Managed Object - VirtualDiskManager

Property of: ServiceContent
See also: Datacenter, HostDiskDimensionsChs, VirtualDiskSpec
Since: VI API 2.5

Managed Object Description

NOTE: This managed object type and all of its methods are experimental and subject to change in future releases.

This managed object type provides a way to manage and manipulate virtual disks on datastores. The source and the destination names are in the form of a URL or a datastore path.

A URL has the form

scheme://authority/folder/path?dcPath=dcPath&dsName=dsName

where

scheme is http or https.

authority specifies the hostname or IP address of the VirtualCenter or ESX server and optionally the port.

dcPath is the inventory path to the Datacenter containing the Datastore.

dsName is the name of the Datastore.

path is a slash-delimited path from the root of the datastore.

A datastore path has the form

[datastore] path

where

datastore is the datastore name.

path is a slash-delimited path from the root of the datastore.

An example datastore path is "[storage] path/to/file.extension". A listing of all the files, disks and folders on a datastore can be obtained from the datastore browser.
See HostDatastoreBrowser

Properties

Name	Type	Description
None

Methods

Methods defined in this Managed Object
CopyVirtualDisk_Task, CreateVirtualDisk_Task, DefragmentVirtualDisk_Task, DeleteVirtualDisk_Task, ExtendVirtualDisk_Task, InflateVirtualDisk_Task, MoveVirtualDisk_Task, QueryVirtualDiskFragmentation, QueryVirtualDiskGeometry, QueryVirtualDiskUuid, SetVirtualDiskUuid, ShrinkVirtualDisk_Task, ZeroFillVirtualDisk_Task

CopyVirtualDisk_Task

Copy a virtual disk, performing conversions as specified in the spec.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
sourceName	xsd:string	The name of the source, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk to be copied.
sourceDatacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `sourceName` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `sourceName` must be a URL.
destName	xsd:string	The name of the destination, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk to be created.
destDatacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `destName` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `destName` must be a URL.
destSpec*	VirtualDiskSpec	The specification of the virtual disk to be created. If not specified the specification of the source disk is used.
force*	xsd:boolean	If true, overwrite any indentically named disk at the destination. If not specified, it is assumed to be false

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task	This method returns a Task object with which to monitor the operation.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs cloning the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="CopyVirtualDisk" type="vim25:CopyVirtualDiskRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="CopyVirtualDiskResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="xsd:string"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>

CreateVirtualDisk_Task

Create a virtual disk.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk to be created.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.
spec	VirtualDiskSpec	The specification of the virtual disk to be created.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task	This method returns a Task object with which to monitor the operation.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs creating the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="CreateVirtualDisk" type="vim25:CreateVirtualDiskRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="CreateVirtualDiskResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="xsd:string"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>

DefragmentVirtualDisk_Task

Defragment a sparse virtual disk. This is defragmentation of the virtual disk file(s) in the host operating system, not defragmentation of the guest operating system filesystem inside the virtual disk.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk that should be defragmented.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task	This method returns a Task object with which to monitor the operation.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs defragmenting the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="DefragmentVirtualDisk" type="vim25:DefragmentVirtualDiskRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="DefragmentVirtualDiskResponse">
            <complexType/>
         </element>

DeleteVirtualDisk_Task

Delete a virtual disk. All files relating to the disk will be deleted.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk to be deleted.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task	This method returns a Task object with which to monitor the operation.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs deleting the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="DeleteVirtualDisk" type="vim25:DeleteVirtualDiskRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="DeleteVirtualDiskResponse">
            <complexType/>
         </element>

ExtendVirtualDisk_Task

Expand the capacity of a virtual disk to the new capacity.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk whose capacity should be expanded.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.
newCapacityKb	xsd:long	The new capacty of the virtual disk in Kb.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task	This method returns a Task object with which to monitor the operation.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs extending the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="ExtendVirtualDisk" type="vim25:ExtendVirtualDiskRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="ExtendVirtualDiskResponse">
            <complexType/>
         </element>

