4.5

n
You can rebalance a desktop pool on demand or as a scheduled event.
You can schedule only one rebalance operation at a time for a given set of linked clones. If you start a
rebalance operation immediately, the operation overwrites any previously scheduled task.
You can schedule multiple rebalance operations if they affect different linked clones.
Before you schedule a new rebalance operation, you must cancel any previously scheduled task.
n
You can only rebalance desktops in the AvaIlable, Error, or Customizing state with no schedules or
pending cancellations.
n
As a best practice, do not mix linked-clone virtual machines with other types of virtual machines on the
same datastore. This way View Composer can rebalance all the virtual machines on the datastore.
n
If
you edit a pool and change the host or cluster and the datastores on which linked clones are stored, you
can only rebalance the linked clones if the newly selected host or cluster has full access to both the original
and the new datastores. All hosts in the new cluster must have access to the original and new datastores.
For example, you might create a linked-clone pool on a standalone host and select a local datastore to store
the clones. If you edit the pool and select a cluster and a shared datastore, a rebalance operation will fail
because the hosts in the cluster cannot access the original, local datastore.
n
If you edit a pool and switch the datastores on which persistent disks and OS disks are stored, View
Composer cannot rebalance linked clones that are affected by the switch.
For example, you might create a pool and store OS disks on datastore1 and View Composer persistent
disks on datastore2. Later, you might edit the pool and select datastore2 for OS disks and datastore1 for
persistent disks. The rebalance operation cannot move the OS disks to datastore2 or the persistent disks to
datastore1.
View Composer skips the affected linked clones and rebalances linked clones that are not affected by the
switched datastores.
Filenames of Linked-Clone Disks After a Rebalance Operation
When you rebalance linked-clone desktops, vCenter Server changes the filenames of View Composer persistent
disks and disposable-data disks in linked clones that are moved to a new datastore.
The original filenames identify the disk type. The renamed disks do not include the identifying labels.
An original persistent disk has a filename with a user-disk label:
desktop_name -vdm-user-disk-D- ID .vmdk.
An original disposable-data disk has a filename with a disposable label:
desktop_name -vdm-disposable-
ID .vmdk.
After a rebalance operation moves a linked clone to a new datastore, vCenter Server uses a common filename
syntax for both types of disks:
desktop_name _ n .vmdk.
Manage View Composer Persistent Disks
You can detach a View Composer persistent disk from a linked-clone desktop, detach the disk, and attach it
to another linked clone. This feature lets you manage user information separately from linked-clone desktops.
When you attach persistent disks to linked-clone desktops, the target linked clones must use vSphere mode.
View Composer Persistent Disks
With View Composer, you can configure OS data and user information on separate disks in linked-clone
desktops. View Composer preserves the user information on the persistent disk when the OS data is updated,
refreshed, or rebalanced.
A View Composer persistent disk contains user settings and other user-generated data.
VMware View Administrator's Guide
170 VMware, Inc.