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NetApp Solutions

VMFS on FC as supplemental storage for VI Workload and Management Domains using ONTAP Tools for VMware

Contributors kevin-hoke
PDFs

In this scenario we will demonstrate how to deploy VMFS datastore with Fiber Channel(FC) backend for management and workload domains utilizing ONTAP tools.

Benefits of Fibre Channel

High Performance: FC provides high-speed data transfer rates, making it ideal for applications requiring fast and reliable access to large amounts of data.

Low Latency: Very low latency, which is crucial for performance-sensitive applications like databases and virtualized environments.

Reliability: FC networks are known for their robustness and reliability, with features like built-in redundancy and error correction.

Dedicated Bandwidth: FC provides dedicated bandwidth for storage traffic, reducing the risk of network congestion.

For more information on using Fibre Channel with NetApp storage systems, refer to SAN Provisioning with FC.

Scenario Overview

VCF Supplemental datastore is provisoned as part of day-2 operations using vCenter.
This scenario covers the following high level steps:

  • Deployment of ONTAP tools on management domain

  • Register VI workload vCenter servers to ONTAP tools

  • Define Storage backend on ONTAP tools plugin for VMware vSphere

  • Provision VMFS on FC transport

Prerequisites

This scenario requires the following components and configurations:

  • An ONTAP AFF or ASA storage system with FC ports connected to FC switches.

  • SVM created with FC lifs.

  • vSphere with FC HBAs connected to FC switches.

  • Single initiator-target zoning is configured on FC switches.

    Note Use SVM FC logical interface in zone configuration rather than physical FC ports on ONTAP systems.

NetApp recommends multipath for FC LUNs.

For complete information on configuring fibre channel on ONTAP storage systems, refer to SAN storage management in the ONTAP 9 documentation.

For more information on using VMFS with ONTAP storage systems, refer to the Deployment Guide for VMFS.

Deployment Steps for VI workload domain

To deploy ONTAP Tools and use it to create a VMFS datastore on the VCF VI workload domain, complete the following steps:

Additional information

For information on configuring ONTAP storage systems refer to the ONTAP 9 Documentation center.

For information on configuring VCF refer to VMware Cloud Foundation Documentation.

Video demo for this solution

VMFS(FC) Datastore as Supplemental Storage for VCF Management Domain