Hi,
I am trying to run a FreeBSD VM on a VMWare ESX4 Server. I am able to create a vmdk file on the LocalDataStore on the ESX Host. I want to run this vmdk file in the ramdisk of ESX Host. So, I created a ramdisk (type : ext2) and mounted it on local DataStore.
I am able to add the vmdk from my vSphere Client, by navigating through the LocalDatastore. However, when I start the FreeBSD VM, I get the following error:
File <Unspecified Name> Not found.
When I look into the logs, I see the following error:
Nov 17 14:18:03.323: vmx| DISK: OPEN '/vmfs/volumes/1ea2bf51-410ae00f/shehbaz-FreeBSD-Guest-1/shehbaz-FreeBSD-Gues
t-1.vmdk' Geo (1044/255/63) BIOS Geo (0/0/0)
Nov 17 14:18:03.335: vmx| Unable to find file /vmfs/volumes/4d2ebaf1-571db8f7-3493-00145e55c628/ramcache/shehbaz-F
reeBSD-Guest-1_1.vmdk
Nov 17 14:18:03.337: vmx| Unable to find file /vmfs/volumes/4d2ebaf1-571db8f7-3493-00145e55c628/ramcache/shehbaz-F
reeBSD-Guest-1_1.vmdk
Nov 17 14:18:03.337: vmx| DISK: OPEN scsi0:1 '/vmfs/volumes/4d2ebaf1-571db8f7-3493-00145e55c628/ramcache/shehbaz-F
reeBSD-Guest-1_1.vmdk' persistent R[]
Nov 17 14:18:03.338: vmx| Unable to find file /vmfs/volumes/4d2ebaf1-571db8f7-3493-00145e55c628/ramcache/shehbaz-F
reeBSD-Guest-1_1.vmdk
Nov 17 14:18:03.340: vmx| DISKLIB-DSCPTR: DescriptorDetermineType: failed to open '/vmfs/volumes/4d2ebaf1-571db8f7
-3493-00145e55c628/ramcache/shehbaz-FreeBSD-Guest-1_1.vmdk': Could not find the file (63)
Is this a filesystem Issue? i.e., the ramdisk is basically an ext2 type filesystem. So, is it that VMWare ESX is not able to read the vmdk file from the ramdisk, which is ext2 filesystem?
I tried creating a vmfs3 filesystem on /dev/ram1 but vmkfstools does not work on /dev/ram1. It only works on hard-disk devices or lvm's. Could you please tell me what I am doing wrong here?
Is there any other way of accessing the ESX Host ramdisk from the Guest VM?
Thanks,
SJ
