Eric Sloof

The Virtual Disk Development Kit contains a tool called the Virtual Disk Manager utility to manipulate offline VMDK files on Windows or Linux (clone, create, relocate, rename, grow, shrink, or defragment). Virtual Disk Manager manipulates virtual disk (VMDK) files, and has many useful capabilities. One key feature is the ability to enlarge a virtual disk so that its maximum capacity is larger than it was when you created it. If you need more disk space on a given virtual disk but do not want to add another virtual disk or use ghosting software to transfer the data on a virtual disk to a larger virtual disk, you can change the maximum size of the disk. Of course this is not possible with physical hard drives.Here's the output:

VMware Virtual Disk Manager - build 85132.
Usage: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe OPTIONS <disk-name> | <mount-point>
Offline disk manipulation utility
  Operations, only one may be specified at a time:
     -c                   : create disk.  Additional creation options must
                            be specified.  Only local virtual disks can be
                            created.
     -d                   : defragment the specified virtual disk. Only
                            local virtual disks may be defragmented.
     -k                   : shrink the specified virtual disk. Only local
                            virtual disks may be shrunk.
     -n <source-disk>     : rename the specified virtual disk; need to
                            specify destination disk-name. Only local virtual
                            disks may be renamed.
     -p                   : prepare the mounted virtual disk specified by
                            the drive-letter for shrinking.
     -r <source-disk>     : convert the specified disk; need to specify
                            destination disk-type.  For local destination disks
                            the disk type must be specified.
     -x <new-capacity>    : expand the disk to the specified capacity. Only
                            local virtual disks may be expanded.

The Virtual Disk API, or VixDiskLib, is a set of function calls to manipulate virtual disk files in VMDK format (virtual machine disk). Function call semantics are patterned after C system calls for file I/O. This API enables partners and software vendors to manage VMDK directly from their applications. These library functions can manipulate virtual disk on a VMware Workstation or similar product (hosted disk) or virtual disk contained within a VMFS volume on an ESX Server (managed disk). Hosted disk is an original VMware concept meaning a disk managed by the Workstation host for a guest operating system. The Virtual Disk Development Kit is a collection of C libraries, code samples, utilities, and documentation to help you create or access VMware virtual disk storage. The kit includes:

 The Virtual Disk library, a set of C function calls to manipulate virtual disk (VMDK) files.
 C++ code samples that you can build with either Visual Studio or the GNU C compiler.
 Virtual Disk Manager utility to manipulate offline VMDK files on Windows or Linux (clone, create, relocate, rename, grow, shrink, or defragment).
 DiskMount utility to access files and file systems in virtual disks on Windows or Linux.
 Documentation about the Virtual Disk library and the command-line utilities.

VMware is pleased to announce the launch of the latest VMware Technical Sales Professional (VTSP) specialty track in Infrastructure Virtualization. In addition to completion of the Core VTSP courses, participants enrolling in the Infrastructure Virtualization specialty track will gain valuable insight in concepts relating to, advanced networking, consolidation estimation, data protection, high availability, and resource management. Partners can also enroll in VTSP training plans geared towards Desktop Solutions and VSLA Management. Check out the training tab on Partner Central today for more VTSP details.

VMware Technology Solutions Exchange is now enfolded into VMware Partner Exchange. Technical Professionals rejoice! VMware has folded the popular Technology Solutions Exchange (TSX) into VMware Partner Exchange and have added more value for their technical partner audience. With Hands-on Labs on Site Recovery Manager, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, VMware ESXi and VMware Lab Manager, you will get hands-on training by VMware experts! Or attend the advanced technical level sessions (TECH300 series) which will help you design and architect solutions in a mock customer scenario. Along with your team members, you will compete with other teams for the best solution and whiteboard/implementation outline.

Check out the complete Agenda -- go to the official VMware Partner Exchange website for more information!

Achieving Business Performance Goals through Virtualization Management Best Practices. In researching this paper, EMA spoke with James, a senior technical engineer for a large global consumer products company (full names withheld on request). As the lone support person for 400 VMware ESX virtual machines, James found VirtualCenter did not provide enough detail or insight, so he had significant problems monitoring, reporting, and predicting performance. As James described it, they were “flying blindly.� After a formal evaluation, James selected the eG Enterprise Suite with eG VM Monitor solution from eG Innovations.  As a VMware technical administrator, he says the environment is now “easier and faster to manage and administer,� and the reporting facilities alone will save him almost a day’s work every month. From the IT service manager’s perspective, the solution allows them to “load up multi-CPU systems with multiple virtual systems,� increasing utilization and cost savings while confidently meeting SLAs.