VVOL or classic Datastore?

[lissylucky]

Hey together,

we have a new FAS2650 with two esx hosts.

At the moment we have 2 volumes datastore 1 and datastore with a LUN for each of them.

The LUNs are added to the vCenter as 2 datastores.

Now i heard something about vVol. Is it better than our configuration?

And how can i configure it?

Thank you very much.

Lissylucky 

[konnerth]

Hi,

There are two key advantages to using VVol datastores versus traditional datastores:

• Granular management approach for SAN storage
• Support policy-based provisioning and management, which might be automated

For example, the granular management means you can monitor individual performance and capacity of VVol VMs using ONTAP data (for now, we display the data for the top 5 VMs in the VSC/VASA Provider dashboard).  You can also set Max QoS at the VVol VM level, using Storage Capability Profiles.

Policy-based management allows you to define storage policies for your VMs to speed provisioning and avoid mistakes.  This is useful if you have different classes of storage, perhaps SSD and SATA for production and test VMs.

I presented on VVols at Insight 2017 with Andreas Engel, and you should have access to this with a NetApp Support site login.  The catalog is available at https://www.brainshark.com/go/netapp-sell/insight-library.html?cf=12089, and the specific presentation is https://www.brainshark.com/netapp/18426-3-2017/zEVzOw726z326Qz0 .  Hopefully one of these will work for you.

I am working on an update to our VVol Technical Report (https://www.netapp.com/us/media/tr-4400.pdf), and welcome your feedback.  It is still generally accurate.

---Karl 

[lissylucky]

Hi Karl,

thank you for your answer.

Do you recommend VVOL for a FAS2650 with only one shelf and two esx? We have 11 TB net (6.5 each Controller).

Thank you

[konnerth]

It really depends on whether you want the additional benefits I described of SAN granular management (QoS and some performance monitoring) and policy-based management.  If not, using traditional datastores may be simpler for you. Also, backup tools generally support VVol backup and restore using VADP, and aren't currently taking advantage of ONTAP snapshots.  Finally, DR replication of VVols is not supported with VMware SRM.

---Karl