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Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 87
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VMwarepartnersandcustomerscanoptimizeperformanceoftheirstoragearraysinconjunctionwith
VMwarevSphereusingVMwarePSA(pluggablestoragearchitecture).Theesxcli storage core
namespacemanagesVMwarePSAandtheesxcli storage nmpnamespacemanagestheVMwareNMP
plugin.
ThevSphereStoragedocumentationdiscussesPSAfunctionalityindetailandexplainshowto
usethevSphere
ClientorthevSphereWebClienttomanagethePSA,theassociatednativemultipathingplugin(NMP)and
thirdpartyplugins.
Thischapterusesthefollowingacronyms.
Thischapterincludesthesetopics:
“ManagingNMPwithesxclistoragenmp”onpage 87
“PathClaimingwithesxclistoragecoreclaiming”onpage 93
“ManagingClaimRules”onpage 95
Managing NMP with esxcli storage nmp
TheNMP(NativeMultipathingPlugin)isanextensiblemultipathingmodulethatESXisupportsbydefault.
Youcanuseesxcli storage nmptomanagedevicesassociatedwithNMPandtosetpathpolicies.
TheNMPsupportsallstoragearrayslistedontheVMwarestorageHardwareCompatibilityList(HCL)and
providesapathselectionalgorithm
basedonthearraytype.TheNMPassociatesasetofphysicalpathswith
astoragedevice(LUN).AStorageArrayTypePlugin(SATP)determineshowpathfailoverishandledfora
specificstoragearray.APathSelectionPlugin(PSP)determineswhichphysicalpathisusedtoissueanI/O
requesttoastoragedevice.SATPsandPSPsarepluginswithintheNMPplugin.
Device Management with esxcli storage nmp device
ThedeviceoptionperformsoperationsondevicescurrentlyclaimedbytheVMwareNMPplugin.
Managing Third-Party Storage Arrays
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Acronym Meaning
PSA PluggableStorageArchitecture.
NMP NativeMultipathingPlugin.GenericVMwaremultipathingmodule.
PSP PathSelectionPlugin.Handlespathselectionforagivendevice.
SATP StorageArrayTypePlugin.Handlespathfailoverforagivenstoragearray.