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
iSCSI Naming Conventions
iSCSI uses a special unique name to identify an iSCSI node, either target or initiator.
iSCSI names are formatted in two different ways. The most common is the IQN format.
For more details on iSCSI naming requirements and string profiles, see RFC 3721 and RFC 3722 on the
IETF website.
iSCSI Qualified Name Format
The iSCSI Qualified Name (IQN) format takes the form iqn.yyyy-mm.naming-authority:unique
name, where:
n
yyyy-mm is the year and month when the naming authority was established.
n
naming-authority is the reverse syntax of the Internet domain name of the naming authority. For
example, the iscsi.vmware.com naming authority can have the iSCSI qualified name form of iqn.
1998-01.com.vmware.iscsi. The name indicates that the vmware.com domain name was
registered in January of 1998, and iscsi is a subdomain, maintained by vmware.com.
n
unique name is any name you want to use, for example, the name of your host. The naming authority
must make sure that any names assigned following the colon are unique, such as:
n
iqn.1998-01.com.vmware.iscsi:name1
n
iqn.1998-01.com.vmware.iscsi:name2
n
iqn.1998-01.com.vmware.iscsi:name999
Enterprise Unique Identifier Format
The Enterprise Unique Identifier (EUI) format takes the form eui.16_hex_digits.
For example, eui.0123456789ABCDEF.
The 16-hexadecimal digits are text representations of a 64-bit number of an IEEE EUI (extended unique
identifier) format. The top 24 bits are a company ID that IEEE registers with a particular company. The
remaining 40 bits are assigned by the entity holding that company ID and must be unique.
iSCSI Initiators
To access iSCSI targets, your ESXi host uses iSCSI initiators.
The initiator is a software or hardware installed on your ESXi host. The iSCSI initiator originates
communication between your host and an external iSCSI storage system and sends data to the storage
system.
In the ESXi environment, iSCSI adapters configured on your host play the role of initiators. ESXi supports
several types of iSCSI adapters.
For information on configuring and using iSCSI adapters, see Chapter 11 Configuring iSCSI Adapters and
Storage.
vSphere Storage
VMware, Inc. 69