VMDK Stub File Generator

[zak2011]

Just came across VMDK Stub File Generator..from PHD.
Does Veeam have any utility similar to this or any plans to introduce something similar?
Thanks

[tsightler]

I'm curious, how often is the really required? I've been a VMware administrator for just about as long as VMware has been around and I've had to do this perhaps a couple of times. Don't really need a tool to do it, the simplest way is just to create a new VMDK file of the same size and steal it's header. This process is described in VMware KB article 1002511 and here is a video that describes the process. Also, Veeam backups already include, and have always included, a backup of these VMDK descriptor files and the ability to restore just those if they are lost.

[zak2011]

Thanks , tsightler for sharing this info.

[J1mbo]

Just for the sake of clarity, since VMFS seems to lack support for multiple data streams, the VMDK file is stored as two files, the filename.vmdk (header) and filename-flat.vmdk (disk image) - the vSphere client hides the -flat file from view.

[zak2011]

Thanks, James for that info. It was really useful to know.

[tsightler]

And also just to be clear, while it may be hidden from vSphere, Veeam does backup both files and has the ability to restore just the stub if required using the "Restore VM Files" option.