6.0

Reducing and Managing Storage
Requirements 15
Deploying desktops on virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server provides all the storage
efficiencies that were previously available only for virtualized servers. Using View Composer increases the
storage savings because all virtual machines in a pool share a virtual disk with a base image.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“Managing Storage with vSphere,” on page 169
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“Using Virtual SAN for High-Performance Storage and Policy-Based Management,” on page 170
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“Reducing Storage Requirements with View Composer,” on page 173
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“Storage Sizing for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools,” on page 174
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“Storage Overcommit for Linked-Clone Virtual Machines,” on page 178
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“Linked-Clone Data Disks,” on page 180
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“Storing Linked Clones on Local Datastores,” on page 181
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“Storing View Composer Replicas and Linked Clones on Separate Datastores,” on page 182
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“Configure View Storage Accelerator for Desktop Pools,” on page 183
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“Reclaim Disk Space on Linked-Clone Virtual Machines,” on page 184
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“Using View Composer Array Integration with Native NFS Snapshot Technology (VAAI),” on
page 186
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“Set Blackout Times for ESXi Operations on View Virtual Machines,” on page 187
Managing Storage with vSphere
vSphere lets you virtualize disk volumes and file systems so that you can manage and configure storage
without having to consider where the data is physically stored.
Fibre Channel SAN arrays, iSCSI SAN arrays, and NAS arrays are widely used storage technologies
supported by vSphere to meet different datacenter storage needs. The storage arrays are connected to and
shared between groups of servers through storage area networks. This arrangement allows aggregation of
the storage resources and provides more flexibility in provisioning them to virtual machines.
Compatible vSphere 4.1 or Later Features
With vSphere 4.1 or later, you can now also use the following features:
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vStorage thin provisioning, which lets you start out with as little disk space as necessary and grow the
disk to add space later
VMware, Inc.
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