Datastore management
Once we have configured access to the storage array, we will need to form file system containers on them. The LUNs presented to an ESXi host, unless they are NFS exports, do not have any filesystems on it. Such a LUN is called a Raw LUN. ESXi can create a distributed file system on it called the Virtual Machine File System (VMFS). Once formed, a logical data container called a datastore is presented to the user world on the ESXi. Datastore is however, a common term to refer to VMFS volumes and NFS mounts. In this section of the chapter, we will learn how to create and manage datastores.
We will cover the following topics:
The virtual machine filesystem
Creating VMFS datastores
Managing the storage capacity of a datastore
Managing VMFS snapshots
The Virtual Machine File System
A raw storage device presented to an ESXi host can be formatted to host VMware's propriety file system called the Virtual Machine File System (VMFS). It is a matured file system, which is currently at...
