Resizing Disk Space for a VMware Virtual Machine

Increasing the virtual disk storage (/data) available to the Skylight orchestrator makes it possible to retain up to four weeks of session data for 52K elements.

This article explains how to resize the disk space available for a Skylight orchestrator deployed as a VMware virtual machine. Resizing the disk space for a VMware virtual machine is done in the vSphere web client.

If you need to configure the disk storage of a KVM virtual machine, see Resizing Disk Space for a KVM Virtual Machine.

Resizing requires downtime on the Skylight orchestrator machine.

If your deployment includes several VMware Skylight orchestrator virtual machines, you will need to repeat the resizing procedure for each machine that you want to resize.

Requirements for the ESXi Host

Before resizing disk storage for a Skylight orchestrator deployed as a VMware virtual machine, make sure the following requirements are met:
A. You need the following information about the ESXi host:

• IP address
• Username and password of the root account
• Available space: sufficient disk space must be available on the host to accommodate the original virtual machine (50 GB), the required increase in disk space and, temporarily, a copy of the vmdk (50 GB). You would determine the amount of available space required on the host as follows:
  Space on host = 50 GB (original vmdk) + 50 GB (copy of vmdk) + extra space
  For example, to extend the disk allocation by 100 GB, you would need 200 GB of free disk space on the host.

B. You will need the datastore folder to store the VM export files.

Requirements for the Skylight orchestrator Virtual Machine

In this procedure, the Skylight orchestrator virtual machine is called the Orchestrator_Core.

A. The Skylight orchestrator virtual machine must already exist. For more information, see VMware Virtual machine Installation and Connectivity.

B. You need the following information for the Skylight orchestrator virtual machine:

• Virtual machine name

If the virtual machine was named as we recommend, it would be named Orchestrator_Core. If your organization used a different virtual machine name, you must adapt the procedure accordingly. The virtual machine name is referred to as $SO_Core in the procedure.

• Virtual machine id ($vmid) to start/stop the virtual machine or create/revert its snapshot.
• Username and password for the visionems user

This user is referred to as $visionems in the procedure. If you use a different user account, you must adapt the procedure accordingly.

• IP address

Deleting all snapshots is required before growing virtual disk size. It recommends to take a clone of $SO_Core if it’s an important virtual machine.

VMware Procedure

To resize the disk space for a VMware virtual machine

1. Login to the VMware ESXi host as follows:
   a. Open a browser and access the page from:
   https://{ip_esxi_server}/ui/#/login
   b. Enter the username and password of the ESXi server.

2. Open the console on the virtual machine in order to check the available disk space (before resizing), stop app_server and halt the $SO_Core:
   a. Right-click $SO_Core in the inventory list.
   b. Select Console ▶ open browser console from the context menu. After a short delay, the console opens and the login prompt is displayed.
   c. Login as the $visionems user.
   d. Display the current data storage (/data) size by entering: disk show
   e. Stop app_server by entering: service stop app_server
   f. Stop the $SO_Core virtual machine by entering: halt
   g. When you are prompted to proceed with the halt, enter: y
   A message indicates the system has powered down.
   h. Close the console.

3. Export the virtual machine to the local PC as follows:
   a. Right-click on the $SO_Core virtual machine in the inventory list.
   b. Select Power ▶ Power off from the context menu.
   c. Right-click on the $SO_Core virtual machine and select Export.
   d. When you are prompted to confirm that you want to export the virtual machine, click OK.
   

4. Change the disk space allocated to the virtual machine as follows:
   a. Right-click the $SO_Core virtual machine in the inventory list.
   b. Select Edit settings in the context menu. The Edit setting - $SO_Core window is displayed.
   c. Select Hard disk 1 in the list of devices, then size the disk to the required amount.
   d. Click Save to apply your change and close the Edit setting - $SO_Core window.
   If there is an issue displayed after Save, make sure to delete all snapshots of the $SO_Core, then rerun this step.

5. Restart the virtual machine as follows:
   a. Right-click $SO_Core in the inventory list.
   b. Select Power ▶ Power on from the context menu.

6. Open a console on the virtual machine in order to check that the available disk space has changed (after resizing):
   a. Right-click $SO_Core in the inventory list.
   b. Select Console ▶ Open browser console from the context menu. After a short delay, the console opens and the login prompt is displayed.
   c. Login as the $visionems user.
   d. Enter: disk show
   e. Confirm that the data folder disk space has changed to the value you entered for Hard Disk 1.
   f. Start app_server by entering: service start app_server
   g. Close the console.

7. If the resize procedure was successful, you can delete the backup of virtual machine made before resizing.

8. If the resize procedure was not successful, restore the backup of the virtual machine made before resizing, as follows:
   a. Right-click on $D_Vision in the inventory list
   b. Select Delete in the context menu. Click Delete when you are prompted to confirm that you want to delete the $SO_Core.
   c. Select the Create/Register VM. The new virtual machine window is displayed.
   d. At the Select creation type, select the Deploy the virtual machine from OVF or OVA file, then click Next.
   e. Enter the $SO_Core name in the field, and upload the ovf and vmdk files on local PC, then click Next.
   f. Select your appropriate storage and click Next.
   g. Click Next to accept the Deployment options.
   h. When the final Ready to Complete page is displayed, click Finish to initiate deployment.