The Space in GB chart displays space usage data counters for datastores.

This chart is located in the Space view of the datastore or datastore cluster Performance tab.

Table 1. Data Counters
Chart Label Description
Allocated

Amount of physical space provisioned by an administrator for the datastore. It is the storage size up to which files on the datastore can grow. Allocated space is not always in use.

  • Counter: provisioned
  • Stats Type: Absolute
  • Unit: Gigabytes (GB)
  • Rollup Type: Latest
  • Collection Level: 1
Used

Amount of physical datastore space in use.

  • Counter: used
  • Stats Type: Absolute
  • Unit: Gigabytes (GB)
  • Rollup Type: Latest
  • Collection Level: 1
Capacity

Maximum capacity of the datastore.

capacity = virtual machine file space + non-virtual machine file space + free space

Note: Storage data is collected and updated in the overview charts every 30 minutes. Therefore, if you refresh the datastore, the capacity value might only be updated in the datastore Summary tab, and not in the overview charts.
  • Counter: capacity
  • Stats Type: Absolute
  • Unit: Gigabytes (GB)
  • Rollup Type: Latest
  • Collection Level: 1

Chart Analysis

The datastore is at full capacity when the used space is equal to the capacity. Allocated space can be larger than datastore capacity, for example, when you have snapshots and thin-provisioned disks. If possible, you can provision more space to the datastore, or you can add disks to the datastore or use shared datastores.

If snapshot files are consuming high datastore space, consider consolidating them to the virtual disk when they are no longer needed. Consolidating the snapshots deletes the redo log files and removes the snapshots from the vSphere Client user interface. For information about consolidating the data center, see the vSphere documentation.