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kevin7
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Data volumes not part of .vmdk files?

We are quickly diving into ESX, and I had a question regarding non-system volumes of guest machines. I know that by using Microsoft's iSCSI Initiator, I can attach a volume completely independent of the vmdk file for the VM. Can the same thing be done for any guest machine using Fiber, or local disk? We are looking at several P2V conversions, and so far it seems our only option for local storage is to bring all the data over into the vmdk file during the conversion. I'd like to keep the VMDK files to the actual guest system if possible.

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esiebert7625
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VM's do not have virtual FC cards and cannot connect direct to SAN storage. You can use RDM's which is a direct connect from a VM to a SAN LUN though. So you can create a VM with a C drive on local storage and then attach a RDM to the VM to use as an additional drive. You can also create additional drives on NFS or Local storage.

ESX Server Raw Device Mapping - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx25_rawdevicemapping.pdf

VMDK vs. RDM - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=662212

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kevin7
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Some clarification...I'd like to be able to simply copy the data on a non-system volume over to local storage and mount that to a guest machine - without having to bring all the data into the guest vmdk.

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esiebert7625
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VM's do not have virtual FC cards and cannot connect direct to SAN storage. You can use RDM's which is a direct connect from a VM to a SAN LUN though. So you can create a VM with a C drive on local storage and then attach a RDM to the VM to use as an additional drive. You can also create additional drives on NFS or Local storage.

ESX Server Raw Device Mapping - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx25_rawdevicemapping.pdf

VMDK vs. RDM - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=662212

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sbeaver
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Then you are looking to use RDM (Raw Device Mappings) for your data

Steve Beaver
VMware Communities User Moderator
VMware vExpert 2009 - 2020
VMware NSX vExpert - 2019 - 2020
====
Co-Author of "VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center"
(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach
Come check out my blog: [www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog|http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/]
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**The Cloud is a journey, not a project.**
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