How to create VMFS partition on USB device for ESXi 6.x

1. Plug in the USB device to the ESXi host

• Make sure that usbarbitrator service is off on the ESXi host so that the host will not use it as Passthrough :

# /etc/init.d/usbarbitrator stop

• Check the usb in core device list :

# esxcli storage core device list

t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073

   Display Name: Local USB Direct-Access (t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073)

   Has Settable Display Name: false

   Size: 29952

   Device Type: Direct-Access

   Multipath Plugin: NMP

   Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073

   Vendor: SanDisk

   Model: Cruzer Blade

   Revision: 0100

• Get the Identifier of the device :

# ls -l /dev/disks

-rw——-    1 root     root     7969177600 Dec 11 18:57 mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0

-rw——-    1 root     root       4161536 Dec 11 18:57 mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:1

-rw——-    1 root     root     31406948352 Dec 11 18:57 t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073

-rw——-    1 root     root     31405899776 Dec 11 18:57 t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073:1

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            20 Dec 11 18:57 vml.0000000000766d68626133323a303a30 -> mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            22 Dec 11 18:57 vml.0000000000766d68626133323a303a30:1 -> mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:1

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            22 Dec 11 18:57               

vml.0000000000766d68626133333a303a30 -> t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            55 Dec 11 18:57 vml.0000000000766d68626133333a303a30:1 -> t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073:1

• Write GPT label to device :

# partedUtil getptbl /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073

• Get the end sector with below command :

# eval expr $(partedUtil getptbl /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073 | tail -1 | awk ‘{print $1 ” \\* ” $2 ” \\* ” $3}’) – 1

61336169

• Create VMFS partition on the device (Here 61336169 is the End sector. Change the value as per your output of above command):

# partedUtil setptbl /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073 gpt “1 2048 61336169 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 0”

• Create VMFS5 or VMFS6 filesystem (change the version as per your need) on the usb:

vmkfstools -C vmfs5 -S USB-Datastore /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073:1

• List the datastore and path with below command to confirm :

# esxcfg-scsidevs -m

t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073:1          /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.SanDisk00Cruzer_Blade000000004C530001111202103073:1 5df14298-96623282-6dd9-48df3713e9d0  0