Adding a Hard Disk

You can add a new virtual disk, an existing virtual disk, or a mapped system LUN to the virtual machine.

To add a new virtual disk to an ESX 3 virtual machine

1. From the VI Web Access inventory, select the virtual machine.
2. From the Summary tab, under Commands, click Add Hardware.
3. Click Hard Disk and click Next.
4. Select Create a new virtual disk and click Next.
5. Specify the Capacity of the disk.
6. Choose the Location of the virtual disk:
   • Use the virtual machine's datastore installs the virtual disk in the same location as the virtual machine.
   • Use a specific datastore specifies a location to install the virtual disk.
7. Click Next.
8. Select the SCSI Device Node from the drop-down menu.
9. Choose whether to run the disk in Independent Mode.
10. If you selected Independent Mode, select Persistent or Nonpersistent disk mode:
    • Persistent - Disks in persistent mode behave like conventional disk drives on your physical computer. All data written to a disk in persistent mode are written out permanently to the disk.
    • Nonpersistent - Changes to disks in nonpersistent mode are not saved to the disks, but are lost when the virtual machine is powered off or reset.

11. Click Next.
12. Review the device configuration summary, and click Finish.

To add a new virtual disk to an ESX 2.x virtual machine

1. From the VI Web Access inventory, select the virtual machine.
2. Make sure the virtual machine is powered off.
3. From the Summary tab, under Commands, click Add Hardware.
4. Click Hard Disk and click Next.
5. Select Create a new virtual disk and click Next.
6. Specify the Capacity of the disk.
7. Choose the file location and click Next.
8. Select the SCSI Device Node from the drop-down menu.
9. Choose the Disk Mode:
   • Persistent — Disks in persistent mode behave like conventional disk drives on your physical computer. All data written to a disk in persistent mode are written out permanently to the disk.
   • Nonpersistent — Changes to disks in nonpersistent mode are not saved to the disks, but are lost when the virtual machine is powered off or reset.

• Undoable - Changes to disks in undoable mode can be saved, discarded, or appended when the virtual machine powers off.
• Append - Changes to disks in append mode are preserved in a redo log attached to the virtual disk.
10. Click Next.
11. Click Finish.

To add an existing virtual disk to an ESX 3 virtual machine

1. From the VI Web Access inventory, select the virtual machine.
2. On the Summary tab, under Commands, click Add Hardware.

   The Add Hardware Wizard opens.

3. Click Hard Disk and click Next.
4. Select Use an existing virtual disk and click Next.
5. Browse to and select an existing virtual disk and click Next.
6. Select the SCSI Device Node from the drop-down menu.
7. Choose whether to run the disk in Independent Mode.
8. If you selected Independent Mode, select Persistent or Nonpersistent disk mode:
   • Persistent - Disks in persistent mode behave like conventional disk drives on your physical computer. All data written to a disk in persistent mode are written out permanently to the disk.
   • Nonpersistent - Changes to disks in nonpersistent mode are not saved to the disks, but are lost when the virtual machine is powered off or reset.

9. Click Next.
10. Review the device configuration summary and click Finish.

To add an existing virtual disk to an ESX 2.x virtual machine

1. From the VI Web Access inventory, select the virtual machine.
2. Make sure the virtual machine is powered off.
3. On the Summary tab, under Commands, click Add Hardware.

   The Add Hardware Wizard opens.

4. Click Hard Disk, and click Next.
5. Select Use an existing virtual disk, and click Next.
6. Browse to and select an existing virtual disk, and click Next.
7. Select the SCSI Device Node from the drop-down menu.
8. Choose the Disk Mode:
   • Persistent — Disks in persistent mode behave like conventional disk drives on your physical computer. All data written to a disk in persistent mode are written out permanently to the disk.
   • Nonpersistent — Changes to disks in nonpersistent mode are not saved to the disks, but are lost when the virtual machine is powered off or reset.

• Undoable - Changes to disks in undoable mode can be saved, discarded, or appended when the virtual machine powers off.
• Append - Changes to disks in append mode are preserved in a redo log attached to the virtual disk.
9. Click Next.
10. Review the device configuration summary, and click Finish.

To add a mapped system LUN to an ESX 3 virtual machine

1. From the VI Web Access inventory, select the virtual machine.
2. On the Summary tab, under Commands, click Add Hardware.
3. Click Hard Disk and click Next.
4. Select Use a mapped system LUN and click Next.
5. Select the LUN to add to the virtual machine and click Next.
6. Choose the file location:
   • Use the virtual machine's datastore - Install the virtual disk in the same location as the virtual machine.
   • Use a specific datastore - Specify a location in which to install the virtual disk.
7. Click Next.
8. Select the virtual device node.
9. Under Compatibility, choose the disk compatibility:
   • Physical - Allow the guest operating system to access the storage hardware directly.
   • Virtual - Allow the virtual machine to take advantage of disk modes and other features of virtual disks.
10. If you chose Virtual compatibility, choose whether to run the disk in Independent Mode.
11. If you selected Independent Mode, select Persistent or Nonpersistent disk mode:
    • Persistent - Disks in persistent mode behave like conventional disk drives on your physical computer. All data written to a disk in persistent mode are written out permanently to the disk.
    • Nonpersistent - Changes to disks in nonpersistent mode are not saved to the disks, but are lost when the virtual machine is powered off or reset.

12. Click Next.
13. Review the device configuration summary, and click Finish.

To add a mapped system LUN to an ESX 2.5.x virtual machine

1. From the VI Web Access inventory, select the virtual machine.
2. Make sure the virtual machine is powered off.
3. On the Summary tab, under Commands, click Add Hardware.
4. Click Hard Disk and click Next.
5. Select Use a mapped system LUN,and click Next.
6. Select the LUN to add to the virtual machine and click Next.
7. Choose the file location:
   • Use the virtual machine's datastore - Install the virtual disk in the same location as the virtual machine. This option is available only for ESX 3 virtual machines.
   • Use a specific datastore - Specify a location to install the virtual disk.
8. Select the virtual device node in.
9. Under Compatibility, choose the disk compatibility:
   • Physical - Allow the guest operating system to access the storage hardware directly.
   • Virtual - Allow the virtual machine to take advantage of disk modes and other features of virtual disks.
10. Choose the Disk Mode:
    • Persistent — Disks in persistent mode behave like conventional disk drives on your physical computer. All data written to a disk in persistent mode are written out permanently to the disk.
    • Nonpersistent — Changes to disks in nonpersistent mode are not saved to the disks, but are lost when the virtual machine is powered off or reset.

• Undoable - Changes to disks in undoable mode can be saved, discarded, or appended when the virtual machine powers off.
• Append - Changes to disks in append mode are preserved in a redo log attached to the virtual disk.
11. Click Next.
12. Review the device configuration summary, and click Finish.