Administrator Guide
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Managing Virtual Volumes With Storage Manager
VVols is VMware’s storage management and integration framework, which is designed to deliver a more ecient operational model
for attached storage. This framework encapsulates the les 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. These storage
policies can be created for vSphere Storage Policy-Based Management.
Conguring VVols in Storage Manager
Running VVols in a Dell Storage environment requires the following software and rmware:
• VMware vSphere 6 and later
• Storage Manager 2016 R1
• Storage Center version 7.0
Requirements and Recommendations for Conguring 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 Area Network (SAN). The
Storage Manager Data Collector must be installed and remain on a traditional SAN volume
• Install Storage Manager 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 “IO Devices” with the
“Secondary LUNID” in the VMware Compatibility Guide.
For additional information, see 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 VVols the VM metadata.VMware's ESXi reads and writes this metadata on a per-
VVol basis during control plane operations, such as power-on, power-o, and snapshots.
The Dell Storage Manager Data Collector stores this VVols metadata written by the VASA provider in a database.
During Storage Manager deployment time (installation or migration) and during VASA provider registration, the production user is
reminded to use an external database.
Use of the internal database is a consideration for lab deployments only. Depending upon the protection model used in deployment,
failure to use the external database could result in the loss of some or all VVols metadata when Storage Manager is uninstalled or
deleted. Use of the external database negates this risk during uninstall or delete.
The external database is expected to be deployed in a highly available manner including redundant switching connectivity.
Lab Experimentation Use of VVols
In a preproduction lab environment, it is conceivable that a user may experiment with VVols and choose to purge all data on the array
and restart with the intention of redeploying another VVols lab environment for experimentation purposes.
Managing Virtual Volumes With Storage Manager
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