The Gurleyman Posts

Published January 4, 2011 by

Installing ESXi 4.1 with Boot from SAN

We’ve been running ESX since the days of v2.5, but with the news that v4.1 will be the last “fat” version with a RedHat service console, we decided it was time to transition to ESXi. The 30+ step guide below describes our process using an EMC CLARiiON CX3 SAN and Dell hosts with redundant Qlogic HBAs (fiber environment).

  1. Document network/port mappings in vSphere Client on existing ESX server
  2. Put host into maintenance mode
  3. Shutdown host
  4. Remove host from Storage Group in EMC Navisphere
  5. Create dedicated Storage Group per host for the boot LUN in Navisphere
  6. Create the 5GB boot LUN for the host
  7. Add the boot LUN to the host’s Storage Group
  8. Connect to the host console via the Dell Remote Access Card (DRAC)
  9. Attach ESXi media via DRAC virtual media
  10. Power on host (physically or via the DRAC)
    Read MoreInstalling ESXi 4.1 with Boot from SAN

Storage Technology Virtualization

Dell EMC ESXi VMware

Published November 18, 2008 by

VMFS out of heap memory

The default heap size for VMFS-3 is set to 16Mb. This allows for a maximum of 4Tb of open virtual disk capacity on a single ESX host. In ESX 3.0,…

Read MoreVMFS out of heap memory

Technology Virtualization

VMFS VMware

Published October 18, 2008 by

Virtual Center 2.x incorrectly sizes disks during migration

Storage Technology Virtualization

RDM vCenter VMware