script or file to view vmfs partition as network drive?

[Neonewbie]

HI VM gurus,

I am learning so much from the forum and testing its a great.

new question.

I seems logical that if the VMFS file system is  on the server and the server can be accessed via an ip address.

that we should be able to see this directory and set it as a network drive viewable on my Mac.

Or Windows based Pc on the same network ( Physical Machines ).

As any one come across this and set it up.?

[schepp]

Hi,

you can connect to the ESXi with ssh, so on Windows for example you can use "winscp" to copy data from or to the vmfs.

Mac is able to do ssh by itself of course.

If you thought of "mounting" the vmfs on your client pc like a windows network drive or a nfs-share on mac, the answer is probably no.

Regards

[Walfordr]

Neonewbie wrote:

HI VM gurus,

I am learning so much from the forum and testing its a great.

new question.

I seems logical that if the VMFS file system is  on the server and the server can be accessed via an ip address.

that we should be able to see this directory and set it as a network drive viewable on my Mac.

Or Windows based Pc on the same network ( Physical Machines ).

As any one come across this and set it up.?

The VMFS datastore is not using any type of network file sharing protocol.  You have to access the host machine via SSH protocol in order to browse the directories.  Why would you want to setup the VMFS file system as a network drive?  Sounds kind of dangerous to me.

I am not sure if winscp exist for the Mac, but you can connect to your host via winscp (or any program that supports SSH/SCP protocol) on Windows to transfer files back and forth.  The datastores are located in /vmfs/volumes/.  They are in there with the friendly and unique name.

Cheers,

Robert

[AndreTheGiant]

VMFS cannot be shared in a simple way...

You can use scp/FastSCP or datastore browser... but is not the same as share it as a usual network share.

And remember that files of VM powered on are locket and cannot be read.

Andre