Storage I/O Control has several requirements and limitations.

  • Datastores that are Storage I/O Control-enabled must be managed by a single vCenter Server system.
  • Storage I/O Control is supported on Fibre Channel-connected, iSCSI-connected, and NFS-connected storage. Raw Device Mapping (RDM) is not supported.
  • Storage I/O Control does not support datastores with multiple extents.
  • Before using Storage I/O Control on datastores that are backed by arrays with automated storage tiering capabilities, check the VMware Storage/SAN Compatibility Guide to verify whether your automated tiered storage array has been certified to be compatible with Storage I/O Control.

    Automated storage tiering is the ability of an array (or group of arrays) to migrate LUNs/volumes or parts of LUNs/volumes to different types of storage media (SSD, FC, SAS, SATA) based on user-set policies and current I/O patterns. No special certification is required for arrays that do not have these automatic migration/tiering features, including those that provide the ability to manually migrate data between different types of storage media.