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Planning Partitions for ESX Server 2.5

Details

How should I configure my standard system partitions for ESX Server 2.5?

Solution

VMware recommends that you create the seven partitions described in the following table. During the installation procedure, select Manual Partitioning in the Disk Partitioning Setup section. The table headings correspond to the items in the user interface that you must configure (except for Used By).
Mount Point File System Type Size (MB) Additional Size Options Force to Be a Primary Partition Used By
/boot ext3 50 Fixed size Select Service Console
Not applicable swap Double the amount of reserved memory you selected in the Device Allocation section1 Fixed size Select
/ (root) ext3 1800 Fixed size Select
/home ext3 1800 Fixed size Do not select2 Personal files for Service Console users; virtual machine configuration files and logs
/vmimages ext3 Depends on usage; if unsure, start with 10000 (10GB) Fixed size Do not select Exported virtual disks, virtual machine templates3, ISO images, and other large files4
Not applicable vmkcore 100 Fixed size Do not select VMkernel
Not applicable (automatically created as /vmfs/) vmfs2 Rest of disk (or less according to your needs — 20GB may be plenty) Fill to maximum allowable size (or fixed size if not using rest of disk) Do not select VMware File System (VMFS)

1The minimum amount of memory required by the Service Console is 192 for eight virtual machines. If you selected this setting, for example, enter 384 here.

2When you do not force the fourth partition (/home) to be a primary partition, an extended partition occupying the remainder of the disk is created, and /home and any subsequent partitions are created as logical partitions within the extended partition.

3An installation with many different kinds of virtual machines, running many different guest operating systems, needs more space in /vmimages than in an installation in which all the virtual machines are alike.

4If you plan to use vmsnap and vmres for backup and restore, note that /vmimages also serves as the default backup directory on both the local and remote ESX Server hosts for the backup snapshot script vmsnap.pl.

Note: Also consider making separate partitions for /tmp and /var. Directories like /var/log can fill up quickly if stored under the Service Console's root directory. In addition, /var must have at least 1GB of space if it is used for kickstart.

Important: ESX Server should not be installed on a machine with an attached disk array that is greater than or equal to 1TB. For a workaround, see www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1639.

Keywords

1506; best; practices; recommended; disk; table; allocation; configuration; esx252

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Actions
  • KB Article: 1506
  • Updated: Aug 14, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware ESX
  • Product Versions:
    VMware ESX 2.5.x