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
n
Improved management. Creating and managing the operating system image is easier and more
efficient.
n
Better reliability. You can access the boot disk through multiple paths, which protects the disk from
being a single point of failure.
Requirements and Considerations when Booting from
Fibre Channel SAN
Your ESXi boot configuration must meet specific requirements.
Table 7‑1. Boot from SAN Requirements
Requirement Description
ESXi system
requirements
Follow vendor recommendations for the server booting from a SAN.
Adapter requirements Configure the adapter, so it can access the boot LUN. See your vendor documentation.
Access control
n
Each host must have access to its own boot LUN only, not the boot LUNs of other hosts. Use storage
system software to make sure that the host accesses only the designated LUNs.
n
Multiple servers can share a diagnostic partition. You can use array-specific LUN masking to achieve
this configuration.
Multipathing support Multipathing to a boot LUN on active-passive arrays is not supported because the BIOS does not support
multipathing and is unable to activate a standby path.
SAN considerations If the array is not certified for a direct connect topology, the SAN connections must be through a switched
topology. If the array is certified for the direct connect topology, the SAN connections can be made directly
to the array. Boot from SAN is supported for both switched topology and direct connect topology.
Hardware- specific
considerations
If you are running an IBM eServer BladeCenter and use boot from SAN, you must disable IDE drives on
the blades.
Getting Ready for Boot from SAN
When you prepare your ESXi host to boot from a SAN, you perform several tasks.
This section describes the generic boot-from-SAN enablement process on the rack-mounted servers. For
information on enabling the boot from SAN option on Cisco Unified Computing System FCoE blade
servers, refer to Cisco documentation.
1 Configure SAN Components and Storage System
Before you set up your ESXi host to boot from a SAN LUN, configure SAN components and a
storage system.
2 Configure Storage Adapter to Boot from SAN
When you set up your host to boot from SAN, you enable the boot adapter in the host BIOS. You
then configure the boot adapter to initiate a primitive connection to the target boot LUN.
3 Set Up Your System to Boot from Installation Media
When setting up your host to boot from SAN, you first boot the host from the VMware installation
media. To boot from the installation media, change the system boot sequence in the BIOS setup.
vSphere Storage
VMware, Inc. 54