Storage Design and Implementation in vSphere 6: A Technology Deep Dive (Vmware Press Technology)

Now fully updated: The authoritative, comprehensive guide to vSphere 6 storage implementation and management

Effective VMware virtualization storage planning and management has become crucial—but it can be extremely complex. Now, VMware’s leading storage expert thoroughly demystifies the “black box” of vSphere 6 storage and provides illustrated, step-by-step procedures for performing every key task associated with it. Mostafa Khalil presents techniques based on years of personal experience helping customers troubleshoot storage in their vSphere production environments. Drawing on more experience than anyone else in the field, he combines expert guidelines, insights for better architectural design, best practices for planning and management, common configuration details, and deep dives into both vSphere and third-party storage. Storage Design and Implementation in vSphere 6, Second Edition will give you the deep understanding you need to make better upfront storage decisions, quickly solve problems if they arise, and keep them from occurring in the first place.

Coverage includes:

Planning and implementing Fibre Channel, FCoE, and iSCSI storage in vSphere virtualized environments
Implementing vSphere Pluggable Storage Architecture native multipathing, SATP, PSP, plug-ins, rules, registration, and more
Working with Active/Passive and Pseudo-Active/Active ALUA SCSI-3 storage arrays
Maximizing availability with multipathing and failover
Improving efficiency and value by unifying and centrally managing heterogeneous storage configurations
Understanding Storage Virtualization Devices (SVDs) and designing storage to take advantage of them
Implementing VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) to maximize performance and resource utilization
Working with virtual disks and raw device mappings (RDMs)
Managing snapshots in VMFS and Virtual Volumes environments
Implementing and administering NFS, VAAI, Storage vMotion, VisorFS, and VASA
Integrating VSAN core and advanced features
Using Virtual Volumes to streamline storage operations and gain finer VM-level control over external storage