This document provides an overview and introduction to virtual storage concepts in VMware vSphere, including NFS, iSCSI, VMFS, and Virtual SAN datastores. It discusses storage protocols, multipathing, and best practices for configuring and managing different types of datastores. The document is divided into several sections covering storage concepts, iSCSI, NFS, VMFS, and Virtual SAN datastores.

1. Introduction to vSphere Storage &
VM Management
Day 4
VMware vSphere:
Install, Configure, Manage

2. Content
• Virtual Storage
• NFS
• iSCSI
• Clone, Template, Snapshot
• vApp
• Content Library

3. Virtual Storage

4. Module Lessons
Storage Concepts
iSCSI Storage
NFS Datastores
VMFS Datastores
Virtual SAN Datastores
Virtual Volumes

5. Storage Concepts

6. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Describe VMware vSphere® storage technologies and datastores
• Describe the storage device naming convention

7. Basic Storage Overview
Storage
Technologies
Datastore
Types
FCoE iSCSI
Fibre
Channel
Direct
Attached
File
System
NAS
NFSVMFS
ESXi
Hosts

8. Storage Protocol Overview
Storage
Protocol
Boot from
SAN
Support
vSphere
vMotion
Support
vSphere HA
Support
vSphere
DRS
Support
Raw Device
Mapping
Support
Fibre
Channel
● ● ● ● ●
FCoE ● ● ● ● ●
iSCSI ● ● ● ● ●
NFS ● ● ●
DAS ● ●
Virtual
Volumes
● ● ●
Virtual SAN ● ● ●

9. About Datastores
A datastore is a logical storage unit
that can use disk space on one
physical device or span several
physical devices.
Datastores are used to hold virtual
machine files, templates, and ISO
images.
Types of datastores:
• VMFS
• NFS
• Virtual SAN
• Virtual Volumes
Host Host
Datastore

10. About VMFS5
VMFS5:
• Allows concurrent access to
shared storage.
• Can be dynamically expanded.
• Uses a 1 MB block size, good
for storing large virtual disk
files.
• Uses subblock addressing,
good for storing small files: the
subblock size is 8 KB.
• Provides on-disk, block-level
locking.
HostHost
VMFS Datastore

11. About NFS
NFS:
• Is storage shared over the
network at the file system
level
• Supports NFS version 3 and
4.1 over TCP/IP HostHost
NFS Datastore

12. Virtual SAN™ is hypervisor-converged, software-defined storage for
virtual environments.
By clustering host-attached hard disks (HDDs) and/or solid state drives
(SSDs), Virtual SAN creates an aggregated datastore shared by virtual
machines.
vSphere
HDD/Flash/SSD
Virtual SAN
3-64
Virtual SAN Overview
Virtual SAN Datastore

13. About Virtual Volumes
vSphere
Virtual Volumes
Replication Snapshots Caching
Encryption Deduplication
PE
• Native representation of VMDKs on
SAN/NAS: No LUNs or volume management.
• Works with existing SAN/NAS systems.
• A new control path for data operations at the
VM/VMDK level.
• Snapshots, replications, and other operations
at the VM level on external storage.
• Automates control of per-VM service levels.
• Protocol endpoint provides standard protocol
access to storage.
• Storage containers can span an entire array.
Overview

14. About Raw Device Mapping
RDM enables you to
store virtual machine
data directly on a LUN.
The mapping file is
stored on a VMFS
datastore that points to
the raw LUN.
-flat.vmdk
.vmdk
Virtual Disk
VMFS or NFS
-rdm.vmdk
.vmdk
RDM
VMFS
Raw
LUN
NTFS/ext4

15. Storage Device Naming Conventions
Storage devices are identified in several ways:
• Runtime name: Uses the convention vmhbaN:C:T:L. This name is not
persistent through reboots.
• Target: Identifies iSCSI target address and port.
• LUN: A unique identifier designated to individual or collections of hard disk
devices. A logical unit is addressed by the SCSI protocol or SAN protocols that
encapsulate SCSI, such as iSCSI or Fibre Channel.

16. Physical Storage Considerations
You should discuss vSphere storage needs with your storage
administration team, including the following items:
• LUN sizes
• I/O bandwidth
• I/O requests per second that a LUN is capable of
• Disk cache parameters
• Zoning and masking
• Identical LUN presentation to each VMware ESXi™ host
• Active-active or active-passive arrays
• Export properties for NFS datastores

17. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Describe VMware vSphere® storage technologies and datastores
• Describe the storage device naming convention

18. iSCSI Storage

19. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Describe uses of IP storage with ESXi
• Describe iSCSI components and addressing
• Configure iSCSI initiators

20. iSCSI Components

21. iSCSI Addressing
iSCSI target name:
iqn.1992-08.com.mycompany:stor1-47cf3c25
or
eui.fedcba9876543210
iSCSI alias: stor1
IP address: 192.168.36.101
iSCSI initiator name:
iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:train1-64ad4c29
or
eui.1234567890abcdef
iSCSI alias: train1
IP address: 192.168.36.88

22. iSCSI Initiators

23. Setting Up iSCSI Adapters
You set up software or hardware adapters before an ESXi host can work
with a SAN.
Supported iSCSI adapter types (vmhba):
• Software adapter
• Hardware adapter:
• Independent hardware adapter
• Dependent hardware adapter

24. ESXi Network Configuration for IP Storage
A VMkernel port must
be created for ESXi to
access software iSCSI.
The same port can be
used to access
NAS/NFS storage.
To optimize your
vSphere networking
setup, separate iSCSI
networks from
NAS/NFS networks:
• Physical separation is
preferred.
• If physical separation is
not possible, use
VLANs.

25. Creating Datastores and Discovering iSCSI Targets
Based on the environment and
storage needs, you can create
VMFS, NFS, or virtual
datastores as repositories for
virtual machines.
The iSCSI adapter discovers
storage resources on the
network and determines which
ones are available for access.
An ESXi host supports the
following discovery methods:
• Static
• Dynamic, also called
SendTargets
The SendTargets response
returns the IQN and all
available IP addresses.
iSCSI Target:
192.168.36.101:3260
SendTargets
Request
SendTargets
Response
192.168.36.101:3260

26. iSCSI Security: CHAP
iSCSI initiators use
CHAP for authentication
purposes.
By default, CHAP is not
configured.
ESXi supports two types
of CHAP authentication:
• Unidirectional
• Bidirectional
ESXi also supports per-
target CHAP
authentication.

