Administrator Guide

Table Of Contents
Managing Virtual Volumes With Storage
Manager
VVols is VMwares storage management and integration framework, which is designed to deliver a more efficient operational
model for attached storage. This framework encapsulates the files that make up a virtual machine (VM) and natively stores
them as objects on an array.
The VVols architecture enables granular storage capabilities to be advertised by the underlying storage. Storage containers,
which define the available storage capabilities, can be created for vSphere Storage Policy-Based Management.
Topics:
Configuring VVols in Storage Manager
VMware Virtual Volume Concepts
Setting Up VVols Operations on Storage Manager
VASA Provider
Managing Storage Containers
Creating VVol Datastores
Create a Datastore and Map it to VMware ESX Server
View VVol and Datastore Information
Protocol Endpoint Monitoring
Configuring VVols in Storage Manager
VMware vSphere 6 or later is required to run VVols in a storage environment with Storage Manager.
Requirements and Recommendations for Configuring VVols in Storage
Manager
The following requirements and recommendations apply to setting up Storage Manager to use VVols:
Storage Manager must be installed on a clustered hypervisor of choice with high-availability (HA) enabled.
Fault Tolerance is recommended.
Storage Manager must not be deployed or moved to a VVol datastore on the managed Storage Center. Storage Manager
must be installed and remain on a traditional SAN volume
Storage Manager must be installed on a separate management cluster.
VVols is supported with the iSCSI and Fibre Channel interfaces only. FCoE and front end SAS are not supported for VVols.
The network card must support the Secondary LUNID feature. For more information, search for I/O Devices with the
Secondary LUNID in the VMware Compatibility Guide, available from http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/
search.php.
Safeguarding VVols Data
A critical component of the total VVols solution is the VM metadata.VMware's ESXi reads and writes this metadata to each VVol
during control plane operations, such as power-on, power-off, and snapshots.
The Data Collector stores the VVols metadata written by the VASA provider in a database.
During Data Collector deployment (installation or migration) and during VASA provider registration, the production user is
reminded to use an external database.
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