Manage storage pools

The storage pools on a host store storage volumes. A host supports the following types of storage pools: local file directory, local file directories (high speed), iSCSI network storage, FC network storage, shared file system, network file system, and Windows system shared directory.

VMs access storage pools through the following objects:

• Block device—A block device does not have a file system. A VM can directly access the volume resources on block devices. Block devices are used in scenarios where large disk space is needed, for example, in a hospital information system.

• File—A file is a disk file in a file system. After a disk file is mounted to a VM, the file appears to be a physical disk. Disk files feature easy management.

For iSCSI network storage and FC network storage, VMs use their storage resources as block devices.

For local file directory, shared file system, and network file system, VMs use their storage resources as files.

For Windows system shared directory, VMs can perform only read operations. As a best practice, use storage pools of this type to store OS installation images. VMs can mount the ISO installation files in the storage pools to install an OS instead of copying the files to the local storage.

Storage pool management allows operators to add storage pools, edit the alias of a storage pool, enable, suspend, refresh or delete storage pools, and view detailed information about storage pools.

Restrictions and guidelines

• An iSCSI network storage and an iSCSI shared file system cannot share the LUN of an iSCSI storage device.

• For the storage pool to be available, make sure user mapping mode configured on the NFS server is no_root_squash and the system has the root access.

• The FC storage devices of some vendors do not support automatic LUN information scan. If you cannot find the LUN information about an FC shared file system after adding it on a host, you must reboot the host.

• When you add a storage on a host, for the storage to support automatic VM migration, make sure the following requirements are met:

• For a network file system, the NFS source server path and the NFS storage pool name must be the same as the network file systems on the other hosts in the same cluster.

• For an iSCSI network storage, the name and target must be the same as the iSCSI network storages on the other hosts in the same cluster.

• For an FC network storage, the name must be the same as the FC network storages on the other hosts in the same cluster, and the migrating VM must use the same LUN as the FC network storages on the other hosts.

• If the target iSCSI network storage pool has multiple LUNs, the size of the storage pool is the total size of all LUNs of the target, including LUNs used as shared file systems and template storages. The Storage Volumes area displays only LUNs that can be used by VMs as block devices.

• Local file directory (high speed) storage pools require hardware support. In the current software version, local file directory (high speed) storage pools can be built on the Intel AEP memory. You can configure local file directory (high speed) storage pools for a host if valid Intel AEP settings exist in the system or the high-speed memory storage feature is configurable.

• Do not map a shared storage pool on UIS to a host or VM on another platform, because this operation will cause storage data conflict and might cause data corruption or loss.

• Suspending an active storage pool will cause VMs startup failure. Before suspending an active storage pool, verify that the storage services are not in use, and migrate VMs that you want them to continue operation to anther storage pool.

• Deleting a storage pool in use will cause unavailability of VMs. Before deleting a storage pool in use, verify that the storage services are not in use, and migrate VMs that you want them to continue operation to anther storage pool.

• Formatting a shared file system will clear all files and data in the shared file system. Before formatting a shared file system, make sure the data in the shared file system will not be used any more.

• You cannot mount only one host to a shared file system.

Add a storage pool

1. On the top navigation bar, click Hosts. If the system has multiple clusters, select a cluster from the left navigation pane.

2. Select the target host, and then click the Storage tab.

3. Click Add.

4. Configure the storage pool parameters as described in "Parameters".

5. Click Finish.

Edit the alias of a storage pool

1. On the top navigation bar, click Hosts. If the system has multiple clusters, select a cluster from the left navigation pane.

2. Select the target host, and then click the Storage tab.

3. Click the Edit icon  for a storage pool.

4. Edit the alias, and then click OK.

Enable a storage pool

1. On the top navigation bar, click Hosts. If the system has multiple clusters, select a cluster from the left navigation pane.

2. Select the target host, and then click the Storage tab.

3. Click the Enable icon  for a storage pool.

4. Click OK.

Suspend a storage pool

A storage pool cannot be suspended if files in the storage pool are being used by running or suspended VMs. Files in suspended storage pools cannot be used. After you suspend an FC network storage or local file directory storage pool, VMs using the storage pool can still run correctly. After you suspend a local file directory (high speed) storage pool, VMs that use the storage pool cannot be started.

To suspend a storage pool:

1. On the top navigation bar, click Hosts. If the system has multiple clusters, select a cluster from the left navigation pane.

2. Select the target host, and then click the Storage tab.

3. Click the Suspend icon  for a storage pool.

4. Click OK.

Configure a storage pool as a storage medium

1. On the top navigation bar, click Hosts. If the system has multiple clusters, select a cluster from the left navigation pane.

