Local versus remote storage
ESXi supports the use of both local and remote storage. Local storage is a category that includes storage devices directly installed inside the server or any type of directly attached storage solution. Remote storage is a category that includes storage devices accessed over either the Ethernet or Fiber channel network:
When you design an environment with no remote storage, special care should be taken to use supported hard disk types. VMware ESXi supports the following disk types:
- SATA
- SCSI
- IDE
- USB
- SAS
The type of hard disks used at the remote storage could be of any type supported by the storage array. This is because the remote storage is accessed over an already supported interface such as a network adapter (NIC) or a storage initiator (FC HBA).
