First Steps: No datastores have been configured on the host

[epretorious2]

I've just installed ESXi on a host system for the first time. And when I sign into the ESXi Host Client I see a warning:

No datastores have been configured on the host

But when I navigate to the Storage section and click on the 128 GB directly-attached storage that I selected when installing ESXi: I can see that the 128 GB SSD is almost entirely consumed by a 119.9 GB VMFSL partition!

Isn't that 119.9 GB VMFSL partition a datastore?

TIA,
Eric Pretorious
Reno, Nevada

[pcgeek2009 · Accepted solution]

Starting with version 7, the layout changed and if you do not make any changes it will consume well over 100G if you do not specify a smaller size. 

https://virtuallywired.io/2022/06/30/change-esxi-7-system-storage-installation-size/

Therefore, if you have no additional disk, you will need to reinstall and set the install size smaller. Since the installation consumed the entire disk, you do not have space available to create a datastore. You create the datastore from the remaining space once you complete the installation. 

[epretorious2 · Accepted solution]

KB article #81166 describes how to manipulate the VMFS-L partition during installation by using the systemMediaSize setting.

HTH,
Eric P.

[epretorious2]

I can confirm that setting the systemMediaSize variable to 'min' results in a much smaller VMFS-L partition!

HTH,
Eric P.