Local Storage Question

[heybuzzzz]

Is there a way for me to determine how the local storage on one of my ESXi5 hosts was configured / allocated? I have one HP DL host that has 8 local 146 gig drives and I have a need to re-create the identical config.

I did not setup the host so I'm not sure how the space was split up. I'm pretty sure it was setup RAID 5 with one spare drive, but that's about it.

The host is online and I can not reboot / take it offline to review with HP SMart Start.

Ideas?

Thanks

[vmroyale]

Do you have iLO access or the HP agents installed? Either of those should be helpful.

[heybuzzzz]

Yes, but all ilo shows is dives installed in X bay and size. I need to know how the size was broken up by the person who built the host. Basicall 1 partiotion, maybe 2...

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Do you only have the local disks? In this case provide the output of

ls -lah /dev/disks/

to see how this looks like.

André

[heybuzzzz]

Yes, It's local staorage so with out taking the host/VM's offline to look at the array configuration I'm not sure hosw the 8x146 gigs of space was allocated while installing ESXi5. Thanks

[heybuzzzz]

I guess if I can figure out what the ESXi volume is I can figure out the rest. Are there any features with vCenter that will show me the space allocated for the esxi partition?

[a_p_]

Run the command I posted earlier and I might be able to answer your question from the output of the command. You can run this command from the host's command line without the need to take the host offline or in maintenance mode.

André

[heybuzzzz]

I ran the command and have the output to review, but it does not break it down exactly like I thought. Is there a best practice for the ESXi partition? I thought it was 10 gigs or so.

[vmroyale]

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1026500 contains the recommended sizes.

[heybuzzzz]

Thanks...

So after I create the RAID 5 array with a spare using the 8 x 146 gig drives will the exi5 install break it out or do I need to create the partition for the ESXi and then the other for the .vmdks's?

[RParker]

heybuzzzz wrote:

Thanks...

So after I create the RAID 5 array with a spare using the 8 x 146 gig drives will the exi5 install break it out or do I need to create the partition for the ESXi and then the other for the .vmdks's?

There seems to be disconnect on how ESX works.  ESX is only a virtual machine host, it's not really an OS.  It boots, it starts VM's, it doesn't actually do anything else.

There is no reason to have a separate partition for ESX, group ALL the disks together, create ONE huge datastore, let ESX install on the same datastore as VM's.

I wouldn't even keep a spare.. RAID 5 can handle a failed drive, that's why RAID was invented.. spare is a waste, you are losing IOPS in CASE something happens, that's why the make alerts.. If you are concerned about failure, use RAID 6, but still include ALL disks, no spares as ONE datastore.  That's how I have done ALL my installs, ZERO issues.

[heybuzzzz]

Hi,

I understand what ESXi does, but since I'm not using a USB or embedded install I thought it needed to reside on it's on 10 gig partition (I would create) seperate from where the .vmdks would reside.

Are you saying I should just create one big RAID 6 or RAID 5 partition and let the ESXi install break it up the way it wants?

Thanks

[heybuzzzz]

Basically when you're starting the ESXi3 install for local staorage it says "Select a Disk to install or Upgrade"... Should this be the entire 800 gigs OR should I break this down into two partitions first. I thought best practice was a 10 gig drive to install ESXi5 on then the .vmdks would reside on the large partition.

[vmroyale]

Should this be the entire 800 gigs OR should I break this down into two partitions first.

I say just let the installer have the entire 800GB and create everything for you. Much easier to set up and deal with, but going back to your original question of having it match up with your existing system - you may want to verify this after the install completes.

[a_p_]

There seems to be some confusion regarding the partitions and RAID volumes. With ESXi versions prior to ESXi 5, an installation/reinstallation always formatted the whole installation disk/volume, disregarding whether or not this contained a VMFS partition (datastore). So it was a good idea to split the RAID into several logical volumes (e.g. 10GB for the ESXi installation) to be able to reinstall if required, With ESXi 5 things changed and the installation offers the option to preserve an existing datastore, so there's no more need to split the RAID.

Another reason to split the RAID into multiple logical volumes was the fact that previous versions of ESXi only supported LUNs with up to ~2TB, ESXi 5 supports ~64TB (except for some HP Smartarray RAID controllers).

André

Message was edited by: a.p.

[TomHowarth]

With ESXi the days for partition management have gone, as RParker rightly says there is no access to other partitions and what is left of the "Management Console" is now a true virtual machine hosted on the local storage.

now that you have the disk geomotry of the old host, just smartstart it create your RAID 5 + one spare and install ESXi from the smartstart.  it really is that simple to install.

the fun comes in configuring it

[heybuzzzz]

Worked like a charm.. Thanks for the suggestions.