All posts tagged vmdk

Protecting NFS storage on vSphere using Veeam virtual proxies

Good post by Luca Dell’Oca (thank you)

Since Patch 3 of Veeam Backup & Replication v7 (build 7.0.0.839) there has been a new mode to manage hotadd backups over NFS, available via a registry key. Per the original release notes:

“Intelligent load balancing can now be configured to give preference to backup proxy located on the same host using the EnableSameHostHotaddMode (DWORD) registry value.”

I’ve kept this post on hold for a while, since with the upcoming v9, DirectNFS will be a much better option than virtual proxies to backup virtual machines running on NFS shares. But there are situations where this key may be still needed, like people still wanting to use virtual proxies against NFS. So, what is this key, and what you can do with it?

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by rogerluethy on November 24, 2015  •  Permalink
Posted in Big Data, Datacenter, Hyperconverged, Information, Infrastructure, SAN, Software Defined Storage, Virtualization, VMware
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Posted by rogerluethy on November 24, 2015

https://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2015/11/24/protecting-nfs-storage-on-vsphere-using-veeam-virtual-proxies/

VSAN Evaluation – How to use the sizing tool – Part 1

Post by Rafael Kabesa (thank you)

Sizing a vSphere environment for VMware Virtual SAN is not an easy task and if this is how you look like when you approach it you should continue reading. Nevertheless, even if you already did sizing for VSAN in the past there are some nuances that you might want to pay attention to.

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by rogerluethy on April 22, 2015  •  Permalink
Posted in Datacenter, EMC, Information, Infrastructure, SAN, Software Defined Storage, Virtualization, VMware
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Posted by rogerluethy on April 22, 2015

https://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/vsan-evaluation-how-to-use-the-sizing-tool-part-1/

Why Virtual Volumes?

Post by Andrew Sullivan (thank you)

How many times in the last 3-4 years have you heard “Virtual Volumes”, “VVols”, “Storage Policy Based Management”, or any of the other terms associated with VMware’s newest software-defined storage technology?  I first heard about VVols in 2011, when I was still a customer, and the concept of no longer managing my virtual machine datastores, but rather simply consuming storage as needed with features applied as requested, was fascinating and exciting to me.

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by rogerluethy on March 30, 2015  •  Permalink
Posted in Datacenter, EMC, Hyperconverged, Information, Infrastructure, SAN, Virtualization, VMware
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Posted by rogerluethy on March 30, 2015

https://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/why-virtual-volumes/

Virtual Volumes primer

Good post by Duncan Epping (thank you)

I was digging through my blog for a link to a virtual volumes primer article and I realized I never wrote one. I did an article which described what Virtual Volumes (VVol) is in 2012 but that is it. I am certain that Virtual Volumes is a feature that will be heavily used with vSphere 6.0 and beyond, so it was time to write a primer. What is Virtual Volumes about? What will they bring to the table?

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by rogerluethy on March 9, 2015  •  Permalink
Posted in Datacenter, EMC, Information, Infrastructure, Virtualization, VMware
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Posted by rogerluethy on March 9, 2015

https://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/virtual-volumes-primer/

Top 6 Features of vSphere 6

Good post by Kevin Kelling (thank you)

It sounds cliché to say “this is our best release ever” because in a sense the newest release is usually the most evolved.  However as a four year VMware vExpert I do think that there is something special about this one.  This is a much more significant jump than going from 4.x to 5.x for example.  It’s not just feature packed or increasing the maximums, although it does accomplish both of these.  vSphere 6 introduces a few new paradigms which have the potential to create a lot of value, efficiency, and also good old-fashioned performance.

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by rogerluethy on February 9, 2015  •  Permalink
Posted in Datacenter, EMC, Hyperconverged, Information, Infrastructure, Software Defined Storage, Virtualization, VMware
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Posted by rogerluethy on February 9, 2015

https://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/top-6-features-of-vsphere-6/

Atlantis USX 2.0: more than Software-Defined Storage

Post by Andrea Mauro (thank you)

I’ve already write about Atlantis ILIO USX in some previous posts (for example look at the one related to Virtualization Field Day 3). Their solution is a in-memory software-defined storage solution that pools existing SAN, NAS and DAS from across the datacenter and then optimizes how server applications and VMs consume this storage.

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by rogerluethy on August 21, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Hyperconverged, Information, SAN, Software Defined Storage, Virtualization, VMware
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Posted by rogerluethy on August 21, 2014

https://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/atlantis-usx-2-0-more-than-software-defined-storage/

Effect of VAAI on cloning with All Flash Arrays

Good Post by Mohan Potheri (thank you)

Cloning virtual machines is an area where VAAI can provide many advantages. Flash storage arrays provide excellent IO performance. We wanted to see what difference VAAI makes in virtual machine cloning operations for “All Flash Arrays”.

For the test 500GB of random data on a VMDK was created on a Linux virtual machine. This virtual machine was then cloned with VAAI turned off and then on to study its impact. The results of the testing truly attest to the big benefits that VAAI bring to massive write operations.

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by rogerluethy on April 22, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Information, Virtualization, VMware
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Posted by rogerluethy on April 22, 2014

https://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/effect-of-vaai-on-cloning-with-all-flash-arrays/

VMware Storage Problems Not Just Performance Related

Good post by George Crump (thank you)

A discussion about the storage infrastructure supporting virtual servers or virtual desktops almost always starts with a focus on performance. After all, solving the much talked about I/O Blender problem often takes center stage. But according to a poll conducted in our recent webinar, “The 5 Reasons Why Storage Is Eating Away Your Virtualization ROI And How To Stop It”, volume design and assuring application performance took top votes.

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by rogerluethy on November 27, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Information, Virtualization
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Posted by rogerluethy on November 27, 2013

https://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/vmware-storage-problems-not-just-performance-related/

VMware vSphere 5.5 Improvements

Good and very detailed summary in 9 (!) parts from Chris Wahl (thank you) on
VMware vSphere 5.5

vSphere 5.5 Improvements Part 1 – The New Hotness in ESXi 5.5

vSphere 5.5 Improvements Part 2 – Pushing For A Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC)

vSphere 5.5 Improvements Part 3 – Lions, Tigers, and 62TB VMDKs

vSphere 5.5 Improvements Part 4 – Virtual SAN (VSAN)

vSphere 5.5 Improvements Part 5 – vSphere Flash Read Cache (vFlash)

vSphere 5.5 Improvements Part 6 – Site Recovery Manager (SRM) and vSphere Replication

vSphere 5.5 Improvements Part 7 – Single Sign On Completely Redesigned

vSphere 5.5 Improvements Part 8 – Network Virtualization with NSX

vSphere 5.5 Improvements Part 9 – Networking and VDS Razzle Dazzle

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by rogerluethy on August 27, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Information
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Posted by rogerluethy on August 27, 2013

https://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/vmware-vsphere-5-5-improvements/

Avoiding VMDK level over-commitment while using Thin disks and Storage DRS

Good post by Frank Denneman (thank you)

The behavior of thin provisioned disk VMDKs in a datastore cluster is quite interesting. Storage DRS supports the use of thin provisioned disks and is aware of both the configured size and the actual data usage of the virtual disk. When determining placement of a virtual machine, Storage DRS verifies the disk usage of the files stored on the datastore. To avoid getting caught out by instant data growth of the existing thin disk VMDKs, Storage DRS adds a buffer space to each thin disk.

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by rogerluethy on October 1, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Information, Virtualization
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Posted by rogerluethy on October 1, 2012

https://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/avoiding-vmdk-level-over-commitment-while-using-thin-disks-and-storage-drs/

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