27. Multipathing with iSCSI Storage
Software or dependent hardware
iSCSI:
• Use multiple NICs.
• Connect each NIC to a separate
VMkernel port.
• Associate VMkernel ports
with the iSCSI initiator.
Independent Hardware iSCSI:
• Use two or more hardware iSCSI
adapters.

28. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Describe uses of IP storage with ESXi
• Describe iSCSI components and addressing
• Configure iSCSI initiators

29. NFS Datastores

30. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Describe NFS components
• Describe the differences between NFS v3 and NFS v4.1
• Configure and manage NFS datastores

31. NFS Components
Directory to Share
with the ESXi Host
over the Network
VMkernel Port
Defined on Virtual
Switch
ESXi Host with
NIC Mapped to
Virtual Switch
NAS Device or a
Server with Storage
192.168.81.72
192.168.81.33

32. Configuring an NFS Datastore
Create a VMkernel port:
• For better performance and security, separate your NFS network from the
iSCSI network.
Provide the following information:
• NFS version: v3 or v4.1
• Datastore name
• NFS server names or IP addresses
• Folder on the NFS server, for example, /templates and /nfs_share
• Select hosts that will mount the datastore
• Whether to mount the NFS file system read-only
• Authentication parameters

33. NFS v3 and NFS v4.1
NFS v3:
• ESXi managed multipathing
• AUTH_SYS (root) authentication
• VMware proprietary file locking
• Client-side error tracking
NFS v4.1:
• Native multipathing and session
trunking
• Optional Kerberos authentication
• Built-in file locking
• Server-side error tracking

34. NFS Version Compatibility with Other vSphere Technologies
NFS v3 NFS v4.1
vSphere vMotion and vSphere Storage vMotion Yes Yes
vSphere HA Yes Yes
vSphere Fault Tolerance Yes Yes
vSphere DRS and vSphere DPM Yes Yes
Stateless ESXi and Host Profiles Yes Yes
vSphere Storage DRS and vSphere Storage I/O
Control
Yes No
Site Recovery Manager Yes No
Virtual Volumes Yes No

35. NFS Datastore Best Practices
Best practices:
• Configure an NFS array to allow only one NFS protocol.
• Use either NFS v3 or NFS v4.1 to mount the same NFS share across all ESXi
hosts.
• Exercise caution when mounting an NFS share. Mounting an NFS share as
NFS v3 on one ESXi host and as NFS v4.1 on another host can lead to data
corruption.
NFS v3 locking is not compatible with NFS v4.1:
• NFS v3 uses proprietary client-side cooperative locking. NFS v4.1 uses server-
side locking.

36. NFS Datastore Name and Configuration

37. Viewing IP Storage Information
You can view the details of the VMFS or NFS datastores that you
created.

38. Unmounting an NFS Datastore
Unmounting an NFS datastore causes the files on the datastore to
become inaccessible to the ESXi host.

39. Multipathing and NFS 4.1 Storage
One recommended configuration
for NFS version 4.1 multipathing:
• Configure one VMkernel port.
• Use adapters attached to the same
physical switch to configure NIC
teaming.
• Configure the NFS server with
multiple IP addresses:
– IP addresses can be on the same
subnet.
• To better utilize multiple links,
configure NIC teams with the IP hash
load-balancing policy.
NIC NIC
Physical
Switch
ESXi Host
vmnic0 vmnic1

40. Enabling Session Trunking and Multipathing
Multiple IP addresses are configured for each NFS v4.1 datastore.
192.168.0.203, 192.168.0.204

41. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Describe NFS components
• Describe the differences between NFS v3 and NFS v4.1
• Configure and manage NFS datastores

42. VMFS Datastores

43. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Create a VMFS datastore
• Increase the size of a VMFS datastore
• Delete a VMFS datastore

44. Using VMFS Datastores with ESXi Hosts
Use VMFS datastores whenever possible:
• VMFS is optimized for storing and accessing large files.
• A VMFS datastore can have a maximum volume size of 64 TB.
Use RDMs if the following conditions are true of your virtual machine:
• It is taking storage array-level snapshots.
• It is clustered to a physical machine.
• It has large amounts of data that you do not want to convert into a virtual disk.

45. Creating and Viewing VMFS Datastores
VMFS datastores serve as repositories for virtual machines.
Using the New Datastore wizard, you can create VMFS datastores on
any SCSI-based storage devices that the host discovers, including Fibre
Channel, iSCSI, and local storage devices.

46. Browsing Datastore Contents

47. Managing Overcommitted Datastores
A datastore becomes overcommitted when the total provisioned space of
thin-provisioned disks is greater than the size of the datastore.
Actively monitor your datastore capacity:
• Alarms assist through notifications:
– Datastore disk overallocation
– Virtual machine disk usage
• Use reporting to view space usage.
Actively manage your datastore capacity:
• Increase the datastore capacity when necessary.
• Use VMware vSphere® Storage vMotion® to mitigate space usage problems
on a particular datastore.

48. Increasing the Size of a VMFS Datastore
In general, before making any
changes to your storage
allocation:
• Perform a rescan to ensure that
all hosts see the most current
storage.
• Record the unique identifier.
Increase a VMFS datastore’s
size to give it more space or
possibly to improve
performance.
Ways to dynamically increase
the size of a VMFS datastore:
• Add an extent (LUN).
• Expand the datastore within its
extent.

49. Deleting or Unmounting a VMFS Datastore
An unmounted datastore
remains intact, but can no
longer be seen from the
hosts that you specify. The
datastore continues to
appear on other hosts,
where it remains mounted.
A deleted datastore is
destroyed and disappears
from all hosts that have
access to it. All virtual
machine files on the
datastore are permanently
removed.

