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Provisioning datastores

Provisioning a datastore creates a logical container for your virtual machines and their VMDKs. You can provision a datastore, and then attach the datastore to a single host, to all of the hosts in a cluster, or to all of the hosts in a datacenter by using the Lenovo Datastore Provisioning Wizard.

  • To provision a datastore on a storage virtual machine (SVM) that is directly connected to Virtual Storage Console (VSC), you must have added the SVM to VSC by using a user account that has the appropriate privileges, not the default vsadmin user account or vsadmin role.
  • To create an NFSv4.1 datastore, you must have enabled NFSv4.1 at the SVM level.
    If you want to…Enter the following command…
    Enable NFSv4.1vserver nfs modify -vserver vserver_name -v4.1 enabled
    Disable NFSv4.1vserver nfs modify -vserver vserver_name -v4.1 disabled
  • If you use NFS or iSCSI and the subnet is different between your ESXi hosts and your storage system, the NFS settings or iSCSI settings in the kaminoprefs preferences file must include the ESXi host subnet masks.

    This preferences file is also applicable to virtual datastore creation.

  • If you have enabled VASA Provider and you want to specify storage capability profiles for your NFS datastores or VMFS datastores, then you must create one or more storage capability profiles.

The Provision datastore menu enables you to specify a storage capability profile for the datastore, which helps in specifying consistent service level objectives (SLOs) and simplifies the provisioning process. You can specify a storage capability profile only if you have enabled VASA Provider. The virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA supports the following protocols:

  • NFSv3 and NFSv4.1
  • VMFS5 and VMFS6

VSC can create a datastore on either an NFS volume or a LUN:

  • For an NFS datastore, VSC creates an NFS volume on the storage system, and then updates the export policies.
  • For a VMFS datastore, VSC creates a new volume (or uses an existing volume, if you selected that option), and then creates a LUN and an igroup.
Note
VMware does not support NFSv4.1 with datastore clusters.
  1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Hosts and Clusters.
  2. In the navigation pane, select the datacenter on which you want to provision the datastore.
    Screen shot: A datacenter expanded in the navigation pane.
  3. Specify the hosts on which you want to mount the datastore.
    To make the datastore available to...Do this...
    All of the hosts in a datacenterRight-click a datacenter, and select Lenovo VSC > Provision Datastore.
    All of the hosts in a clusterRight-click a cluster, and select Lenovo VSC > Provision Datastore.
    A single hostRight-click a host, and select Lenovo VSC > Provision Datastore.
  4. Complete the pages in the Lenovo Datastore Provisioning Wizard to create the datastore.
    Most of the fields in the wizard are self-explanatory. The following table describes some of the fields for which you might require guidance.
    FieldDescription
    AggregateDefines the aggregate on which you want to create a new volume. If you selected an that is directly connected to VSC, striped aggregates appear as available; however, they are not supported. Provisioning to a striped aggregate will fail.
    TypeEnables you to specify the type of protocol or file system to be used for your datastore. If you select NFS or VMFS, then NFSv4.1 or VMFS6, respectively, are selected by default.
    Note
    VMware does not support NFSv4.1 with Site Recovery Manager (SRM).
    Datastore clusterAdds the datastore to a cluster if the Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (SDRS) feature is enabled on the vCenter Server.
    Storage capability profile(Recommended) Specifies an existing storage capability profile that the wizard will use when defining the type of storage that you require for your virtual machines. The storage capability profile determines the following storage features: space reservation, deduplication, compression, encryption, and tiering policy. Storage capability profiles are available only if you have installed and registered VASA Provider for ONTAP. You can select a default storage capability profile that ships with VASA Provider, a profile that you created, or a profile that was auto-generated. To provision a datastore without a storage capability profile, you should select None.
    Thin provisionAllocates space on the volume when data is written, which allows you to provision more storage than is currently available. If disabled, space is reserved immediately.

    You must closely monitor the available space in the containing aggregate because thin provisioning can oversubscribe the available space. The autogrow feature is enabled by default in the 9.7 version of the virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA. The autogrow feature automatically expands the datastore when space is required.

    Volume

    Specifies the volume on which you want to create the datastore. For ONTAP, you should not create a datastore in the SVM root volume.

  5. In the Ready to complete page, review the summary of your selections, and then click Finish.