Specifications

Administration Guide
254 VMware, Inc.
Set the VMFS on the specified SCSI device to the specified mode
-F --config [public|shared|writable]
Public With!public!VMFS‐2!volumes,!multiple!ESX!Server!computers!can!access!the!
same!VMware!ESX!Server!VMFS!volume!concurrently.!VMware!ESX!Server!file!
systems!with!a!public!access!mode!use!an!automatic!per‐file!locking!to!ensure!file!
system!consistency.
With!a!public!VMFS‐1!volume,!multiple!ESX!Server!computers!
can!access!the!VMware!
ESX!Server!VMFS!volume,!as!long!as!the!VMFS!volume!is!on!a!shared!storage!system!
(for!example,!a!VMFS!on!a!storage!area!network).!Only!one!ESX!Server!can!access!the!
VMFS‐1!volume!at!a!time.
Shared The!shared!access!mode!allows!virtual!machines!on!multiple
!servers!to!access!
the!same!virtual!disk!on!a!VMFS‐2!volume!simultaneously.!(In!public!mode,!virtual!
machines!can!access!only!the!same!VMFS!volume,!never!the!same!virtual!disk,!at!the!
same!time.)!
Writable When!virtual!machines!access!a!file!on!a!shared!VMFS,!the!file!system!
metadata!becomes!read
‐only.!That!is,!no!virtual!machine!or!user!command!can!create,!
delete,!or!change!the!attributes!of!a!file.!
To!create,!remove,!or!change!the!length!of!a!file!(vmkfstools!-X),!change!the!volume!
to!“writable”.!Make!sure!that!no!virtual!machines!are!accessing!the!VMFS!volume!(all!
virtual!
machines!are!powered!off!or!suspended),!and!change!the!file!system!metadata!
to!writable!with!the!command,!vmkfstools --config writable.!After!you!power!on!
or!resume!a!virtual!machine,!the!file!system!metadata!reverts!to!being!read‐only.
Extend an existing logical VMFS-2 volume by spanning multiple
partitions
-Z --extendfs <extension-SCSIDevice>
-n --numfiles #
N
OTE In!ESX!Server!2!and!later,!private!VMFS!volumes!are!deprecated.!If!you!have!existing!
VMFS!version!1!(VMFS‐1)!or!VMFS!version!2!(VMFS‐2)!private!volumes,!change!the!
access!to!public.
NOTE ESX!Server!creates!VMFS!volumes!as!public!by!default.
NOTE A!VMFS!volume!that!is!used!for!failover‐based!clustering!should!have!its!mode!set!to!
shared.!