Shared Hard Disk on multiple Vm's - is it possible ????

[nikitamakarov]

Hi, folks

I'm newbie in ESX. Here is the problem - I've got two VM and I wanna transfer files between them without any network connections.

That means that no usage of some TCP/IP connections allowed during file transfer (this is essential requirement).

Is there some oppporunity to create shared hard disk within ESX and connect it to a number of VM's as Hard Disk (for example D:\ )????

All my VM's contains Windows as guest OS, so second question is how will Windows react on concurrent file allocation table changes ????

[mlubinski]

online sharing vmdk is possible only with services like MSCS (clustering). But if you add one vmdk to each VM, then they will see changes made by other VMs after reboot.

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[TobiasKracht]

You can create an iSCSI target in one VM and in connect to it from another using iSCSI initiator.

StarWind Software R&D

[AntonVZhbankov]

Actually you can share vmdk between multiple VMs, but you need cluster file system on this vmdk like ocfs2, gfs or MelioFS for Windows. Standard NTFS partitions should not be shared due to NTFS architecture.

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MCSA, MCTS, VCP, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[nikitamakarov]

So what will be if two Vm will try read or write files on this hard disk concurrently???

How would iSCSI react on concurrent FAT changes????

[nikitamakarov]

Thanks a lot, i think this is something i really need.

Is there any user guides about creation such vmdk with MelioFS ?

[NedeianuV]

Hi,

I thought you said that no network connections are available.

The requirements for MelioFS are:

"The only requirements for installation are Windows 2003, 2008, or 2008 R2 servers, iSCSI or Fibre Channel storage, and a TCP/IP network between the servers for lock traffic."

NedeianuV

MCP,VCP

[nikitamakarov]

Yes, I did.

So as i understood there is no ability to use MelioFS without TCP/IP traffic, am i right ?

[TobiasKracht]

Either you can use MetaSAN or DataPlow, which are arbitres over NTFS. Arbitres allow you to make from NTFS clustered FS.

StarWind Software R&D