This guide will show you how to expand the size of your VMware virtual hard disk and allocate that additional space to the partition in the guest OS.

Here are the things you will need before we proceed:

• BACKUP of your VMware image.
• Guest OS will need at least 75MB of free space.
• Download a copy of EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition in the Guest OS.
• BACKUP of your VMware image. – in case it wasn’t clear the first time I said it.

Step 0. Backup VMware Image

Before you proceed you will want to make sure that you back up your VMware image. If you backup your hard drive regularly and are comfortable with your most recent restore point then this step can be bypassed. If you don’t have a disaster recovery plan in place for your hard drive, I suggest you copy the entire folder containing your virtual machine to an external hard drive. It may not be the best solution but it is better than nothing.

Disclaimer: If you have sensitive information contained within your guest OS, please make sure your backup is secured in a manner that meets your company policies. If your host system hard drive is encrypted, copying the VMware image to an non-encrypted external hard drive will likely produce a non-encrypted backup.

Step 1. Select Virtual Machine

With the VMware Player screen open, select the virtual machine you wish to manipulate.  Then click on: “Edit virtual machine settings”

Step 2. Expanding Virtual Hard Disk

On the next screen select Hard Disk. Then click on the Utilities button and select “Expand…”

This will display a pop-up window that allows you to specify the maximum disk size for the virtual machine. Take note on the previous screen that the system capacity is also given. The last thing you want to do is starve your host OS for disk space. Select a size depending on your available system capacity and your individual needs in your guest OS. Once you have settled on a new size, click Expand.

Once the system has completed making the adjustments you will see the following dialog window. What this is telling you is that you have modifed the size of the VMware image itself but this space will not be recognized by the guest OS until you modify the partitioning of the virtual disk and expand the virtual file systems accordingly. This is why you downloaded the EASUS Partition Master within the guest OS.

Step 3. Backup your VMware image (Optional)

If you followed the advice given in Step 0 above, then you can move on to the next step. If you skipped ahead, you may want to reconsider reading Step 0 before proceeding.

Step 4. Install EASEUS Partition Master

Install Partition Master by simply taking the defaults. You will need approximately 75MB of free space to download and install the software on your guest OS. Once it has been installed, double-click the desktop icon to launch it.

Step 5. Resizing Your Partition

When you launch Partition Master you will see a screen similar to this. Notice the unallocated space below the primary partition. The space listed there should match with the additional space you allocated to your VM hard disk. Before proceeding make sure that you have closed any other application that may be running in your guest OS. With the primary partition highlighted, as it is in the image, click the Resize/Move button on the toolbar.

After clicking the Resize/Move button on the toolbar a dialog window will open. This dialog will allow you to allocate the additional space on your hard disk to the partition you selected. You can either use your mouse to move the graphical slider or modify the unallocated space after to lower value. For the this example, I opted to allocate all 1025MB to the primary partition. (Notice: There is a subtle suggestion that you backup your data before resizing the partition. But we took care of that already, right?)

After adjusting the unallocated space the dialog window should look similar to this. From here you can click OK to return to the main screen.

Now that we are back to the main screen, notice how there is 1 Operation Pending (See the lower left of the screen) and the Unallocated space beneath the primary partition is no longer there. If you did not allocate all of the space to the primary partition then you will still see the remainder of the unallocated space here. If you are satisfied with the changes you have made and the backup of your VMware image, click the Apply button. Otherwise, you can still back out by clicking Undo.

Assuming you have clicked the OK button, you will see the following dialog. Because of the inherent risk of working with your partition table you still have one parachute left if you want to bail out. Click Yes to proceed.

While the changes are being applied you will see a screen similar to this. Depending on how big of a partition adjustment you are making this may take a few seconds or a few minutes. If you suffer from NADD, you’ve probably already context switched over to Twitter, Google Reader, or Facebook.

Partition Master will let you know when it has finished and you should see a dialog window similar to this. Click the OK button to proceed.

If you did not select shutdown computer after changes are applied, you should be returned to the main window of Partition Master. At this time you should close Partition Master and shut down your guest OS. Windows is going to detect that the volume has changed and you will likely see the following message. If it doesn’t appear before you shutdown you may see it the next time you log into your guest OS. If you do, restart and when you log in the next time you should be all set.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully resized your partition. Now you can go ahead an install that software you need to do your job and get back to work.

Licensed under Creative Commons from blueoxen (Flickr)

Last year instead of a New Year’s Resolution, I opted to select a themeword for the year. After all, four out of five of the 100 million Americans who made a resolution last week will break them. If you think that’s bad, nearly a third won’t make it to the Super Bowl before caving. As you may recall, the concept for selecting a themeword came from HorsePigCow a couple years back.  For 2010, I selected FOCUS as my themeword. When I selected it I wanted to refocus my energy on becoming a better DBA, more active in my professional network, and being a better husband and father. Little did I know that when I said I wanted to focus on becoming a better DBA that I would become the lead DBA on a large healthcare project in the public sector. I wish I could have been more active in my professional network and attended at least one event but with my responsibilities before and after my career changes kept me away. Suffice it to say my aspirations of being a better husband and parent will always be areas that need focus. Let’s be honest, if being a good spouse was easy divorce would not be so prevalent and Bill Cosby wouldn’t have any material for his book Fatherhood.

