{"id":192,"date":"2010-08-16T22:19:56","date_gmt":"2010-08-16T21:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/?p=192"},"modified":"2010-08-16T22:22:25","modified_gmt":"2010-08-16T21:22:25","slug":"datastore-on-usb-stick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/?p=192","title":{"rendered":"Datastore on USB stick"},"content":{"rendered":"

As promised I have been looking at this a bit more. I think I was a bit naive before…perhaps I should have believed everyone, including VMware \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I have built a 4.1 ESXi hypervisor on a second USB stick and have been looking more closely at it. Logging on to the console a running “mount” shows the following:
\n~ # mount
\nnone on \/dev type devfs (defaults,rw,suid,dev,exec,async,atime,diratime,loud)
\nnone on \/proc type procfs (defaults)
\nnone on \/vmfs\/volumes type vcfs (defaults)
\nnone on \/tmp type visorfs (2,192,01777,tmp)
\nupdatestg on \/tmp\/stage type visorfs (0,750,01777,updatestg)
\nvisorfs on \/var\/lib\/vmware\/hostd\/stats type visorfs (63,63,0755,hostdstats)
\n~ #<\/code><\/p>\n

Looking at it another way with “df” reveals:<\/p>\n

~ # df -h
\nFilesystem\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Size\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Used Available Use% Mounted on
\nvisorfs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1.3G\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 257.8M\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1.0G\u00a0 20% \/
\nvfat\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 249.7M\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 87.8M\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 161.9M\u00a0 35% \/vmfs\/volumes\/ff060de6-cecc88e5-4d14-8726d7ed0132
\nvfat\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 249.7M\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4.0k\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 249.7M\u00a0\u00a0 0% \/vmfs\/volumes\/65092bef-de8a06b5-22db-2bbbc32dc3d2
\nvfat\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 285.9M\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 135.5M\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 150.4M\u00a0 47% \/vmfs\/volumes\/3c3693e8-f77a642a-1910-5c6bdcb26d3a
\n~ #<\/code><\/p>\n

And finally, a thid way:<\/p>\n

~ # fdisk -l \/dev\/disks\/mpx.vmhba33\\:C0\\:T0\\:L0<\/code><\/p>\n

Disk \/dev\/disks\/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0: 16.0 GB, 16062087168 bytes
\n64 heads, 32 sectors\/track, 15318 cylinders
\nUnits = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes<\/p>\n

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
\n\/dev\/disks\/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0p1 5 900 917504 5 Extended
\n\/dev\/disks\/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0p4 * 1 4 4080 4 FAT16 <32M
\n\/dev\/disks\/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0p5 5 254 255984 6 FAT16
\n\/dev\/disks\/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0p6 255 504 255984 6 FAT16
\n\/dev\/disks\/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0p7 505 614 112624 fc VMKcore
\n\/dev\/disks\/mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0p8 615 900 292848 6 FAT16<\/p>\n

Partition table entries are not in disk order
\n~ #
\nClearly the filesystems are really FAT16 with the exception of one VMKcore filesystem. The fact that they are mounted on something called \/vmfs is neither here nor there.<\/p>\n

The thing to try is to run vmkfstools on another USB device and try to create a vmfs3 datastore. This has always failed in the past with some specious error. Unfortunately I can’t try it now because I have run out of USB devices. (I have a 1G stick but ESXi won’t recognise it).<\/p>\n

The other thing to try is to create a datastore on another local disk (don’t have one) and see what changes. Or there’s the QNAP so I might try NFS.<\/p>\n

I don’t hold out much hope at the moment. Even if a vmfs filesystem could be created on a USB stick, you’d still need to fool ESXi into thinking it was another type of storage. Tricky. If it can’t be tricked, a kernel module would likely be necessary, or an alteration to an existing kernel module which is vmware’s territory and they seem to have already made the decision not to do this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As promised I have been looking at this a bit more. I think I was a bit naive before…perhaps I should have believed everyone, including VMware \ud83d\ude42 I have built a 4.1 ESXi hypervisor on a second USB stick and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-virtualisation","tag-esxi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195,"href":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions\/195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.p2vpro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}