Esx Partitioning; Required Partitions - VMware ESX 4.0 - INSTALLATION GUIDE UPDATE 1 Installation Manual

ESX Partitioning

ESX hosts have required and optional partitions.
and
/boot vmkcore
virtual disk called
This chapter includes the following topics:

"Required Partitions,"

n
"Optional Partitions,"
n
Required Partitions
ESX requires several partitions.
If you delete a required partition, be sure to create a new one of the same type. You cannot define the sizes of
the ,
/boot vmkcore
these partition sizes when you do a scripted installation.
Table 7-1 describes the required partitions.
Table 7-1. ESX Required Partitions
Mount Point Type
ext3
/boot
Not swap
applicable
ext3
/
VMware, Inc.
are physical partitions. ,
/
esxconsole-<system-uuid>/esxconsole.vmdk
on page 63
on page 64
, and partitions when you use the graphical or text installation modes. You can define
/vmfs
Size
The ESX boot disk requires
1.25GB of free space and
includes the /boot and
vmkcore partitions. The /boot
partition alone requires
1100MB.
600MB recommended
minimum
1600MB maximum
Use the default value applied
during installation.
Calculated dynamically based
on the size of the /usr partition.
By default, the minimum size is
5GB and no /usr partition is
defined.
, , and all the optional partitions are stored on a
swap /var/log
. The virtual disk is stored in a VMFS volume.
Location
Physical partition
The boot drive
usually defaults to
the specified /boot
partition location.
Virtual disk in a
VMFS volume
Virtual disk in a
VMFS volume
7
Partition Description
Stores information required to
boot the ESX host system.
For example, this is where the
grub boot loader resides.
Allows ESX to use disk space
when more memory is needed
than the physical RAM allows.
N Do not confuse the ESX
OTE
swap partition with virtual
machine swap space. See the
Resource Management Guide.
Contains the ESX operating
system and services, accessible
through the service console. Also
contains third-party add-on
services or applications you
install.
63