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
Snapshot-VVol A virtual memory volume to hold the contents of virtual machine memory for
a snapshot. Thick-provisioned.
Other A virtual volume for specific features. For example, a digest virtual volume
is created for Content-Based Read Cache (CBRC).
Example: Types of Virtual Volumes
Typically, a VM creates a minimum of three virtual volumes, data-VVol, config-VVol, and swap-VVol. The
maximum depends on how many virtual disks and snapshots reside on the VM.
For example, the following SQL server has six virtual volumes:
n
Config-VVol
n
Data-VVol for the operating system
n
Data-VVol for the database
n
Data-VVol for the log
n
Swap-VVol when powered on
n
Snapshot-VVol
By using different virtual volumes for different VM components, you can apply and manipulate storage
policies at the finest granularity level. For example, a virtual volume that contains a virtual disk can have a
richer set of services than the virtual volume for the VM boot disk. Similarly, a snapshot virtual volume can
use a different storage tier compared to a current virtual volume.
Virtual Volumes and Thin Provisioning
The Virtual Volumes functionality supports a concept of thin and thick-provisioned virtual disks. However,
from the I/O prospective, implementation and management of thin or thick provisioning by the arrays is
transparent to the ESXi host. ESXi offloads to the storage arrays any functions related to thin
provisioning. In the data path, ESXi does not treat the thin or thick virtual volumes differently.
You select the thin or thick type for your virtual disk at the VM creation time. If your disk is thin and resides
on a VVols datastore, you cannot change its type later by inflating the disk.
Virtual Volumes and Storage Providers
A Virtual Volumes storage provider, also called a VASA provider, is a software component that acts as a
storage awareness service for vSphere. The provider mediates out-of-band communication between
vCenter Server and ESXi hosts on one side and a storage system on the other.
The storage provider is implemented through VMware APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) and is used to
manage all aspects of Virtual Volumes storage. The storage provider integrates with the Storage
Monitoring Service (SMS), shipped with vSphere, to communicate with vCenter Server and ESXi hosts.
vSphere Storage
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