5.2

Using View Composer Array Integration with Native NFS Snapshot Technology
(VAAI)
If your deployment includes NAS devices that support the vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI), you
can enable the View Composer Array Integration feature on linked-clone pools. This feature uses native NFS
snapshot technology to clone virtual machines.
NOTE Native NFS snapshot technology (VAAI) is a Tech Preview feature. The feature is available for you to
try out, but it is not recommended for production use and no support is provided.
With this technology, the NFS disk array clones the virtual machine files without having the ESXi host read
and
write the data. This operation might reduce the time and network load when virtual machines are cloned.
Apply these guidelines for using native NFS snapshot technology:
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You can use this feature only if you configure desktop pools on datastores that reside on NAS devices that
support native cloning operations through VAAI.
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You can use View Composer features to manage linked clones that are created by native NFS snapshot
technology. For example, you can refresh, recompose, rebalance, create persistent disks, and run
QuickPrep customization scripts on these clones.
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You cannot use this feature if you store replicas and OS disks on separate datastores.
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This feature is supported on vSphere 5.0 and later.
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You can use NAS device-cloned virtual machines in local mode. However, when users check out their
desktops, the View Composer base image in the Transfer Server repository is not used in the checkout
operation. Instead, View Transfer Server mounts and downloads the whole virtual machine to the client
computer.
After a user checks in a desktop, native NFS cloning is not used again for that desktop. View manages the
desktop as a full virtual machine. This constraint applies only to desktops that were used in local mode.
Remote desktops in the pool continue to benefit from native NFS cloning.
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If you edit a pool and select or deselect the native NFS cloning feature, existing virtual machines are not
affected.
To change existing virtual machines from native NFS clones to traditional redo log clones, you must
deselect the native NFS cloning feature and recompose the pool to a new base image. To change the cloning
method for all virtual machines in a pool and use a different datastore, you must select the new datastore,
deselect the native NFS cloning feature, rebalance the pool to the new datastore, and recompose the pool
to a new base image.
Similarly, to change virtual machines from traditional redo log clones to native NFS clones, you must
select a NAS datastore that supports VAAI, select the native NFS cloning feature, rebalance the pool to
the NAS datastore, and recompose the pool.
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On an ESXi cluster, to configure native cloning on a selected NFS datastore in View Administrator, you
might have to install vendor-specific NAS plug-ins that support native cloning operations on VAAI on all
ESXi hosts in the cluster. See your storage vendor documentation for guidance on configuration
requirements.
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Native NFS snapshot technology (VAAI) is not supported in pools that are enabled for View Storage
Accelerator or virtual machine disk space reclamation.
IMPORTANT NAS storage vendors might provide additional settings that can affect the performance and
operation of VAAI. You should follow the vendor's recommendations and configure the appropriate settings
on both the NAS storage array and ESXi. See your storage vendor documentation for guidance on configuring
vendor-recommended settings.
VMware Horizon View Administration
114 VMware, Inc.