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Command line tips when dealing with Virtual Machines

Virtual machines import/export

# Export remote virtual machine to local /tmp/ .OVA file (kinda cool uh ?)
ovftool -tt=ova -ds=datastore1 vi://root:<MY OWN PASSWORD ON ESX>@<REMOTE ESX ADDRESS>/<MACHINE NAME>  /tmp/

Remote/Remote Virtual Machine Copy

# Do not even use local storage, copy directly from one ESX host to another
ovftool -ds=datastore1 vi://myusername:mypassword@192.168.0.2/SERVICE/VMName vi://user2:pass2@192.168.0.3/

Local copy and copy to remote

ovftool -ds=datastore1 vi://USERNAME:PASSWORD@The.Host.IP.Address/SERVICE/VMName /tmp/
ovftool -ds=datastore1 --name="VMName" --diskMode=thick --network="VM Network" /tmp/VMName.ovf vi://USER:PASS@IP.ADDRESS/

Issue: "Operation canceled by the user" on copy to remote

  • delete the .mf
  • Edit the .ovf file and change cdrom device from ISO to ATAPI
  • Repeat the copy operation
    Note: Alternatively just edit the source virtual machine and check if there's no cdrom device or nobody is using it

Adding hard disk to machine without rebooting

In order to add a virtual disk to a linux machine without rebooting it's possible to:

  • open the vsphere infrastructure client (VIC or web based console)
  • add the new hard drive to the machine with the edit setting option, choose whatever size you'd like and confirm it, the newly added drive will be available to the hardware repository list on vmware
  • Hard drive should be a scsi device so it could be detectable with a scsi detect

Now it's time to inform the underlying os about this new hd

  • with root privileges rescan the scsi chain with something like this
echo "- - -" > /sys/class/scsi_host/host0/scan
fdisk -l
  • if fdisk doesn't detect the newly added drive try to scan different host chains (host1|host2|host3|...) and reissue the fdisk command to get it
  • now with the new drive you can use your favorite partition utility and create filesystem in it