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Table Of Contents
When you add storage controllers, they are numbered sequentially 1, 2, and 3. If you add a hard disk, SCSI,
or CD/DVD-ROM device to a virtual machine after virtual machine creation, the device is assigned to the
first available virtual device node on the default controller, for example (0:1).
If you add a SCSI controller, you can reassign an existing or new hard disk or device to that controller. For
example, you can assign the device to (1:z ), where 1 is SCSI controller 1 and z is a virtual device node from 0
to 15. For SCSI controllers, z cannot be 7. By default, the virtual SCSI controller is assigned to virtual device
node (z:7), so that device node is unavailable for hard disks or other devices.
If you add a SATA controller, you can reassign an existing or new hard disk or device to that controller. For
example, you can assign the device to (1:z ), where 1 is SATA controller 1 and z is a virtual device node from
0 to 29. For SATA controllers, you can use device nodes 0 through 29, including 0:7.
Storage Controller Limitations
Storage controllers have the following requirements and limitations:
n
LSI Logic SAS and VMware Paravirtual SCSI are available for virtual machines with ESXi 4.x and later
compatibility.
n
AHCI SATA is available only for virtual machines with ESXi 5.5 and later compatibility.
n
BusLogic Parallel controllers do not support virtual machines with disks larger than 2TB.
CAUTION Changing the controller type after the guest operating system is installed will make the disk and
any other devices connected to the adapter inaccessible. Before you change the controller type or add a new
controller, make sure that the guest operating system installation media contains the necessary drivers. On
Windows guest operating systems, the driver must be installed and configured as the boot driver.
Storage Controller Compatibility
Adding different types of storage controllers to virtual machines that use BIOS firmware can cause
operating system boot problems. In the following cases, the virtual machine might fail to boot correctly and
you might have to enter the BIOS setup and select the correct boot device:
n
If the virtual machine boots from LSI Logic SAS or VMware Paravirtual SCSI, and you add a disk that
uses BusLogic, LSI Logic, or AHCI SATA controllers.
n
If the virtual machine boots from AHCI SATA, and you add BusLogic Parallel or LSI Logic controllers.
Adding additional disks to virtual machines that use EFI firmware does not cause boot problems.
Table 153. VMware Storage Controller Compatibility
Existing
Controller
Added Controller
BusLogic
Parallel LSI Logic
LSI Logic
SAS
VMware
Paravirtual
SCSI AHCI SATA IDE
BusLogic
Parallel
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LSI Logic Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LSI Logic SAS Requires BIOS
setup
Requires BIOS
setup
Usually
Works
Usually
Works
Requires BIOS
setup
Yes
VMware
Paravirtual
SCSI
Requires BIOS
setup
Requires BIOS
setup
Usually
Works
Usually
Works
Requires BIOS
setup
Yes
AHCI SATA Requires BIOS
setup
Requires BIOS
setup
Yes Yes Yes Yes
IDE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A
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