Users Guide

Storage Term Description
NAS pool The sum of all storage provided by up to two Storage Centers
minus space reserved for internal system use
NAS volume Virtualized volume that consumes storage space in the NAS pool.
Administrators can create SMB shares and NFS exports on a NAS
volume and share them with authorized users.
NAS volume snapshot A point-in-time copy of a NAS volume, mounted as an NFS
datastore, similar to Replays.
Client VIP Virtual IP address that clients use to access SMB shares and NFS
exports hosted by the FluidFS cluster
NFS export A directory in a NAS volume that is shared on the network using
the Network File System (NFS) protocol
See the Dell FluidFS Administrator’s Guide for additional FluidFS and NAS concepts.
Creating and Managing VMFS Datastores and Raw Device
Mappings on Storage Centers
The vSphere Web Client Plugin allows you to create and manage Dell volumes that are mapped as VMFS
datastores to ESXi hosts or clusters on a Storage Center and volumes that are mapped as Raw Device
Mappings (RDMs) to virtual machines.
NOTE: The options that appear when creating and managing datastores and RDMs change
depending on the Storage Center user preferences of the
Enterprise Manager user defined in the
vSphere Web Client Plugin.
The following sections describe how to create and manage datastores:
• Adding a Datastore
• Adding Multiple Datastores
• Adding an RDM to a Virtual Machine
• Resizing a Datastore or RDM
• Removing a Datastore or RDM
Adding a VMFS Datastore
Use the Add Datastore wizard to add Dell storage as a VMFS datastore.
When you add a VMFS datastore, you create and/or map a Dell volume on the Storage Center. See
Introduction to Dell Storage for details about Dell volumes.
To add a VMFS datastore, use these options:
• Create New Dell Volume – Create and map a new Dell volume as a VMFS datastore.
• Map Existing Dell Volume – Select an existing Dell volume to map as a datastore.
NOTE: The existing volume must be a formatted VMFS datastore.
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Working With Dell Storage