- Software-defined storage software solution.
- Aggregates locally attached storage from each ESXi host in a cluster.
- Flash optimized storage solution.
- VM-Centric data operations and policy driven management principals.
- Resilient design based on a Distributed RAID architecture
- No single points of failures
- Fully integrated with vSphere.
- Virtual SAN is NOT a Virtual Storage Appliance
- Virtual SAN is fully integrated with vSphere (ESXi & vCenter)
- Drivers embedded in ESXi 5.5 contain the Virtual SAN smarts
- Kernel modules:
- Provide the shortest path for I/O
- Remove unnecessary management overheads when dealing with an appliance
- Do not consume resources unnecessarily
- VSAN:
- Hybrid storage solution
- Magnetic disks (HDD)
- Flash based disks (SSD)
- Storage scale out architecture built into the hypervisor
- Dynamic capacity and performance scalability
- Object based storage architecture
- Interoperable with vSphere and enterprise features:
- vMotion, DRS, vSphere HA
- Boot Devices
- Depends on amount of host memory
- Up to 512 GB
- Use SD/USB devices as the installation media.
- 512 GB or greater
- Use a separate magnetic disk or solid stated disk as the installation device
- In Virtual SAN ALL read and write operations always go directly to the Flash tier.
- Flash based devices serve two purposes in Virtual SAN
- Non-volatile Write Buffer (30%)
- Writes are acknowledged when they enter prepare stage on SSD.
- Reduces latency for writes
- Read Cache (70%)
- Cache hits reduces read latency
- Cache miss – retrieve data from HDD
VMware vSAN Technical Walkthrough Deep Dive
Vmware vSA N Understand Choice Storage
VMware vSAN Design and Sizing
VMware vSAN Overview
VMware vSAN Technical
