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XPEnology on ESXi 6.7 on USB Devices


compuman

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I am new with ESXi server and virtual machine.

 

With some tutorial I make my hardware works:

  1. now I have ESXi 6.7 load from a internal USB Stick (4Gb)
  2. I create a datastore on external USB Stick (32Gb) where I installa a VM with XPEnology 
  3. I use the internal SATA HDD like phisycal drive on VM (map with vmkfstools -z on a local vmdk )

 

All works with DSM 6.2.2 that was my goal

BUT

my problem is that i HAVE to use also two NTFS HDD connected on external USB3 to share with XPEnology ... 

 

NOW

 

in point 2. (to use a datastore on external USB) I use also command "chkconfig usbarbitrator off"

and I think this is WHY I can't set the external NTFS HDD on virtual machine!

 

if I set "chkconfig usbarbitrator on" after reboot, i can't see the datastore on external USB...

so ESXi not find VM... 

 

what is the correct method to use a datastore on USB AND USB passthrough for my USB NTFS HDD? 

 

The perfect solution (for me) was to use the free USB space on the internal USB stick

Is there a way to use the same USB STICK for boot ESXi and create a datastore for VM in the free space ? 

I not find a tutorial to make this... but only to use a entire USB stick, so I have to use two USB stick: one for boot and one for datastore

 

Thanks

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This isn't really an XPEnology or DSM problem, this is an ESXi problem.  I don't see how you can do it differently than you are without changing hardware.

 

Why not acquire and install another SATA or NVMe datastore so that you don't need the 32GB USB stick and can return the ESXi USB handling to normal?

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On 6/7/2019 at 4:59 PM, flyride said:

This isn't really an XPEnology or DSM problem, this is an ESXi problem.  I don't see how you can do it differently than you are without changing hardware.

 

Why not acquire and install another SATA or NVMe datastore so that you don't need the 32GB USB stick and can return the ESXi USB handling to normal?

thanks,but I can't,

because the hardware that I use is with only ONE SATA controller with space for ONLY two hot swap disk that is used (normally) for two disk in RAID1 (with xpenology)

(a basic NAS hardware that boot from internal USB stick)

 

I'm triing to convert this NAS to ESXi with a VM with XPEnology... and it works well, except for the problem I'm talking about:

-boot fron internat, but need also an external USB stick

-USB passthrough not working with this configuration

 

well, if there is some solution... OK

in there is not... i will stay with OLD XPEnology installed like usually ... 

 

 

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8 hours ago, compuman said:

I'm triing to convert this NAS to ESXi with a VM with XPEnology... and it works well, except for the problem I'm talking about:

-boot fron internat, but need also an external USB stick

-USB passthrough not working with this configuration

 

OK

I found ONE solution that solve both the problem

Now I can use the free space of the internal USB stick (the one with ESX boot) without modify "usbarbitrator" so now I can pass the external USB HDD to the VM (it appear like USB DEVICE in VM editor)  

 

Well, now the REAL test to see if this solution (migrate XPEnology to ESXi VM) can be used for everyday use...

 

 

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On 6/10/2019 at 6:06 PM, bearcat said:

@compuman Care to share the found solution? (in case someone else would like to give it a  try)

no problem

 

BEFORE:

-I installed ESXi in the internal (32Gb) USB stick (I use an external bootable 8Gb USB stick with ESXi ISO injected with Realtek network driver)

-test that the ESXi system boot correctly (without a Datastore)

 

NOW:

1.boot GPARTED and create an unformatted partition in the free space of USB stick (I leave some free space between the last used partition and the new one, but i don't know if it is important)

2.using the terminal in GPARTED set the type of partition (if the new partition is /dev/sdb2):

#gdisk /dev/sdb

{press t}
{select partition 2}
{type fb00}
{press w}
{confirm with Y}

 

3.now change the partition number (from 2 to 10) to be sure that it will not be touch in future update

#sfdisk -d /dev/sdb > esxi2.txt

edit the text file and change 

/dev/sdb2 : start= 13500416, size= 16775168, type=0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4, uuid=50D5FE33-CDC7-413B-AF11-C32BF433AA85

to 

/dev/sdb10 : start= 13500416, size= 16775168, type=0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4, uuid=50D5FE33-CDC7-413B-AF11-C32BF433AA85

and move the line on the end of text file

Then write back the partition table

#sfdisk --force /dev/sdb < esxi2.txt

 

4.boot ESXi system (from modified USB stick).

From terminal (I use SSH):

check partition

#partedUtil getptbl /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0

and format it 

#vmkfstools -C vmfs6 -S USB-Stick /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:10

THAT's ALL 

 

Now you see in DataStore a new DataStore "USB-Stick" and you can create folder, upload file, create VM, etc... 

WITHOUT change "usbarbitrator"

SO you can attach USB HDD on external port to pass the USB DEVICE to VM 

Edited by Polanskiman
Added code tags.
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