VMware Virtual SAN (VSAN) is an optional component of VMware vSphere that enables the use of local magnetic and flash-based storage devices that create a high-performing, replicated, software-defined storage platform that can be use to store Horizon View desktop virtual machines. VSAN is highly integrated with the vSphere hypervisor, vCenter Server, and many other VMware products while requiring minimal vSphere host overhead and offering simplified management yet detailed VSAN storage policies that can be applied at the individual Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) level. Additionally, all aspects of VSAN are managed using the vSphere web client, further reducing the points of management for the VMware Horizon View infrastructure.

In this chapter, we will review how to size our vSphere hosts for use with VMware VSAN, understand what resources are available for building VSAN-compatible hosts, walk through the process of enabling VSAN, and review how to use VSAN when creating a Horizon...