Yes, Iguinn's comment is correct.
There is a Splunk doc about RDM
http://docs.splunk.com/index.php?title=Community:SplunkOnVirtualMachines
-- Copied from SplunkOnVirtualMachines
Raw Device Mapping (RDM) is a technique by which a raw Logical Unit Number (LUN), local or remote, can be aliased to a VMDK file on a VMFS partition. The net effect is direct access to the LUN being aliased. Think of this as literally creating a symlink on a VMFS filesystem that points to raw storage.
RDM can deliver sequential read and write benefits that include slightly greater IOps, lower overhead, and also benefits when working with block sizes smaller than 32kb.
For indexing volumes < 25 GB per day, indexing to VMDK should function well For indexing volumes > 25 GB per day, RDM should be used.
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