Fibre Channel (FC) is a storage protocol that the SAN uses to transfer data traffic from ESXi hosts to shared storage. The protocol packages SCSI commands into FC frames. To connect to the FC SAN, the ESXi host uses Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs).
Fibre Channel can be used as supplemental storage for the management domain and consolidated workload domains, however it can be used as principal storage for VI workload domains and can also be used a principal storage in a management domain converted from vSphere infrastructure.
Storage Type |
Consolidated Workload Domain |
Management Domain |
VI Workload Domain |
---|---|---|---|
Principal |
No |
Only for a management domain converted from vSphere infrastructure |
Yes |
Supplemental |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Prerequisites for FC Storage
- A minimum of three ESXi hosts. Review the ESXi Fibre Channel SAN Requirements in the vSphere Storage Guide.
Note: If you are using VMFS on FC as principal storage, and your VI workload domain is using vSphere Lifecycle Manager images as the update method, then only two hosts are required. Workload Management requires a vSphere cluster with a minimum of three ESXi hosts.
- A pre-created VMFS datastore.
- The hosts must be in the SDDC Manager inventory. See Commission Hosts.
Important: The VMFS datastore must be mounted on all the hosts before commissioning.
- A network pool that includes details for the vMotion network that will be used for the cluster. See Network Pool Management.
Procedures for FC Storage
- To use Fibre Channel as principal storage for a new VI workload domain, see Deploy a VI Workload Domain Using the SDDC Manager UI.
- To use Fibre Channel as principal storage for a new cluster, see Add a vSphere Cluster to a Workload Domain Using the SDDC Manager UI.
- To use Fibre Channel as supplemental storage, see the vSphere Storage Guide.