A virtual datacenter has a number of critical mechanisms, and storage is a major part of any datacenter or design. It is the axiomatic essence of every virtual infrastructure. Without a functioning storage infrastructure, the ability for VM to write data and operate as you know it would impossible.

VMware vSphere brings many new capabilities that extend the benefits of vSphere, including a number of new, storage-related features and enhancements that also bring additional scalability and performance capabilities. This chapter focuses on storage-specific design essentials, designing vSphere storage, and design considerations with various industry inputs.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics: