What is Raw Device Mapping (RDM) in the context of ESXi?

Raw Device Mapping (RDM) serves as a significant feature within ESXi that allows a virtual machine to access a raw physical storage device while still maintaining the benefits of virtualization. Specifically, option B describes RDM accurately, indicating that it functions as a file within a VMFS volume that acts as a proxy for a physical device. This means that instead of the virtual machine using a regular virtual disk file (.vmdk), it can use the RDM file to interact directly with the physical block device, enabling certain advanced functionalities.

RDM is particularly useful in scenarios that require high-performance storage access or when a virtual machine must utilize features of a physical storage device, such as clustering solutions or direct SAN access. This capability allows virtual machines to benefit from features like snapshotting and cloning while still interacting with the underlying hardware directly.

The other choices do not align with the true functionality of RDM. Creating virtual disks typically involves using .vmdk files, which are not classified as RDMs. An external storage management tool represents a different category of storage management and does not reflect the nature of RDM. Finally, while virtual machine cloning involves disk configurations, it does not specifically relate to RDM since it entails different methods of disk manipulation. Thus