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Virtual Compatibility for Clustered Non-Pass-Through Raw Device Mapping in Multihost Clustering Is Not Supported

Details

Is virtual compatibility mode supported for clustered non-pass-through raw device mapping in multihost clustering?

Solution

The VMware ESX Server 2.5 Administration Guide incorrectly states that, under certain circumstances, virtual compatibility mode for clustered non-pass-through raw device mapping (RDM) in multihost clustering is supported. This is not correct.

The following table describes supported configurations for the non-clustered and clustered disks for Microsoft Clustering Software with ESX Server 2.5.x.

Area	Component	Single-Host Clustering	Multihost Clustering
Non-clustered disks	Virtual machine and swap (paging) file	• Must be on local storage, not on a SAN • Must be a non-clustered disk
	Non-clustered virtual disks (`.vmdk`)	• Must reside on a public VMFS volume • Must use VMFS label notation • Virtual adapter must be set to `shared mode = none`
	Non-clustered raw device (disk) mapping	• Revision must be ESX Server 2.5.x • Must reside on a public VMFS volume • Must use VMFS label notation • Disk must be in persistent mode • DeviceType must be `scsi-nonpassthru-rdm` or `scsi-passthru-rdm`
	Non-clustered raw device (disk)	Use raw device mapping instead, if using ESX Server 2.5.x
Clustered disks	Clustered virtual disks (`.vmdk`)	• Must use VMFS label notation • Virtual adapter must be in `shared mode = virtual` • The LUN must host only one VMFS file system • The VMFS volume must be dedicated to the cluster • Must reside on a public VMFS volume	• Must have been created with `vmkfstools -z` • Must use the vmhba:: notation, not the VMFS label notation • Virtual adapter must be set to `shared mode = physical` • Must reside on its own physical LUN • The LUN must host only one VMFS file system • The shared virtual disk must be the only file on this VMFS volume • The VMFS volume must be in shared mode • The VMFS volume must have only one physical extent
Clustered disks	Clustered, non-pass-through raw device mapping	• Revision must be ESX Server 2.5.x • Must reside on a public VMFS volume • Must use VMFS label notation • Disk must be in persistent mode • DeviceType must be `scsi-nonpassthru-rdm` • Virtual adapter must be set to `shared mode = virtual`	Not supported

Keywords

documentation bug; non-passthrough; passthrough; pass-through; raw; device; mapping; rdm; scsi; multi-host; clustered; virtual; compatibility; 1821; esx252

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KB Article: 1821
Updated: Aug 14, 2009

Products:
VMware ESX
Product Versions:
VMware ESX 2.5.x

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