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sjkoehler
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I must be stupid - how do I add 2nd 2TB SATA drive as additional datastore?

I feel like I must be missing something super obvious here.

I just assembled a new PC, and after finding out ESXi 5.0 didn't like the onboard NIC, I tracked down a compatible Realtek one that seems to work. The PC has (2) 2TB SATA drives. I initially was hoping to stripe them via RAID, but discovered even under the RAID config that 2 separate disks were ultimately presented to the ESXi 5.0 installer (both drives were listed for me to choose where I wanted the ESXi installation). Given that I couldn't take advantage of RAID, I removed the RAID config, and disabled it in the BIOS, so both disks were completely independent of one another. I then launched the ESXi installer again, got 2 disks to choose from, and installed to the first disk.

Now I have ESXi 5.0 up and running, and can properly manage it from another PC using vSphere and spun up a VM. The thing I can't for the life of me figure out is, it only lists one 2TB disk under datastores (I assume that's the disk I installed ESXi to, but maybe I'm wrong and it's the other one), and I can't figure out how to add in the second disk as an additional datastore. Should it just automatically be listed under the datastore section, or is there something special I need to do to the disk in order for it to show up? Out of curiosity, I put in an 8GB USB stick just to see if that showed up as a datastore, and same thing....nothing listed. This makes me think there's some formatting or initialization or whatever process to be done to a disk to use it as a datastore.

I then was hunting around trying to find an ESXi 5.0 user guide that might have a "datastores 101" section, but am unable to find a 5.0 guide.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Feel free to poke fun at me if this is ESXi 101 stuff - I don't have a ton of experience with the product...   😉

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DSTAVERT
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Just in case you have missed this. Go to the configuration tab in the vSphere Client. Choose storage and Add Storage and then Disk/LUN You should now be able to choose the second drive.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator

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V12NPro
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Here are all the documentation for vsphere 5

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-pubs.html

Are both hard drives connected to the same controller or different?

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RParker
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Well don't think you are stupid, if you can see 2 drives from the RAID controller (or basic SATA controller) in the BIOS, ESX should also see 2 drives.. It may not be on Hardware Compatible list, and I had a similar issue with a controller that supports 2 drives, but my BIOS would only see 1..

So if it's not FULLY supported (for both the BIOS AND VM Ware) you may be SOL.. Maybe the driver can only "see" port 1 but not port 2 for instance, and that's why you only "see" 1 drive.. I don't know for sure, but it could be a driver issue or compatibility issue.

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COS
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If I were you, i'd check ebay for an HP P400 SAS/SATA RAID controller.

Here's a "Buy it now" for $100.00...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/411064-B21-HP-Smart-Array-P400-512MB-BBWC-Controller-/220826948612?pt=COMP_E...

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sjkoehler
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RParker wrote:

Well don't think you are stupid, if you can see 2 drives from the RAID controller (or basic SATA controller) in the BIOS, ESX should also see 2 drives.. It may not be on Hardware Compatible list, and I had a similar issue with a controller that supports 2 drives, but my BIOS would only see 1..

So if it's not FULLY supported (for both the BIOS AND VM Ware) you may be SOL.. Maybe the driver can only "see" port 1 but not port 2 for instance, and that's why you only "see" 1 drive.. I don't know for sure, but it could be a driver issue or compatibility issue.

Thanks for the quick responses folks.

Want to clarify that BIOS sees 2 drives, and the ESXi 5.0 installer also saw 2 drives. If the installer saw 2 drives, am I crazy to think that ESXi should see it post-installation? Note that both drives are precisely the same model. I would think if there was a driver issue, I'd see neither drive...but perhaps I'm wrong.

The motherboard I have is an Asus P8Z68-V Pro, which has 3 different sets of SATA ports hanging off 2 different controllers - an Intel Z68 chipset that runs a set of 3Gb ports and another set of 6Gb ports, and a Marvell controller that runs a set of 6Gb ports. Both drives are currently plugged into the Intel 6Gb ports.

