vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-storage-guide

Chapter 1 Introduction to StorageNetworked StorageNetworked storage consists of external storage systems that your ESXi host uses to store virtual machinefiles remotely. Typically, the host accesses these systems over a high-speed storage network.Networked storage devices are shared. Datastores on networked storage devices can be accessed bymultiple hosts concurrently. ESXi supports multiple networked storage technologies.NOTE The same LUN cannot be presented to an ESXi host or multiple hosts through different storageprotocols. To access the LUN, hosts must always use a single protocol, for example, either Fibre Channelonly or iSCSI only.Fibre Channel (FC)Stores virtual machine files remotely on an FC storage area network (SAN). FC SAN is a specialized highspeednetwork that connects your hosts to high-performance storage devices. The network uses FibreChannel protocol to transport SCSI traffic from virtual machines to the FC SAN devices.To connect to the FC SAN, your host should be equipped with Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs).Unless you use Fibre Channel direct connect storage, you need Fibre Channel switches to route storagetraffic. If your host contains FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) adapters, you can connect to your sharedFibre Channel devices by using an Ethernet network.Fibre Channel Storage depicts virtual machines using Fibre Channel storage.Figure 1‐2. Fibre Channel StorageHostvirtualmachinefibrechannelHBASANVMFSfibre arrayIn this configuration, a host connects to a SAN fabric, which consists of Fibre Channel switches and storagearrays, using a Fibre Channel adapter. LUNs from a storage array become available to the host. You canaccess the LUNs and create datastores for your storage needs. The datastores use the VMFS format.For specific information on setting up the Fibre Channel SAN, see Chapter 3, “Using ESXi with FibreChannel SAN,” on page 35.VMware, Inc. 15