6.5

Table Of Contents
You use the vmkfstools vCLI to create and manipulate virtual disks, le systems, logical volumes, and
physical storage devices on an ESXi host. You can use vmkfstools to create and manage a virtual machine
le system on a physical partition of a disk and to manipulate les, such as virtual disks, stored on VMFS-3
and NFS. You can also use vmkfstools to set up and manage raw device mappings (RDMs).
I The vmkfstools vCLI supports most but not all of the options that the vmkfstools ESXi Shell
command supports. See VMware Knowledge Base article 1008194.
You cannot run vmkfstools with --server pointing to a vCenter Server system.
The vSphere Storage documentation includes a complete reference to the vmkfstools command that you can
use in the ESXi Shell. You can use most of the same options with the vmkfstools vCLI command. Specify one
of the connection options listed in “Connection Options for vCLI Host Management Commands,” on
page 19 in place of <conn_options>.
The following options supported by the vmkfstools ESXi Shell command are not supported by the
vmkfstools vCLI command.
n
--breaklock -B
n
--chainConsistent -e
n
--eagerzero -k
n
--fix -x
n
--lock -L
n
--migratevirtualdisk -M
n
--parseimage -Y
n
--punchzero -K
n
--snapshotdisk -I
n
--verbose -v
Upgrading VMFS3 Volumes to VMFS5
vSphere 5.0 supports VMFS5 volumes, which have improved scalability and performance.
You can upgrade from VMFS3 to VMFS5 by using the vSphere Web Client, the vmkfstools ESXi Shell
command, or the esxcli storage vmfs upgrade command. You can pass the volume label or the volume
UUID to the ESXCLI command.
I You cannot upgrade VMFS3 volumes to VMFS5 with the vmkfstools command included in
vSphere CLI.
Managing VMFS Volumes
Dierent commands are available for listing, mounting, and unmounting VMFS volumes and for listing,
mounting, and unmounting VMFS snapshot volumes.
n
Managing VMFS volumes
esxcli storage filesystem list shows all volumes, mounted and unmounted, that are resolved, that
is, that are not snapshot volumes.
esxcli storage filesystem unmount unmounts a currently mounted lesystem. Use this command for
snapshot volumes or resolved volumes.
n
Managing snapshot volumes
Chapter 3 Managing Files
VMware, Inc. 31