Specifications

Administration Guide
64 VMware, Inc.
Import!the!virtual!disks!and!any!redo!logs!to!the!server!and!create!a!new!virtual!
machine!configuration.!See!“Importing!a!GSX!Server!or!Workstation!Virtual!Machine”!
on!page 66.
On!the!VMFS!partition!where!you!store!your!virtual!machines,!have!enough!space!to!
hold!the!full!capacity!of!the!source!virtual!
disk.!A!virtual!disk!created!in!ESX!Server!has!
its!full!capacity!allocated!at!the!time!the!virtual!disk!file!is!created.!For!a!2GB!virtual!
disk,!the!virtual!disk!file!is!2GB!at!the!time!the!disk!is!created.
In!VMware!Workstation!and!GSX!Server,!the!virtual!disk!file!usually!
starts!smaller!and!
grows!to!the!maximum!capacity!as!data!is!added.!You!can!create!a!2GB!virtual!disk,!
install!the!guest!operating!system!and!the!virtual!disk!may!be!contained!in!a!500MB!file.!
However,!when!you!migrate!the!virtual!disk!to!ESX!Server,!the!import!process!converts!
the!disk
!for!ESX!Server!and!the!disk!occupies!2GB!of!space!on!the!partition.
If!the!virtual!disk!has!a!redo!log!(GSX!Server!2.5!or!Workstation!3.2!or!earlier!virtual!
machines)!or!a!snapshot!(Workstation!4!virtual!machines)!associated!with!it,!you!can!
do!either!of!the!following:
! For!the!most!current!representation!of!the!virtual!disk!before!you!import!it,!commit!
the!changes!in!the!redo!log!or!take!a!snapshot!just!before!importing.
! To!use!the!base!disk,!discard!the!changes!in!the!redo!log!or!migrate!the!virtual!
machine!without!the!snapshot!(.vmss)!file.
NOTE Virtual!machines!created!under!versions!earlier!than!GSX!Server!2.0!or!Workstation!3.2!
must!be!upgraded!to!ESX!Server!1.5!before!they!can!be!migrated!to!ESX!Server!2.5.!After!
these!virtual!machines!run!under!ESX!Server!1.5,!migrate!them!to!ESX!Server!2.5.!See!
the!upgrade!instructions!in!the!ESX
!Server!Installation!Guide!at!
http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/esx_pubs.html.
CAUTION If!you!created!a!virtual!disk!that!is!contained!in!a!single!.vmdk!file!larger!
than!2GB!and!want!to!migrate!the!virtual!disk!to!ESX!Server,!FTP!or!copy!the!
disk!from!the!Workstation!host!to!the!ESX!Server!machine.!After!the!file!has!
been!copied!to!the!service!console,
!use!vmkfstools!to!import!the!disk!into!
ESX!Server.!For!the!syntax!on!how!to!import!the!disk,!see!“Examples!Using!
vmkfstools”!on!page 259.
NOTE ESX!Server!version!2.5! uses!a!default!file!name!extension!of!.vmdk!for!virtual!disks.!
Virtual!machines!created!under!ESX!Server!2.1!and!earlier!create!disk!files!with!a!.dsk!
extension.