adding them migrating a datastore

[jjj0923]

I am using esxi 3.5 and will be adding a NAS device soon: http://www.backupworks.com/iomega-ix4-200r-34540.aspx

I would like to move the inernal datastore on my esxi server to this device so that I can share the data on the nas device with a second esxi server that I'm bringing up soon.

Is there a way to move the data from my internal datastore to the NAS device?

thanks in advance.

Jeff

[weinstein5]

If you have virtual center the easiest way to do this is once your storage is attached is to power down the VM and cold migrate it which will give you the option to move the vm to a different datastore -

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[jjj0923]

we do not have vcenter here. We are a low budget non-profit. any other ideas?

thanks

[Troy_Clavell]

VMware Converter. Your source and destination can be the same, just chose the NAS storage. Once converter finished power on the new VM, make sure it's working fine, then delete the old one.

[DSTAVERT]

You could also look at ghettoVCB. A great backup tool but you can also use it to clone your VMs to the new datastore. Use in reverse to backup your VMs to the local datastore.

[jjj0923]

I look at the documentation for ghettovcb and my questions is this. My esxi is not running on top of Centos (we use Centos 5.3 around here) so how do I ssh to my esxi server?

[DSTAVERT · Accepted solution]

You can enable ssh on the ESXi host from the Unsupported Console .

edit /etc/inetd.conf and uncomment the ssh line.

ps |grep inetd

kill -HUP the inetd PID

You should now have ssh access. You can schedule the script from a crontab or ???

I have been using ssh keys for access but just found a vmware http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010287 article.

[jjj0923]

is the crontab -l command not supported?

I was able to enable ssh, but when I ssh to the box I am unable to run 'crontab -l' though most other commands work

[DSTAVERT]

Sorry to be misleading / incomplete. You will need to schedule your cronjob from another platform using an ssh script. Using the ssh keys means you can schedule without a password login.

it is possible to use cron on the ESXi host but it is a pain.

The local cron uses /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root

If you add the script to launch ghettovcb to the ESXi in /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root it is lost on reboot. I have used rc.local to re add to cron but in the end it is far easier to schedule it from another host. There is no mail on ESXi either so you don't get notification.

[DSTAVERT]

The ESXi "console" is just a tiny busybox process that runs in the ESXi space. I wouldn't spend my life there like you can on a normal linux machine.

[jjj0923]

I hate to resurrect this thread but still have remaining questions.

thanks for the answers.

my questions are a s follows:

1. can two different esxi 3.5 boxes share one datastore (iscsi device). I assume each will need to boot from it's own drives, but the it comes to the storage areas each machines guests, I assume they can share one datastore?

2. it appears as though information regarding the guest's configuration is stored on the datastore itself correct? If this is correct- what the best way to configure each of the esxi servers to share that datastore?

3. Finally - since it appears to be somewhat of a pain to migrate a datastore off my existing esxi server, I am thinking that I'll just download the a trial version of Vsphere 4.0 and use that to migrate the datastore , then go back to using esxi all by itself so that I don;t have to purchase or rely on Vsphere.

opinions, comments?

thanks in advance.

[weinstein5]

1. Yes VMFS datastores are design to be shared between ESX/ESXi servers - this is what makes vmotion/drs/HA possible -

2. Yes the VMs configuration file is stored in the VMFS datastore - each virtual machine is stored in its own subdiretory -

3. I am not sure wht you mean by this - are you wanting to set up and evaluation copy of vCenter 4.0 join you hosts to it and migrate the VMs to the new datastore?

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[jjj0923]

"I am not sure wht you mean by this - are you wanting to set up and

evaluation copy of vCenter 4.0 join you hosts to it and migrate the VMs

to the new datastore?"

since this thread focused around the work involved in moving a datastore from my esxi server to a SAN device the suggestions I received said it was a much easier process if I used Vsphere to perform the migration as opposed to the ghetto product for the 'one-time' move.

So - my question was asking if folks thought it would be easier for me to just install a trial version of Vsphere do to the migration or so forge ahead with the ghetto product?

thanks - jeff

[jjj0923]

I also have another question regarding esxi and it's 'Datastore Browser".

I see that it gives me the ability to 'move' individual files in the datastore for a guest to other datastores.

If I stopped the guest and moved it's individual files such as .vmx, .vmdk, .vswp etc to another datastore is it then possible to have the guest 'point' to a different datastore using features built into esxi?

again - thanks in advance.

[jjj0923]

I have a ghettovcb configuration question:

let's say that I have a computer with a large enough drive to save all of the data on the local datastore (a few times over) of my esxi3.5 server.

my local datastore on the esxi server is about 300gb. I plan on getting a computer ith a few 500gb drives.

I understand from the documentation for ghettovcbthat "utilizes resources available to the Service Console of the ESX server

running the backups as opposed to following the traditional method of

offloading virtual machine backups through a VCB proxy." which is no big deal for me since I am only using the console during the work day and would have the backups running at night.

My question is this: what is the easiest method for me to implement "from a work standpoint" to get the backups done. How does ghettocvb know where to write the data - i.e how does it know where my backup device is located? Do I have to configure the backup computer so that it another datastore on the esxi server that's being backed up?

sorry, but I don't undertand how the devices are linked together and using what technology/software?

for instance : could I configure a device like this and attach it as SAN storage on one of my of my existing esxi servers and use it as a backup device?

http://cgi.ebay.com/QNAP-TS-419P-4-Bay-2-5-3-5-SATA-NAS-Server-NEW-2TB_W0QQitemZ180455081301QQcmdZVi...

thanks in advance