In thinking about my themeword for 2011, I wanted to chose something that fosters fortitude. 2010 ended with me placing myself outside of my comfort zone and the stresses of becoming an independent consultant and putting myself in a role that has a wealth of opportunity for growth.  There are so many things that I think I need to do in order to lay the foundation necessary to succeed as an independent. I wrestled with BALANCE, DISCIPLINE, and GROW for a while. But while each of them have merit in their own right, they didn’t carry the weight I felt I needed for the upcoming year.

My themeword for 2011 is ACHIEVE.

What is your #themeword?

How to Pick Your #ThemeWord for 2010

1. Think of a word that reflects your hopes and dreams for 2010.
2. Share your themeword with friends on Twitter, Facebook, or Your Blog.
3. Be sure and use the hashtag #themeword.

My passion for computers started a little over 25 years ago when my dad brought home our first computer, a Commodore 64 (C64), and hooked it up to our TV. At first it served a single purpose for me and my brother – video game console. We would spend hours swapping cartridges playing games like Paperboy and Centipede. It wasn’t until I saw my dad spending countless hours entering programs from a computer magazine into the computer that I realized there might be something more than just playing games. Eventually the TV would be replaced with a dedicated monitor; the cassette player with a floppy disk drive; the C64 with a Commodore 128 (C128).

Adieu Q-Link AOL, Bonjour BBS

Along with the C128 came this thing called a modem that made funny sounds, and a subscription to Q-Link. While the early days of Q-Link were nothing like what AOL would eventually become it provided a stepping stone to connecting with others online. Soon there after we stumbled across the world of Bulletin Board Services (BBS) and the subscription to Q-Link was no longer necessary. We quickly found a group of BBSes that we would frequent and it wasn’t long before we were invited to attend our first a bulletin board service meeting. I remember vividly how everyone gathered around the guy who had a 20 MB hard drive. It was there I was exposed to the online community and gaming on a BBS and there was no turning back. I was addicted.

Soon there after I was running my own BBS on the Commodore 128. Within the first year of running the BBS the Commodore 128 would be replaced with my first PC, an XT 8086 4.77 MHz . As the early 90’s progressed so did the successive replacements in computer hardware in my room. By the time I graduated high school, my BBS was connected to FIDONet, a network of message boards much like USENET newsgroups. It wouldn’t be long before my first exposure to the Internet while in college.

Reality Bites

While I was addicted to computers going through high school my heart and dreams were to pursue a degree in meteorology in the Air Force. When I wasn’t eligible to apply for the Air Force Academy, I quickly realized that I could capitalize on my passion for computers and pursue a computer science degree. It was while taking my first (and only) class on databases the instructor mentioned the opportunity to complete an internship with a regional retailer. A few of my friends and I applied and I quickly went from converting Paradox to Microsoft Access as an intern to being hired as a full-time employee developing web applications against SQL Server. I finished college while working full-time.

It was while working under satellite team under the data warehouse team  that I got my first exposure to database administration with SQL Server. I found that I enjoyed working with T-SQL and the administrative aspects of SQL Server. Eventually, I grew tired of writing applications and when the opportunity to become what was a junior DBA on the data warehouse team opened I jumped with both feet. It was there that other two DBAs and technical architect mentored me and solidified my career as a Teradata database administrator. They saw something in me that I hadn’t yet and knew with the right guidance I would be on a path to a successful career in data warehousing. I was fortunate enough to work with them for a couple years before making what would be the biggest career decision of my life at the time.

Knock, Knock… Who’s There?

Opportunity. It knocks only so many times before turning away and knocking on the door of someone else. I can’t tell you how many times I repeated those words as I struggled with the next career decision. I was asked to work with a small consulting firm on a one-year contract in the public sector on data warehousing project as an ETL developer. I turned them down at first. I had a young family, my youngest son was only two, and even though the job was close enough I could be home every night, the uncertainty beyond the initial 12 months was the deal breaker. When that firm contacted me again a few weeks later, I took the risk after talking to someone who I trusted professionally for the advice I sorely needed. Those initial 12 months turned into 6 years.

Initially my experience with SQL to work on a payment accuracy system and a client master data model was more critical. However, as my responsibility as database administrator increased with my time on the project. This allowed me to work closely with the system DBA team to help establish best practices and workload management guidelines that affect the entire data warehouse. Before long I was a trusted by the client for my technical acumen.

During the latter portion of my time there I started to become more involved in the Teradata community. Being an active member in the Teradata community has allowed me to help others and establish myself as an expert among my peers in the community. Twitter also has broadened my interactions with experts in the SQL Server, Oracle, business intelligence, data management, data quality, and data governance. As a result, I started to blog for both my employer and for my own site on various data related topics. It was a great exposure for me and gave me the opportunity to meet new people who share similar passions with me about data.

It was a combination of the mentor I turned to six years ago and someone who I met via Twitter that helped provide guidance and insight about the most difficult career decision I have made so far – becoming an independent consultant. I have recently accepted an opportunity to be a lead DBA position on another public sector project with an initial 12 month contract. Sound familiar?