Specifications

Administration Guide
266 VMware, Inc.
To change the bus sharing setting
1Log!into!the!management!interface!as!the!appropriate!user!and!be!sure!the!virtual!
machine!you!want!to!configure!is!powered!off.!
2Point!to!the!terminal!icon!for!the!virtual!machine!you!want!to!configure!and!click!
Configure!Hardware.!
3Click!Edit!next!to!the! appropriate!SCSI!controller.!
4 Choose!the!bus!
sharing!setting!you!want!from!the!drop‐down!list,!and!click!OK.
Using Storage Area Networks with ESX Server
VMware!ESX!Server!can!be!used!effectively!with!storage!area!networks!(SANs).!ESX!
Server!supports!Qlogic!and!Emulex!host!bus!adapters,!which!allow!an!ESX!Server!
computer!to!be!connected!to!a!SAN!and!to!see!the!disk!arrays!on!the!SAN.
The!SCSI!configuration!information!contained!in!this!section!also!
applies!to!FC!
adapters,!but!FC!adapters!may!require!additional!configuration!as!well.
For!information!on!supported!SAN!hardware,!download!the!VMware!ESX!Server!SAN!
Compatibility!List!from!the!VMware!Web!site!at!
http://www.vmware.com/support/resources/esx_resources.html.
Understanding Storage Arrays
Large!storage!systems!(also!known!as!disk!arrays)!combine!numerous!disks!into!arrays!
for!availability!and!performance.!Typically ,!a!collection!of!disks!is!grouped!into!a!
Redundant!Array!of!Inexpensive!Disks!(RAID)!array!to!protect!the!data!by!eliminating!
disk!drives!as!a!potential!single!point!of!failure.!
Disk!arrays!carve
!the!storage!RAID!set!into!logical!units!(LUNs)!that!are!presented!to!
the!server!in!a!manner!similar!to!an!independent!single!disk.!Typically,!LUNs!are!few!
in!number,!relatively!large,!and!fixed!in!size.!
You!can!create!LUNs!with!the!storage!management!application!of!your!disk!array.
Installing ESX Server with Attached SANs
With!ESX!Server!2.5,!you!can!install!the!system!on!a!SAN!and!boot!from!the!SAN.!This!
is!described!in!the!VMware!SAN!Configuration!Guide,!available!at!
http://;www.vmware.com/support/pubs/esx_pubs.html.
If!you!are!not!installing!ESX!Server!so!that!it!can!be!booted!from!a!SAN,!VMware!
recommends!that!FC!adapters
!are!dedicated!exclusively!to!the!virtual!machines.!Even!