Create a VM Storage Policy for Virtual Volumes

To define the VM storage policy in the vSphere Client, use the Create VM Storage Policy wizard. In this task, you create a custom storage policy compatible with Virtual Volumes. When you define the VM storage policy for Virtual Volumes, you create rules to configure storage and data services provided by the VVols datastore. The rules are applied when the VM is placed on the VVols datastore. The custom storage policy can replace the default No Requirements storage policy for Virtual Volumes that VMware provides.

The procedure assumes that you are creating the VM storage policy for Virtual Volumes. For information about the vSAN storage policy, see the Administering VMware vSAN documentation.

Prerequisites

• Verify that the Virtual Volumes storage provider is available and active. See Register Storage Providers for Virtual Volumes.
• Make sure that the VM Storage Policies interface is populated with information about storage entities and data services that are available in your storage environment. See Populating the VM Storage Policies Interface.
• Define appropriate storage policy components. See Create Storage Policy Components.
• Required privileges: VM storage policies.Update and VM storage policies.View.

Procedure

1. Open the Create VM Storage Policy wizard.
   1. Click Menu > Policies and Profiles.
   2. Under Policies and Profiles, click VM Storage Policies.
   3. Click Create VM Storage Policy.
2. Enter the policy name and description, and click Next.

   Option	Action
   vCenter Server	Select the vCenter Server instance.
   Name	Enter the name of the storage policy, for example VVols Storage Policy.
   Description	Enter the description of the storage policy.

3. On the Policy structure page under Datastore specific rules, enable rules for a target storage entity, such as Virtual Volumes storage.
   You can enable rules for several datastores. Multiple rule sets allow a single policy to define alternative storage placement parameters, often from several storage providers.
4. On the Virtual Volumes rules page, define storage placement rules for the target VVols datastore.
   1. Click the Placement tab and click Add Rule.
   2. From the Add Rule drop-down menu, select available capability and specify its value.
      For example, you can specify the number of read operations per second for the Virtual Volumes objects.

      You can include as many rules as you need for the selected storage entity. Verify that the values you provide are within the range of values that the VVols datastore advertises.

   3. To fine-tune your placement request further, click the Tags tab and add a tag-based rule.
      Tag-based rules can filter datastores by including or excluding specific placement criteria. For example, your VM storage policy can include Virtual Volumes datastores located in Taxes and California, but exclude datastores located in Nevada.
5. (Optional) Define rules to configure datastore-specific services.
   The data services, such as encryption, caching, or replication, are offered by the storage. The VM storage policy that references data services, requests these services for the VM when the VM is placed to the VVols datastore.
   1. Click the tab for the data service category, for example, Replication.
   2. Define custom rules for the data service category or use predefined components.

      Option	Description
      Disabled	Datastore-specific services are disabled by default.
      Use storage policy component	Select a storage policy component from the drop-down menu. This option is available only if you have predefined components in your database.
      Custom	Define custom rules for the data service category by specifying an appropriate provider and values for the rules.

6. On the Storage compatibility page, review the list of datastores that match this policy.
   If the policy includes several rule sets, the datastore must satisfy at least one rule set and all rules within this set.
7. On the Review and finish page, review the storage policy settings and click Finish.
   To change any settings, click Back to go to the relevant page.

Results

The new VM storage policy compatible with Virtual Volumes appears on the list.

What to do next

You can now associate this policy with a virtual machine, or designate the policy as default.