Resize VMWare ESXi partions from the command line

^{Created: 2019-11-19 01:59:58 | Last modified: 2019-11-20 20:31:17} ^{| By: Nova}
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If you wish to resize a datastore when using the free VMWare hypervisor, you can do this by using the CLI. You can do this for both the actual array and also the partition itself.

When adding disks to an array and then needing to resize a VMWare datastore, there are a couple of steps that need to be taken. If you have already allocated the extra storage to the logical volumes inside the array utility, you can skip to step 2 which is actually allocating the additional space to the datastore.

Step 1 - Array config

If you have added the disks to the array but not added to the logical volume, you can use the following commands to maniplate the array.

Initial Array logical volume configuration

Enter Directory

cd /opt/smartstorageadmin/ssacli/bin

View all drivers inside the array

./ssacli ctrl slot=0 pd all show status

View all logical volumes inside the array

./ssacli ctrl slot=0 ld all show status

View logical volume config (detailed)

./ssacli ctrl slot=0 show config

Increase Size

Increase size of logical drive (for example logical drive 2)

./ssacli ctrl slot=0 ld2 modify size=max forced

View size to confirm logical volume has actually increased

./ssacli ctrl slot=0 show config

Step 2 - Increase partition datastore size

If the space is already allocated to the array and logical volume, you can now expand the datastore. To do this you need to resize the partition and fix the GPT table. Log into esxi using SSH. Change highlighted sections for your situation.

Get the partition details

vmkfstools -P /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ -h

VMFS-6.82 (Raw Major Version: 24) file system spanning 1 partitions.
File system label (if any): datastore1
Mode: public
Capacity 3.3 TB, 65.2 GB available, file block size 1 MB, max supported file size 64 TB
Disk Block Size: 512/512/0
UUID: 5b2a73df-b36e41e8-c01a-b8830345bb0c
Partitions spanned (on "lvm"):
        naa.600508b1001c8dfa62bd35bf788f8be6:1
Is Native Snapshot Capable: NO

List disks

ls /vmfs/devices/disks/

naa.600508b1001c8dfa62bd35bf788f8be6                          vml.0200000000600508b1001c8dfa62bd35bf788f8be64c4f47494341
naa.600508b1001c8dfa62bd35bf788f8be6:1

Get the partition details

partedUtil get /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.600508b1001c8dfa62bd35bf788f8be6

Error: The backup GPT table is not at the end of the disk, as it should be.  This might mean that another operating system believes the disk is smaller.  Fix, by moving the backup to the end (and removing the old backup)?
Warning: Not all of the space available to /dev/disks/naa.600508b1001c8dfa62bd35bf788f8be6 appears to be used, you can fix the GPT to use all of the space (an extra 1758107648 blocks) or continue with the current setting? This will also move the backup table at the end if is is not at the end already. diskSize (8769568304) AlternateLBA (7011460655) LastUsableLBA (7011460622) NewLastUsableLBA (8769568270)
545880 255 63 8769568304
1 2048 7011457024 0 0

Resize the partition (1 = partition number, 7011457024 = start, 8769568270 = end)

partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.600508b1001c8dfa62bd35bf788f8be6" 1 7011457024 8769568270

Fix the GPT

partedUtil fixGpt "/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.600508b1001c8dfa62bd35bf788f8be6"

Verify the partion (required for vmware to see the partition increase without doing a reboot)

vmkfstools -V

Grow the filesystem (note the :1 at the end, this is our partition number 1)

vmkfstools --growfs "/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.600508b1001c8dfa62bd35bf788f8be6:1" "/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.600508b1001c8dfa62bd35bf788f8be6:1"

Space should now be available inside your datastore