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

Chapter 1 Introduction to StorageDatastore CharacteristicsDatastores are logical containers, analogous to file systems, that hide specifics of each storage device andprovide a uniform model for storing virtual machine files. You can display all datastores available to yourhosts and analyze their properties.Datastores are added to vCenter Server in the following ways:• Created on an available storage device.• Discovered when a host is added to vCenter Server. When you add a host, vCenter Server displays anydatastores available to the host.The following table describes the datastore details that you can see when you review datastores.Information in the table applies to VMFS and NFS datastores. For information about Virtual SAN (VSAN)datastores, see Chapter 19, “Working with Virtual SAN,” on page 173.Table 1‐3. Datastore InformationDatastore InformationNameDevice BackingDrive TypeCapacityFreeFile System TypeStorage I/O ControlHardware AccelerationLocation (VMFS datastores)Server (NFS datastores)Folder (NFS datastores)Extents (VMFS datastores)Vendor Specific StorageCapabilitiesTagsPath Selection (VMFS datastores)Paths (VMFS datastores)DescriptionEditable name that you assign to the datastore. For information on renaming adatastore, see “Rename VMFS or NFS Datastores in the vSphere Web Client,” onpage 145.Storage device on which the datastore is deployed (VMFS), or server and folder(NFS).Type of underlying storage device, a Solid State Drive (SSD) or a regular non-SSDhard drive. For details, see Chapter 18, “Solid State Disks Enablement,” on page 163.Total formatted capacity of the datastore.Available space.File system that the datastore uses, either VMFS or NFS. For information aboutdatastores and how to upgrade to VMFS5, see Chapter 16, “Working withDatastores,” on page 133.Information on whether cluster-wide storage I/O prioritization is enabled. See thevSphere Resource Management documentation.Information on whether the underlying storage device supports hardwareacceleration. The status can be Supported, Not Supported, or Unknown. For details,see Chapter 24, “Storage Hardware Acceleration,” on page 235.A path to the datastore in the /vmfs/volumes/ directory.Name or IP address of a NAS server.Name of a mounted folder.Individual extents that the datastore spans and their capacity.Storage capabilities reported by supported storage devices and inherited by thedatastores. You cannot modify them.NOTE A multi-extent datastore assumes the capabilities of only one of its extents.Datastore capabilities that you define and associate with datastores in a form of tags.For information, see “Understanding Storage Capabilities,” on page 195.Path selection policy the host uses to access storage. For more information, seeChapter 23, “Understanding Multipathing and Failover,” on page 215.Number of paths used to access storage and their status.VMware, Inc. 21