50. Multipathing Algorithms
Arrays provide various
features. Some offer active-
active storage processors.
Others offer active-passive
storage processors.
vSphere offers native path
selection, load-balancing, and
failover mechanisms.
Third-party vendors can
create their own software to
be installed on ESXi hosts.
The third-party software
enables hosts to properly
interact with the storage
arrays.
Storage
Array
SP A
10
SP B
10
ESXi
Hosts
Storage
Processors
Switches

51. Configuring Storage Load Balancing
Path selection policies
exist for:
• Scalability:
– Round Robin:
A multipathing
policy that performs
load balancing
across paths
• Availability:
– MRU
– Fixed

52. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Create a VMFS datastore
• Increase the size of a VMFS datastore
• Delete a VMFS datastore

53. Virtual SAN Datastores

54. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Explain the purpose of a VMware Virtual SAN™ datastore
• Describe the architecture and requirements of Virtual SAN configuration
• Describe the steps for configuring Virtual SAN
• Explain how to create and use Virtual SAN storage policies

55. About Virtual SAN
vSphere
HD/SSDHD/SSDSSD SSD
Virtual SAN
SSD
3-64
Virtual SAN Aggregated Datastore
HD/SSD
A single Virtual SAN datastore is created, using storage from multiple
hosts and multiple disks in the cluster.

56. Virtual SAN Requirements
• Not every node in a Virtual SAN cluster needs local storage.
• Hosts with no local storage can still use the distributed datastore.
Server on
vSphere HCL
1 Gb or 10 Gb NIC
SAS/SATA: RAID
controller must work in
passthrough or HBA mode.
PCI/SAS/SATA SSD
At least 1
of each
PCI/SAS/SATA HD/SSD
Cache
Data
Network
Controller

57. Configuring a Virtual SAN Datastore
A Virtual SAN datastore is configured in a few steps.
Configure
VMkernel
network for
Virtual SAN.
Enable Virtual
SAN on the
cluster.
Create disk
groups
(manual or
automatic)

58. Disk Groups
Virtual SAN disk groups composed of
flash-based devices and magnetic
disks require:
• One flash device:
– Maximum of one flash device per disk
group
• One HD/SSD:
– Supports up to seven devices per disk
group
• Maximum of five disk groups per host
Disk Groups

59. Viewing Cluster Summary
In the VMware vSphere® Web Client, the Summary tab of the Virtual
SAN cluster displays the general Virtual SAN configuration information.

60. Using Virtual SAN
Capabilities define the capacity, performance, and availability
characteristics of the underlying physical storage. The Virtual SAN
cluster presents these capabilities to vCenter Server, where they can be
consumed by virtual machines.
Requirements outline the needs of a virtual machine.
Virtual machine storage policies specify the virtual machine requirements
so that the virtual machine can be placed appropriately on the Virtual
SAN datastore.
Capabilities
presented
from Virtual
SAN.
VM
requirements
based on
capabilities.
Create policies
that contain VM
requirements.

61. Objects in Virtual SAN Datastores
In a Virtual SAN datastore, files are grouped into four types of objects:
• Namespaces
• Virtual disks
• Snapshots
• Swap files
Snapshot
VMDK
VSWP

62. Virtual Machine Storage Policies
vSphere
Hard disksHard disks
SSD SSD
Virtual SAN Datastore
Hard disks
SSD
…
Virtual SAN Cluster
Capacity
Availability
Performance
VM Storage Policy • Virtual machine storage
policies are built before VM
deployment to reflect the
requirements of the
application running in the
virtual machine.
• The policy is based on the
Virtual SAN capabilities.
• Select the appropriate
policy for the virtual
machine based on its
requirements.
• Storage objects for the
virtual machine are then
created that meet the policy
requirements.

63. Configuring Virtual Machine Storage Policies
Mirroring
Striping
Storage
Object

64. Viewing a Virtual Machine’s Virtual SAN Datastore
The consumption of Virtual SAN storage is based on the virtual
machine’s storage policy.
The virtual machine’s hard
disk view:
• Summarizes the total storage
size and used storage space
• Displays the virtual machine
storage policy
• Shows the location of disk files
on a Virtual SAN datastore

65. Disk Management (1)
Disk management in vSphere Web Client:
• Easily map the location of magnetic disks and flash-based devices.
• Mark disks and control disk LEDs.

66. Disk Management (2)
• Light LED on failures:
– When a solid-state disk (SSD) or a magnetic disk (MD) encounters a permanent
error, Virtual SAN automatically turns the disk LED on.
• Turn disk LED on or off:
– User might need to locate a disk, so Virtual SAN supports manually turning an SSD or
MD LED on or off.
• Marking a disk as SSD:
– Some SSDs might not be recognized as SSDs by ESXi.
– Disks can be tagged or untagged as SSDs for cache.
• Marking a disk as HDD:
– Some SSDs or MDs might not be recognized by ESXi as HDDs.
– Disks can be tagged or untagged as HDDs.
– SSDs must be marked as HDDs in order to be used for capacity.

67. Adding Disks to a Disk Group
Disk groups can be expanded by adding data disks to a node and adding
these disks to a particular disk group.
The vSphere Web Client shows any unclaimed disk in the disk
maintenance window.

68. Removing Disks from a Disk Group
Individual disks can be removed from a disk group.
Ensure that data is evacuated before the disk is removed. Alternatively,
you may place the host in maintenance mode.

69. Virtual SAN Cluster Member Maintenance Mode Options
Before you shut down, reboot, or disconnect a host that is a member of a
Virtual SAN cluster, you must place the host in maintenance mode.
When you place a host in maintenance mode, you can select a specific
evacuation mechanism.
When any member node of a Virtual SAN cluster enters maintenance
mode, the cluster capacity is automatically reduced because the member
node no longer contributes storage to the cluster.
Option Action
Ensure Accessibility
Moves enough components to ensure operational
integrity of objects.
Full Data Migration All components are evacuated from the host.
No Data Migration
No action is taken, which can result in degraded
objects.

