Configure vSphere Virtual Volumes

To configure Virtual Volumes in the vSphere environment, follow several steps.

Prerequisites

• Be familiar with concepts and requirements related to Virtual Volumes in the vSphere environment. See vSphere Virtual Volumes Concepts and Architecture and NVMe and Virtual Volumes in vSphere.
• Follow guidelines in Before You Enable vSphere Virtual Volumes.

Procedure

1. Register Storage Providers for Virtual Volumes.
2. Create a Virtual Volumes Datastore in vSphere Environment.

Register Storage Providers for Virtual Volumes

Your Virtual Volumes environment must include storage providers, also called VASA providers. Typically, third-party vendors develop storage providers through the VMware APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA). Storage providers facilitate communication between vSphere and the storage side. Use the vSphere Client to register the Virtual Volumes storage providers.

After registration, the Virtual Volumes provider communicates with vCenter Server. The provider reports characteristics of underlying storage and data services, such as replication, that the storage system provides. The characteristics appear in the VM Storage Policies interface and can be used to create a VM storage policy compatible with the Virtual Volumes datastore. After you apply this storage policy to a virtual machine, the policy is pushed to Virtual Volumes storage. The policy enforces optimal placement of the virtual machine within Virtual Volumes storage and guarantees that storage can satisfy virtual machine requirements. If your storage provides extra services, such as caching or replication, the policy enables these services for the virtual machine.

For more information about the storage providers, see Virtual Volumes Storage Providers.

Prerequisites

Verify that an appropriate version of the Virtual Volumes storage provider is installed on the storage side. Obtain credentials of the storage provider.

Procedure

1. Navigate to vCenter Server.
2. Click the Configure tab, and click Storage Providers.
3. Click the Add icon.
4. Enter connection information for the storage provider, including the name, URL, and credentials.
5. To complete the registration, click OK.
   vCenter Server discovers and registers the Virtual Volumes storage provider.
   
6. Verify information available for your provider.
   Switch between Storage Providers and Providers Arrays to display information about your provider and the array it represents.

Create a Virtual Volumes Datastore in vSphere Environment

You use the New Datastore wizard to create a Virtual Volumes datastore.

For more information about the Virtual Volumes datastore, see Virtual Volumes Datastores.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client object navigator, browse to a host, a cluster, or a data center.
2. From the right-click menu, select Storage > New Datastore.
3. Select vVol as the datastore type.
4. Enter the datastore name and select a backing storage container from the list of storage containers.
   Make sure to use the name that does not duplicate another datastore name in your data center environment.

   If you mount the same Virtual Volumes datastore to several hosts, the name of the datastore must be consistent across all hosts.

5. Select the hosts that require access to the datastore.
6. Review the configuration options and click Finish.
   

What to do next

After you create the Virtual Volumes datastore, you can perform the following operations:

• Rename the datastore, browse datastore files, unmount the datastore, and so on. See Basic Administrative Operations for vSphere Datastores.
  Note: You cannot add the Virtual Volumes datastore to a datastore cluster.
• Provision virtual machines on the Virtual Volumes datastore. See Provision VMs on vSphere Virtual Volumes Datastores and the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration documentation.
• Review and manage protocol endpoints. See Review and Manage Protocol Endpoints in vSphere.
• Manage or upgrade storage providers. See Manage Storage Providers for vSphere Virtual Volumes.