vSphere Storage - ESXi 5.1 - Documentation - VMware
vSphere Storage - ESXi 5.1 - Documentation - VMware
vSphere Storage - ESXi 5.1 - Documentation - VMware
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<strong>vSphere</strong> <strong>Storage</strong><br />
Understanding <strong>Storage</strong> Capabilities<br />
A storage capability outlines the quality of service that a storage system can deliver. It is a guarantee that the<br />
storage system can provide a specific set of characteristics for capacity, performance, availability, redundancy,<br />
and so on.<br />
If a storage system uses <strong>Storage</strong> APIs - <strong>Storage</strong> Awareness, it informs vCenter Server that it can guarantee a<br />
specific set of storage features by presenting them as a storage capability. vCenter Server recognizes the<br />
capability and adds it to the list of storage capabilities in the Manage <strong>Storage</strong> Capabilities dialog box. Such<br />
storage capabilities are system-defined. vCenter Server assigns the system-defined storage capability to each<br />
datastore that you create from that storage system.<br />
NOTE Because multiple system capabilities for a datastore are not supported, a datastore that spans several<br />
extents assumes the system capability of only one of its extents.<br />
You can create user-defined storage capabilities and associate them with datastores. You should associate the<br />
same user-defined capability with datastores that guarantee the same level of storage capabilities. You can<br />
associate a user-defined capability with a datastore that already has a system-defined capability. A datastore<br />
can have only one system-defined and only one user-defined capability at a time.<br />
For more information about <strong>Storage</strong> APIs - <strong>Storage</strong> Awareness, see Chapter 23, “Using <strong>Storage</strong> Vendor<br />
Providers,” on page 235.<br />
You define storage requirements for virtual machines and virtual disks by adding storage capabilities to virtual<br />
machine storage profiles.<br />
View Existing <strong>Storage</strong> Capabilities in the <strong>vSphere</strong> Client<br />
Before you add your storage capabilities, you can view system-defined storage capabilities that your storage<br />
system defines.<br />
To be able to report system-defined storage capabilities, your storage system must support <strong>Storage</strong> APIs -<br />
<strong>Storage</strong> Awareness.<br />
Procedure<br />
1 In the <strong>vSphere</strong> Client, select View > Management > VM <strong>Storage</strong> Profiles.<br />
2 In the VM <strong>Storage</strong> Profiles view of the <strong>vSphere</strong> Client, click Manage <strong>Storage</strong> Capabilities.<br />
The Manage <strong>Storage</strong> Capabilities dialog box appears.<br />
3 View the names and descriptions of the storage capabilities in the Name and Description column.<br />
4 View the System and User-defined types of the existing storage capabilities.<br />
a Click the Type column to sort the storage capabilities by type.<br />
b View the storage capabilities whose type is System.<br />
c View the storage capabilities whose type is User-defined.<br />
What to do next<br />
Modify the list of existing user-defined storage capabilities by using the Add, Remove, or Edit buttons.<br />
242 <strong>VMware</strong>, Inc.