Two quick questions...
1) Does ESXi allow direct disc access?
...and related to the above:)
2) Let's say I want to use Windows Home Server as guest operating system inside ESXi. It formats the drives using standard NTFS which can be read by any Windows machine. (eg. you can remove the hard drive from the server and stick it into any other computer and you can read it). How would this work in ESXi? Would ESXi first require the entire drive formatted at VMFS and then have NTFS underneath it? (thus you couldnt' access the drive except in other ESXi machines)
Thanks for any help!
However, if I create a virtual disc (using VMFS) than even if that virtual disc is formatted NTFS by the guest operating system it still can't be read in another computer because it's inside a VMFS "container".
Yes I would say that is fairly accurate, there are some exceptions of course.. but overall yes.
Yes it does - you will have to utilize an RDM Raw Device Mapping - this is a special VMDK that acts as proxy/pointer that will redirect the ESXi reads/writes to a raw disk that has the NTFS file system for Windows -
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Well first there is a feature on some machines that you can pass through hardware in the BIOS. But I don't think that is still direct disk access I think that is some layer that you deal more with the hardware at SOME level and not go through layers of the hypervisor. Then you can create Raw Device Maps, which gives you Direct Disk Access, but managed by ESX.
Format is a function of the guess OS, not the host. VMFS is a file system on the host no the guest OS. So they are mutally exclusive. Windows can 'see' whatever disk you assign if it's a virtual disk or a RDM. Windows will have exclusive access to that portion of space you gave it, nothing else can touch it unless you explicit share it (or use Windows clustering).
So if you can use the pass through or RDM that can let you get access to the underlying hardware to configure / communicate directly to the disk, giving you physical access, but there will still be some layer of control by ESX, becuase that VM is managed by ESX.
I doubt you will every get 'true' direct access, just bypass some virtual layers. RDM is probalby what you are looking for, bottom line.
You set aside a LUN or some VMDK, give it exclusive access to Windows (or whatever guest OS you want) and that VM will have control over the space to format it as what is compatible. VMFS isn't really an issue, with 'direct access' or similar type functionality you wouldn't need to worry about the format.
Thanks for the help!
It sounds like if I use RDM then ESXi will manage the physical disc but I can easily remove the disc and stick it into another computer.
However, if I create a virtual disc (using VMFS) than even if that virtual disc is formatted NTFS by the guest operating system it still can't be read in another computer because it's inside a VMFS "container".
Does that sound right?
However, if I create a virtual disc (using VMFS) than even if that virtual disc is formatted NTFS by the guest operating system it still can't be read in another computer because it's inside a VMFS "container".
Yes I would say that is fairly accurate, there are some exceptions of course.. but overall yes.
Thanks!
I don't suppose this is the place to ask, but what is better for a beginner just looking to fool around with virtualization? ESXi or Hyper-V? Assuming both are supported...
Hyper-V has much broader hardware support due to the fact that the parent partition is essentially Windows Server 2008 and uses the same drivers. Having said that, if you're looking to get into virtualization in the IT field, I'd suggest working with ESXi.
Thanks for the response...
My server hardware is supported by both ESXi and Hyper-V (I checked before ordering it).
I'm actually a software developer and I don't plan on switching to infrastructure (or server setup/maintanence) anytime soon, so really this is just for a home server that I can experiment and play with.
With that said, I'm still a geek and an enthusiast so I do enjoy playing with different technology.