Administrator Guide

VMware Virtual Volume Concepts
The following figure shows the virtual volumes (VVols) model defined by VMware.
The VVol framework introduces these components:
● VASA provider — A VASA provider (VP) is a software component that acts as a storage awareness service for vSphere.
Storage vendors develop VASA providers to work with their specific storage arrays.
● Protocol endpoint (PE) — A protocol endpoint is the connection used for VVol storage, and the means by which you can
access VVol storage containers. The protocol endpoint is also where access controls are placed and initiators are queried
to ensure that they are permitted access to the storage containers and virtual volumes. Protocol endpoints are created and
presented by Unisphere Central when a VMware ESXi 6.0 server type is created in Unisphere Central.
vSphere recognizes them as protocol endpoints after the VASA provider is registered and a Storage Container is created
using Unisphere Central.
● 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 Unisphere Central (connected to a Data Collector) to create storage containers.
Setting Up VVols Operations on Unisphere Central
To set up and run operations for virtual volumes (VVols) in Unisphere Central, you must:
● Register VMware vCenter Server in Unisphere Central.
● Register VMware vCenter Server in Storage Center either by using Auto manage Storage Center option in Unisphere
Central 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
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Storage Center Administration