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iamuser

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Esx server 5.5 and VMFS-5 size support

Guys i need some help here. I'm a little confused.

we are using a storage array with 50 TB on it. We have VSphere 5.5 installed and running with VMFS-3. We assigned space like this. VSphere is connected to storage array via ISCSI

2 TB is carved from our storage array and present to Vsphere 5.5 as a LUN. The LUN is added and then formatted for VMFS-3. This then becomes the datastore for our Vm/vmdk files.

Based on our step above if we went to VMFS-5 can we present a disk bigger than 2 TB to Vpshere? Is the limit for each VMDK still 2TB?

Also can you point me to the documentation for this if it is possible. I spoke with a consultant and they said it's still a 2 TB limit even with VMFS-5
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Avatar of Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
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iamuser

ASKER

Okay let me double confirm this

with VMFS-5 I can have a LUN that is greater than 2TB

with VMFS-5 I can have VM's with bigger than 2 TB VMDKs

So hypothetically with Vpshere 5.5 and VMFS-5 i can have a LUN that is 5TB that is storing a VM with a 3 TB VMDK file. Is this correct?
with VMFS-5 I can have a LUN that is greater than 2TB

That is correct.

with VMFS-5 I can have VM's with bigger than 2 TB VMDKs

Not quite, you will need ESXi, 5.5 to create virtual machine disks larger than 2TB as well.

So hypothetically with Vpshere 5.5 and VMFS-5 i can have a LUN that is 5TB that is storing a VM with a 3 TB VMDK file. Is this correct?

That is correct.
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ASKER

Thanks, I do not understand why the consultant is telling me there is still a 2 TB limit every time I ask why we can't upgrade to VMFS-5
email the PDF above to him, and ask him to explain, why it says 62TB next to vmdk!
Above 2TB you cannot resize VMDK without reboot. So it is of marginal added value.
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ASKER

That's okay since the only reason we need to resize is because we don't have enough space to begin with.