Administrator Guide

vSphere recognizes them as protocol endpoints after the VASA provider is registered and a Storage Container is created
using Storage Manager.
● Storage container — A storage container is a quantity of storage made available for the placement of virtual volumes-based
VMs. Each array has at least one storage container. Each storage container has one or more protocol endpoints associated
with it.
NOTE: Storage containers are not supported outside of the virtual volumes context.
You must use Storage Manager (connected to a Data Collector Manager) to create storage containers.
Setting Up VVols Operations on Storage Manager
To set up and run operations for virtual volumes (VVols) in Storage Manager, you must:
● Register VMware vCenter Server in Storage Manager.
● Register VMware vCenter Server in Storage Center either by using Auto manage Storage Center option in Storage
Manager or by manually adding vCenter server in Storage Center.
● Register the VASA provider on a vCenter server
● Create storage containers that are used to store the VVols objects created by the vCenter administrator
● Use Storage Manager to create datastores of type VVOL, which are mapped to the storage containers on the array using
Storage Manager
●
Use vCenter to create VVol-backed VMs
Storage Manager provides Summary and Storage views that provide information about storage containers, datastores, VVols,
and protocol endpoints. These objects are managed using Storage Manager. Protocol endpoints are created automatically by
Storage Manager and cannot be modified in any way.
Related concepts
Managing Storage Containers on page 179
VASA Provider on page 177
Virtual Volumes Restrictions
Volume operations on virtual volumes (VVols) are restricted to specific operations.
Storage administrators use Storage Manager to create storage container-backed vSphere datastores, also known as datastores
of type VVOL. From within the vSphere web client these VVol datastores look no different from VMFS or NFS datastores.
However, virtual machines stored within or on these VVol datastores are stored as virtual volumes on the array, organized within
the storage container. Many of the same operations that can be performed again on traditional volumes can be performed
against virtual volumes.
These volume operations are supported for VVols:
● Show
● Create Snapshot
● Set Snapshot Profiles
● Set Threshold Definitions
These volume operations are not supported for VVols:
● Edit Name
● Edit Properties
● Map Volume to Server
● Expand Volume
● Convert to Live Volume
● Delete
● Migrate
● Copy
● Mirror
● Replicate
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Managing Virtual Volumes With Storage Manager