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haverer
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Cannot add Raw Device Mapping as Hard Disk

Hi,

We have 2x Server 2008 Virtual Machines (both of which are clustered) making up a 2 node Cluster. The ESX Servers which are hosting these VMs (different ESX Server on each) are attached to a SAN. When I setup these two VMs, I could add a Hard Disk 'Raw Device Mapping' without issue - it could see the Datastores I had setup on the SAN. However when I try to add a Hard Disk 'Raw Device Mapping' on the 2 new VMs, the only options I have are:

- Create a new virtual disk

- Use an existing virtual disk

Any ideas why the Raw Device Mappings option is greyed out?

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a_p_
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You will add the RDM disk to the second node by selecting "Use an existing virtual disk". The option to add RAW devices is only available for RAW LUN's which have not already been mapped to a VM.

When you added the RDM to the first node, a vmdk mapping file for the RDM was created. This is the one to point to from the second node.

see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004617 for details.

André

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haverer
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Sorry, should have explained - I have created 2 new Servers and want these to make up a 4 node cluster. I need them to access all the disks on the SAN just like the 2 current servers.

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athlon_crazy
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Choose existing virtual disk and browse & locate the existing vmdk from existing node1 or node2 folder.

p/s : The shared disk must be presented to hosted ESX hosts

http://www.no-x.org
a_p_
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You will add the RDM disk to the second node by selecting "Use an existing virtual disk". The option to add RAW devices is only available for RAW LUN's which have not already been mapped to a VM.

When you added the RDM to the first node, a vmdk mapping file for the RDM was created. This is the one to point to from the second node.

see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004617 for details.

André

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haverer
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Spot on, this worked a treat - thanks!

I was a bit worried that when adding it with the other Servers powered on this may have had an impact but I went for it and it didn't affect anything!

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haverer
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Hmm... Now, when I tried to change the SCSI Controller Bus-Sharing option to 'Physical' on the newly created SCSI Controller 1 (created when I added the hard disk) I am getting this error:

Device 'SCSI Controller 1' is a SCSI Controller engaged in bus-sharing.

Any ideas?

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a_p_
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You should be able to change the controller configuration with the VMs powered off.

André