“vmkfstools!Options”!on!page 250.
If!there!is!no!persistent!binding,!labelling!VMFS!volumes!is!useful!
if!you!might!add!
SCSI!adapters!or!disks! to!your!system.!The!actual!disk!and!target!numbers!specifying!
a!particular!VMFS!may!change,!but!the!label!stays!the!same.!Also,!other!ESX!Servers!see!
the!same!label,!which!is!useful!for!LUN!ID!between!servers.
For!more!information,!see!“Using!Persistent!
Bindings”!on!page 270.
NOTE If!you!use!the!ls!command!inside!a!ftp!session,!the!file!size!might!be!different!from!the!
output!of!the!ls!-l!command!or!vmkfstools!-l!command.!This!is!because!ftp!uses!
32‐bit!values!for!file!sizes,!and!the!maximum!file!size!it!can!display!is!4GB.!You!can
!
safely!transfer!any!large!files!between!ESX!Server!machines!with!a!ftp!session.!