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ESXi 5 Question

C

Chimay

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 6, 2007
Messages
415
I'm hoping this is just a simple question that someone here can answer. I've just put together a basic ESX host to use as a home lab. Is it possible from inside the ESX console to connect to an NTFS windows shared folder in order to mount ISO files for OS installations? Being I don't currently have any type of NFS / ISCSI network storage at this time I was looking for a way to use my desktop HD to server up ISO so i can build VMs remotely and get things going.

If that's not possible is there any other way of doing this other then setting up an NFS storage device on my network?
 
You need to setup NFS shares. Since it sounds like you don't have a storage system with a Windows Server or Unix server with NFS shares, you can set these up on any windows platform using Hanewin NFS Server:
http://www.hanewin.net/nfs-e.htm
 
Much appreciated for the n00b help. I'll get this setup tonight and give this a shot. Some day I'll pick up a Synology DS212 once finances allow it.
 
I just have a whitebox NAS I built that's running Server 2008R2, which has NFS sharing built in. It holds all of my personal and ESX data - ISOs, VMDK/VMXes etc.
 
Are you just backing up your VMDKs to the NAS or running them via the network? I noticed in your sig that you've got HDs on your ESX host. What data are you running there?
 
Chimay said:
Are you just backing up your VMDKs to the NAS or running them via the network? I noticed in your sig that you've got HDs on your ESX host. What data are you running there?
Click to expand...
I run the VMs over gig-E. The HDs in the host aren't really doing anything... I have ESX installed to them, but otherwise nothing on them at all. They just sit there spinning... doing nothing :D
 
Chimay said:
I'm hoping this is just a simple question that someone here can answer. I've just put together a basic ESX host to use as a home lab. Is it possible from inside the ESX console to connect to an NTFS windows shared folder in order to mount ISO files for OS installations? Being I don't currently have any type of NFS / ISCSI network storage at this time I was looking for a way to use my desktop HD to server up ISO so i can build VMs remotely and get things going.

If that's not possible is there any other way of doing this other then setting up an NFS storage device on my network?
Click to expand...

Maybe I missed something, but why not copy the ISO's to a datastore on your ESX host?
 
Chimay said:
I'm hoping this is just a simple question that someone here can answer. I've just put together a basic ESX host to use as a home lab. Is it possible from inside the ESX console to connect to an NTFS windows shared folder in order to mount ISO files for OS installations? Being I don't currently have any type of NFS / ISCSI network storage at this time I was looking for a way to use my desktop HD to server up ISO so i can build VMs remotely and get things going.

If that's not possible is there any other way of doing this other then setting up an NFS storage device on my network?
Click to expand...

You can connect iso's on your desktop through the VI client, or upload to your local esx storage and load VM's that way without having to have network storage.
 
The only way he can do that is to copy them onto a USB drive. Which will be slow and take a long time, and if he changes which ISOs he wants easy access to, he may have to copy new ones to the local datastore. It's just all around easier to have an iSCSI/FC target or NFS share IMO.
 
itrsteve said:
You can connect iso's on your desktop through the VI client, or upload to your local esx storage and load VM's that way without having to have network storage.
Click to expand...
You know, I *totally* forgot about that option. My bad.
 
itrsteve said:
You can connect iso's on your desktop through the VI client, or upload to your local esx storage and load VM's that way without having to have network storage.
Click to expand...

Hmm. Looks like I must have skipped that chapter. Thanks I'll skim over the couple chapters in "Mastering VMware vSphere" that I had to skip to keep up with the class I'm taking. Still trying to wrap up & understand chapter 6. I didn't know I could do that from the desktop / server that I'm running the vSphere Client. I'm a VMware n00b and didn't have much time last night to research.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I'll still work on setting up an NFS share on the HTPC box I have in the living room. This whole project is all about learning for me so it just gives me an extra avenue to experiment with.
 
Chimay said:
Hmm. Looks like I must have skipped that chapter. Thanks I'll skim over the couple chapters in "Mastering VMware vSphere" that I had to skip to keep up with the class I'm taking. Still trying to wrap up & understand chapter 6. I didn't know I could do that from the desktop / server that I'm running the vSphere Client. I'm a VMware n00b and didn't have much time last night to research.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I'll still work on setting up an NFS share on the HTPC box I have in the living room. This whole project is all about learning for me so it just gives me an extra avenue to experiment with.
Click to expand...

It's not the fastest method all of the time, but it's a simple way to connect an ISO from your normal machine to a VM. I normally do that for little dumb stuff or small apps.

If your esx host has enough local storage available I would use that instead.
 
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