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jgoff
Contributor
Contributor

Raid - create two vd's for ESXi and storage

I want to use Raid 6 and create two virtual disks (one for ESXi and the other for storage).  What is the recommended size for the ESXi container?  I've read 5 GB, 6 GB, 10 GB but nothing concrete.

I believe three partitions are created: scratch, diagnostics and vmfs

Any suggestions or link to what Vmware recommends.....

Thanks

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DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

ESXi uses 1 GB and will create a 4GB scratch partition so the maximum required is 5GB.

The second virtual disk can be the balance of the array although if the available space is greater than 2TB - 512 bytes you will need to create multiple Virtual Disks in less than 2TB chunks

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
jgoff
Contributor
Contributor

So there will be a scratch partition of 4GB and an ESXi partition of 1GB, but won't there also be a diagnostics partition? 

For future planning, is 5GB's a safe amount to use?  I asume anything over 5 GB's on the first virtual disk would turn to VMFS.

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DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

5GB is safe and no reason I can think of to make it larger. Personnaly I would install to a USB stick or SD card if your server supports it.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
bulletprooffool
Champion
Champion

When HP shipped ESXi keys they were only 2GB in size - you then decided yourself where to dumpo the scratch partition.

One day I will virtualise myself . . .
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