With VVols common storage management tasks are automated eliminates operational dependencies to provide more simplified management. VVols enables vSphere to write virtual machines (VMs) natively to storage arrays without using any kind of file system. VVols creates a unified standard and architecture for all storage vendors and storage protocols to adhere to, it leverages the vSphere APIs for Storage Awareness (also known as VASA) to accomplish this. Key take-away: There are many hidden challenges with traditional external storage architectures in vSphere which decrease efficiency and increase managementĤ What are VMware VVols? New vSphere storage architecture to replace VMFS/NFS Standard (VASA) for all storage vendors to adhere to Enables vSphere to write VMs natively to storage arrays Common storage management tasks are automated Designed to be dynamic, eliminates LUN provisioning Storage array features can be applied to individual VMs VMware Virtual Volumes (or VVols for short) are a new vSphere storage architecture that was created to replace the existing VMFS and NFS implementations that have been used since ESX was first launched more than 10 years ago. All of these challenges combine to make for a very compelling reason to break away from using legacy storage architectures in vSphere and was the motivation for VMware to create their new VVols storage architecture. And finally storage array data services and features are not aligned at the VM level and can only be applied at the higher LUN level which is inefficient.
Nimble storage vmware integration guide manual#
Provisioning of physical storage resources is a manual process which leads to longer times waiting for requests to be completed.
Storage array vendor tools and plug-ins for vCenter must be utilized to manage physical storage resources which makes management more cumbersome. Space reclamation is a difficult, time-consuming and manual process which often leads to poor resource utilization. Administration efforts are increased as vSphere admins must constantly work with storage admins for any requests. With LUNs storage is always over-provisioned which leads to poor efficiency and resource utilization. Block storage arrays have no visibility inside VMFS volumes so they have no ability to interact directly with VMs. Storage is pre-allocated into silos on storage arrays which traps and wastes both capacity and performance. Some of the challenges with the current architecture in vSphere center around it being very LUN centric which is not a good fit in todays app centric world. Storage has greatly evolved in the past decade as well and VMware designed VVols to meet the evolution of both storage and the cloud and app centric data center. Virtualization has greatly evolved over the last decade and plays a key role in just about every aspect of the IT.
Todays exercise: Challenges in external storage architectures LUN Centric – storage pre- allocated into silos No Visibility – cannot see inside VMFS volume Poor Efficiency – typically over- provisioning LUNs Increased Administration – must always go to storage admin Difficult Reclamation – space reclamation is a manual process Hardware Centric – must use vendor tools & plug-ins Long Provisioning – time consuming manual requests Data Services – array data services not aligned with VMs So why did VMware feel the need to create a whole new architecture for external storage? VMware recognized that everything in today’s world is moving towards an app-centric model, and while their legacy storage architecture works just fine it has many shortcomings to be able to support the modern data center. New Product Introduction A Brief History of 3PAR, Nimble & VMware VVols Design partnership between HPE and VMware Virtual Volumes VMworld VVol introduced with HPE as 1 of 5 original design partners VVol Beta 3PAR 1 of 3 partners ready on Beta Day 1 Nimble Tech Preview Nimble tech preview released VVol 2.0 GA with vSphere 6.5 3PAR & Nimble ready on Day 1 Aug 20 Jun 20 May 2 Today 3PAR Reference Platform 3PAR selected as the FC reference platform VVol GA with vSphere 6.0 3PAR 1 of 4 partners ready Nimble GA Nimble releases VVol support Continued development 3PAR, Nimble and VMware continue working to develop and refine VVols HP Restrictedģ Why did VMware create a new storage architecture? Replicating VMware VVols: A technical deep dive into VVol array based replication in vSphere 6.5 Claudio Calisto – Storage Solutions Architect Nick Dyer – Principal SE, NimbleĢ A Brief History of 3PAR, Nimble & VMware VVols Presentation on theme: "Replicating VMware VVols: A technical deep dive"- Presentation transcript:ġ Replicating VMware VVols: A technical deep dive