Hi all,
I have a san disk 4 TB for the user storage data.
I would like to connect a 4 TB disk storage on one of my virtual machine. Is it possible to connect a drive on a virtual server without create a datastore (datastore is limited to 2 TB)?
Thanks.
If have iSCSI SAN you can connect LUN with software initiator from inside the guest OS. If you have FC SAN and NPIV-capable HBA, you can connect LUN directly to VM.
Otherwise you have to split 4TB to 2 LUNs 2TB minus 512B each.
---
VMware vExpert '2009
You could split the LUNs and create extents. Here are some links the might be of interest:
http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/virtual_geek/2009/03/vmfs-best-practices-and-counter-fud.html
If have iSCSI SAN you can connect LUN with software initiator from inside the guest OS. If you have FC SAN and NPIV-capable HBA, you can connect LUN directly to VM.
Otherwise you have to split 4TB to 2 LUNs 2TB minus 512B each.
---
VMware vExpert '2009
As Anton states the only method to get a LUN larger that 2TB is to utilise either the iSCSI initiator in the OS or via a NPIV HBA, otherwise split the disk into two LUNs
If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or correct buttons to award points
Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: www.planetvm.net
Contributing author for the upcoming book "[VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment|http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780136083214]”. Currently available on roughcuts