Delete and Reformat Datastore with Scratch Partition on?

[sssstew]

Hi All

We have a VMFS Datastore which hosts our scratch partitions for our ESXi hosts which boot from USB key.  Is it ok to delete and reformat this datastore whilst the hosts are booted?  or is it going to cause issues?

Cheers

Stewart

[spravtek]

I think it's not an issue, if you later re-configure the scratch partition you should be able to delete and reformat the Datastore.

When persistent scratch space is not available, the ESXi host stores this temp data on a ramdisk, it will not persist during reboots... So it would be best to reconfigure it as soon as possible.

[sssstew]

yeah im thinking that i should be able to do it quick.  Im thinking that the scratch partition isnt used during normal ESXi operation throughout the day, so if it disappeared for a short while it shouldnt cause the host to die.

[a_p_]

I'm not sure if this is still the case, but IIRC in earlier versions you were not able to change the scratch location, if the currently configured scratch location did not exist anymore. I'd suggest you change the scratch location prior to deleting the datastore to be on the safe side.

André

[sssstew]

Well i answered my own question in the end, you cant delete the datastore as its in use, see attached.

Will have to reconfig scratch, reboot hosts and then delete and reformat.

[spravtek]

Yes, in retrospect that's actually logical isn't it... He says to himself

I was thinking about the time where a customer had installed ESXi but forgot the scratch config... The hosts ran fine of course ... Just some warnings about it.

Shame you have to reboot though.