6.5.1

A storage container is a part of the logical storage fabric and is a logical unit of the underlying hardware.
The storage container logically groups virtual volumes based on management and administrative needs.
For example, the storage container can contain all virtual volumes created for a tenant in a multitenant
deployment, or a department in an enterprise deployment. Each storage container serves as a virtual
volume store and virtual volumes are allocated out of the storage container capacity.
Typically, a storage administrator on the storage side defines storage containers. The number of storage
containers, their capacity, and their size depend on a vendor-specific implementation. At least one
container for each storage system is required.
Note A single storage container cannot span different physical arrays.
After you register a storage provider associated with the storage system, vCenter Server discovers all
configured storage containers along with their storage capability profiles, protocol endpoints, and other
attributes. A single storage container can export multiple capability profiles. As a result, virtual machines
with diverse needs and different storage policy settings can be a part of the same storage container.
Initially, all discovered storage containers are not connected to any specific host, and you cannot see
them in the vSphere Web Client. To mount a storage container, you must map it to a Virtual Volumes
datastore.
Protocol Endpoints
Although storage systems manage all aspects of virtual volumes, ESXi hosts have no direct access to
virtual volumes on the storage side. Instead, ESXi hosts use a logical I/O proxy, called the protocol
endpoint, to communicate with virtual volumes and virtual disk files that virtual volumes encapsulate.
ESXi uses protocol endpoints to establish a data path on demand from virtual machines to their
respective virtual volumes.
Each virtual volume is bound to a specific protocol endpoint. When a virtual machine on the host performs
an I/O operation, the protocol endpoint directs the I/O to the appropriate virtual volume. Typically, a
storage system requires just a few protocol endpoints. A single protocol endpoint can connect to
hundreds or thousands of virtual volumes.
On the storage side, a storage administrator configures protocol endpoints, one or several per storage
container. The protocol endpoints are a part of the physical storage fabric. The storage system exports
the protocol endpoints with associated storage containers through the storage provider. After you map the
storage container to a Virtual Volumes datastore, the ESXi host discovers the protocol endpoints and they
become visible in the vSphere Web Client. The protocol endpoints can also be discovered during a
storage rescan. Multiple hosts can discover and mount the protocol endpoints.
In the vSphere Web Client, the list of available protocol endpoints looks similar to the host storage
devices list. Different storage transports can be used to expose the protocol endpoints to ESXi. When the
SCSI-based transport is used, the protocol endpoint represents a proxy LUN defined by a T10-based
LUN WWN. For the NFS protocol, the protocol endpoint is a mount‐point, such as an IP address (or DNS
name) and a share name. You can configure multipathing on the SCSI-based protocol endpoint, but not
on the NFS-based protocol endpoint. No matter which protocol you use, the storage array can provide
multiple protocol endpoints for availability purposes.
vSphere Storage
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