Objective 2.3 – VMware Storage Fundamentals

Topics:

·      - Configure vSphere Storage

·      - Describe the use cases for VMware vSAN ESA or vSAN OSA

·      - Deploy a vSAN Cluster

·      - Configure vSAN Storage Policies

. - Identify the options for Resilience and Data Availability in VMware vSAN

. - Describe the purpose of vSAN Space Efficiency

Given a scenario, configure vSphere storage

Steps to configure storage in vSphere:

  1. Log in to the vSphere Client.

  2. Navigate to Hosts and Clusters → Select a host.

  3. Go to Configure → Storage → Storage Devices to view available storage.

  4. Add storage by:

    • iSCSI → Configure a VMkernel port for iSCSI traffic, add iSCSI targets.

    • NFS → Mount an NFS share by providing the server address and export path.

    • Fibre Channel (FC) → Ensure HBAs detect available LUNs.

  5. Once storage is visible, navigate to Datastores → New Datastore.

  6. Select datastore type (VMFS, NFS, vVols, vSAN).

  7. Complete the wizard, format with VMFS if block storage, and assign to cluster/hosts.

  8. Validate datastore accessibility across all hosts.

Given a scenario, describe the use cases for VMware vSAN ESA or VMware vSAN OSA

  • vSAN OSA (Original Storage Architecture):

    • Uses a two-tier architecture (cache + capacity).

    • Best for hybrid deployments (SSD for cache, HDD for capacity).

    • Common in cost-conscious environments or legacy hardware.

    • Supports a wide variety of existing storage devices.

  • vSAN ESA (Express Storage Architecture):

    • Introduced in vSAN 8.

    • Uses a single-tier architecture (all NVMe storage).

    • Optimized for high-performance, all-flash environments.

    • Better space efficiency (erasure coding, compression, dedupe).

    • Lower latency, higher throughput, ideal for modern workloads (AI/ML, databases, VDI).

Given a scenario, deploy a VMware vSAN cluster

Steps:

  1. In vSphere Client, create or select an existing Cluster.

  2. Enable vSAN from the Cluster → Configure → Services → vSAN.

  3. Choose deployment type:

    • Standard vSAN

    • vSAN HCI Mesh

    • vSAN Stretched Cluster

    • vSAN ESA (if supported hardware)

  4. Add hosts with local storage (must have cache + capacity devices for OSA, or NVMe for ESA).

  5. Claim disks for cache/capacity tier or for ESA pool.

  6. Configure fault domains if needed (for rack-level resilience).

  7. Complete setup and allow cluster health checks to run.

  8. Verify datastore creation and accessibility.

Given a scenario, configure vSAN Storage Policies

Steps:

  1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to Policies and Profiles → VM Storage Policies.

  2. Create a New VM Storage Policy.

  3. Under Policy Structure, select Enable rules for vSAN.

  4. Define rules:

    • Failures to Tolerate (FTT) – number of host/disk group/drive failures VM can withstand.

    • RAID type – RAID-1 (Mirroring) or RAID-5/6 (Erasure Coding).

    • Object Space Reservation (OSR) – % of space pre-allocated.

    • IOPS Limit (QoS).

  5. Apply policy to VMs or virtual disks during creation or by reconfiguring existing VMs.

  6. Validate compliance under VM Monitor → Policies.

Given a scenario, identify the options for Resilience and Data Availability in VMware vSAN

  • Failures to Tolerate (FTT): Defines resilience level.

    • FTT=1 → VM can survive 1 host or disk group failure.

    • FTT=2 → VM can survive 2 failures.

    • FTT=3 → VM can survive 3 failures.

  • Data Availability Mechanisms:

    • Mirroring (RAID-1) – higher performance, doubles storage consumption.

    • Erasure Coding (RAID-5/6) – efficient storage, requires all-flash.

    • Fault Domains – place replicas across racks/chassis.

    • Stretched Cluster – active/active sites with Witness node for DR.

Given a scenario, describe the purpose of vSAN Space Efficiency

  • Deduplication & Compression (vSAN OSA – all-flash only):

    • Reduces redundant data and compresses blocks, saving space.

    • Works at disk group level.

  • Compression (vSAN ESA):

    • Performed at device level with higher efficiency.

    • More granular and reduces CPU overhead.

  • Erasure Coding (RAID-5/6):

    • Provides space-efficient redundancy compared to mirroring.

  • Thin Provisioning & Object Space Reservation (OSR):

    • Allocates only the storage needed, expanding as data grows.

Purpose: Optimize capacity usage, reduce storage costs, and increase efficiency without compromising availability.