Clone a vm using powercli

So you wanted to clone a virtual machine using power cli?Lets do itConnect to your vmware vcenter server.  You cannot clone if you are connected to an esxi  host. Use the connect-viserver  vcenter name Or ipHave ready:The name of the new vmThe source vmThe data store where you will place your new cloned vmIn the example:New vmname: clonevmtestSourcevm: convert3Datastore: 250Stor01New-VM -Name VM2 -VM VM1 -Datastore...

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Svmotion RDM to vmdk virtual disk

So you want to svmotion you RDM (rdmp) to a VMDK?No problem.If you have a rdmp (physical  RDM) You have to convert it to a virtual RDM first.Notes on that are here: http://sparrowangelstechnology.blogspot.com/2012/09/convert-your-physical-rdm-rdmp-to.htmlHere is a RDM on a vm that is a virtual rdm (rdmv)Go to Edit Settings of the virtual machine .Hard disk 2 is a rdm.We want to turn it into a vmdkRemember which hard disk you want to...

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Convert your physical RDM (rdmp) to a virtual RDM (rdmv)

So you have a raw disk mapping on your virtual machine in esxi  and you wanted to convert it from a rdmp to a rdmv.Using the VMware client it is no problem.Go  to edit settings and select the raw diskClick on Manage Paths Make sure you get the path nameImportant!Take a not of your pathid: look under the runtime name.Click CloseNow remove the virtual machine and delete the files from diskWhy? Because you are not deleting the lun,...

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VMDK per VMFS : Why use a one to one (1:1) ratio?

One VMDK per VMFS?it is always administratively easier to have multiple virtual machine disks per VMFS volume.However there are certain cases where having one VMDK per VMFS might be ideal."Multiple heavily used virtual machines concurrently accessing the same VMFS volume, or multiple VMFS volumes backed by the same LUNs, can cause decreased storage performance."http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/sql_server_virt_bp.pdfHow much space to allocate if you use a one to one ratio?A good rule of thumb is to leave at least 20% free for snapshots.You could...

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error VMware converter 5.0 will crash when using vCenter 5.1 as destination

This has been an issue since vsphere 5.1 was released.Vmware converter 5 will crash is the destination if the destination is a vsphere 5.1 hostThe current work around until a new version of vmware converter is that you need to use vmware converter 4.3  or 4.The vm will come up with virtual hardware 4.Just update the virtual hardware manually for the virtual machine when the conversion is done and you should be in business.http://communities.vmware.com/thread/417661?start=30&tstart=0edit:11-01-2012vmware released converter 5.0.1 which fixes...

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Mac OSX 10.8 Support for ESXi 5.1

Interesting threadAccording to dariusd, in order for you to run Mac OS on esxi it must be done on apple hardware. SO your host must be a mac server." The conditions of the Apple Software License Agreement accompanying Mac OS X require that the OS be run atop Apple hardware, even when virtualized.  We depend on the Apple-specific hardware on the host in order to enable virtualization of Mac OS virtual machines, so if it's not an Apple host, Mac OS X won't boot.  A failure in HostSmcRead means that we were unable to communicate with...

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Can you rename a vmdk of a running vm in datastore browser/vmware vsphere client?

No you cannot  rename a vmdk of a running virtual machineIn fact even if it is off you cannot rename the vmdkWhile it is running the rename option is grayed outHow can you rename the vmdk?To rename you need to use vmkfstools  and you would have to remove it from the virtual machine first.vmkfstools -E OldName.vmdk NewName.v...

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How to import and deploy a ova or ovf file in the vsphere client

So you have something like this to import.The first one is a ovf, the second is a ovaAn ova is just a packed version of the ovf and vmdk and mf filesOVFOVAGo to your vpshere client Go to File-> Deploy OVF template. This works for both ova and ovfBrowse  and select the package you would like to deployNext You will get details about itHit nextNow you get to name your vm and place it in the proper datacenter and folder Now you choose...

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Vmware esxi host clusters : one large or several/multiple smaller clusters

A recent discussion came up where a forum member has a setup of older hosts in one cluster and a set of newer hosts in another clusterThe question was should they combine the cluster or should they leave it as a set of smaller clusters.Questions to ask:How many hosts are we dealing with?The maximum in a cluster is 32 hosts (see here )If the number is above or close to 32, maybe you are better of distributing them.If we are dealing with 4-5 hosts, its better to keep them togetherHow different are the hosts' hardware?Are there significant cpu enhancements...

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Can you shrink a vmdk? Make a vmware hard disk smaller??

Interesting post wondering if it is possible to shrink a vmdk without using converter.Here we have a 10gb think provisioned vmdkIt has been shrunk in windows to 3gb Lets shrink the vmdk nowI changed it to 3.5gbNow clicking ok.Tasks say reconfiguration completeLets go back to itStill 10gb…Trying to storage vmotion it over now Seeing if it will update after the storage vmotionNope.Cannot  shrink the vmdk (easily)You can use v2v, disk...

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IBM's customized vmware esxi iso

Should be available here http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/x/os/vmware/esxi/For anyone who was looking for ...

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Can't increase the disk size of a vm

Do you have a thin or thick provisioned virtual machine and want to change the size and cant?Is the provisioned size tab grayed out? Same problem on the forums. Fix is simple!http://communities.vmware.com/message/2114078Then you are probably running off a snapshot.See the disk file, an we have -000001.vmdk?That points to this running off a snapshot.Go to snapshot manager and check it outHere we can see a snapshot.Just hit delete all to...

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Cannot make a new resource pool or new vApp : grayed out

Unable to make a new resource pool or Vapp?That is because you don’t have DRS on for the cluster.Enable DRS Now we can make new resource pools and vapps*A vSphere Enterprise or Enterprise Plus license is required to enable DRSPasted from <http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1004098>...

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