70. To remove a host that is participating in a Virtual SAN cluster:
1. Place the host in maintenance mode.
2. Delete the disk groups associated with the host.
3. Remove the host from the cluster.
Removing a Host from a Virtual SAN Cluster

71. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Explain the purpose of a Virtual SAN datastore
• Describe the architecture and requirements of Virtual SAN configuration
• Describe the steps for configuring Virtual SAN
• Explain how to create and use Virtual SAN storage policies

72. Virtual Volumes

73. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Describe the benefits of software-defined storage
• Describe per-virtual machine storage policy management
• Explain how VMDK data operations are offloaded to storage arrays through the
use of VMware vSphere® API for Storage Awareness™

74. Next-Generation Storage
Next-generation storage is required to meet certain criteria.
Management
Network/Security
Storage/Availability
Compute
Lower cost of storage.
Reduce manual processes
around storage management.
Handle explosive data growth.
Respond to new data access and
analysis requirements.

75. Using the Hypervisor to Transform Storage
Object-Based
Pool
SAN/NAS
Pool
Hypervisor
Converged Pool
Abstract and Pool
(Virtualized Data Plane)
Automate service-level
agreements through virtual
machine-centric policies.
(Policy-Based Control Plane)
Virtual Machine-Level Data
Services
(Virtual Data Services)
SAN/NASx86 Servers Cloud Object
Storage
vSphere
Replication Snapshots

76. Why Virtual Volumes
Customers have major concerns about storage.
 “Setting up storage requires too much time.”
 “Data operations are LUN-centric. We want virtual
machine-focused operations.”
Storage
management is
too complex.
 “We overprovision storage.”
 “Our storage budget keeps going up.”
 “SLAs cannot ensure predictable performance.”
 “Troubleshooting is very hard.”
Cost of
ownership
is too high.
SLAs are too
difficult to
ensure.

77. VMware vSphere
Virtual volumes
Replication Snapshots Caching Encryption De-duplication
VMware vSphere
VMDKs as Native Objects
Traditional
Model
VMDKs and
VMDK Data
Operations
Offloaded to
Storage Arrays
Virtual
Volumes

78. Storage Array Requirements
Virtual volumes require that the following criteria be met to function
properly:
• A storage array compatible with vSphere API for Storage Awareness 2.0.
• Must implement vSphere API for Storage Awareness to create the storage
provider for virtual volumes:
– Firmware
– Virtual appliance
– Physical appliance
• Use APIs to handle offloaded data services on the virtual volumes.
• Enable fine capabilities.
• Publish a VASA provider that runs on the array through a URL.

79. Storage Administration
vSphere
PE
No need to configure LUNs
or NFS shares.
Set up a single I/O access called
a protocol endpoint, to establish
a data path from virtual machines
to virtual volumes.
Set up a logical entity, called
storage container, to group virtual
volumes for easy management.

80. Protocol Endpoints
The protocol endpoint is set up by the
storage administrator.
The protocol endpoint is part of the physical
storage fabric. It is treated like a LUN.
The protocol endpoint supports typical SCSI
and NFS commands.
Virtual volumes are bound and unbound
to a protocol endpoint: ESXi or VMware
vCenter Server™ initiates
the bind and unbind operation.
Existing multipathing policies and NFS
topology requirements can be applied.
vSphere
PE

81. Storage Containers
In vCenter Server, the storage containers are
represented by virtual datastores:
• A storage container is configured by the storage
administrator.
• A storage container is a logical grouping of
virtual volumes.
• A storage container’s capacity is limited only by
the hardware capacity.
• You must set up at least one storage container
per storage system. You can have multiple
storage containers per array.
• You assign capabilities to storage containers.
vSphere
PE

82. Using Virtual Volumes
A vendor provider is a storage provider based on vSphere API for
Storage Awareness that allows the array to export its capabilities and
present them to vSphere.
A protocol endpoint is a replacement for the traditional LUN and can be
accessed with typical NFS or SCSI methods.
Virtual Volumes datastores are created on the protocol endpoint:
• Virtual volumes are objects created on the datastore.
Register a storage
provider in
vCenter Server.
Discover protocol
endpoints
(iSCSI, NFS, and
so on).
Create Virtual
Volumes
datastores.

83. Bidirectional Discovery Process
Protocol Endpoint
Storage administrator sets up a
protocol endpoint.
ESXi host discovers the protocol
endpoint during a scan.
vSphere API for Storage
Awareness is used to bind virtual
volumes to the protocol endpoint.
Storage Container
Storage administrator sets up a
storage container of defined
capacity and capability.
VASA provider discovers the
storage container and reports to
vCenter Server.
Virtual volumes are created in a
Virtual Volumes datastore.

84. Storage-Based Policy Management (1)
Storage-based policy management helps ensure that virtual machines
receive their required performance, capacity, and availability.
Per-virtual machine
storage policies.
Capacity
Performance
Availability
Policies set based
on application needs.
SAN/NAS
Virtual Volumes
Storage Policy-Based Management
Virtual Data Plane: Datastore
SLAs
External storage automates
control of service levels.

85. Storage-Based Policy Management (2)
Storage policies represent service levels demanded by virtual machines.

86. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Describe the benefits of software-defined storage
• Describe per-virtual machine storage policy management
• Explain how VMDK data operations are offloaded to storage arrays through the
use of VMware vSphere API for Storage Awareness

87. Key Points
• You use VMFS datastores to hold virtual machine files.
• Shared storage is integral to vSphere features such as vSphere vMotion,
vSphere HA, and vSphere DRS.
• Virtual SAN enables low-end configurations to use vSphere HA, vSphere
vMotion, and vSphere Storage vMotion without requiring external shared
storage.
• Virtual SAN clusters direct-attached server disks to create shared storage
designed for virtual machines.
• Virtual Volumes is a storage management approach that enables
administrators to differentiate virtual machine services per application.
• Key components of the Virtual Volumes functionality include virtual volumes,
VASA providers, storage containers, protocol endpoints, and virtual datastores.
Questions?

