7.0

Reducing and Managing Storage
Requirements 16
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 instant clones or View
Composer linked clones as desktop machines 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 233
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“Reducing Storage Requirements with Instant Clones,” on page 239
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“Reducing Storage Requirements with View Composer,” on page 240
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“Storage Sizing for Instant-Clone and View Composer Linked-Clone Desktop Pools,” on page 241
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“Storage Overcommit for View Composer Linked-Clone Virtual Machines,” on page 245
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“View Composer Linked-Clone Data Disks,” on page 247
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“Storing View Composer Linked Clones on Local Datastores,” on page 248
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“Storing Replicas and Clones on Separate Datastores for Instant Clones and View Composer Linked
Clones,” on page 249
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“Configure View Storage Accelerator for View Composer Linked Clones,” on page 250
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“Reclaim Disk Space on View Composer Linked Clones,” on page 251
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“Using VAAI Storage for View Composer Linked Clones,” on page 253
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“Set Storage Accelerator and Space Reclamation Blackout Times for View Composer Linked Clones,”
on page 254
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.
VMware, Inc.
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