Upload my virtual machine from my external hard drive (vSphere)

[BOB183]

Hi,

I have an ESXi server (v6.0), and I have a virtual machine (.vmx file) on my external hard drive (NTFS).

I want to know how I can upload my vmx file on the ESXi server ?

How can I directly attach an USB Device to ESXi host server, and import my vmx file from my hard drive instead of going over a network LAN.

Thanks.

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

I've never tried this myself, but maybe https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2017/01/copying-files-from-a-usb-fat32-or-ntfs-device-to-esxi.html will help.

I assume that the VM on your USB disk has a proper .vmdk format, that's supported by ESXi. Otherwise you will need to convert it.

André

[BOB183]

Thank you,

I've alrady tried the steps presented on the link that you gave.

However, I'm getting the following message:

"

Failed to determine whether mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0:1 is mounted: No such file or directory.

Forced to continue.

Cannot find attribute type 0x80.

"

Any idea ?

[a_p_]

So you did stop the USB arbitrator service prior to attaching the USB disk?

What's the following commands' output?

esxcli storage core device list | grep -i usb

esxcli storage filesystem list

The only that comes into mind regarding "0x80" is the partition's boot flag, but this shouldn't cause an issue.

André

[BOB183]

Yes, I stopped USB arbitrator.

Here the result  of esxcli storage core device list | grep -i usb:

Is USB: false

Is Boot USB Device: false

Display Name: Local USB Direct-Access (mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0)

Is USB: true  

Is Boot USB Device: false

Is USB: false

Is Boot USB Device: false

And the command:  esxcli storage filesystem list   has listed only the VMFS volumes.

However, I can see a new detected disk if I go to the /dev/disks  ("mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0"  & "mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0:1"). But still can't mounted as NTFS.

On the vSphere web client, I can  see the USB peripheric. But the only way to us it is to create into it a VMFS partition, which make me loose all data contained in my disk.

Thank you.

[a_p_]

Did you try to run the ntfscat command to see whether files on the "mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0:1" partition can be accessed?

André

[BOB183]

Yes, and it gave me the error:

(When I try with mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0:1)

Failed to determine whether mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0:1 is mounted: No such file or directory.
Forced to continue.
Cannot find attribute type 0x80.

(and, when I try with mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0)

Failed to determine whether mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0 is mounted: No such file or directory.
Forced to continue.
Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument.
Failed to mount 'mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0': Invalid argument.
The device 'mpx.vmhba44:C0:T0:L0' doesn't have a valid NTFS.
Maybe you selected the wrong device? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/hda, not /dev/hda1)? Or the other way around?
ERROR: couldn't mount volume: Invalid argument.

[IRIX201110141]

I use "scp" for that kind of task. So enable SSH Server on esx and youre ready to go.

The use of the datastore browser is also an option. Not sure how stable it is.

If its a large VM think about to copy it to  a NFS server which than can be mount directly on the ESXi.

Regards,

Joerg

[BOB183]

So, is it definelty impossible to mount an NTFS disk ?

[daphnissov]

Yes. ESXi cannot read NTFS filesystems.

[BOB183]

Ok.

Is there a solution to copy my virtual machine from my Laptop to the ESXi server ? (without relying on LAN network).

Thanks.

[daphnissov]

Not that I'm aware of with any reliability.

[SupreetK]

Maybe, a direct connection between the laptop and ESXi using a crossover cable? Have not tried it anytime, so this is just a shot in the dark.

Cheers,

Supreet

[BOB183]

Oh ! It's very frustrating at the end, when simple things are not faisable. :smileygrin: :smileyconfused::smileyshocked:

[BOB183]

I will try to format another disk to VMFS in order to be able to read it on ESXi.

Is VMFS readable under Windows ?

Thanks for your help !

[daphnissov]

No, Windows cannot read VMFS.

[BOB183]

And Linux ?

[continuum · Accepted solution]

Linux can read VMFS 5. Write support of VMFS 5 is highly experimental.
Reading VMFS 6 is coming but flagged as experimental at the moment.
By the way using VMFS on USB-disks is also experimental.
I understand that you think this should be easy !
But it is not. I tried it a couple of times and it only worked in one test scenario - everytime when I really needed it it was not working .,..
You will safe time and trouble if you forget the plan to use a USB-disk.
Use WinSCP or create a tar-archive from your VM - upload it to a fileserver and then use ESXi wget to download it.
WinSCP is the preferred way ...

[BOB183]

Thanks a lot continuum​

I will take your advices, and forget the USB plan.