Accessing Raw SCSI Disks

VMware ESX Server 2.1
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You can access raw disks directly or use the vmkfstools -r command to map them to files on VMFS-2 volumes. Once this mapping is established, you access the raw disk or partition like a normal file. For more information on this mapping, see Using vmkfstools, in particular, the vmkfstools -r option.

Using a Physical Disk in a Virtual Machine

In order for the virtual machine to access a physical disk or LUN, you must add the disk to the virtual machine. This example assumes that the virtual machine's first disk is a virtual disk and you are adding the physical disk as the second disk.

If you want the virtual machine's first disk to be a physical disk, see Creating a New Virtual Machine and select System LUN/Disk for your virtual disk.

Log into the VMware Management Interface as the user who owns the virtual machine or as the root user.
The Status Monitor page appears.
Click the arrow to the right of the terminal icon ( ) for the virtual machine you want to change and choose Configure Hardware.
The Hardware page for this virtual machine appears in a new browser window.
Click Add Device. The Add Device Wizard starts.
Click Hard Disk. The Virtual Disk Type page appears.
Click System LUN/Disk to allow the virtual machine to access a physical disk stored on a LUN. Then specify the following.
Choose the LUN you want to use in the Storage Controller LUN list.
Specify the virtual device node. Select the appropriate SCSI ID in the Virtual SCSI Node list.
Click OK to add the disk.

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