vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-storage-guide

vSphere StorageWhat to do nextIf you later want to resignature the mounted datastore, you must unmount it first.Resignature a VMFS Datastore Copy in the vSphere Web ClientUse datastore resignaturing if you want to retain the data stored on the VMFS datastore copy.When resignaturing a VMFS copy, ESXi assigns a new signature (UUID) to the copy, and mounts the copyas a datastore distinct from the original. All references to the original signature from virtual machineconfiguration files are updated.When you perform datastore resignaturing, consider the following points:• Datastore resignaturing is irreversible.• After resignaturing, the storage device replica that contained the VMFS copy is no longer treated as areplica.• A spanned datastore can be resignatured only if all its extents are online.• The resignaturing process is crash and fault tolerant. If the process is interrupted, you can resume itlater.• You can mount the new VMFS datastore without a risk of its UUID conflicting with UUIDs of any otherdatastore, such as an ancestor or child in a hierarchy of storage device snapshots.Prerequisites• Unmount the datastore copy.• Perform a storage rescan on your host to update the view of storage devices presented to the host.• Browse to Datastores in the vSphere Web Client navigator. See “Display Datastore Information in thevSphere Web Client,” on page 22.Procedure1 Click the Create a New Datastore icon.2 Type the datastore name and if required, select the placement location for the datastore.3 Select VMFS as the datastore type.4 From the list of storage devices, select the device that has a specific value displayed in the SnapshotVolume column.The value present in the Snapshot Volume column indicates that the device is a copy that contains acopy of an existing VMFS datastore.5 Under Mount Options, select Assign a New Signature and click Next.6 Review the datastore configuration information and click Finish.Upgrading VMFS DatastoresIf your datastores were formatted with VMFS2 or VMFS3, you can upgrade the datastores to VMFS5.When you perform datastore upgrades, consider the following items:• To upgrade a VMFS2 datastore, you use a two-step process that involves upgrading VMFS2 to VMFS3first. Because ESXi 5.0 and later hosts cannot access VMFS2 datastores, use a legacy host, ESX/ESXi 4.xor earlier, to access the VMFS2 datastore and perform the VMFS2 to VMFS3 upgrade.After you upgrade your VMFS2 datastore to VMFS3, the datastore becomes available on the ESXi 5.xhost, where you complete the process of upgrading to VMFS5.142 VMware, Inc.