ESX 5.x USB Questions

[gingerdazza]

Hi

I am currently new to a company and we have an ESX 5.x estate. I believe we boot most of our ESX hosts from USB, which I've not done elsewhere before and I have a few questions:

1. Where in vSphere Client can I see whether a host has booted from USB?

2. Can the USB be used for any hardware if I transport it, or is it bound to that make/model?

3. I assume you can't use VUM for host updates if you boot from USB?

4. Can I create the USBs on my PC before shipping them off to the server? (Complete with IP info, etc)?

Thanks

[zXi_Gamer]

1. Where in vSphere Client can I see whether a host has booted from USB?

In shell, type esxcfg-info -e, you will get something like

~ # esxcfg-info -e

boot type: visor-thin

~ #

If it is USB booted, you will get visor-usb

2. Can the USB be used for any hardware if I transport it, or is it bound to that make/model?

Practically, yes. But if the image on the USB carries any specific drivers and if it does not contain custom drivers for OEMs, then you might be unable to use the USB to different servers.

3. I assume you can't use VUM for host updates if you boot from USB?

Nope. VUM, does not see, if ESX is booted from usb or installed on disk, From USB mode, the image is loaded in memory and every 30 mins or so, the image is updated of the changes. So it does not matter if you are booted from USB or Local Disk

4. Can I create the USBs on my PC before shipping them off to the server? (Complete with IP info, etc)?

Yes, you can. But setting the IP might not be possible, since the IP gets allocated based on the MAC address.

[gingerdazza]

Thanks

one last question.....

If I pull the USB out of the server whilst it's in service, what happens?

[SatyS]

Nothing will happen.But for a safety it is always suggested to unmount properly.

Just like "Safe Remove" in Windows.

-SatyS

[zXi_Gamer]

If I pull the USB out of the server whilst it's in service, what happens?

As I mentioned earlier, in ESXi, the entire image gets loaded to memory during boot and it is in memory the entire operations are performed. Once in 30mins or so, a script called autoback.sh [you can find it in /sbin] runs which syncs up any changes to the disk [if any changes has been made]. You can pull out the USB of a running server and it will perform as good, only to hung up later..

[gingerdazza]

It's obviously a huge pain to shell onto each node just to find out whether it is USB-booting. Is there no other way?