WANTED: low level tool to merge delta.vmdk into flat.vmdk
Sometimes it would be helpful to have a non-automatic manual tool to merge snapshots.
Example:
- no ESXi host is available to create a dummy VM
- vmkfstools -i is no option because it can not write into the basedisk and creates a copy
- graintable is partly damaged in the delta
- ....
The core function of the tool / script would parse the snapshot metadata of the delta file and would output a file with one dd command for each graintable entry.
Outputfile may look like:
IF= input delta.vmdk
OF=output flat.vmdk
BS=blocksize
dd if=$IF of=$OF bs=$BS conv=notrunc skip=X seek=Y count=Z # GT-entry = 1
dd if=$IF of=$OF bs=$BS conv=notrunc skip=X seek=Y count=Z # GT-entry = 2
dd if=$IF of=$OF bs=$BS conv=notrunc skip=X seek=Y count=Z # GT-entry = 3
...
Once outputfile is created it can be used to:
- inflate a delta to a new flat.vmdk
- merge a delta into its parent flat.vmdk
- "repair" delta.vmdks if metadata is partly corrupt
.
It is possible that a script / tool that does that already exists - if yes please post a link.
Tools like the vmware-vdiskmanager from the VDDK-kit already include similar functions - but I have no idea on how to use it like this ...
Any ideas welcome ....
Ulli