How to use local storage on a virtual appliance as the backup storage

Summary

This knowledgebase article explains how to use a DAS (direct-attached storage) as a backup target disk.

– .vmdk file attached on a virtual appliance.
– Physical hard disk attached on a virtual appliance by USB Passthrough of ESX(i).
– Physical hard disk (FC/DAS) attached on a virtual appliance by RDM (Raw Device Mapping) of ESX(i).
*Partitioning and the disk format (as Ext4) is required before attaching a virtual appliance.

The following introduces two examples of the partitioning and the format methods.

Example 1. Use any Linux environment other than a virtual appliance.
1) Attach the above device on any Linux environment other than a virtual appliance.
2) Partitioning using fdisk or diskpart.
3) Format as EXT4 using mkfs.ext4.
4) Attach to a virtual appliance.
5) Run the vmGuardian Web GUI and click Settings.
6) Select [Settings]>[Mount point]>[Add New Mount Point].
7) Select Type – Direct Attached.
Selected – ext4 device.
Click [Done].

The device can be referred to as a virtual appliance.

Example 2. Use ActiveImage Protector Boot Environment for vmGuardian:
1) Attach the above device on any Linux environment other than a virtual appliance.
2) Boot on ActiveImage Protector Boot Environment for vmGuardian.
3) Select [Tools]>[Open Terminal] and Click [OK]. Run Terminal.
4) Partitioning it using fdisk or parted.
5) Format it as EXT4 using mkfs.ext4.
6) Attach as a virtual appliance.
7) Run Web GUI of vmGuardian and click Settings.
8) Select [Settings]>[Mount point]>[Add New Mount Point].
9) Select Type – Direct Attached.
Selected – ext4 device.
Click [Done].

The device can be referred to on a virtual appliance.

The screenshot of fdisk.