Adding a new hard disk to Esxi via USB

[Foximaxi]

Dear All!

We have an ESXi Server, which works fine. We would like to use another ESXi Server, but before that I would like to do some tests in our existing ESXi. Since there is not enough space on it, I want to create a new datastore, for which I need to connect a new disk. But since this server works in 0/24, I can only connect the new disk via USB. This happened, but the disk isn't visible neither on the ESXi website nor with the esxcli command like "esxcli storage core device list". I also tried to connect with another disk, but the result is the same.

Perhaps it is not possible to connect a disk to ESXi via USB?

Thanks for the helps in advance.

[a_p_]

USB devices are not supported as VMFS datastores.
What may be an option is to present some disk space from a NAS device!?

André

[Foximaxi]

Thank you!

Probably there is another way. I converted a PC via vCenter Converter and two files (vmdk,vmx) were created which there were copied into the datastore. As I know, before I use it, I have to convert this vmdk, but the ssh terminal said:

[apple@appleESXI:/vmfs/volumes/6082949d-7b2e8688-364d-2cea7fd78b34/alma] vmkfstools -i alma.vmdk alma_converted.vmdk
Destination disk format: VMFS zeroedthick
Cloning disk 'alma.vmdk'...
Failed to clone disk: There is not enough space on the file system for the selected operation (13).

This vmdk file size is 5 GB. There are 157 GB free space left now in the datastore, as you see in the attached jpg, so I don't understand why there is not enough space to make convert. How can I resolve this problem?

Thisi is the reason why I wanted to attach a new 1 TB HDD via USB.

[a_p_]

Converting the uploaded .vmdk file to a "VMFS zeroedthick" format requires disk space for the provisioned virtual disk size.
What may be an option here, is to convert the virtual disk to the "Thin Provisioned" format by using the "-d thin" command line option.

André

[lamw · Accepted solution]

Not supported as mentioned, but it is possible. If its for short duration, especially for exporting VMs, I know customers leverage this quick option. 

In addition, while most USB devices aren't designed for extensive wear/tear ... you can certainly find USB enclosures to house reliable NVMe, so that would at least be better than using USB key you find in your drawer 🙂

See https://williamlam.com/2022/02/creating-a-vmfs-datastore-greater-than-2tb-on-a-usb-device-in-esxi.ht... and https://williamlam.com/2018/10/useful-m-2-nvme-accessories-for-vsphere-vsan-vmfs-home-labs.html for additional details

[Foximaxi]

Thank you for your advice, I successfully created a new usb datastore! 🙏