Specifications

VMware, Inc. 255
Chapter 9 Storage and File Systems
This!option!adds!another!physical!extent!(designated!by!<extension-SCSIDevice>),!
starting!at!the!specified!SCSI!device.!By!running!this!option,!you!lose!all!data!on!
<extension-SCSIDevice>.
This!operation!is!not!supported!on!the!VMFS‐1!file!system!and!in!fact,!returns!an!error!
if!the!specified!SCSI!device!is!formatted!as!
VMFS‐1.!Each!time!you!use!this!option!and!
extend!a!VMFS‐2!volume!with!a!physical!extent,!the!VMFS!volume!supports,!by!
default,!an!additional!64!files.!You!can!change!this!default!number!of!files!by!using!the!
-n!option.
Map a Raw Disk or Partition to a File on a VMFS-2 Volume
-r --maprawdisk <raw-SCSI-device>
After!this!mapping!is!established,!you!can!access!the!raw!disk!like!a!normal!VMFS!file.!
The!file!length!of!the!mapping!is!the!same!as!the!size!of!the!raw!disk!or!partition.!The!
mapping!can!be!queried!for!the!raw!SCSI!device!name!by!using!the!-P!option.
By
!mapping!a!raw!disk!or!partition!to!a!file,!you!can!manipulate!this!raw!disk!or!
partition!as!any!other!file.
All!VMFS‐2!file‐locking!mechanisms!apply!to!raw!disks.
Display Disk Geometry for a VMware Workstation or GSX Server Virtual
Disk
-g -- geometry <virtual-disk>
The!output!is!in!the!form:!Geometry information C/H/S is 1023/128/32,!where!C!
represents!the!number!of!cylinders,!H!represents!the!number!of!heads,!and!S!represents!
the!number!of!sectors.
When!importing!VMware!Workstation!or!VMware!GSX!virtual!disks!to!VMware!ESX!
Server,!you!may!see!a!disk!geometry!mismatch!error!message.!A!
disk!geometry!
mismatch!may!also!be !the!cause!if!you!have!problems!loading!a!guest!operating!system,!
or!running!a!newly!created!virtual!machine.!
View!the!events!log!through!the!VMware!Management!Interface!(Users!and!Events!
page!for!the!virtual!machine)!or!through!the!service!console!(the!vmware.log!file,!
found,!by
!default,!in!the!<user>/vmware/<guest_operating_system>!directory).!
Look!for!C/H/S!and!compare!this!with!the!output!of!the!vmkfstools!-g!command.!
If!the!disk!geometry!information!is!different,!then!specify!the!correct!information,!from!
the!output!of!the!vmkfstools!-g! command,!in!the!configuration!file!of!the!newly!
created!virtual!machine.
N
OTE A!logical!VMFS‐2!volume!can!have!at!most!32!physical!extents.!