VMWARE ESXi 5.0

Creation of New -VM Files in ESX i 5.0
Files:
.hlog                           vMotion log file
.lck-XXX                    Locking file on NFS datastore
file.log                        VM activity log
file-#.log                     Old VM log
.nvram                        BIOS or EFI settings
file.rdm                       RDM in Virtual Compatibility mode
team.rdmp                 RDM in Physical Compatibility mode
memory.vmdk           Disk descriptor (also raw virtual disk for hosted products

-flat.vmdk                   Raw pre-allocated virtual disk
 -00000#.vmdk-         Snapshot child disk
 -ctk.vmdk                  Changed Block Tracking file 
-00000#-delta.vmdk Snapshot differential file
file.vmsd                    Snapshot metadata
vmsn                          Snapshot state file
.vmss                         Suspended state file
log.vmss                   Suspended state file
.vmtx                          Template header
.vmx                           Primary configuration file
.vmxf                          Extra configuration file for VMs in a team
.vswp                         Swap file for over committed memory

As simple questions for Vmware administrator?

1) How to find the log of ESX Server when Esx server is down?

2) How to get the  log information of HBA ?

3) I had upgraded the bios version  after that esx server is not running , how to find the log?

4)what is vilogger?

5) How to check the network information of esx server from a centralized place?

Use VMA server for all this solutions 

Create a snapshot but do not have enough space on the VMFS volume

Power on a virtual machine but there is not enough space to create a swap file on the VMFS volume

To change the default location:

Power off the virtual machine.

Add the following line to the VMX configuration file for the virtual machine:

workingDir=""

For example:

workingDir="/vmfs/volumes/46f1225f-552b0069-e03b-00145e808070/vm-snapshots"

To reload virtual machine configuration, run the command:

# vimsh -ne "vmsvc/reload "

When you power on the virtual machine, snapshot files and VSWP files are created in the new location.

Note: If you do not want to redirect the virtual machine’s swap file, add the following line to the VMX configuration file, then reload the configuration:

sched.swap.dir=""



When you power on the virtual machine, the swap file is created in the same directory as virtual machine.

Choosing a block size when creating VMFS datastores

When you create a VMFS datastore on your VMware ESX servers many administrators select the default 1MB block size without knowing when or why to change it. The block size determines the minimum amount of disk space that any file will take up on VMFS datastores. So an 18KB log file will actually take up 1MB of disk space (1 block) and a 1.3MB file will take up 2MB of disk space (2 blocks). But the block size also determines the maximum size that any file can be, if you select a 1MB block size on your data store the maximum file size is limited to 256GB. So when you create a VM you cannot assign it a single virtual disk greater then 256GB. There is also no way to change the block size after you set it without deleting the datastore and re-creating it, which will wipe out any data on the datastore.

Because of this you should choose your block size carefully when creating VMFS datastores. The VMFS datastores mainly contain larger virtual disk files so increasing the block size will not use all that much more disk space over the default 1MB size. You have the following choices when creating a datastore:


• 1MB block size – 256GB maximum file size

• 2MB block size – 512GB maximum file size

• 4MB block size – 1024GB maximum file size

• 8MB block size – 2048GB maximum file size


Besides having smaller files use slightly more disk space on your datastore there are no other downsides to using larger block sizes. There is no noticeable I/O performance difference by using a larger block size. When you create your datastore, make sure you choose your block size carefully. 1MB should be fine if you have a smaller datastore (less than 500GB) and never plan on using virtual disks greater then 256GB. If you have a medium (500GB – 1TB) datastore and there is a chance that you may need a VM with a larger disk then go with a 2MB or 4MB block size. For larger datastores (1TB – 2TB) go with a 4MB or 8MB block size. In most cases you will not be creating virtual disks equal to the maximum size of your datastore (2TB) so you will usually not need a 8MB block size.

 

There is no noticeable I/O performance difference by using a larger block size. When you create your datastore, make sure you choose your block size carefully. 1MB should be fine if you have a smaller datastore (less than 500GB) and never plan on using virtual disks greater then 256GB. If you have a medium (500GB – 1TB) datastore and there is a chance that you may need a VM with a larger disk then go with a 2MB or 4MB block size. For larger datastores (1TB – 2TB) go with a 4MB or 8MB block size. In most cases you will not be creating virtual disks equal to the maximum size of your datastore (2TB) so you will usually not need a 8MB block sizeVMFS Size Limitations

New Partition Tables For VMFS