ESX3i Unable to detect the CDROM on the host and less disk capacity

[fusebox]

This is an Dell PE 2900 with 16gb RAM and 8 way processor.I installed ESX3i Update3 on this couple of days back.Having 2 different issues.Not sure if this is something related to the update 3 or My hardware.There is almost 3TB + disk space on this server and with underlying hardware raid(RAID 0)

Issue#1 - Its not detecting the onboard CD/DVD ROM

Issue#2 - When I try to create a 2nd datastore from the available 2.73 TB of space,it says the maximum usable capacity is 744GB.I am attaching some relevant screenshots for your reference.

Tried removing the CD drive and adding it back .It fails as it doesnt detect any drive.The same thing with the datastore,it just doesnt allow Me to use anymore than 744GB of the 2.73 TB.

Any help is highly appreciated. Do let me know if anyone has faced this issue and if any workarounds are available out there.Is this a bug or I am the only facing this issue or am I missing something here.

Thanks in advance.

[RParker]

Issue#2 - When I try to create a 2nd datastore from the available 2.73 TB of space,it says the maximum usable capacity is 744GB.I am attaching some relevant screenshots for your reference.

That's correct you have to start over. the boot partition used the 2TB for booting and somewhere during the process it used the left over to allocate an EXT 3 partition for the datastore.

Basically you have to start over. Repartition , and CAREFULLY look at what the extended partition is and adjust it. You can have a MAX size of 2TB for a datastore, so if you create one of say 2.73 TB you will lose the 730Gb, and never be able to reclaim it, because it will only let you allocate the first 2TB.

It's better to do this from the RAID, create (2) ~1.3TB partitions, and you can create 2 Datastores from it.. That's the best way to do it, divide the size of the RAID equally.

I don't know what the deal with the CD rom is.. are you sure it's a CD rom and you aren't trying to mount a DVD media? The drive may be recoginized, but the media IN the drive may not...

[fusebox]

Thanks for reminding Me about the 2TB max thing.I totally forgot about that.Yeah,I will try redoing everything as you suggested.And,yeah I am sure about the CD/DVD ROM issue.Inspite of inserting the media in the slot,it doesnt detect it.In the first place,it even doesnt show a CDROM/DVD device in the drop down menu when I try to select or add a CD/DVD ROM drive to a VM as such.

[patrickds · Accepted solution]

There is almost 3TB + disk space on this server and with underlying hardware raid(RAID 0)

Issue#2 - When I try to create a 2nd datastore from the available 2.73 TB of space,it says the maximum usable capacity is 744GB.I am attaching some relevant screenshots for your reference.

RAID0, are you serious?

You do know RAID0 provides no redundancy? It just spans all your data on all available disks.

If one disk fails, you lose everything.

And like rdparker said: you can't use LUNs over 2TB.

Even if you create 1 RAID array, you should split it up into smaller logical disks.

According to the installation guide, ESXi uses about 750MB to install itself, so you could create 1 logical disk of just a couple of GB (go for about 15 or so, in case you later decide to change to a normal ESX install), or even some more to keep some reserve.

Divide the remaining space into 2 additional volumes, and you should be OK

Possibly your CD drive is SATA, and not supported, unless you can set it to IDE mode in the BIOS (don't really know DELL servers)

[fusebox]

Yeah,I am aware of the implications of RAID0.I purposely want it for the sake of speed.I dont need redundancy at this stage as this is a sandbox which is being used for POC.I am also aware of the 2TB max.The esxconfig maximums guide clearly say that.Will redo the RAID partition sizing first on the hardware level into 2 X 1.35 TB as Parker suggested.It clearly makes sense.I somehow totally forgot the 2TB maxim thing initially until Parker reminded me.One of new folks had actually setup RAID on this server and were stuck at the 2nd datastore issue.

Yeah,will try putting the cdrom in ide mode from bios and check if that works.I am not physically at the server location.So,will have to ask the onsite folks to try this during the reinstall/reconfig.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Moved to ESXi forum.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

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