Another SIM for VMware question

[papadopoulosa]

Ok, so I've un-tar'ed the simulators;  here are some observations and questions:

1. The names of the simulators for different versions of DOT are not clear;  so I have to go back to try to re-download each individual version to figure out what the dir name is after un-tarring.
2. I see a bunch of, what I assume to be, snapshot files, named XXX-s99.vmdk, where XXX is a name, and 99 is a sequence number.  I don't see a reference for these in the .vmx file, so I presume they are left over snapshots.  Is it safe to delete them before I convert the main vmdk's to VMFS format?
   Or are these files part of the DataONTAP.vmdk?  Once I've run the vmkfstools to convert the DataONTAP.vmdk to VMFS format, should I delete these files, or still leave them there?
3. It would really be helpful if these tar's contained the vmdk's in VMFS format so we (users of vSphere 5.1) would not have to go through a conversion process.

BTW, if help is required, I can help with the above, by repackaging the tar's and sending them to someone at NetApp.

[papadopoulosa]

So, I've answered question #2.  When you follow the VMware KB and use the vmkfstools -U/-E command to delete and rename the vmdk's, the XXX-s99.vmdk files go away.  Neat trick.

[shatfield]

I take the easy way out, and just delete that whole VMDK and create a new one.  As long as you do it before the first power on, the blank vmdk will get formatted before it creates the simdisks.  Just be careful to put it on the IDE port.

[papadopoulosa]

That should be in the docs.  Much simpler doing it that way, and there is no need to convert the -sim.vmdk's.