Datastores are logical containers, analogous to file systems, that hide specifics of each storage device and provide a uniform model for storing virtual machine files. You can display all datastores available to your ESXi hosts and analyze their properties.

Datastores are added to vCenter Server in the following ways:

  • You can create a VMFS datastore, an NFS version 3 or 4.1 datastore, or a Virtual Volumes datastore using the New Datastore wizard. A vSAN datastore is automatically created when you enable vSAN.
  • When you add an ESXi host to vCenter Server, all datastores on the host are added to vCenter Server.

The following table describes datastore details that you can see when you review datastores through the vSphere Client. Certain characteristic might not be available or applicable to all types of datastores.

Table 1. Datastore Information
Datastore Information Applicable Datastore Type Description
Name VMFS

NFS

vSAN

vVol

Editable name that you assign to a datastore. For information on renaming a datastore, see Change Datastore Name.
Type VMFS

NFS

vSAN

vVol

File system that the datastore uses. For information about VMFS and NFS datastores and how to manage them, see Working with Datastores in vSphere Storage Environment.

For information about vSAN datastores, see the Administering VMware vSAN documentation.

For information about Virtual Volumes, see Working with VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes.

Device Backing VMFS

NFS

vSAN

Information about underlying storage, such as a storage device on which the datastore is deployed (VMFS), server and folder (NFS), or disk groups (vSAN).
Protocol Endpoints vVol Information about corresponding protocol endpoints. See Static Protocol Endpoints.
Extents VMFS Individual extents that the datastore spans and their capacity.
Drive Type VMFS Type of the underlying storage device, such as a flash drive or a regular HHD drive. For details, see Using Flash Devices with ESXi Hosts.
Capacity VMFS

NFS

vSAN

vVol

Includes total capacity, provisioned space, and free space.
Mount Point VMFS

NFS

vSAN

vVol

A path to the datastore in the /vmfs/volumes/ directory of the host.
Capability Sets VMFS
Note: A multi-extent VMFS datastore assumes capabilities of only one of its extents.

NFS

vSAN

vVol

Information about storage data services that the underlying storage entity provides. You cannot modify them.
Storage I/O Control VMFS

NFS

Information on whether cluster-wide storage I/O prioritization is enabled. See the vSphere Resource Management documentation.
Hardware Acceleration VMFS

NFS

vSAN

vVol

Information on whether the underlying storage entity supports hardware acceleration. The status can be Supported, Not Supported, or Unknown. For details, see Storage Hardware Acceleration in vSphere.
Note: NFS 4.1 does not support Hardware Acceleration.
Tags VMFS

NFS

vSAN

vVol

Datastore capabilities that you define and associate with datastores in a form of tags. For information, see Assign Tags to Datastores.
Connectivity with Hosts VMFS

NFS

vVol

Hosts where the datastore is mounted.
Multipathing VMFS

vVol

Path selection policy the host uses to access storage. For more information, see Understanding Multipathing and Failover in the ESXi Environment.

Display Datastore Information

Access the Datastores view with the vSphere Client navigator.

Use the Datastores view to list all datastores available in the vSphere infrastructure inventory, analyze the information, and modify properties.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to any inventory object that is a valid parent object of a datastore, such as a host, a cluster, or a data center, and click the Datastores tab.
    Datastores that are available in the inventory appear in the center panel.
  2. Use the options from a datastore right-click menu to perform basic tasks for a selected datastore.

    Availability of specific options depends on the type of the datastore and its configuration.

    Option Description
    Register VM Register an existing virtual machine in the inventory. See the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration documentation.
    Increase Datastore Capacity Increase the capacity of the VMFS datastore or add an extent. See Increase Capacity of vSphere VMFS Datastore.
    Browse Files Navigate to the datastore file browser. See Navigate to the Datastore Browser.
    Rename Change the datastore name. See Change Datastore Name.
    Mount Datastore Mount the datastore to certain hosts. See Mount Datastores.
    Unmount Datastore Unmount the datastore from certain hosts. See Unmount Datastores.
    Maintenance Mode Use datastore maintenance mode. See the vSphere Resource Management documentation.
    Configure Storage I/O Control (VMFS) Enable Storage I/O Control for the VMFS datastore. See the vSphere Resource Management documentation.
    Edit Space Reclamation (VMFS) Change space reclamation settings for the VMFS datastore. See Configure Fixed Reclamation for the Existing VMFS6 Datastore.
    Delete Datastore (VMFS) Remove the VMFS datastore. See Remove VMFS Datastores.
    Tags & Custom Attributes Use tags to encode information about the datastore. See Assign Tags to Datastores.
  3. To view specific datastore details, click a selected datastore.
  4. Use tabs to access additional information and modify datastore properties.
    Tab Description
    Summary View statistics and configuration for the selected datastore.
    Monitor View alarms, performance data, resource allocation, events, and other status information for the datastore.
    Configure View and modify datastore properties. Menu items that you can see depend on the datastore type.
    Permissions Assign or edit permissions for the selected datastore.
    Files Navigate to the datastore file browser.
    Hosts View hosts where the datastore is mounted.
    VMs View virtual machines that reside on the datastore.