You can activate vSAN when you create a cluster or enable vSAN on your existing clusters. Characteristics of a vSAN ClusterBefore working on a vSAN environment, be aware of the characteristics of a vSAN cluster. Before Creating a vSAN Cluster This topic provides a checklist of software and hardware requirements for creating a vSAN cluster. You can also use the checklist to verify that the cluster meets the guidelines and basic requirements. Using Quickstart to Configure and Expand a vSAN ClusterYou can use the Quickstart workflow to quickly create, configure, and expand a vSAN cluster. Manually Enabling vSANTo create a vSAN cluster, you create a host cluster and enable vSAN on the cluster. Configure License Settings for a vSAN ClusterYou must assign a license to a vSAN cluster before its evaluation period expires or its currently assigned license expires. View vSAN DatastoreAfter you enable vSAN, a single datastore is created. You can review the capacity of the vSAN datastore. Using vSAN and vSphere HAYou can enable vSphere HA and vSAN on the same cluster. vSphere HA provides the same level of protection for virtual machines on vSAN datastores as it does on traditional datastores. This level of protection imposes specific restrictions when vSphere HA and vSAN interact. Deploying vSAN with vCenter Server ApplianceYou can create a vSAN cluster as you deploy a vCenter Server Appliance, and host the appliance on that cluster. Disable vSANYou can turn off vSAN for a host cluster. Using vSAN Configuration Assist and UpdatesYou can use Configuration Assist to check the configuration of your vSAN cluster, and resolve any issues. Manually Shut Down and Restart the vSAN ClusterYou can manually shut down the entire vSAN cluster to perform maintenance or troubleshooting.
