<ASK> formatting volume for datastore without format existing disk layout

[Adremalin]

Hello, i want to ask

recently i have problem like this :

i have storage with 6 volumes let says A,B,C,D,E,F

volumes A,B,C connected to host ESXI-1 and i have formated for datastore with vmfs format

volumes D,E,F connected to physical Server let says LINUX-1 and LINUX-2

i want to convert LINUX-1 to Virtual machine

i have connected A,B,C,D,E,F FibreChanel to ESXI-1 and ESXI-1 detected A,B,C,D,E,F Volumes

but when i want to attach D,E,F for datastore i have notice like this

There is one layout configuration available All available partition will be used

so i  assume if i click next it will formated D,E,F volumes, but LINUX-2 uses that volumes too

so how can i attach volumes D,E,F for datastore without format existing data? anyone can help me?

sorry for my bad english

[SupreetK]

If D,E,F are non-VMFS partitioned volumes, you will not be able to mount them as datastores on the ESXi host. If they are currently being accessed by Linux servers, I don't think they are VMFS partitioned.

Please consider marking this answer as "correct" or "helpful" if you think your questions have been answered.

Cheers,

Supreet

[a_p_]

With your configuration, where access to the LUNs is required from physical as well as virtual Linux systems, you may want to attach the LUNs as Raw Device Mappings (RDM) to the virtual Linux system, since you want to keep the existing data. Please take a look at the documentation for RDM to ensure that (simultaneous?) access from your systems to the LUNs will work as required.

Although you are running Linux, it may be worth reading VMware's documentation about Microsoft Clustering, as this describes similar setups with physical, and virtual systems accessing the same LUNs.

André