VMWare ESX server does not have persistent storage

[tahfo001]

I installed ESXi 4.0 successfuly using a desktop on an external USB hard drive (one terrabyte). This message appears under the Configuration tab and I can see that no datastores are listed nor devices in order to build my VM machines. When I installed ESXi, it recognized the external drive and installed OK but afterwards it is not recognizing it. How can I resolve this issue?

[DSTAVERT]

ESXi can install to USB. The intent is to install to USB flash disk. In this case you have a flash disk with 999GB of wasted space. Use a USB stick/thumb drive/flash disk with at least 1GB capacity. ESXi does NOT support USB for a datastore. You will need to use a supported disk controller with attached disk(s).

[tahfo001]

Thanks DSTAVERT! Is there anywhere in the documentation that says external drives are not supported for datastores? I know my internal hard drive controller is not supported. If I install a supported controller with a separate internal hard drive, would that work? That is, I can boot with a flash drive and use the "new" internal drive as data store?

[mjpagan]

It's not that external drives aren't supported for datastores, it's the drive technology used in the storage. Only SCSI and some SATA RAID controllers work for local storage.

You might be better off taking that external drive and attaching it to another PC and attaching your host via iSCSI.

Mike

[tahfo001]

I am going to reinstall ESXi on a flash drive and then attach my external drive to my other PC and attach the host via iSCSI. Thanks to all your help.

[DSTAVERT]

I'm not sure what iSCSI target software you would use. On top of that USB would be totally unsuitable (SLOW) for hosting a datastore. If you must try using ESXi on unsupported hardware you should fine a SATA controller that is on the list at http://vm-help.com.

[mjpagan]

Starwind has a free version of their iSCSI target that works great on a Windows platform. It's very easy to setup. I agree with DSTAVERT it would be slow but if its for a lab environment it will be fine.

I would take a look at the whitebox (non HCL) hardware list if you are looking for more performance. That's where I got the idea to use an adaptec SATA RAID card in my home whitebox.

Mike