Top 10 things you must read about VMware Storage (SAN/iSCSI/NFS)

By Eric Siebert
published: Thursday, July 31 2008

There are several storage options available when deploying VI3: Fibre Channel SAN, iSCSI and NFS. It's very important to understand the characteristics of each so you can choose the best storage option for your environment. One you choose a storage device it is also critical that you architect and configure it properly. Because disk is a mechanical device it is also one of the slowest resources and often one of the first bottlenecks present on a host server. This list contains VMworld presentations, white papers and guides to help you make the right decision when choosing a storage option and also to ensure you setup and configure your storage correctly.

SAN Configuration Guide

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_esx_san_cfg.pdf

A big guide from VMware on SAN background, installation and management

SAN System Design and Deployment Guide

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_san_design_deploy.pdf

Another big guide from VMware on designing and deploying SAN environments to use with VI3

Design, Build and Manage your SAN Environment using VI3

http://www.vmworld.com/vmworld/mylearn?classID=11052

A VMworld 2007 presentation from VMware that discusses how VMware Infrastructure 3 can solve SAN management problems by providing solutions such as managing multiple hosts/clients from sprawling, multipathing management without the high cost and complexity, cluster file system for HA solutions, LUN security, and storage consolidation. This is a vendor neutral session providing topics for SAN architects and administrators ideas on ways to best deploy VMware Infrastructure 3 on SAN.

NFS & iSCSI - Performance Characterization and Best Practices

http://www.vmworld.com/vmworld/mylearn?classID=11708

A VMworld 2007 presentation from VMware that provides a performance-oriented overview of the technology along with performance troubleshooting techniques and best-practice recommendations in typical ESX Server deployment. Up-to-date performance data, a review of performance optimizations available currently and a preview of features in upcoming releases are also be presented.

Choosing and Architecting Storage for your Environment

http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/adc0135.pdf

A VMworld 2006 presentation on selecting and architecting the right storage solution for your ESX environment

ESX Storage Virtualization Insights

http://www.vmware-tsx.com/download.php?asset_id=40

A TSX 2007 presentation on the ESX storage stack, VMFS vs. RDM and multi-pathing

Network Appliance and VMware ESX Server 3.0 Storage Best Practices

http://www.netapp.com/library/tr/3428.pdf

A white paper from Netapp with general best practices and recommendations on using storage with ESX

iSCSI, NAS and IP Storage Configuration for Vmware ESX Server

http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/tac9722.pdf

A VMworld 2006 presentation on using iSCSI and NAS instead of a SAN with ESX

Comparison of Storage Protocol Performance

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/storage_protocol_perf.pdf

A VMware performance study comparing Fibre Channel, Hardware iSCSI, Software iSCSI and NFS

Configuring iSCSI in a Vmware 3 environment

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_iscsi_cfg.pdf

A white paper from VMware on using and configuring iSCSI in your ESX environment

Coming Next Week: Top 10 things you must read about Memory