This issue occurs when the destination datastore is of the same block size as the source datastore, regardless of whether the datastores are VMFS3 or VMFS5.
When the source filesystem uses a different blocksize from the destination filesystem, the legacy datamover (FSDM) is used. When the blocksizes of source and destination are equal, the new datamover (FS3DM) is used. FS3DM decides if it will use VAAI or just the software component. In either case, null blocks are not reclaimed.
This is expected behavior.
To work around this issue, Storage vMotion the virtual machine or VMDK to a datastore that has a different block size. This reclaims the zeroed out disk space.
To shrink a thin provisioned disk (VMDK):
Use a third-party tool within the guest operating system to zero-out disk blocks that may have previously been written with data, but have subsequently been deleted.
Storage vMotion the virtual machine or VMDK to a datastore formatted with a different block size.
For example, if the VMDK is on a datastore formatted with 2 MB blocks, format the target VMFS datastore with a 1 MB, 4 MB, or 8 MB block size.
To reclaim the unused space of a virtual disk in ESXi/ESX 4.1 or later:
Note: Where vmkfstools supports the -K option (--punchzero), you can reclaim the zeroed blocks of thin-provisioned virtual disks without the need to clone to another VMFS datastore with a different block size.
Ensure the disk has no Snapshots.
In a Windows virtual machine, use the SDelete
command (or a tool with similar functionality) to zero out all unused space. The syntax for the SDelete command is SDelete -z <driveletter>. If you use SDelete
, ensure that you use version 1.6 or later.
Note: Zeroing all unused blocks inflates the disk to its full size and converts it into an eagerzeroed disk. If the original disk is a thin provisioned disk, ensure there is sufficient space on the datastore to allow the disk to grow to its full size. For more information, seeDetermining if a VMDK is zeroedthick or eagerzeroedthick (1011170).
Shut down the virtual machine or temporarily remove the virtual disk from the virtual machine to ensure it is not in use.
Erase all unused blocks by running the command:
vmkfstools -K /path/to/disk-name.vmdk
This option de-allocates all zeroed out blocks and leaves only those blocks that were allocated previously and contain valid data. The resulting virtual disk is in thin format. For more information on the
vmkfstools
command, see
Removing Zeroed Blocks in the
ESX Configuration Guide.