A storage policy component describes a single data service, such as replication, that must be provided for the virtual machine. You can define the component in advance and associate it with multiple VM storage policies. The components are reusable and interchangeable.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, open the New Storage Policy Component dialog box.
    1. Click Menu > Policies and Profiles.
    2. Under Policies and Profiles, click Storage Policy Components.
  2. Click Create Storage Policy Component.
  3. Select the vCenter Server instance.
  4. Enter a name, for example, 4-hour Replication, and a description for the policy component.
    Make sure that the name does not conflict with the names of other components or storage policies.
  5. Select the category of the service, for example, Replication.
  6. Select the service provider.
  7. Define rules for the selected category.
    For example, if you are configuring 4-hour replication, set the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) value to 4.

    For encryption based on I/O filters, set the Allow I/O filters before encryption parameter. Encryption provided by storage does not require this parameter.

    Option Description
    False (default) Does not allow the use of other I/O filters before the encryption filter.
    True Allows the use of other I/O filters before the encryption filter. Other filters, such as replication, can analyze clear text data before it is encrypted.
  8. Click OK.

Results

The new component appears in the list of storage policy components.

What to do next

You can add the component to the VM storage policy. If the data service that the component references is provided by the I/O filters, you add the component to the host-based rules of the storage policy. Components that reference entities other than the I/O filters, for example, a storage system, are added to the datastore-specific rule sets.