Attempts to deploy a VM OVF or to migrate a virtual machine to Virtual Volumes datastores fail if contents of potential config-VVol exceed 4 GB limit

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The configuration virtual volume, or config-VVol, contains various VM-related files. On traditional (non-VVol) datastores, these files are stored in the VM home directory. Similar to the VM home directory, the config-VVol typically includes the VM configuration file, virtual disk and snapshot descriptor files, log files, lock files, and so on.

On VVol datastores, all other big size files such as virtual disks, memory snapshots, swap, digest, and so on are created as separate virtual volumes.

Config-VVols are created as 4 GB virtual volumes. Generic content of the config-VVol usually consumes only a fraction of this 4 GB allocation, so config-VVols are typically thin-provisioned to conserve backing space. Any additional large files, such as ISO disk images, DVD images, images files, and so on might cause the config-VVol to exceed its 4 GB limit. If such files are included in an OVF template, deployment of the VM OVF onto VVol storage fails. If these files are a part of an existing VM, migration of that VM from a traditional datastore to VVol storage fails.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Resolution

• For VM migration. Before migrating a VM from a traditional datastore to a virtual volumes datastore, remove any excessive content from the VM home directory to make sure that config-VVol does not go beyond the 4 GB limit.
• For OVF deployment. Because you cannot deploy an OVF template that contains excessive files directly onto VVol storage, first deploy the VM to a non-VVol datastore. Remove any excessive content from the VM home directory, and then migrate the resulting VM to VVol storage.

Additional Information

For translated versions of this article, see:

• Português: Tentativas de implantar uma VM OVF ou de migrar uma máquina virtual para datastores de volumes virtuais falham quando o conteúdo de um possível config-VVol excede o limite de 4 GB (2132424)
  
• Español: Los intentos de implementar una OVF de VM o migrar una máquina virtual a almacenes de datos de Virtual Volumes fallan si el contenido de config-VVol potencial supera el límite de 4 GB (2132721)