Need to add a disk to an ESXi 5x server and format as VMFS? Here is how you do it from the ESXi CLI. Enable ssh on the ESXi host in vCenter and login as root via xterm or putty. This was done on an HP DL360.
1) Find your disks.
> ls /vmfs/devices/disks/
-or
> esxcfg-scsidevs -c
The new disk is: mpx.vmhba1:C0:T1:L0
2) Create a partition.
> fdisk /vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T1:L0
Select: m
Select: l
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
Select: p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-8920, default 1): Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-8920, default 8920): Using default value 8920
Command (m for help): p
Disk /vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T1:L0: 73.3 GB, 73372631040 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 8920 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T1:L0p1 1 8920 71649868+ 83 Linux
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): l
0 Empty 1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA) a5 FreeBSD
1 FAT12 1e Hidden W95 FAT16 (LBA) a6 OpenBSD
4 FAT16 <32M 3c Part.Magic recovery a8 Darwin UFS
5 Extended 41 PPC PReP Boot a9 NetBSD
6 FAT16 42 SFS ab Darwin boot
7 HPFS/NTFS 63 GNU HURD or SysV b7 BSDI fs
a OS/2 Boot Manager 80 Old Minix b8 BSDI swap
b Win95 FAT32 81 Minix / old Linux be Solaris boot
c Win95 FAT32 (LBA) 82 Linux swap eb BeOS fs
e Win95 FAT16 (LBA) 83 Linux ee EFI GPT
f Win95 Ext’d (LBA) 84 OS/2 hidden C: drive ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
11 Hidden FAT12 85 Linux extended f0 Linux/PA-RISC boot
12 Compaq diagnostics 86 NTFS volume set f2 DOS secondary
14 Hidden FAT16 <32M 87 NTFS volume set fd Linux raid autodetect
16 Hidden FAT16 8e Linux LVM fb VMFS
17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS 9f BSD/OS fc VMKcore
1b Hidden Win95 FAT32 a0 Thinkpad hibernation
Hex code (type L to list codes): fb
Changed system type of partition 1 to fb (VMFS)
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
3) Create the filesystem.
> vmkfstools -C vmfs5 -b 1m -S <new datastore name here> /vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T1:L0:1
VMFS5 file system creation is deprecated on a BIOS/MBR partition on device ‘mpx.vmhba1:C0:T1:L0:1’
Checking if remote hosts are using this device as a valid file system. This may take a few seconds…
Creating vmfs5 file system on “mpx.vmhba1:C0:T1:L0:1” with blockSize 1048576 and volume label “Datastore name”.
Successfully created new volume: 512bee4b-d5bd5128-568e-0015174b0172
4) Done.
thanks gr8 helped me alot…..