Better VM storage management with VMware vVOLs

The next step in the storage integration after vSPhere API for Array Integration (VAAI) and VSphere Storage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) will be the VM Volumes or vVOLs.

A vVOL is a VMDK stored natively inside the storage system. The concept of vVOLs helps to eliminate the problem of VM storage management granularity, when tens of VMs are stored inside one LUN/VMFS Datastore, and the snapshot/replica/remote replica creation/restore operations can be performed by the storage system only on the LUN/Datastore level.

There are three objects composing the vVOL technology:

• Storage Provider – allows the storage system capabilities to be recognized and used by vCenter using VASA
• Protocol Endpoint – the I/O de-multiplexor device which will exist on a storage system and will represent a logical I/O channel from the ESXi hosts to the entire storage system
• Storage Container – the capacity pool on the storage system

Here’s an overview of the vVOLs feature

And a demo showing several things using vVols and HP 3PAR

Please take note that the vVOL feature is still a technology preview and is not available in VMware and HP products.

And the vVOLs should be supported only for the  block level protocols such as FC and iSCSI. Does it mean that this feature will  weaken the NetApp positions – the major NFS player on the storage market???