Connecting raw device mapping disks

To connect a raw device mapping (RDM) disk to a host:

  1. In the left pane of the ESI window, select the host.

  2. Select the host disk from the center pane.

  1. In the Actions pane, click Connect Disk.

  2. The Connect Disk wizard appears.

  1. In the Select Disk Type page, select the disk type of Raw Device Mapping, and then click Next.

  2. In the VMware vSphere Settings page, set the following field values, and then click Next:

Note: For hypervisors, ESI does not support creating SCSI controllers. However, ESI uses existing SCSI controllers to create disks for virtual machines.

Field

Description

Controller

SCSI controller.

Location

SCSI controller location.

RDM Compatibility Mode

Type of compatibility (physical or virtual).

Note: With physical mode, the guest operating system can access the hardware directly.

Persistence

Types include:

  • Persistent: Changes are immediately and permanently written to the disks.

  • Independent Persistent: Independent disks are not affected by snapshots.

  • Independent Non Persistent: Changes to disks are discarded when you shut down your system or revert to the snapshot.

Note: With Physical mode, Persistent is the only available option.

Disk Provisioning

Select one of the following options if you are creating a virtual disk:

  • Thick Provision Eager Zeroed: All disk space is allocated and any previous content is deleted when the disk is created; this option may take longer than the other two options.

  • Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed: All disk space is allocated but existing content is not deleted when the disk is created.

  • Thin Provision: Allocates only the disk space that is currently needed.

  1. In the Passthrough SCSI Disk page, select the candidate disk, and then click Next.

  1. In the Review Input Parameters page, review the settings, and then click Next to confirm them.

  2. In the Progress page, click Next.

Note: Click More Information for more progress details. If a problem occurs while you are connecting a disk, an error message appears along with options to resume or roll back the process. After the error is resolved, click Resume to resume the process. Click Rollback to revert to the previously executed step.

    1. In the Summary page, click Finish.

 

Related links

 

 Creating raw device mapping disks

 ESI overview

 Connecting disks

 Home window

 Connecting SCSI disks

 

 Connecting virtual disks

  

 Connecting pass-through SCSI disks

  

 Disconnecting disks