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VMware ESX

VM VM VM

VMware ESX

VM VM VM VMVM

VMFS

VMware vStorage VMFS virtualizes storage enabling high availability and

resource management for virtual machines.

AT A GLANCE

BENEFITS

VMware vStorage Virtual Machine File System

(VMFS) is a high-perormance cluster le system

that provides storage virtualization optimized or

virtual machines. Each virtual machine is

encapsulated in a small set o les and VMFS is the

deault storage system or these les on physical

SCSI disks and partitions.

Greatly simplify virtual machine provisioning and

administration by efciently storing the entire

virtual machine state in a central location.

Run multiple instances of VMware ESX to access

the same virtual machine storage concurrently.

Support virtualization-based distributed

infrastructure services using VMware vCenter

Server, VMware VMotion, VMware DRS and

VMware HA.

VMware vStorage VMFSHigh-Perormance Cluster File System or Storage Virtualization

How Is VMware vStorage VMFS Used inthe Enterprise?

The VMware vStorage VMFS is a prerequisite or building the

dynamic, automated and sel-optimizing datacenter. VMFS

enables virtualization-based distributed services including:

Distributedresourceoptimization.

VMFS allows multiple instances o VMware ESX to access the

same virtual machine storage, and as a result, virtual machines

can be dynamically and automatically migrated between

instances o VMware ESX, enabling:

Dynamic allocation o resources in resource pools

Live migration o running virtual machines among

dierent servers

HighAvailability.

VMFS handles on-disk locks and SCSI reservations enabling:

Virtual machine clustering with Microsot Clustering Services

Automatic restart o virtual machines on dierent

physical servers

Eciento-hostbackup.

VMFS allows a proxy server to backup a snapshot o a virtual

machine while the virtual machine is simultaneously reading

and writing to its storage.

HowDoesVMwarevStorageVMFSWork?

VMFS is optimized, rigorously tested and certied or a

wide range o Fibre Channel and iSCSI SAN equipment.

VMFS eciently stores the entire virtual machine state in a

central location and can be created in advance, enabling

instant provisioning o virtual machines, without relying on

a storage administrator.

Conventional le systems allow only one server to have read

write access to the same le at a given time. In contrast, VMFS

is a cluster le system that leverages shared storage to allow

multiple instances o VMware ESX to read and write to the same

storage, concurrently. VMFS provides on-disk locking to ensure

that a virtual machine is not powered on by multiple installations

o VMware ESX at the same time. Should a server ail, the

on-disk lock or each virtual machine is released to allow the

virtual machine to be restarted on other physical servers.

Clusterlesystem.

Create the oundation or virtualization-based distributed

inrastructure services by storing virtual machine les on

shared storage as Fibre Channel and iSCSI SAN.

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VMware vStorage VMFS

VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Avenue Palo Alto CA 94304 USA Tel 877-486-9273 Fax 650-427-5001 www.vmware.comCopyright 2009 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at

http://www.vmware.com/go/patents. VMwa re is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be

trademarks of their respective companies. Item No: VMW_09Q3_DS_VMFS_USLET_EN_P2_R2

Shareddatalesystem.

Enable multiple installations o VMware ESX to read and write

rom the same storage location concurrently.

Onlineinsertionordeletionofnodes.Add or delete a VMware ESX host rom a VMFS volume

without pausing or halting the processing o other ESX hosts

on that volume.

On-diskdisklelocking.

Prevent virtual machines rom being powered on by multiple

servers at the same time.

PerformanceandScalability

Optimized or virtual machine I/O.

Store and access the entire virtual machine state eciently

rom a centralized location with virtual disk perormance

close to native SCSI.

New Adaptive block sizing.Uses large block sizes avored by virtual disk I/O. Use

sub-block allocator or small les and directories.

New Dynamic increase o VMFS volume size.

Create new virtual machines without relying on a storage

administrator. Adaptive block sizing and addressing or

growing les allows to increase a VMFS volume on the fy.

New Increased number o ESX hosts per VMFS volume.

Connect up to 32 ESX hosts to a single VMFS volume.

New Extended block size and fle limits.

Run even the most data intensive production applications

such as databases, ERP and CRM in virtual machines

Maximum virtual disk size: 2TB

Maximum le size: 2TB max

Block size: 1MB to 8MB

Interoperability

Certifcation.

Use VMFS with a wide range o Fibre Channel and iSCSI SAN

equipment. VMFS is optimized, rigorously tested and certied

or these storage systems.

Idealized SCSI compliant virtual disks.

Use virtual disk les that appear to the virtual machine as a

mounted SCSI device. Virtual disks hide all intermittent SAN

errors rom the operating system, allowing even operating

systems not certied or SAN to run inside a virtual machine.

Manageability

LUN discovery and management.

Simpliy storage management with automatic discovery o

LUNs in the shared storage and mapping o those LUNs to a

VMFS volume.

New File directories.

Enable easy virtual machine administration with le

directories. All les or a virtual machine are stored in a

separate directory.

Direct pass through o virtual machine data.

Ensure correct application behavior and data integrity or

applications running in virtual machines. VMFS preserves the

internal le system semantics o the operating system

running inside the virtual machine.

New Unifed hierarchical namespace.

Manage all available physical disks, logical volumes and VMFS

volumes with a consistent namespace that eliminates

potential conficts.

HighAvailability

New Virtual machine snapshots.

Increase application availability while reducing backup

windows using virtual machine snapshots. Create a point-in-

time copy o virtual machine data that can be used or

testing, backup, and recovery operations.

New Hot add virtual disk.

Add virtual disk to a running virtual machine to increase

available resources or or backup.

New Distributed journaling.

Recover virtual machines aster and more reliably in the event

o server ailure.

FindOutMore

HowCanIPurchaseVMFS?The VMware vStorage Virtual Machine File System is a

component o VMware vSphere 4 and is not available

as a standalone product. For more inormation on

VMware vSphere, visit the VMware Web site at

http://www.vmware.com/go/vsphere .

For inormation or to purchase VMware products, call 1-877-

4VMWARE (outside o North America dial +1-650-427-5000),

visit www.vmware.com/products, or search online or an

authorized reseller. For detailed product specications and

systems requirements, please reer to the ThinApp install and

congure guide.

http://www.vmware.com/go/vspherehttp://www.vmware.com/productshttp://www.vmware.com/productshttp://www.vmware.com/productshttp://www.vmware.com/go/vsphere