88. Troubleshooting
Storage

89. Storage Connectivity and
Configuration

90. If a virtual machine cannot access its virtual disks, the cause of the
problem might be anywhere from the virtual machine to physical storage.
iSCSIDirect
Attached
File
System
Ethernet
NFS
Virtual Disk
Datastore
Type
Transport
Backing
FC FCoE
Review of vSphere Storage Architecture
LUN LUN LUN LUN
VVOLVSAN
Storage
Container
VSAN
Cluster
Direct
Attached
FC/
Ethernet
VMFS

91. Review of iSCSI Storage
If the VMware ESXi™ host has iSCSI storage connectivity issues, check
the iSCSI configuration on the ESXi host and, if necessary, the iSCSI
hardware configuration.
iSCSI target name:
iqn.1992-08-com.acme:storage1
iSCSI alias: storage1
IP address: 192.168.36.101
iSCSI initiator name:
iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:train1
iSCSI alias: train1
IP address: 192.168.36.88

92. Storage Problem 1
Initial checks using the command line look at connectivity on the host:
• Verify that the ESXi host can see the LUN:
– esxcli storage core path list
• Check whether a rescan restores visibility to the LUNs.
– esxcli storage core adapter rescan –A vmhba##
• Check how many datastores exist and how full they are:
– df –h | grep VMFS
IP storage is not reachable by an ESXi host.

93. Identifying Possible Causes
If the ESXi host accessed IP storage in the past, and no recent changes
were made to the host configuration, you might take a bottom-up
approach to troubleshooting.
ESXi
Host
Possible Causes
The VMkernel interface for IP storage is misconfigured.
IP storage is not configured correctly on the ESXi host.
iSCSI TCP port 3260 is unreachable.
A firewall is interfering with iSCSI traffic.
NFS storage is not configured correctly.
VMFS datastore metadata is inconsistent.
The iSCSI storage array is not supported.
The LUN is not presented to the ESXi host.
The physical hardware is not functioning correctly.
Poor iSCSI storage performance is observed.
Hardware
(Storage Network,
Storage Array)

94. Possible Cause: Hardware-Level Problems
Check the VMware Compatibility Guide to see if the iSCSI HBA or iSCSI
storage array is supported.
Verify that the LUN is presented correctly to the ESXi host:
• The LUN is in the same storage group as all the ESXi hosts.
• The LUN is configured correctly for use with the ESXi host.
• The LUN is not set to read-only on the array.
• The host ID on the array for the ESXi LUN is less than 255.
If the storage device is malfunctioning, use hardware diagnostic tools to
identify the faulty component.

95. Possible Cause: Poor iSCSI Storage Performance
Adhere to best practices for your IP storage networks:
• Avoid oversubscribing your links.
• Isolate iSCSI traffic from NFS traffic and any other network traffic.
Monitor device latency metrics:
• Use the esxtop or resxtop command: Enter d in the window.
Device Avg. Kernel Avg. Guest Avg.

96. Possible Cause: VMkernel Interface Misconfiguration
A misconfigured VMkernel interface for IP storage affects any IP storage,
whether iSCSI or NFS:
• To test configuration from the ESXi host, ping the iSCSI target IP address:
– For example, ping 172.20.13.14
• 172.20.13.14 is the IP address of the iSCSI target.
• If the ping command fails, ensure that the IP settings are correct.

97. Possible Cause: iSCSI HBA Misconfiguration
The iSCSI initiator might be configured incorrectly on the ESXi host.
Use VMware vSphere® Web Client to check the configured components:
• iSCSI initiator name
• iSCSI target address
and port number
• CHAP
Verify that the VMkernel port bindings are configured properly.

98. Possible Cause: Port Unreachable
Failure could occur because iSCSI TCP port 3260 is unreachable.
• From the ESXi host, use the nc (netcat) command to reach port 3260 on
the iSCSI storage array.
– nc –z IPaddr 3260
• IPaddr is the IP address of the iSCSI storage array.
Resolve this problem by checking paths between the host and hardware:
• Verify that the iSCSI storage array is configured properly and is active.
• Verify that a firewall is not interfering with iSCSI traffic.

99. Possible Cause: VMFS Metadata Inconsistency
Verify that your VMware vSphere® VMFS datastore metadata is
consistent:
• Use the vSphere On-disk Metadata Analyzer to check VMFS metadata
consistency:
– voma -m vmfs
-d /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.00000000000000000000000000:1
-s /tmp/analysis.txt
A file system’s metadata must be checked under the following conditions:
• Disk replacement
• Reports of metadata errors in the vmkernel.log file
• Inability to access files on the VMFS volume that are not in use by any other
host
If you encounter VMFS inconsistencies, perform these tasks:
1. Recreate the VMFS datastore and restore files from your last backup to the
VMFS datastore.
2. If necessary, complete a support request.

100. Possible Cause: NFS Misconfiguration
If your virtual machines reside on NFS datastores, verify that your NFS
configuration is correct.
VMkernel port
configured with
IP address
Directory to share
with the ESXi host
over the network
Mount permission
(Read/Write or
Read-Only) and
ACLs
ESXi host with NIC
mapped to virtual
switch
NFS Server Name
or IP Address

101. NFS Version Compatibility with Other vSphere Technologies
vSphere Technologies NFS v3 NFS v4.1
VMware vSphere® vMotion®/VMware
vSphere® Storage vMotion®
Yes Yes
VMware vSphere® High Availability Yes Yes
VMware vSphere® Fault Tolerance Yes Yes
VMware vSphere® Distributed Resource
Scheduler™/VMware vSphere® Distributed
Power Management™
Yes Yes
Stateless ESXi/Host Profiles Yes Yes
VMware vSphere® Storage DRS™/VMware
vSphere® Storage I/O Control
Yes No
VMware Site Recovery Manager™ Yes No
VMware vSphere® Virtual Volumes™ Yes No

102. NFS Dual Stack Not Supported
NFS v3 and v4.1 use different locking semantics:
• NFS v3 uses proprietary client-side cooperative locking.
• NFS v4.1 uses server-side locking.
The best practices are:
• Configure an NFS array to allow only one NFS protocol.
• Use either NFS v3 or NFS v4.1 to mount the same NFS share across
all ESXi hosts.
Data corruption might occur if hosts attempt to access the same NFS
share using different NFS client versions.
Best Practice

103. Viewing Session Information
You use the esxcli storage nfs41 list command to view the
volume name, IP address, and other information.

104. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Discuss vSphere storage architecture
• Identify possible causes of problems in various types of datastores
• Analyze common storage connectivity and configuration problems and discuss
possible causes
• Solve storage connectivity problems, correct misconfigurations, and restore
LUN visibility

105. Multipathing

106. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Review multipathing
• Identify common causes of missing paths, including PDL and APD conditions
• Solve missing path problems between hosts and storage devices

107. Review of iSCSI Multipathing
If your ESXi host has iSCSI multipathing issues, check the multipathing
configuration on the ESXi host and, if necessary, the iSCSI hardware
configuration.

108. Storage Problem 2
Initial checks of LUN paths are performed using the esxcli command:
• Find detailed information regarding multiple paths to the LUNs:
– esxcli storage core path list
• List LUN multipathing information:
– esxcli storage nmp device list
• Check whether a rescan restores visibility to the LUNs:
– esxcli storage core adapter rescan –A vmhba##
• Retrieve SMART data about a specified SSD device:
– esxcli storage core device smart get –d device_name
One or more paths to a LUN are lost.

109. Identifying Possible Causes
If you see errors in /var/log/vmkernel.log that refer to a permanent
device loss (PDL) or all paths down (APD) condition, then take a bottom-
up approach to troubleshooting.
ESXi
Host
Possible Causes
For iSCSI storage, NIC teaming is misconfigured.
The path selection policy for a storage device is
misconfigured.
A PDL condition has occurred.
An APD condition has occurred.
Hardware
(Storage Network,
Storage Array)

110. PDL Condition
A storage device is in a PDL state when it becomes permanently
unavailable to the ESXi host.
Possible causes of an unplanned PDL:
• The device is unintentionally removed.
• The device’s unique ID changes.
• The device experiences an unrecoverable hardware error.
• The device ran out of space, causing it to become inaccessible.
vSphere Web Client displays pertinent information when a device is in a
PDL state:
• The operational state of the device changes to Lost Communication.
• All paths appear as Dead.
• Datastores on the device are unavailable.

111. Recovering from an Unplanned PDL
If the LUN was not in use when the PDL condition occurred, the LUN is
removed automatically after the PDL condition clears.
If the LUN was in use, manually detach the device and remove the LUN
from the ESXi host.
When storage reconfiguration is complete, perform these steps:
1. Reattach the storage device.
2. Mount the datastore.
3. Restore from backups if necessary.
4. Restart the virtual machines.

112. APD Condition
An APD condition occurs when a storage device becomes unavailable to
your ESXi host for an unspecified amount of time:
• This condition is transient. The device is expected to be available again.
An APD condition might be caused by several causes:
• The storage device is removed in an uncontrolled manner from the host.
• The storage device fails:
– The VMkernel cannot detect how long the loss of device access will last.
• Network connectivity fails, which brings down all paths to iSCSI storage.
vSphere Web Client displays pertinent information when an APD
condition occurs:
• The operational state of the device changes to Dead or Error.
• All paths appear as Dead.
• Datastores on the device are unavailable.

113. Recovering from an APD Condition
The APD condition must be resolved at the storage array or fabric layer
to restore connectivity to the host:
• All affected ESXi hosts might require a reboot.
vSphere vMotion migration of unaffected virtual machines cannot be
attempted:
• Management agents might be affected by the APD condition.
To avoid APD problems, the ESXi host has a default APD handling
feature:
• Global setting: Misc.APDHandlingEnable
– By default, set to 1, which enables storage APD handling
• Timeout setting: Misc.APDTimeout
– By default, set to 140, the number of seconds that a device can be in APD before
failing

114. Possible Cause: NIC Teaming Misconfiguration
Verify that NIC teaming is configured properly.

115. Possible Cause: Path Selection Policy Misconfiguration
Verify that the path selection policy for a storage device is configured
properly.

116. Possible Cause: NFSv3 and v4.1 Misconfiguration
Virtual machines on an NFS 4.1 datastore fail after the NFS 4.1 share
recovers from an APD state.
The lock protecting VM.vmdk has been lost error message is displayed.
This issue occurs because NFSv3 and v4.1 are two different protocols
with different behaviors. After the grace period (array vendor-specific),
the NFS server flushes the client state.
This behavior is expected in NFSv4 servers.

117. Possible Cause: Fault in APD Handling
When an APD event occurs, LUNs connected to ESXi might remain
inaccessible after paths to the LUNs recover.
The 140-second APD timeout expires even though paths to storage are
recovered.
This issue is due to a fault in APD handling:
• When this issue occurs, a LUN has paths available and is online following an
APD event, but the APD timer continues upcounting until the LUN enters APD
Timeout state.
• After the initial APD event, the datastore is inaccessible as long as active
workloads are associated with the datastore in question.
To solve this problem, upgrade ESXi to version 6.0 Update 1. If you are
unable to upgrade, use one of the workaround options:
• Perform the procedure to kill all outstanding I/O to the LUN.
• Reboot all hosts with volumes in the APD Timeout state.

118. Virtual Machine
Management

119. Module Lessons
Creating Templates and Clones
Modifying Virtual Machines
Creating Virtual Machine Snapshots
Creating vApps
Working with Content Libraries

120. Creating Templates and
Clones

121. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Create a template
• Deploy a virtual machine from a template
• Clone a virtual machine
• Enable guest operating system customization by VMware vCenter Server™

122. Using a Template
A template is a master copy of a virtual machine. It is used to create and
provision new virtual machines.

123. Creating a Template
Clone the virtual machine to a template:
• The virtual machine can be powered on or powered off.
Convert the virtual machine to a template:
• The virtual machine must be powered off.
Clone a template:
• Used to create a new template based on one that existed previously.

124. Deploying a Virtual Machine from a Template
To deploy a virtual machine, you must provide such information as the
virtual machine name, inventory location, host, datastore, and guest
operating system customization data.

125. Updating a Template
Update a template to include new
patches, make system changes,
and install new applications:
1. Convert the template to a virtual
machine.
2. Place the virtual machine on an
isolated network to prevent user
access.
3. Make appropriate changes to the
virtual machine.
4. Convert the virtual machine to a
template.

126. Cloning a Virtual Machine
Cloning a virtual machine
creates a virtual machine that
is an exact copy of the original:
• Cloning is an alternative to
deploying a virtual machine.
• The virtual machine being
cloned can be powered on or
powered off.

