ESXi install query (USB + x2 internal HDs)

[Packs]

My idea is to run from a USB drive and have two internal drives. One for VMs and one for shared data (both backed up nightly).

Can another "normal" (say windows) server see the shared data drive? Sorry if this is an obvious question but couldn't find any information on this.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Jackobli]

My idea is to run from a USB drive and have two internal drives. One for VMs and one for shared data (both backed up nightly).

Can another "normal" (say windows) server see the shared data drive?

To share a drive, you need a server. ESXi itself runs mainly guests and does not (really) share disks or filesystems.

So, you need one guest acting as server, using the diskspace of this "second" drive to share (via CIFS/SMB, NFS, whatever) it to your users and other machines.

[Packs]

That's great - thanks for the clarifying that.

I know installing ESXi will use any drives it finds - would that mean unplugging the second drive during install to hide it temporarily? (or will ESXi just use the primary drive?)

[Jackobli]

I know installing ESXi will use any drives it finds - would that mean unplugging the second drive during install to hide it temporarily? (or will ESXi just use the primary drive?)

Following the install manual (http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3i_i/r35u2/vi3_35_25_u2_3i_i_setup.pdf) on page 19, only the free partitions on the installation disk will be automatically used as VMFS-Store upon first boot. If that second disk is containing data, I would go and plug it off, just to be really sure.