Shared folders options for vmware in ESXi server [closed]

Question

I am using ESXi server and run VMs using vSphere client. I was using shared folders options in VMware but I cannot find this option in these VMs now. How can I create a shared folder or how can I transfer files between VMware virtual machines easily? Thanks.

Connel

Answer 1

If you only need to transfer files from the host to the guest, the simplest solution is to create an ISO image and attach it to the virtual CD/DVD drive. For example, on Linux, the following command creates an ISO image foo.iso from the bar directory, preserving long file names (-J).

genisoimage -o foo.iso -J bar

If you need something more complex than that, ESXi has no such built-in method, it's best to set up a VM for such things with an (S)FTP, SMB or NFS service.

Micropyle

I need to share files between hosts on the vsphere client. I used to save files from vmware into my local computer using the shared folder option of vmware but vspehere client doesn't support this option. I am looking for another solution because I want to share this saved folder to each vmware. – Connel

Then the second option is for you. As I said, there's no such built-in functionality in ESXi like the shared folders in VMware Workstation/Player, so you have to install your own VM for this purpose with (S)FTP, SMB or NFS service. – Micropyle

I don't want to change VM set up settings. Is there any other solution? – Connel

Not really, since ESXi is all about providing a very thin hypervisor for "bare metal" virtualization. In case of workstation virtualization solutions like VMware Workstation or VirtualBox, sharing the file system of the host is an obvious option, but in case of bare metal solutions like ESXi, the use-case is different. If you don't see why, maybe it's not for you -- you might want to install a general purpose OS like Windows or some Linux distribution on that server, and use some workstation virtualization solution on it. – Micropyle