127. Customizing the Guest Operating System
Use the Guest Operating System Customization wizard to make virtual
machines created from the same template or clone unique.
Customizing a guest operating system enables you to change:
• Computer name
• Network settings
• License settings
• Windows Security Identifier
During cloning or deploying virtual machines from a template:
• You can create a specification to prepare the guest operating systems of virtual
machines.
• Specifications can be stored in the database.
• You can edit specifications in the Customization Specifications Manager.
• Windows and Linux operating systems are supported.

128. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Create a template
• Deploy a virtual machine from a template
• Clone a virtual machine
• Enable guest operating system customization by VMware vCenter Server™

129. Modifying Virtual
Machines

130. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Describe virtual machine settings and options
• Add a hot-pluggable device
• Dynamically increase the size of a virtual disk
• Add a raw device mapping (RDM) to a virtual machine

131. Modifying Virtual Machine Settings
You can modify a virtual
machine’s configuration in its
Edit Settings dialog box:
• Add virtual hardware:
– Some hardware can be added
while the virtual machine is
powered on.
• Remove virtual hardware:
– Some hardware can be
removed only when the virtual
machine is powered off
• Set virtual machine options.
• Control a virtual machine’s
CPU and memory resources.

132. Hot-Pluggable Devices
The CPU hot-plug option
enables you to add CPU
resources to a running virtual
machine:
• Examples of hot-pluggable
devices: USB controllers,
Ethernet adapters, and hard
disk devices.
With supported guest
operating systems, you can
also add CPU and memory
while the virtual machine is
powered on.

133. Creating an RDM
An RDM (a -rdm.vmdk file) enables a virtual machine to gain direct
access to a physical LUN.
Encapsulating disk information in the RDM enables the VMkernel to lock
the LUN so that only one virtual machine can write to the LUN.
You must define the following items when creating an RDM:
• Target LUN: LUN that the RDM will map to
• Mapped datastore:
Stores the RDM file
with the virtual
machine or on a
different datastore
• Compatibility mode
• Virtual device node

134. Dynamically Increasing a Virtual Disk’s Size
You can increase the size of a virtual disk that belongs to a powered-on
virtual machine:
• The virtual disk must be
in persistent mode.
• It must not contain
snapshots.
Dynamically increase a
virtual disk from, for
example, 2 GB to 20 GB.
Increases the size
of the existing
virtual disk file.

135. Thin-provisioned virtual disks can be converted to a thick, eager-zeroed
format.
To inflate a thin-provisioned disk:
• The virtual machine must be powered off.
• Right-click the virtual machine’s .vmdk file and select Inflate.
Or you can use VMware vSphere® Storage vMotion® and select a thick-
provisioned disk as the destination.
Inflating a Thin-Provisioned Disk

136. Virtual Machine Options
On the VM Options tab, you can set or change virtual machine options
to run VMware Tools™ scripts, control user access to the remote
console, configure startup behavior, and more.
VM Directory
.vmx File Location
VM Display Name
Guest Operating
System Type

137. VMware Tools Options
Schedule VMware
Tools scripts.
Customize power
button actions.
Update checks

138. Boot Options
Delay power on.
Boot into BIOS.
Retry after
failed boot.

139. Troubleshooting a Failed VMware Tools Installation on a
Guest Operating System
Problems:
• VMware Tools installation errors before completion.
• VMware Tools installation fails to complete.
• Unable to complete VMware Tools for Windows or Linux installation.
• VMware Tools hangs when installing or reinstalling.
Solutions:
1. Verify that that the guest operating system that you are trying to install is fully
certified by VMware.
2. Verify that the correct operating system is selected.
3. Verify that the ISO image is not corrupted.
4. If installing on a Windows operating system, ensure that you are not
experiencing problems with your Windows registry.
5. If installing on a 64-bit Linux guest operating system, verify that no
dependencies are missing.

140. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Describe virtual machine settings and options
• Add a hot-pluggable device
• Dynamically increase the size of a virtual disk
• Add a raw device mapping (RDM) to a virtual machine

141. Creating Virtual
Machine Snapshots

142. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Take a snapshot of a virtual machine and manage multiple snapshots
• Delete virtual machine snapshots
• Consolidate snapshots

143. Virtual Machine Snapshots
Snapshots enable you to preserve the state of the virtual machine so that
you can repeatedly return to the same state.

144. Virtual Machine Snapshot Files
A snapshot consists of a set of files: the memory state file (.vmsn), the
description file (-00000#.vmdk), and the delta file (-00000#-
delta.vmdk).
The snapshot list file (.vmsd) keeps track of the virtual machine’s
snapshots.

145. Taking a Snapshot
You can take a snapshot while a virtual machine is powered on, powered
off, or suspended.
A snapshot captures the state of the virtual machine: memory state,
settings state, and disk state.
Virtual machine snapshots are not recommended as a virtual machine
backup strategy.
Pending
transactions
committedtodisk
.vmdk

146. Managing Snapshots
The Snapshot Manager enables you
to review all snapshots for the active
virtual machine and act on them
directly.
Actions you can perform:
• Revert to a snapshot.
• Delete one or all snapshots.

147. Deleting a Virtual Machine Snapshot (1)
If you delete a snapshot one or more levels above You Are Here, the
snapshot state is deleted. The snap01 data is committed into the
previous state (base disk) and the foundation for snap02 is retained.
base disk (5GB)
snap01 delta (1GB)
base disk (5GB) +
snap01 data
snap02 delta (2GB)
You are here.

148. snap02 delta (2GB)
You are here.
snap01 delta (1GB)
Deleting a Virtual Machine Snapshot (2)
If you delete the current snapshot, the changes are committed to its
parent. The snap02 data is committed into snap01 data, and the snap02
-delta.vmdk file is deleted.
base disk (5GB)
snap01 delta (1GB) +
snap02 delta (2GB)

149. Deleting a Virtual Machine Snapshot (3)
If you delete a snapshot one or more levels below You Are Here,
subsequent snapshots are deleted and you can no longer return to those
states. The snap02 data is deleted.
base disk (5GB)
snap01 delta (1GB)
snap02 delta (2GB)
You are here.

