ESXi Raw Device Mapping RDM

To configure a local device as an RDM disk:

  1. Open an SSH session to the ESXi host.
  2. Run this command to list the disks that are attached to the ESXi host:
    ls -l /vmfs/devices/disks
  3. From the list, identify the local device you want to configure as an RDM and copy the device name.
    Note: The device name is likely be prefixed with t10. and look similar to: t10.F405E46494C4540046F455B64787D285941707D203F45765
  4. To configure the device as an RDM and output the RDM pointer file to your chosen destination, run this command:
    vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/disks/diskname /vmfs/volumes/datastorename/vmfolder/vmname.vmdk

For example:

vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.F405E46494C4540046F455B64787D285941707D203F45765 /vmfs/volumes/Datastore2/localrdm1/localrdm1.vmdk

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