ESXi 5.5 Create and use raw disk images

ESXi 5.5 Create and use raw disk images

I created these rdm disk. then created a centos 7 guest on the SSD in the ESXi server. I added the rdm disk to the Centos 7 guest. I then did mdadm raid0 on them. I then exported the raid0 vol via nfs. I then mounted the raido for a datastore.

I am know using consumer sata drives for raid in my ESXi server. Home lab use only :)

datastore1 is on the SSD. i put the pointers to the rdm disk in that datastore so i can get to them when i build my Centos 7 guest.

I created the directory rdm under /vmfs/volumes/datastore1

On ESXi server

# ls /dev/disks/ -l
-rw-------    1 root     root     500107862016 Mar 27 09:10 t10.ATA_____WDC_WD5000AZLX2D00CL5A0_______________________WD2DWMC3F0462212
-rw-------    1 root     root     500107862016 Mar 27 09:10 t10.ATA_____WDC_WD5000AZLX2D00CL5A0_______________________WD2DWMC3F0489201
-rw-------    1 root     root     500107862016 Mar 27 09:10 t10.ATA_____WDC_WD5000AZLX2D00CL5A0_______________________WD2DWMC3F1446112
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            74 Mar 27 09:40 vml.0100000000202020202057442d574d43334630343632323132574443205744 -> t10.ATA_____WDC_WD5000AZLX2D00CL5A0_______________________WD2DWMC3F0462212
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            74 Mar 27 09:40 vml.0100000000202020202057442d574d43334630343839323031574443205744 -> t10.ATA_____WDC_WD5000AZLX2D00CL5A0_______________________WD2DWMC3F0489201
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            74 Mar 27 09:40 vml.0100000000202020202057442d574d43334631343436313132574443205744 -> t10.ATA_____WDC_WD5000AZLX2D00CL5A0_______________________WD2DWMC3F1446112


vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____WDC_WD5000AZLX2D00CL5A0_______________________WD2DWMC3F0462212 /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/rdm/rdmdisk1.vmdk

vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____WDC_WD5000AZLX2D00CL5A0_______________________WD2DWMC3F0489201 /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/rdm/rdmdisk2.vmdk

vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____WDC_WD5000AZLX2D00CL5A0_______________________WD2DWMC3F1446112 /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/rdm/rdmdisk3.vmdk

now in the vsphere client add drives to guest image and choose use existing image. nav to the datastore and the dir that you created these in.