The -thumb option is a new security-related feature in the VDDK 5.1 release. See
SSL Certificate Thumbprint.
The sample program’s -single option, which opens a single link instead of the entire disk chain, is supported for (local) hosted disk, but not for (remote) managed disk.
To connect to an ESXi host with the sample program, you must specify the options -host,
-user,
-password, and provide a
diskPath on the ESXi host’s datastore. For example:
To connect to vCenter Server, you must also specify the options -libdir and
-vm. Programs need
libdir so the DiskLibPlugin can connect with vCenter Server, which must locate the VM. For example:
The vmPath is formulated in vSphere Client by starting at vCenter and inserting
/vm/ before the VM name. The
diskPath is ascertained by clicking
Edit Settings > Hard Disk and copying the
Disk File name.
To connect using an advanced transport, for example to virtual machine disk on SAN storage, you must also specify the options -mode and
-ssmoref. The transport mode and managed object reference (of a snapshot) are required for
VixDiskLib_ConnectEx(). To find the
ssmoref, log in to the managed object browser for the vCenter Server, and click
content > rootFolder > Datacenter > datastore > vm > snapshot. A snapshot must exist, because it is a bad idea to open the base disk of a powered-on VM.