6.0.1
Table Of Contents
- vSphere Storage
- Contents
- About vSphere Storage
- Updated Information
- Introduction to Storage
- Overview of Using ESXi with a SAN
- Using ESXi with Fibre Channel SAN
- Configuring Fibre Channel Storage
- Configuring Fibre Channel over Ethernet
- Booting ESXi from Fibre Channel SAN
- Booting ESXi with Software FCoE
- Best Practices for Fibre Channel Storage
- Using ESXi with iSCSI SAN
- Configuring iSCSI Adapters and Storage
- ESXi iSCSI SAN Requirements
- ESXi iSCSI SAN Restrictions
- Setting LUN Allocations for iSCSI
- Network Configuration and Authentication
- Set Up Independent Hardware iSCSI Adapters
- About Dependent Hardware iSCSI Adapters
- Dependent Hardware iSCSI Considerations
- Configure Dependent Hardware iSCSI Adapters
- About the Software iSCSI Adapter
- Modify General Properties for iSCSI Adapters
- Setting Up iSCSI Network
- Using Jumbo Frames with iSCSI
- Configuring Discovery Addresses for iSCSI Adapters
- Configuring CHAP Parameters for iSCSI Adapters
- Configuring Advanced Parameters for iSCSI
- iSCSI Session Management
- Booting from iSCSI SAN
- Best Practices for iSCSI Storage
- Managing Storage Devices
- Storage Device Characteristics
- Understanding Storage Device Naming
- Storage Refresh and Rescan Operations
- Identifying Device Connectivity Problems
- Edit Configuration File Parameters
- Enable or Disable the Locator LED on Storage Devices
- Working with Flash Devices
- About VMware vSphere Flash Read Cache
- Working with Datastores
- Understanding VMFS Datastores
- Understanding Network File System Datastores
- Creating Datastores
- Managing Duplicate VMFS Datastores
- Upgrading VMFS Datastores
- Increasing VMFS Datastore Capacity
- Administrative Operations for Datastores
- Set Up Dynamic Disk Mirroring
- Collecting Diagnostic Information for ESXi Hosts on a Storage Device
- Checking Metadata Consistency with VOMA
- Configuring VMFS Pointer Block Cache
- Understanding Multipathing and Failover
- Raw Device Mapping
- Working with Virtual Volumes
- Virtual Machine Storage Policies
- Upgrading Legacy Storage Profiles
- Understanding Virtual Machine Storage Policies
- Working with Virtual Machine Storage Policies
- Creating and Managing VM Storage Policies
- Storage Policies and Virtual Machines
- Default Storage Policies
- Assign Storage Policies to Virtual Machines
- Change Storage Policy Assignment for Virtual Machine Files and Disks
- Monitor Storage Compliance for Virtual Machines
- Check Compliance for a VM Storage Policy
- Find Compatible Storage Resource for Noncompliant Virtual Machine
- Reapply Virtual Machine Storage Policy
- Filtering Virtual Machine I/O
- VMkernel and Storage
- Storage Hardware Acceleration
- Hardware Acceleration Benefits
- Hardware Acceleration Requirements
- Hardware Acceleration Support Status
- Hardware Acceleration for Block Storage Devices
- Hardware Acceleration on NAS Devices
- Hardware Acceleration Considerations
- Storage Thick and Thin Provisioning
- Using Storage Providers
- Using vmkfstools
- vmkfstools Command Syntax
- vmkfstools Options
- -v Suboption
- File System Options
- Virtual Disk Options
- Supported Disk Formats
- Creating a Virtual Disk
- Example for Creating a Virtual Disk
- Initializing a Virtual Disk
- Inflating a Thin Virtual Disk
- Removing Zeroed Blocks
- Converting a Zeroedthick Virtual Disk to an Eagerzeroedthick Disk
- Deleting a Virtual Disk
- Renaming a Virtual Disk
- Cloning or Converting a Virtual Disk or RDM
- Example for Cloning or Converting a Virtual Disk
- Migrate Virtual Machines Between DifferentVMware Products
- Extending a Virtual Disk
- Upgrading Virtual Disks
- Creating a Virtual Compatibility Mode Raw Device Mapping
- Example for Creating a Virtual Compatibility Mode RDM
- Creating a Physical Compatibility Mode Raw Device Mapping
- Listing Attributes of an RDM
- Displaying Virtual Disk Geometry
- Checking and Repairing Virtual Disks
- Checking Disk Chain for Consistency
- Storage Device Options
- Index
Introduction to Storage 1
This introduction describes storage options available in vSphere and explains how to congure your host so
that it can use and manage dierent types of storage.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“Storage Virtualization,” on page 13
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“Types of Physical Storage,” on page 14
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“Target and Device Representations,” on page 17
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“Storage Device Characteristics,” on page 18
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“Supported Storage Adapters,” on page 20
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“Datastore Characteristics,” on page 21
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“How Virtual Machines Access Storage,” on page 24
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“Comparing Types of Storage,” on page 24
Storage Virtualization
vSphere storage virtualization supports such capabilities as virtual machines, Virtual SAN, Virtual Volumes,
policy-based storage managements, and so on.
ESXi provides host-level storage virtualization, which logically abstracts the physical storage layer from
virtual machines. An ESXi virtual machine uses a virtual disk to store its operating system, program les,
and other data associated with its activities. A virtual disk is a large physical le, or a set of les, that can be
copied, moved, archived, and backed up as easily as any other le. You can congure virtual machines with
multiple virtual disks.
To access virtual disks, a virtual machine uses virtual SCSI controllers. These virtual controllers include
BusLogic Parallel, LSI Logic Parallel, LSI Logic SAS, and VMware Paravirtual. These controllers are the only
types of SCSI controllers that a virtual machine can see and access.
Each virtual disk resides on a datastore that is deployed on physical storage. From the standpoint of the
virtual machine, each virtual disk appears as if it were a SCSI drive connected to a SCSI controller. Whether
the actual physical storage is being accessed through storage or network adapters on the host is typically
transparent to the guest operating system and to applications running on the virtual machine.
In addition to virtual disks, vSphere oers a mechanism called raw device mapping (RDM). RDM is useful
when a guest operating system inside a virtual machine requires direct access to a storage device. For
information about RDMs, see Chapter 18, “Raw Device Mapping,” on page 205.
VMware, Inc.
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