2. Select the target host, and then click the Storage tab.

3. Click the  icon for a storage pool, and then click OK in the dialog box that opens.

Remove the storage medium role of a storage pool

1. On the top navigation bar, click Hosts. If the system has multiple clusters, select a cluster from the left navigation pane.

2. Select the target host, and then click the Storage tab.

3. Click the  icon for a storage pool, and then click OK in the dialog box that opens.

Refresh a storage pool

1. On the top navigation bar, click Hosts. If the system has multiple clusters, select a cluster from the left navigation pane.

2. Select the target host, and then click the Storage tab.

3. Click the Refresh icon  for a storage pool.

View detailed storage pool information

1. On the top navigation bar, click Hosts. If the system has multiple clusters, select a cluster from the left navigation pane.

2. Select the target host, and then click the Storage tab.

3. Click the Details icon  for a storage pool.

Delete storage pools

A storage pool cannot be deleted if it is being used by running VMs or other processes. Deleting a storage pool will delete all files stored in the pool. Please be cautious.

To delete storage pools:

1. On the top navigation bar, click Hosts. If the system has multiple clusters, select a cluster from the left navigation pane.

2. Select the target host, and then click the Storage tab.

3. Click the Delete icon  for a storage pool.

4. In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

Parameters

• iSCSI network storage parameters:

• Target Path: Local mount point of the storage pool. The default path is /dev/disk/by-path. This parameter is not configurable.

• IP Address: Enter the IP address of an iSCSI storage server.

• Target: Select an iSCSI Target. Targets provide storage services for Initiators.

• FC network storage parameters:

• Target Path: Local mount point of the storage pool. The default path is /dev/disk/by-id. This parameter is not configurable.

• NAA: Select an NAA on a storage server. An NAA is associated with a LUN.

• Local file directory parameters:

• High-speed Memory Storage: Select whether to use high-speed memory storage to create a local file directory (high speed) storage pool. This parameter is not configurable if the host does not support high-speed memory storage. If you select to use high-speed memory storage, you must select a memory area. The high-speed memory storage technology maps DCPMM into local storage to save base images of VMs, which improves base image loading and access efficiency. In the current software version, only Intel AEP is supported.

• Target Path: Enter the local directory of the storage pool. This parameter is configurable. The default path is /vms/storage pool name. For example, if the storage pool name is test, the default target path is /vms/test.

• Memory Area: Select the memory area of block devices mounted to the storage pool.

• Network file system parameters:

• Target Path: Enter the local mount point of the storage pool.

• Source Host IP: Enter the IP address of the host where the shared directory is.

• Source Path: Enter the path of the shared directory.

• Shared file system parameters:

• Shared File System: Select the shared file system to mount. Configure the following parameters:

• Type: To access the distributed storage or external IP SAN storage, select iSCSI Shared File System or iSCSI Network Storage. To access FC SAN storage, select FC Shared File System.

• Target Path: Local mount point of the storage pool. This parameter is not configurable. The default path is /vms/storage pool name.

• IP Address: For distributed storage in the system, enter 127.0.0.1 or the iSCSI HA VIP in hyper-converged scenarios and enter the iSCSI HA VIP in distributed deployment scenarios. For external IP SAN storage, specify the IP address of the IP SAN storage server. If multiple paths are available, use semicolons (;) to separate the IP addresses. This field is required for an iSCSI shared file system and iSCSI network storage.

• LUN: Specify a LUN for the shared file system. This field is required for an iSCSI shared file system.

• NAA: Specify the network addressing authority identifier for the LUN, which is a unique identifier of the LUN on the storage server. For an iSCSI shared directory, this field is automatically determined by the selected LUN. For an FC shared directory, you must select a LUN for this field.

• Service Storage: Enable this option to allow the shared file system to be used for storing files of the VMs automatically deployed in a cluster.

• Configure Network: Configure vSwitch settings for the host to communicate with the iSCSI storage server when the server is inaccessible.

• Windows system shared directory parameters:

• Target Path: Enter the local mount point of the storage pool.

• Source Host IP: Enter the IP address of the host where the Windows system shared directory is.

• Source Path: Enter the path of the shared directory. For example, if the share directory on drive D: is shared, enter /share. Only single-level directories are supported. You cannot enter a multi-level directory path, for example, /test/share1.

• Username: Enter the username for logging in to Windows.

• Password: Enter the password for logging in to Windows.

• Storage pool list and storage pool details parameters:

• Total: Total capacity of the storage pool. If the target of an iSCSI network storage pool has multiple LUNs, this field displays the total capacity of all LUNs in the target, including LUNs that have been used by shared file systems or template pools.

• Assigned: Capacity that has been assigned to the disks of VMs. For an iSCSI network storage pool or FC network storage pool, this field represents the total capacity of all block devices in the storage pool.

• Available: Available capacity of the storage pool.