COS - Should I really need an additional RAID controller? I can live without striping the drives in a RAID 0 config (aka I'm OK with taking RAID out of the picture entirely, and that's where I'm at - no RAID is enabled at all), but I WOULD like to have both drives available for datastores so I can split the VMs I create across both disks (which I *believe* would allow for better performance). I guess I'm a little hesitant to unload 100 bucks on a card when the ESXi installer teases me by displaying/seeing both drives....again, it just doesn't show up later under the datastore when I finally get to managing things in vSphere.

Thanks in advance for any additional advice.

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COS
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If your not in a RAID set and don't really need one then for the HP P400......fogettaboutit.

How much space does your datastore say you have? Just curious. The install might have just pooled all the disks it saw into one gargantuan datastore.

That's just my SWAG (Scientific Wild Azz Guess).

Try re-installing with just one HD connected and after install re-connect the other HD?

Thanks

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golddiggie
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The drives showing up as not being in a RAID array, even though you set them up in bois, or the pre-OS level tools, means that the onboard RAID is really a software RAID controller (or they all are) and NOT hardware RAID. As such, ESX/ESXi won't see them as a single unit/drive. The previously mentioned HP [hardware RAID controller] WILL make an array that ESX/ESXi will see as a single volume.

For not being sure if you're seeing the volumes correctly, scan the different storage controllers, and try adding another volume to the server. Running the storage add wizard will show any unallocated storage units/drives/etc. that are seen at hardware level, but not presented as usable datastores. Chances are, you're seeing what's left over from the install of ESXi on the first drive. To get the second one to show you, you'll need to manually add it to the datastores set.

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DSTAVERT
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Just in case you have missed this. Go to the configuration tab in the vSphere Client. Choose storage and Add Storage and then Disk/LUN You should now be able to choose the second drive.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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mervincm1
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a couple points.

IMO,Do not buy an HP P400 raid controller for use as local storage for ESXi and large SATA disks.  Some of us are having problems with it and >2TB volumes, even under ESXi5.  There is also an issue with it in some systemboards that require an older firmware (max 5.86 in my x58 system)  Since you can't downgrade the firmware without it being in a real HP server, you can find yourself in an unusagle state fairly easy.  There is also the issue that it only supports up to 150mbps on SATA disks.

If I were you I would install your ESXi only a USB thumb drive, and leave both disks available for datastore use.  You could then create a software mirror within your VM for a non system drive, using a VMDK on each physical disk.  this would give you the ability to lose 1 drive and not lose your data.

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sjkoehler
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DSTAVERT wrote:

Just in case you have missed this. Go to the configuration tab in the vSphere Client. Choose storage and Add Storage and then Disk/LUN You should now be able to choose the second drive.

I completely overlooked this..that was it. Thanks a ton to everyone for their help!!

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jeffwd
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Hi ...This is my first post...  and I need some help with new datastore.
I already have a RAID 1 cluster in SAS, and i'm trying to add a 2TB SATA.
First I did the same way mentioned: Choose storage and Add Storage and then Disk/LUN and, the new drive appears (Local ATA Disk, vmhba2 ...etc),
but, I can't go forward ...  first error message: Call "HostDatastoreSystem.QueryVmfsDatastoreCreateOptions" for object "ha-datastoresystem" on ESXi "x.y.z.w" failed,
clicking in Back and after Next I even put the name of datastore, but in Properties, an other error appears ...

I appreciate some tips of how can I solve this problem ...
I'll try to detach the drive, to recreate the partitions and attach again...

tks a lot.

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continuum
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yep - wipe the drive with a Linux liveCD or something like that.
ESXi partitioning tool can not handle all partition layouts.
You might have a strange one ... have seen that before


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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jeffwd
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... thank you !

I just need a schedule to do this ..  Smiley Happy

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jeffwd
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Hi everybody,

So, I did 3 primary partitions (without format and without ID) to 2 TB hard disk, and the errors are the same:

Adding a datastore, first error:

Call "HostDatastoreSystem.QueryVmfsDatastoreCreateOptions" for object "ha-datastoresystem" on ESXi "x.y.z.w" failed.

and second (clicking in back then next) was generated an zip file with error report.

Someone have some tip ?

Thanks.

Jeff

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