Hello,
I am planning to virtualize a couple of my servers, but have some questions regarding the 2TB size limit for volumes on ESXi. I guess let me tell you what I want to do and would appreciate it if you can tell me if it's possible or not, and if so, what's the best way to implement. I'm new to VM's so bear with me if I am not using the terminology properly.
I would like to virtualize my file server. Right now it's a physical server that connects to an iSCSI SAN (Dell PowerVault MD3000i), and the LUN assigned to it is about 5TBs. To be more specific, the server has an F: drive, which is a 5TB volume on the SAN. This drive has a share on it which acts as our main file server.
I'm wondering if I create a VM on an ESXi server, can I attach this same 5TB volume to this VM in the same way I as it's connected to physical box (so the VM will have the same F: drive, which is actually the 5TB LUN on the SAN)? This new VM would be replacing the old physical box, so they would not both be connected at the same time, in case that matters. I know there is that 2TB limit, but is that just for datastores? Meaning, I don't need any of the actual virtual files on this volume, they will be on local storage, I just want the VM itself to have this volume mounted as a drive inside the OS, so it acts like a file server (hopefully I am explaining this right). Is this possible, or do I still run into the 2TB limit in this case?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Josh
