When the API reference says that a function supports “only hosted disks,” it means virtual disk images hosted by VMware Workstation or similar products. Virtual disk stored on VMFS partitions managed by ESXi or vCenter Server is called “managed disk.”

The functions described in this chapter are based on concepts and employ data structures documented in Virtual Disk Interfaces.

If the library accesses virtual disk on VMFS, I/O by default goes through the ESXi host, which manages physical disk storage. To use function calls that provide direct access to SAN storage, start your program by calling the

VixDiskLib_ConnectEx()

function, as described in Advanced Transport APIs.