150. You are here.
Deleting All Virtual Machine Snapshots
The delete-all-snapshots mechanism uses storage space efficiently. The
size of the base disk does not increase. Just like a single snapshot
deletion, changed blocks in the snapshot overwrite their counterparts in
the base disk.
base disk (5GB)
snap01 delta (1GB)
snap02 delta (2GB)
base disk (5GB) +
snap01/02 data
You are here.

151. About Snapshot Consolidation
Snapshot consolidation is a method to commit a chain of snapshots to
the base disks, when the Snapshot Manager shows that no snapshots
exist, but the delta files still remain on the datastore.
Snapshot consolidation is intended to resolve problems that might occur
with snapshots:
• The snapshot descriptor file is committed correctly, but the Snapshot Manager
incorrectly shows that all the snapshots are deleted.
• The snapshot files (-delta.vmdk)are still part of the virtual machine.
• Snapshot files continue to expand until the virtual machine runs out of
datastore space.

152. The Snapshot Manager displays no snapshots. However, a warning on
the Monitor > Issues tab of the virtual machine notifies the user that a
consolidation is required.
Discovering When to Consolidate

153. Performing Snapshot Consolidation
After the snapshot consolidation warning appears, the user can use the
vSphere Web Client to consolidate the snapshots:
• Select Snapshots > Consolidate to reconcile snapshots.
• All snapshot delta disks are committed to the base disks.

154. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Take a snapshot of a virtual machine and manage multiple snapshots
• Delete virtual machine snapshots
• Consolidate snapshots

155. Creating vApps

156. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Describe a vApp
• Build a vApp
• Use a vApp to manage virtual machines
• Deploy and export a vApp

157. Managing Virtual Machines with a vApp
A vApp is an object in the vCenter Server inventory:
• A vApp is a container for one or more virtual machines.
• A vApp can be used to package and manage multitiered applications.

158. vApp Characteristics
You can configure several
vApp settings by right-clicking
the vApp:
• CPU and memory allocation
• IP allocation policy
You can also configure the
virtual machine startup and
shutdown order.

159. Exporting and Deploying vApps
Exporting the vApp as an OVF
template:
• Share with others.
• Use for archive purposes.
Deploying the OVF template:
• Deploy multitier vApps.
• Deploy OVF from VMware Virtual
Appliance Marketplace.

160. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Describe a vApp
• Build a vApp
• Use a vApp to manage virtual machines
• Deploy and export a vApp

161. Working with Content
Libraries

162. Learner Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to meet the following
objectives:
• Describe the types of content libraries
• Recognize how to import content into a content library
• Identify how to publish a content library for external use

163. About the Content Library
A content library is a repository of OVF templates and other files that can
be shared and synchronized across vCenter Server systems.

164. Benefits of Content Libraries
Metadata
Sharing and Consistency
Storage Efficiency
Secure Subscription

165. Local
Library of content that
you control
Published
Local library that makes
content available for
subscription
Subscribed
Library that syncs with a
published library
Types of Content Library
Three types of content library are available: local, published, and
subscribed .
On-Demand >>>>
Library Content • Immediately download all library content
Download library content only when needed
Saves storage backing space. Only metadata is retrieved. Content is downloaded as needed when
creating virtual machines or synchronizing content
Automatic >>>>
Metadata

166. Subscribing to vCloud Director 5.5 Catalogs
You can subscribe a content library to VMware vCloud Director® 5.5.
The subscription process is the same
as with the published content library:
• Uses the published URL
• Static user name (always vcsp)
and password
Content Catalogs in
vCloud Director 5.5
vCenter Server 6

167. Subscription URL
Password (Optional)
Publish and Subscribe
Interactions between the publisher and subscriber can include
connectivity, security, an actionable files.
vCenter Server vCenter Server
Templates
Other
Subscribe using URL.
Transfer Service Transfer Service
Content Library Service Content Library Service

168. Synchronization and Versioning
Synchronization is used to resolve versioning discrepancies between the
publisher and the subscribing content libraries.
vCenter ServervCenter Server
VMware Content Subscription Protocol
HTTP/NFC
VCSP
Transfer Service Transfer Service
Content Library Service Content Library Service

169. Content Library Requirements and Limitations
Single storage backing and datastore (64 TB maximum).
License to scale based on content library usage.
Maximum 256 library Items.
Synchronization occurs once every 24 hours.
Maximum 5 concurrently synchronized library
items for each subscribed library.

170. Creating a Content Library
You can create a content library in the vSphere Web Client and populate
it with templates to use to deploy virtual machines or vApps in your
virtual environment.

171. Selecting Storage for the Content Library
You select storage for the content library based on the type of library you
are creating.

172. Populating Content Libraries with Content
You populate a content library with templates that you can use to
provision new virtual machines.
To add templates to a content library, use one of the following methods:
• Clone a virtual machine to a template in the content library.
• Clone a template from the vSphere inventory or from another content library.
• Clone a vApp.
• Import a template from an URL.
• Import an OVF file from your local file system.

173. Importing Items into the Content Library
Your source to import items in to a content library can be a file stored on
your local machine or a file stored on a Web server.
Click this icon to import OVF
pages and other file types
into the content library.

174. Deploying a Virtual Machine to a Content Library
You can clone virtual machines or virtual machine templates to templates
in the content library and use them later to provision virtual machines on
a virtual data center, a data center, a cluster, or a host.

175. Publishing a Content Library for External Use
You can publish a content library for external use and add password
protection by editing the content library settings:
• Users access the library through the subscription URL that is system
generated.

176. Review of Learner Objectives
You should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Describe the types of content libraries
• Recognize how to import content into a content library
• Identify how to publish a content library for external use

177. Key Points
• vCenter Server provides features for provisioning virtual machines, such as
templates and cloning.
• By deploying virtual machines from a template, you can create many virtual
machines easily and quickly.
• You can use vSphere vMotion to move virtual machines while they are
powered on.
• You can use vSphere Storage vMotion to move virtual machines from one
datastore to another datastore.
• You can use virtual machine snapshots to preserve the state of the virtual
machine so that you can return to the same state repeatedly.
• A vApp is a container for one or more virtual machines. The vApp can be used
to package and manage related applications.
• Content libraries provide simple and effective management for virtual machine
templates, vApps, and other types of files for vSphere administrators.
Questions?