Partition Question

[John_Johnston]

I am installing a single ESX 3.5 server into a remote office. The ESX server will be connected to an AX4 SAN, with approximately 3.5 TB usable space. The ESX server will support a single Windows 2003 server with three partitions, as follows:

C: - 25 GB

😧 - 800 GB

E: - 250 GB

What is the best practice regarding the guest partition configuration in a situation as described above? Is it better to use 1 large virtual disk, or three smaller ones, or does it make any difference?

Thank you.

[RParker]

What is the best practice regarding the guest partition configuration in a situation as described above? Is it better to use 1 large virtual disk, or three smaller ones, or does it make any difference?

1 large virtual disk

Not really any difference since your VM will have only 1 SCSI controller virtualized on one HBA on the ESX host, so performance wise and sanity it's better to just have 1 disk partitioned... but I question why you are partitioning in the first place. I am never a fan of partitioning...

[whynotq]

my personal preference is not to have a VMFS above 500 G, i'd consider using RDM for the D & E drives but it will also be dictated by your backup method as to what gives most resilience and recovery.