New VSA install, can i install it to an SD card?

[RockFound1]

Hello,

I typically install ESX onto an internal SD card when i deploy hosts to maximize drive space (or to avoid disks altogether). I was curious if it is possible to install the VSA onto an SD card so I don't have to burn two drives per host. Another thing I heard which differs from the official install guide is that you should not use hardware raid. I have not yet purchased any hardware.

Thanks in advance!

[oikjn]

I have never tried installing the VSA OS on an SD card, but its just like any other VM OS disk so as long as the WR speed is ok on the SD card and the durability is ok, I would assume everything would be fine, but I wouldn't trust it on a no-name flash microSD card since it would wear out so quickly.

As for the hardware raid...  not sure where you got your info from, but its bad.  VSA's only support software raid0 inside the VSA so any HDD protection must be done at the hardware raid level.  Again, as long as ESX or hyper-v can see the disk like you would mount to any other VM, you can use it for the VSA.  I have tried both direct attached hardware raid disks to VSAs and .vhd/.vhdx files attached to the VSAs and any work.  I ended up sticking with .vhdx just for personal preference, but I didn't see any significant performance difference between the three.

[RockFound1]

Hi thank you for your reply.

I didn't realize I could just present a VHD file directly to the VSA rather than raw mapping it. I think what I will do is install esx on an SD (we spec our HP servers with internal redundant SD) and create a couple raid 5 arrays. Then I will create a thick VHD for the VSA OS and use the rest of the space for VSA storage.

[oikjn]

I run an M$ shop so I can't say I've done it on esx, but the VSA is just like any other VM and as long as you pass it storage as supported by the hypervisor, it could care less about how they connect or what they are.  If you create your local VMDK and present whatever you want to the VSA you can do that, you just need your thick disk for the VSA OS and I would highly suggest thick disks for the VSA storage because it almost certanly will fill it out eventually and it would be a nightmare to manage up to three layers of thin volumes on eachother (thin VMDK -> thin Lun -> thin vhd == overcommitment trouble!)