Difference between revisions of "Shrinking VMware Virtual Disks"
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(Created page with "The guest cannot have snapshots and it cannot be marked as a template from which clones are made. In VMware Workstation: *For Windows guests: **Start the guest system and log...") |
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In ESXi: | In ESXi: | ||
| − | *For Linux guests: | + | *For Linux guests using LVM volumes:<br />The zerofree utility is much quicker than the old "dd if=/dev/zero" method and it does not expand the thin-provisioned volume to full size, but it requires that the partition be unmounted. |
| − | ** | + | **[http://www.sysresccd.org/Download Download the systemrescuecd.iso] and place it on one of the ESXi server's datastore volumes |
| − | ** | + | **Remove any snapshots |
| − | ** | + | **Modify the guest system's settings so that it boots from the ISO image |
| − | ** | + | ***Change "Boot Options" to "Force BIOS Setup" |
| − | **Shutdown the guest | + | ***Set the CD drive to "Connected" and and point it at the ISO image |
| + | ***Restart the guest and, in boot settings, set it to boot from the CD ahead of the hard drive | ||
| + | ***"Save and Exit" to boot the guest into the systemrescuecd image | ||
| + | **Activate the LVM volume that contains the root partition | ||
| + | ***Activate all volume groups <pre>lvm vgchange -a y</pre> | ||
| + | ***List all volumes and their volume groups <pre>lvm lvs --all</pre> | ||
| + | **Zero out the root volume<pre>zerofree -v /dev/volume_group/volume</pre>in my case that's<pre>zerofree -v /dev/vg_ioc51prod/lv_root</pre> | ||
| + | **Shutdown the systemrescuecd guest system | ||
| + | **Modify the guest system's settings to restore the original boot settings | ||
| + | ***Remove the systemrescuecd.iso as the CD device | ||
| + | ***Change "Boot Options" to "Force BIOS Setup" | ||
| + | ***Power on the guest and set it to boot from the hard drive ahead of the CD in boot settings | ||
| + | ***"Save and Exit" to boot the guest to confirm that it still works | ||
| + | **Shutdown the guest | ||
**SSH to the ESXi server | **SSH to the ESXi server | ||
**Locate and change to directory that contains the guest's VMDK file | **Locate and change to directory that contains the guest's VMDK file | ||
**vmkfstools --punchzero ''<guest>''.vmdk | **vmkfstools --punchzero ''<guest>''.vmdk | ||
Revision as of 07:26, 17 September 2015
The guest cannot have snapshots and it cannot be marked as a template from which clones are made.
In VMware Workstation:
- For Windows guests:
- Start the guest system and log in
- Open a command prompt window in administrator mode
- C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\VMwareToolboxCmd.exe disk list
- C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\VMwareToolboxCmd.exe disk shrink C:\
- For Linux guests:
- Start the guest system and login as root
- Open a terminal window
- vmware-toolbox-cmd disk list
- vmware-tool-box-cmd disk shrink /
In ESXi:
- For Linux guests using LVM volumes:
The zerofree utility is much quicker than the old "dd if=/dev/zero" method and it does not expand the thin-provisioned volume to full size, but it requires that the partition be unmounted.- Download the systemrescuecd.iso and place it on one of the ESXi server's datastore volumes
- Remove any snapshots
- Modify the guest system's settings so that it boots from the ISO image
- Change "Boot Options" to "Force BIOS Setup"
- Set the CD drive to "Connected" and and point it at the ISO image
- Restart the guest and, in boot settings, set it to boot from the CD ahead of the hard drive
- "Save and Exit" to boot the guest into the systemrescuecd image
- Activate the LVM volume that contains the root partition
- Activate all volume groups
lvm vgchange -a y
- List all volumes and their volume groups
lvm lvs --all
- Activate all volume groups
- Zero out the root volume
zerofree -v /dev/volume_group/volume
in my case that'szerofree -v /dev/vg_ioc51prod/lv_root
- Shutdown the systemrescuecd guest system
- Modify the guest system's settings to restore the original boot settings
- Remove the systemrescuecd.iso as the CD device
- Change "Boot Options" to "Force BIOS Setup"
- Power on the guest and set it to boot from the hard drive ahead of the CD in boot settings
- "Save and Exit" to boot the guest to confirm that it still works
- Shutdown the guest
- SSH to the ESXi server
- Locate and change to directory that contains the guest's VMDK file
- vmkfstools --punchzero <guest>.vmdk
