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Enable Retention of Sparse Files During Linux Conversions

Details

By default, Converter Standalone does not preserve sparse files on the source machine during Linux P2V conversion. If you have large sparse files on the source, they are created as non-sparse on the target virtual machine. This renders the used space on the target file system larger than that on the source machine. This might also make the conversion task fail with a timeout error. If the conversion task fails, the following error message appears in the vmware-converter-agent.log file that is exported in the converter diagnostics zip file:
converter.event.UnixP2VVolumeCloneFailedEvent.

Solution

Manually enable retention of sparse files during Linux conversions by modifying the keepSparseFile flag in the converter-agent.xml file:

  1. Browse for the converter-agent.xml file in the following locations:
    • If Converter Standalone runs on a Windows system, go to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone\.
    • If Converter Standalone is running on a Linux system, go to /etc/vmware-converter/.
  1. Open the converter-agent.xml file in a text editor and change the keepSparseFile flag from false to true.
  2. Restart Converter Standalone agent.
    • If Converter Standalone agent runs on a Windows system, open the Services section in the Microsoft Management Console, find the VMware Converter Agent service and restart it.
    • If Converter Standalone agent runs on a Linux system, find the Converter Agent process by running ps -axu|grep "converter-agent.xml" and terminate it. The Converter Standalone agent starts automatically the next time you initiate a conversion task.

Alternatively, instead of restarting Converter Standalone agent, you can reboot the system to make the changes to converter-agent.xml take effect.

 

 

Keywords

sparse files, pre-allocated files

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Actions
  • KB Article: 1008303
  • Updated: Sep 2, 2009
  • Product Versions:
    VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.x