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Wajeeh
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Enthusiast

Storage vMotion virtual machine with virtual mode RDM

Dear All,

We are using Esxi 5.0 update 2 in our environment. We have few virtual machines which have RDM set in virtual mode.

- If I want to Svmotion these (powered on), this can be done ? The host will remain as it is but datastore will change

- If I want to vmotion the machine (powered on) to another host, the host will be changed but datastore will remain same , is this also possible ?

thanks,

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rh5592
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Hot Shot

Hi,

-storage vmotion of powered on VM with virtual compatibility mode RDM: only the mapping file is moved, not the data

-vmotion will work as normal with virtual mode RDM

Cormac Hogan wrote a great article regarding storage vmotion behavior with RDMs here: Migrating RDMs, and a question for RDM Users. | VMware vSphere Blog - VMware Blogs

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Wajeeh
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Hello,

only mapping is moved not the data, I didn't get you.

Data in case of RDM is directly stored on SAN, if file mapping is moved it means data still available as it is, since on new datastore the file mapping for virtual RDM is availabe?

waiting for response.

thanks,

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rh5592
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Hot Shot

During RDM disk creation, you will be required for the RDM LUN itself as well as as the RDM mapping file or pointer (by default, stored in the same folder as the VM). When an RDM is accessed by a VM, it reads the mapping file and it gets pointed to the raw LUN.

From Cormac's blog post

VM with Virtual (non Pass-Thru) RDMs (Power On – Storage vMotion):

  • On a migrate, if I chose to covert the format in the advanced view, the vRDM is converted to a VMDK on the destination VMFS datastore. --> be careful here, the vRDM can be converted to a VMDK
  • If I chose not to do any conversion, only the vRDM mapping file is moved from the source VMFS datastore to the destination VMFS datastore – the data stays on the original LUN (same behaviour as pRDM)
Regards. ================================================= "If found useful, kindly mark answers Correct or Helpful " http://rh5592.com =================================================
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