6.7
Table Of Contents
- vSphere Storage
- Contents
- About vSphere Storage
- Introduction to Storage
- Getting Started with a Traditional Storage Model
- 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 Recommendations and Restrictions
- Configuring iSCSI Parameters for Adapters
- Set Up Independent Hardware iSCSI Adapters
- Configure Dependent Hardware iSCSI Adapters
- Configure the Software iSCSI Adapter
- Configure iSER Adapters
- Modify General Properties for iSCSI or iSER Adapters
- Setting Up Network for iSCSI and iSER
- 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 Rescan Operations
- Identifying Device Connectivity Problems
- Enable or Disable the Locator LED on Storage Devices
- Erase Storage Devices
- Working with Flash Devices
- About VMware vSphere Flash Read Cache
- Working with Datastores
- Types of Datastores
- Understanding VMFS Datastores
- Upgrading VMFS Datastores
- Understanding Network File System Datastores
- Creating Datastores
- Managing Duplicate 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
- Failovers with Fibre Channel
- Host-Based Failover with iSCSI
- Array-Based Failover with iSCSI
- Path Failover and Virtual Machines
- Pluggable Storage Architecture and Path Management
- Viewing and Managing Paths
- Using Claim Rules
- Scheduling Queues for Virtual Machine I/Os
- Raw Device Mapping
- Storage Policy Based Management
- Virtual Machine Storage Policies
- Workflow for Virtual Machine Storage Policies
- Populating the VM Storage Policies Interface
- About Rules and Rule Sets
- Creating and Managing VM Storage Policies
- About Storage Policy Components
- Storage Policies and Virtual Machines
- Default Storage Policies
- Using Storage Providers
- Working with Virtual Volumes
- About Virtual Volumes
- Virtual Volumes Concepts
- Virtual Volumes and Storage Protocols
- Virtual Volumes Architecture
- Virtual Volumes and VMware Certificate Authority
- Snapshots and Virtual Volumes
- Before You Enable Virtual Volumes
- Configure Virtual Volumes
- Provision Virtual Machines on Virtual Volumes Datastores
- Virtual Volumes and Replication
- Best Practices for Working with vSphere Virtual Volumes
- Troubleshooting Virtual Volumes
- Filtering Virtual Machine I/O
- 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
- Thin Provisioning and Space Reclamation
- Using vmkfstools
- vmkfstools Command Syntax
- The vmkfstools Command Options
- -v Suboption
- File System Options
- Virtual Disk Options
- Supported Disk Formats
- Creating a Virtual Disk
- Initializing a Virtual Disk
- Inflating a Thin Virtual Disk
- Converting a Zeroedthick Virtual Disk to an Eagerzeroedthick Disk
- Removing Zeroed Blocks
- Deleting a Virtual Disk
- Renaming a Virtual Disk
- Cloning or Converting a Virtual Disk or RDM
- Extending a Virtual Disk
- Upgrading Virtual Disks
- Creating a Virtual Compatibility Mode Raw Device Mapping
- 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
Table 17‑3. Comparing VMFS5 and VMFS6 (Continued)
Features and Functionalities VMFS5 VMFS6
Support for virtual machines with large capacity virtual disks, or
disks greater than 2 TB
Yes Yes
Support of small files of 1 KB Yes Yes
Default use of ATS-only locking mechanisms on storage devices
that support ATS. See VMFS Locking Mechanisms.
Yes Yes
Block size Standard 1 MB Standard 1 MB
Default snapshots VMFSsparse for virtual disks
smaller than 2 TB.
SEsparse for virtual disks
larger than 2 TB.
SEsparse
Virtual disk emulation type 512n 512n
vMotion Yes Yes
Storage vMotion across different datastore types Yes Yes
High Availability and Fault Tolerance Yes Yes
DRS and Storage DRS Yes Yes
RDM Yes Yes
When you work with VMFS datastores, consider the following:
n
Datastore Extents. A spanned VMFS datastore must use only homogeneous storage devices, either
512n, 512e, or 4Kn. The spanned datastore cannot extend over devices of different formats.
n
Block Size. The block size on a VMFS datastore defines the maximum file size and the amount of
space a file occupies. VMFS5 and VMFS6 datastores support the block size of 1 MB.
n
Storage vMotion. Storage vMotion supports migration across VMFS, vSAN, and Virtual Volumes
datastores. vCenter Server performs compatibility checks to validate Storage vMotion across different
types of datastores.
n
Storage DRS. VMFS5 and VMFS6 can coexist in the same datastore cluster. However, all datastores
in the cluster must use homogeneous storage devices. Do not mix devices of different formats within
the same datastore cluster.
n
Device Partition Formats. Any new VMFS5 or VMFS6 datastore uses GUID partition table (GPT) to
format the storage device. The GPT format enables you to create datastores larger than 2 TB. If your
VMFS5 datastore has been previously upgraded from VMFS3, it continues to use the master boot
record (MBR) partition format, which is characteristic for VMFS3. Conversion to GPT happens only
after you expand the datastore to a size larger than 2 TB.
vSphere Storage
VMware, Inc. 157