VM only datastore

[J_Reg]

I have a large datastore that is used to store archived data for a VM. I have created a virtual disk that uses the entire datastore and attached it to the VM as needed but after taking a snapshot the VM starting crashing stating the datastore was out of space. I deleted the snapshots and fought through a few days of consolidating disk errors and would like to avoid having these issues again in the future.

Is there a way to configure the datastore to only be used for the VM? From what I've read, I should remove the datastores from the heartbeat list and should grant vCenter read-only permissions to the datastore; will performing these two actions result in my desired outcome? Will it have a negative impact on the operability of the VM? The datastore is iSCSI, although I do not believe that matters.

[a_p_]

Two possible options that may fit your needs.

Either set the virtual disk to "Independent-Persistent" in the VM's settings to exclude it from snapshots, or consider to delete the datastore, and map the entire iSCSI LUN as a pRDM (Physical Raw Device) to the VM.

Please remember that both option will also exclude the VM's disk from being backed up by a VM (image) based backup approach.

André

[J_Reg]

Independent - Persistent is exactly what we were looking for, thank you!

[JaviPetrov]

is a good practice to leave at least 20% free space in datastores to avoid this kind of issues. and you can use in the name of the datastore a reference to be used only for that vm.

[J_Reg]

I was hoping to avoid this but if there is no other choice, 20% overhead is the price we are going to have to pay. Can you expound "you can use in the name of the datastore a reference to be used only for that vm."