A storage policy component describes a single data service, such as replication, that must be provided for the virtual machine. You can define the component in advance and associate it with multiple VM storage policies. The components are reusable and interchangeable.

Procedure

  1. From the vSphere Web Client Home, click Policies and Profiles > VM Storage Policies.
  2. Click the Storage Policy Components tab, and click the Create Storage Policy Component icon.
  3. Select the vCenter Server instance.
  4. Enter a name, for example, 4-hour Replication, and a description for the policy component.
    Make sure that the name does not conflict with the names of other components or storage policies.
  5. Select the category of the service, for example, Replication.
  6. Select the service provider.
  7. Define rules for the selected category.
    For example, if you are configuring 4-hour replication, set the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) value to 4.

    For encryption based on I/O filters, set the Allow I/O filters before encryption parameter. Encryption provided by storage does not require this parameter.

    Option Description
    False (default) Does not allow the use of other I/O filters before the encryption filter.
    True Allows the use of other I/O filters before the encryption filter. Other filters, such as replication, can analyze clear text data before it is encrypted.
  8. Click OK.

Results

The new component appears in the list of storage policy components.

What to do next

You can add the component to the VM storage policy. If the data service that the component references, such as replication, is provided by the I/O filters, you add the component to the common rules set. If the data service is provided by the storage system, you add the component to the regular rule set.