Working with Flash Devices

In addition to the regular storage hard disk drives (HDDs), ESXi supports flash storage devices.

Unlike the regular HDDs that are electromechanical devices containing moving parts, the flash devices use semiconductors as their storage medium and have no moving parts. Typically, the flash devices are resilient and provide faster access to data.

To detect flash devices, ESXi uses an inquiry mechanism based on T10 standards. Check with your vendor whether your storage array supports the ESXi mechanism of flash device detection.

After the host detects the flash devices, you can use them for several tasks and functionalities.

If you use NVMe local flash storage, enable the high-performance plug-in (HPP) to improve your storage performance. See VMware High Performance Plug-In.