6.5.1
Table Of Contents
- vSphere Storage
- Contents
- About vSphere Storage
- Updated Information
- 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 Requirements
- ESXi iSCSI SAN Restrictions
- Setting LUN Allocations for iSCSI
- Network Configuration and Authentication
- Set Up Independent Hardware iSCSI Adapters
- About Dependent Hardware iSCSI Adapters
- About the Software iSCSI Adapter
- Modify General Properties for iSCSI Adapters
- Setting Up iSCSI Network
- 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
- Edit Configuration File Parameters
- 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
- 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
- Raw Device Mapping
- Software-Defined Storage and Storage Policy Based Management
- About Storage Policy Based Management
- Virtual Machine Storage Policies
- Working with Virtual Machine Storage Policies
- Populating the VM Storage Policies Interface
- Default Storage Policies
- Creating and Managing VM Storage Policies
- Storage Policies and Virtual Machines
- Assign Storage Policies to Virtual Machines
- Change Storage Policy Assignment for Virtual Machine Files and Disks
- Monitor Storage Compliance for Virtual Machines
- Check Compliance for a VM Storage Policy
- Find Compatible Storage Resource for Noncompliant Virtual Machine
- Reapply Virtual Machine Storage Policy
- 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
- 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
The following vSphere functionalities require the virtual flash resource:
n
Virtual machine read cache. See Chapter 16 About VMware vSphere Flash Read Cache.
n
Host swap cache. See Configure Host Swap Cache with Virtual Flash Resource.
n
I/O caching filters, if required by your vendors. See Chapter 23 Filtering Virtual Machine I/O.
Before setting up the virtual flash resource, make sure that you use devices approved by the VMware
Compatibility Guide.
Considerations for Virtual Flash Resource
When you configure a virtual flash resource to be used by ESXi hosts and virtual machines, several
considerations apply.
n
You can have only one virtual flash resource, also called a VFFS volume, on a single ESXi host. The
virtual flash resource is managed only at the host's level.
n
You cannot use the virtual flash resource to store virtual machines. Virtual flash resource is a caching
layer only.
n
You can use only local flash devices for the virtual flash resource.
n
You can create the virtual flash resource from mixed flash devices. All device types are treated the
same and no distinction is made between SAS, SATA, or PCI express connectivity. When creating the
resource from mixed flash devices, make sure to group similar performing devices together to
maximize performance.
n
You cannot use the same flash devices for the virtual flash resource and vSAN. Each requires its own
exclusive and dedicated flash device.
n
The total available capacity of the virtual flash resource can be used by ESXi hosts as host swap
cache and by virtual machines as read cache.
n
You cannot select individual flash devices for swap cache or read cache. All flash devices are
combined into a single flash resource entity.
Set Up Virtual Flash Resource
You can set up a virtual flash resource or add capacity to existing virtual flash resource.
To set up a virtual flash resource, you use local flash devices connected to your host. To increase the
capacity of your virtual flash resource, you can add more devices, up to the maximum number indicated
in the Configuration Maximums documentation. An individual flash device must be exclusively allocated to
the virtual flash resource. No other vSphere service, such as vSAN or VMFS, can share the device with
the virtual flash resource.
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Web Client, navigate to the host.
2 Click the Configure tab.
vSphere Storage
VMware, Inc. 146