If you need to take a datastore out of service, you can place the datastore in Storage DRS maintenance mode.

Prerequisites

Storage DRS is enabled on the datastore cluster that contains the datastore that is entering maintenance mode.

No CD-ROM image files are stored on the datastore.

There are at least two datastores in the datastore cluster.

Procedure

  1. Browse to the datastore in the vSphere Client.
  2. Right-click the datastore and select Maintenance Mode > Enter Maintenance Mode.
    A list of recommendations appears for datastore maintenance mode migration.
  3. (Optional) On the Placement Recommendations tab, deselect any recommendations you do not want to apply.
    Note: The datastore cannot enter maintenance mode without evacuating all disks. If you deselect recommendations, you must manually move the affected virtual machines.
  4. If necessary, click Apply Recommendations.
    vCenter Server uses Storage vMotion to migrate the virtual disks from the source datastore to the destination datastore and the datastore enters maintenance mode.

Results

The datastore icon might not be immediately updated to reflect the datastore's current state. To update the icon immediately, click Refresh.