InflateVirtualDisk_Task

Inflate a sparse virtual disk up to the full size

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk that should be inflated.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task	This method returns a Task object with which to monitor the operation.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs inflating the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="InflateVirtualDisk" type="vim25:InflateVirtualDiskRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="InflateVirtualDiskResponse">
            <complexType/>
         </element>

MoveVirtualDisk_Task

Move a virtual disk and all related files from the source location specified by sourceName and sourceDatacenter to the destination location specified by destName and destDatacenter.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
sourceName	xsd:string	The name of the source, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk to be moved.
sourceDatacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `sourceName` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `sourceName` must be a URL.
destName	xsd:string	The name of the destination, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the destination virtual disk.
destDatacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `destName` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `destName` must be a URL.
force*	xsd:boolean	If true, overwrite any indentically named disk at the destination. If not specified, it is assumed to be false

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs renaming the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="MoveVirtualDisk" type="vim25:MoveVirtualDiskRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="MoveVirtualDiskResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="xsd:string"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>

QueryVirtualDiskFragmentation

Return the percentage of fragmentation of the sparse virtual disk. This is the fragmentation of virtual disk file(s) in the host operating system, not the fragmentation of the guest operating systemS filesystem inside the virtual disk.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk for which to return the percentage of fragmentation.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
xsd:int	The percentage of fragmentation (as an integer between 0 and 100) of the sparse virtual disk.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs reading the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="QueryVirtualDiskFragmentation" type="vim25:QueryVirtualDiskFragmentationRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="QueryVirtualDiskFragmentationResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="xsd:int"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>

QueryVirtualDiskGeometry

Get the disk geometry information for the virtual disk.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk from which to get geometry information.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
HostDiskDimensionsChs	The geometry information for this virtual disk.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs reading the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="QueryVirtualDiskGeometry" type="vim25:QueryVirtualDiskGeometryRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="QueryVirtualDiskGeometryResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="vim25:HostDiskDimensionsChs"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>

QueryVirtualDiskUuid

Get the virtual disk SCSI inquiry page 0x83 data.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk from which to get SCSI inquiry page 0x83 data.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
xsd:string	The hex representation of the unique ID for this virtual disk.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs reading the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="QueryVirtualDiskUuid" type="vim25:QueryVirtualDiskUuidRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="QueryVirtualDiskUuidResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="xsd:string"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>

SetVirtualDiskUuid

Set the virtual disk SCSI inquiry page 0x83 data.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk whose SCSI inquiry page 0x83 data should be set.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.
uuid	xsd:string	The hex representation of the unique ID for this virtual disk.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
None

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs updating the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="SetVirtualDiskUuid" type="vim25:SetVirtualDiskUuidRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="SetVirtualDiskUuidResponse">
            <complexType/>
         </element>

ShrinkVirtualDisk_Task

Shrink a sparse virtual disk.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk that should be shrink.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.
copy*	xsd:boolean	Set to true to make a shrunk copy, false to shrink the original virtual disk.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task	This method returns a Task object with which to monitor the operation.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs shrinking the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="ShrinkVirtualDisk" type="vim25:ShrinkVirtualDiskRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="ShrinkVirtualDiskResponse">
            <complexType/>
         </element>

ZeroFillVirtualDisk_Task

Overwrite all blocks of the virtual disk with zeros. All data will be lost.

Experimental. Subject to change

Required Privileges: None

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the VirtualDiskManager used to make the method call.
name	xsd:string	The name of the disk, either a datastore path or a URL referring to the virtual disk whose blocks should be overwritten with zeroes.
datacenter* P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datacenter	If `name` is a datastore path, the datacenter for that datastore path. If not specified, `name` must be a URL.

*Need not be set P Required privilege: Datastore.FileManagement

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task	This method returns a Task object with which to monitor the operation.

Faults

Type	Description
FileFault	Thrown if an error occurs zero filling the virtual disk.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="ZeroFillVirtualDisk" type="vim25:ZeroFillVirtualDiskRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="ZeroFillVirtualDiskResponse">
            <complexType/>
         </element>