6.0

3 Mount an NFS Datastore in the VMware Host Client on page 88
Use the New datastore wizard to mount a Network File System (NFS) datastore in the
VMware Host Client.
4 Provide NFS Details on page 89
Before you mount an NFS datastore in the VMware Host Client, you must specify a name, a server,
and a share.
5 Complete the NFS Datastore Mounting Process in the VMware Host Client on page 89
In the Ready to complete page you can review your conguration selections for your NFS datastore.
Understanding Network File System Datastores
An NFS client built into ESXi uses the Network File System (NFS) protocol over TCP/IP to access a
designated NFS volume that is located on a NAS server. The ESXi host can mount the volume and use it for
its storage needs. vSphere supports versions 3 and 4.1 of the NFS protocol.
Typically, the NFS volume or directory is created by a storage administrator and is exported form the NFS
server. The NFS volume is not required to be formaed with a local le system, such as VMFS. You can
mount the volume directly on ESXi hosts and use it to store and boot virtual machines in the same way that
you use VMFS datastores.
In addition to storing virtual disks on NFS datastores, you can use NFS as a central repository for ISO
images, virtual machine templates, and so on. If you use the datastore for ISO images, you can connect the
virtual machine's CD-ROM device to an ISO le on the datastore and install a guest operating system from
the ISO le.
ESXi supports the following storage capabilities on most NFS volumes:
n
vMotion and Storage vMotion
n
High Availability (HA) and Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)
n
Fault Tolerance (FT) and Host Proles
N NFS 4.1 does not support legacy Fault Tolerance.
n
ISO images, which are presented as CD-ROMs to virtual machines
n
Virtual machine snapshots
n
Virtual machines with large capacity virtual disks, or disks greater than 2TB. Virtual disks created on
NFS datastores are thin-provisioned by default, unless you use hardware acceleration that supports the
Reserve Space operation. NFS 4.1 does not support hardware acceleration. For information, see vSphere
Storage.
NFS Storage Guidelines and Requirements
When using NFS storage, you must follow specic conguration, networking, and NFS datastore guidelines.
NFS Server Configuration Guidelines
n
Make sure that NFS servers you use are listed in the VMware HCL. Use the correct version for the server
rmware.
n
When conguring NFS storage, follow the recommendation of your storage vendor.
n
Ensure that the NFS volume is exported using NFS over TCP.
n
Make sure that the NFS server exports a particular share as either NFS 3 or NFS 4.1, but does not
provide both protocol versions for the same share. This policy needs to be enforced by the server
because ESXi does not prevent mounting the same share through dierent NFS versions.
Chapter 4 Managing Storage in the VMware Host Client
VMware, Inc. 87