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meteor
Contributor
Contributor

Is it possible to mount a USB disk to the ESX3 server?

Possibly I have a problem with my network, but scp between two esx's is painfully slow. Would like to know if I can use an USB HDD to move those 100GB+ vmdk files? Of so, what commands must be used for that?

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MR-T
Immortal
Immortal

You should be able to just plug it in and it will pick up as /dev/sd??

use fdsik -l to see which device number your usb drive has been allocated (eg sda)

Then

mkdir /mnt/usb

mount /dev/sd?? /mnt/usb (replace the ?? with the allocated letter)

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acr
Champion
Champion

This is one method i used a while ago, which i found in these forums..

run fdisk -l to see what there..

then plug in the USB Drive and run it again. usually, it comes up something like /dev/sdc1 or so on.

Then fdisk /dev/sdc1 (be very sure this is the USB Drive), that brings the Fdisk menu..

If their's partitions on it, Select D, enter, partiion number, and delete the Partitions (you'll be creating a new Partition).

Now make your partition by typing "n" for new partiion, and P or E for Extended or Primary..

Now type in a w once it's done, so that the partiion is written to disk.

Time for the FileSystem... The command is mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sdc1.. Then mount it (assuming you've already created a file to mount it to), the command would be mount -t ext3 /dev/sdc1/ /whereeveryouwantto mount it.

Use with care, when modifying or creating Partition Space, Strongly recommend using on test system first..

Hope it helps..

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markok
Contributor
Contributor

Lots of discussion about slow SCP can be found from the forum. Here is one example:

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=629281򙨡

Direct link to Fast SCP site: http://www.veeam.com/veeam_fast_scp.asp

I have found out that mounting USB HDD and/or USB Memory Stick can be tricky sometimes. Use commands above provided by other community people to mount your USB HDD and/or USB Memory Stick. Keep the eye on the /dev/sd?? value that is shown on console screen. If nothing shows, you can always use 'less /var/log/messages' to find out the information you need.

The tricky part that I have noticed is that sometimes you have to plug in USB device couple of times to server's USB slot to Service Console properly recognize it. I have used Maxtor OneTouchIII 250GB USB HDD and Service Console can't read it's proper size always. But if I try it couple of times I can get it working. I found the behavior in HP ProLiant DL380G5 and HP ProLiant DL580G4 server hardware.

It might be faulty USB drive, but there is no errors at all in normal Windows Server (when I used it with NFTS file system). Also FAT file system is properly recognized is ESX Server unlike said in this thread:

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=445223񬬧

Hope this helps.

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