Users Guide
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Overview
VMware vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) is a set of application program interfaces (APIs) that support Dell PowerVault
MD-Series iSCSI and Fibre Channel storage arrays. VASA enables vSphere vCenter to recognize MD storage array features and
corresponding datastores, which allows storage administrators to easily set virtualization and maintenance policies.
Using the VASA provider on an MD storage array enables a vCenter-based storage administrator to:
• Review information about MD-attached expansion storage
• Discover and characterize an attached datastore’s static capabilities, which helps in selecting the appropriate storage disk for
virtual machine (VM) placement
• Receive alert and event notications from the MD storage arrays
The following gure shows the high-level VASA provider architecture and how it integrates with the vCenter management
environment.
Figure 1. VASA Provider in a vCenter Storage Management Architecture
VASA storage capabilities
Storage provisioning operations in vSphere enable VASA to monitor whether a storage array's physical components meet VM
requirements according to dened capabilities. Available capabilities and their common performance ranges are listed in the Table 1.
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