ESXi 4.1 HBA question

[BobD01]

Hi,

I want to rebuild my SAN-attached ESXi 4.1 host.  In order to hide the SAN storage from the host during the rebuild I was going to disable the HBA cards in the server's BIOS.  Is this method OK?  I'm worried that ESXi will not load the HBA drivers (as it will not detect them when installing).  I know I could have the storage un-presented by the storage team but it's quicker to just disable the HBA's if possible.

Thanks

[a_p_]

Actually there's no need to disable the storage access anymore. However, nothing wrong doing it anyway.

The easiest and fastest way would be to disable the ports on the FC switch.

André

[BobD01]

Thanks.  A while back I was working with a VMware consultant and we installed ESXi 4.0 onto a USB stick (OK, I'm now working with 4.1 but still...).  Even though the USB stick was clearly chosen from the install menu it still installed it on a LUN! (not production thankfully!)  Ever since then I have always  taken the storage away before a build.  I agree I can get the SAN switch port disabled but was interested to know what would happen if I disabled the HBA cards in the server BIOS.  Will it load the HBA drivers once I re-enable them in the BIOS?

[a_p_]

Will it load the HBA drivers once I re-enable them in the BIOS?

Yes it will. It's the same as adding additional components later.

André

[AndreTheGiant]

Another simple way (if you have physical access) is unplug the FC connector.

About ESXi con flash memory see also:

{document:id=11349}

Andre