You can map a to a or . When you map the first virtual disk to a host or host group, you automatically create a storage partition. Any mappings that you create after the first mapping do not create new storage partitions. These examples show how virtual disk mappings work.
Example 1 – You map virtual disk 1 to a host named Fred, which creates the first map for virtual disk 1. This mapping creates a storage partition that contains host Fred and virtual disk 1. Then you map virtual disk 2 to host Fred. Mapping virtual disk 2 to host Fred does not create a new partition. The partition contains host Fred with mappings to virtual disk 1 and virtual disk 2.
Example 2 – You map virtual disk 3 to host group Barney, which creates the first map for virtual disk 3. Host group Barney contains host Bar1 and host Bar2. Mapping virtual disk 3 to host group Barney creates a new partition. The partition contains host Bar1, host Bar2, and virtual disk 3. Host Bar1 and host Bar2 can access virtual disk 3 with the same . (The LUN is a value that identifies virtual disk 3.) At a different time, you map virtual disk 4 to host group Barney. Mapping virtual disk 4 to host group Barney does not create a new partition. Now the partition contains host group Barney (host Bar1 and host Bar2), virtual disk 3, and virtual disk 4.
Example 3 – You map virtual disk 5 to host Bar1, which is in host group Barney. When you map to a single host in a host group, you do not map to the entire host group. By mapping virtual disk 5 to only host Bar1, you create a new storage partition. The new storage partition contains host Bar1 and virtual disk 5. Bar2 does not have access to virtual disk 5.
Attention:
Possible loss of data access – In some cases, the host operating system does not support mapping a source virtual disk and the associated snapshot virtual disk to the same host, host group, or node in a cluster. Map a snapshot virtual disk to a single separate host instead.When you map a virtual disk to a host, make sure you map to the host that you want to control data to the virtual disk. If you give a virtual disk access to an incorrect host, unexpected results can occur. For example, if you create a virtual disk for email data, but give the email virtual disk access to a web service host, the virtual disk will be filled with web service data instead of email data.