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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
3 Under Storage, click Storage Adapters.
4 Use the icons to perform storage adapter tasks.
Availability of specific icons depends on the storage configuration.
Icon Description
Add Software Adapter Add a storage adapter. Applies to software iSCSI and software FCoE.
Refresh Refresh information about storage adapters, topology, and file systems on the host.
Rescan Storage Rescan all storage adapters on the host to discover newly added storage devices or VMFS
datastores.
Rescan Adapter Rescan the selected adapter to discover newly added storage devices.
5 To view details for a specific adapter, select the adapter from the list.
6 Use tabs under Adapter Details to access additional information and modify properties for the
selected adapter.
Tab Description
Properties Review general adapter properties that typically include a name and model of the adapter and
unique identifiers formed according to specific storage standards. For iSCSI and FCoE
adapters, use this tab to configure additional properties, for example, authentication.
Devices View storage devices the adapter can access. Use the tab to perform basic device
management tasks. See Display Storage Devices for an Adapter.
Paths List and manage all paths the adapter uses to access storage devices.
Targets (Fibre Channel and
iSCSI)
Review and manage targets accessed through the adapter.
Network Port Binding (iSCSI
only)
Configure port binding for software and dependent hardware iSCSI adapters.
Advanced Options (iSCSI
only)
Configure advanced parameters for iSCSI.
Datastore Characteristics
Datastores are logical containers, analogous to file systems, that hide specifics of each storage device
and provide a uniform model for storing virtual machine files. You can display all datastores available to
your hosts and analyze their properties.
Datastores are added to vCenter Server in the following ways:
n
You can create a VMFS datastore, an NFS version 3 or 4.1 datastore, or a Virtual Volumes datastore
using the New Datastore wizard. A vSAN datastore is automatically created when you enable vSAN.
n
When you add an ESXi host to vCenter Server, all datastores on the host are added to
vCenter Server.
The following table describes datastore details that you can see when you review datastores through the
vSphere Client. Certain characteristic might not be available or applicable to all types of datastores.
vSphere Storage
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