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
n
NFS 4.1 does not support hardware acceleration. This limitation does not allow you to create thick
virtual disks on NFS 4.1 datastores.
n
NFS 4.1 supports the Kerberos authentication protocol to secure communication with the NFS server.
For more information, see “Using Kerberos Credentials for NFS 4.1,” on page 158.
n
NFS 4.1 uses share reservations as a locking mechanism.
n
NFS 4.1 supports inbuilt le locking.
n
NFS 4.1 supports nonroot users to access les when used with Kerberos.
n
NFS 4.1 supports traditional non-Kerberos mounts. In this case, use security and root access guidelines
recommended for NFS version 3.
n
Does not support simultaneous AUTH_SYS and Kerberos mounts.
n
NFS 4.1 with Kerberos does not support IPv6. NFS 4.1 with AUTH_SYS supports both IPv4 and IPv6.
NFS Protocols and vSphere Solutions
vSphere Features NFS version 3 NFS version 4.1
vMotion and Storage vMotion Yes Yes
High Availability (HA) Yes Yes
Fault Tolerance (FT) Yes Yes
Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) Yes Yes
Host Proles Yes Yes
Storage DRS Yes No
Storage I/O Control Yes No
Site Recovery Manager Yes No
Virtual Volumes Yes No
NFS Version Upgrades
vSphere does not support automatic datastore conversions from NFS version 3 to NFS 4.1. If you want to
upgrade your NFS 3 datastore, the following options are available:
n
You can create a new NFS 4.1 datastore, and then use Storage vMotion to migrate virtual machines from
the old datastore to the new one.
n
Use conversion methods provided by your NFS storage server. For more information, contact your
storage vendor.
n
Unmount from one version and then mount as the other.
C If you use this option, make sure to unmount the datastore from all hosts that have access to
the datastore. The datastore can never be mounted by using both protocols at the same time.
Firewall Configurations for NFS Storage
ESXi includes a rewall between the management interface and the network. The rewall is enabled by
default. At installation time, the ESXi rewall is congured to block incoming and outgoing trac, except
trac for the default services, such as NFS.
Supported services, including NFS, are described in a rule set conguration le in the ESXi rewall
directory /etc/vmware/firewall/. The le contains rewall rules and lists each rule's relationship with ports
and protocols.
Chapter 16 Working with Datastores
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