Adding a host to an existing ESXi cluster. The host has about 27TB in an unused local RAID5 volume.
Is it possible to initialize it as a VMFS volume and share it with other hosts in the cluster?
Thanks!
P.S. Fairly new to VMware administration and configuration.
You can not share local volume by standard solutions.
But you can remove logical volume and share it as vSAN.
Here are few option to share or mount this storage space on other hosts
1. Build VM as NFS server and storage to it , then mount share from it on other esxi host
2. Use virtual storage appliance to create iscsi based storage and then you can provision iscsi luns for other ESXi host, with right networking setup
Take a look to vSAN licensing and its requirements first befor wasting time.
I suggest to place a VM/Appliance and export the capacity as NFS/iSCSI. But think about when you need to reboot this VM or the Host.
Regards,
Joerg
You can not share local volume by standard solutions.
But you can remove logical volume and share it as vSAN.
Here are few option to share or mount this storage space on other hosts
1. Build VM as NFS server and storage to it , then mount share from it on other esxi host
2. Use virtual storage appliance to create iscsi based storage and then you can provision iscsi luns for other ESXi host, with right networking setup
@memaad wrote:Here are few option to share or mount this storage space on other hosts
1. Build VM as NFS server and storage to it , then mount share from it on other esxi host
2. Use virtual storage appliance to create iscsi based storage and then you can provision iscsi luns for other ESXi host, with right networking setup
Nice, thank you. Is Item 2 the same as the vSAN Davoud referred to? (Apologies again - fairly familiar with SANs and other types of storage - yet totally new to vSANs.)
Re: iSCSI-based "virtual storage appliance": would you be able to refer me to an article describing how to do it?
Thanks again!
After reading up on it a little bit, seems that vSAN is the way to go - i.e. the recommended and "best practice" solution to utilize unused local storage on ESXi hosts. Does that sound right?
(Setting up an NFS volume or an iSCSI target via an "appliance" VM should work - yet not the VMware "best practice" unless vSAN is unavailable for some reason?)
If this is for production use, note that VSAN has strict rule for hardware compatibility. Make sure every component that you use in servers and its drivers and firmware are compatible, else you might have performance problem with unstable cluster.
Take a look to vSAN licensing and its requirements first befor wasting time.
I suggest to place a VM/Appliance and export the capacity as NFS/iSCSI. But think about when you need to reboot this VM or the Host.
Regards,
Joerg
Take a look to vSAN licensing and its requirements first befor wasting time.
I see what you mean... 🤔😊
(The 14-page PDF above supposedly with "pricing" - has no actual prices.... 🤔)
I suggest to place a VM/Appliance and export the capacity as NFS/iSCSI. But think about when you need to reboot this VM or the Host.
Do you have a preference for one or the other (NFS vs. iSCSI) if it'll only be shared among 3-4 ESXi hosts?
Favorite such VM/appliance? (Or is it more about whatever I am familiar with?)
Thanks!