ESXi with two datastores

[bxtux007]

Hello,

i set up an ESXi server with 2 datastores (2 logical disks). on the logic drive1 esxi is installed and datastore1 is located. in this datastore1 all testing evnironments are saved. on the second locial drive2 datastore2 is saved. there are all produvtive systems stored.

when i added the second datastore to esxi it said all existing data on the logical disk will be removed. ok no problem at this time.

now logic disk1 (datastore1) ranout of space (50gb hdd) . so i decide to replace it with a new hdd with much more capacity. During the setup process of esxi on the new hdd i will lose all data on logical disk1 and datastore1. but again no problem - only test environments (2 vms) there.

but if i add my second disk to esxi - will i lose all data on it too ? or ist there a workaround to just add it to esxi without loosing all my data ?

thanks for help.

Best regards

bxtux007

[kooltechies]

Hi,

You already are having the VMFS volume on the disk drive 2 right ? If this is the case and you are not rebuilding the ESXi server it should be fine.

Thanks,

Samir

P.S : If you think that the answer is helpful please consider rewarding points.

[bxtux007]

hi kooltechies,

thanks for your quick reply. you are right i have vmfs volumes on disk drive 2. these 6 vms are produtive vms in my company and very hard to reinstall. so i don't want to lose them.

unfortunately i have to rebuild my esxi server because i had to but in a new larger hdd (as disk drive 1) in my server. so i have to reinstall/rebuild my esxi from scratch.

so what happend when i klick'storage' -> 'add storage' -> 'Disk/LUN' ? can't a skip formating the disk drive 2 an use my vmfs volumes on it ?

best regards

bwtux007

[kooltechies]

Hi,

As soon as you clickon add storage it's going to re format the disk drive 2. Can you give me the disk layout details using fdisk on your esxi box.

Thanks,

Samir

P.S : If you think that the answer is helpful please consider rewarding points.

[bxtux007]

hi,

thanks. yes but give me a moment. i don't have ssh access enabled on my esxi box. i will go to our server room later in the afternoon an enable ssh access.

or is this possible from vi-client ?

best regards

bwtux007

[Dave_Mishchenko · Accepted solution]

You'll have to do that at the console - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_enable_SSH.php.

[bxtux007]

hi,

ok here is my disk layout

~ # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/disks/vmhba1:0:0:0: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes

64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 238475 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/disks/vmhba1:0:0:1 5 750 763904 5 Extended

/dev/disks/vmhba1:0:0:2 751 4845 4193280 6 FAT16

/dev/disks/vmhba1:0:0:3 4846 238476 239237304 fb VMFS

/dev/disks/vmhba1:0:0:4 * 1 4 4080 4 FAT16 <32M

/dev/disks/vmhba1:0:0:5 5 52 49136 6 FAT16

/dev/disks/vmhba1:0:0:6 53 100 49136 6 FAT16

/dev/disks/vmhba1:0:0:7 101 210 112624 fc VMKcore

/dev/disks/vmhba1:0:0:8 211 750 552944 6 FAT16

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/disks/vmhba0:0:0:0: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/disks/vmhba0:0:0:1 1 9729 78148128+ fb VMFS

~ #

hops this helps

bwtux007