Multiple ESXi hosts and need to share VMs

[VMRane]

I'm fairly new to ESXi (though lots of vSphere using iSCSI storage) and we are deploying a number of remote site servers (with a proxy and utility VM to handle file/print/dhcp) using ESXi. I've got my VMs built on the first box and need to copy them off to the next but I am having problems with the ADD Storage command.. I can't seem to get the right information there and I'm beginning to believe I'm missing something basic. So...

1) Can you map to the VMFS of another esxi host?

2) If you can, where do you find the location information needed on the second machine to configure the datastore onthe first machine?

If it matters, we are using Dell PE 1950s.

Also, as long as I am here...

How big of a pain is it to change either the IP address or the name of the ESXi host box?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[thakala]

You need shared storage system (FC, iSCSI or NFS) for your ESXi hosts to be able map VMFS volumes accross multiple hosts, sounds like you are trying to access local VMFS volume remotely, which is not possible.

[VMRane]

So the correct way to do this is to map to shared storage or to use WINSCP to FTP th eVMs off and back on? Is there a way to get it to see a USB drive and get them off that way instead?

and thanks, again, for help.

[p0wertje]

The hostname can be changed in the configuration tab and then select DNS and routing.

To change to ip address you can probably best do it on console.

You can try doing in via configuration tab,networkling, but if something goes wrong, you cannot reach the esxi host anymore.

[louis-m]

i'm sure there is free software out there that can utilise the spare storage on each esxi host and turn them into a sort of san.

however, you are missing out on certain features using das.

as for the ip change, just put power of your vms and change the ip address at the console.

[thakala · Accepted solution]

VMFS is not supported on USB drives.

You could use FastSCP for example, http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esxi-fastscp.html

And yes, there is several appliances which could share locally attached storage over network but I do not see them as an solution when you wish just to copy existing VMs to another ESXi host.