can I reinstall ESXi 3.5(u4) safely (without losing datastores)

[dlcarrol]

Good evening,

I've been using VMware Workstation for some time but am rather new to the Infrastructure world. I'm trying to prove some things out on a home whitebox before making a proposal at work. Thus everything that follows describes my personal, production environment, not enterprise

In order to do things as needed, I'm juggling live data between an old linux server, the new ESX host, and my personal workstation.

I installed ESXi 3.5u4 on the new host and things are working flawlessly. I've p2v'd the old linux server in (with all its data) and it is rock solid. Life is happy.

I'm now trying to scavenge a Promise 300tx4 and attached hotswap box from the old server and move them into the new server. I am aware that this is unsupported hardware, but I'm hitting the issue described here: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/186240

Before pursuing an HCL card, I'd like to try reinstalling under 3.5iu2. Failing that, I'd like to try disabling my onboard (nForce) controller and just use the Promise card.

Since the ESXi install nukes the target drive, I know I'll lose that datastore. Is there a way to preserve my other datastores, though? Will they remain available for readdition/re-registration under the new installation? I have it all backed up and in the firesafe, but time-wise it would be REALLY inconvenient to have to rebuild that.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

DC

[jose_maria_gonz · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

Yes, it should be all right.

Just make sure during the re-install that you retain the previous VMFS, otherwise you will lose your VM's.

Saludos,

Jose Maria Gonzalez,

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VMware vExpert 2009

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