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dabson
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A second USB boot drive is a novel idea. I'd probably ask myself a few questions before deciding on whether it fit any needs. You didn't mention which version of vSphere you're using, so I'll cast a wide net.

  • Am I confident that the failure of the primary boot drive can and will be detected so that it can addressed?
    • If not, is it acceptable to not know if a host has failed over to the secondary drive?
  • Do I have HA enabled on my (presumably clustered) ESXi hosts?
    • If yes, can resolution of the failed host wait until next business day?
  • Can two USB drives physically coexist connected to the same server?
    • Sounds silly on the surface, but depending on USB port placement and USB drive shape, you may encounter issues.
  • Is there an alternative available during a USB drive failure, for example vSphere Auto Deploy?
    • Mind you, if you have vSphere Auto Deploy, why not consider it instead of USB drives? Smiley Wink

I'll be curious to see if anyone else chimes in that is actually doing this in the wild since, as I mentioned, it does seem a novel idea.

Please make sure to come back and let us know if you decide to roll out secondary USB drives and how it goes.


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Dee Abson
https://wiseintro.co/deeabson
https://teebeedee.org
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