Top 5 vSAN v6.

7U1
New Enhancements
February 5, 2019

Jamie Rawson

Senior Technical Instructor

Confidential │ ©2019 VMware, Inc.
About vSAN
vSAN is a software-defined storage solution providing shared storage for vSphere clusters
without using traditional external storage.
vSAN is a feature of a vSphere cluster that is enabled, just like high availability (VMware
vSphere® High Availability) and distributed resource scheduler (VMware vSphere® Distributed
Resource Scheduler™).
vSphere vSAN Cluster
A vSAN cluster requires:
• A minimum of three hosts to be part of the
vSphere cluster and enabled for vSAN
vSAN Datastore
• A vSAN network
• Local disks on each host that are pooled
to create a virtual shared vSAN datastore
ESXi Host ESXi Host ESXi Host

vSAN
Network

© 2018 VMware, Inc. VMware vSAN: Deploy and Manage | 2-2

 About vSAN
vSAN provides a single datastore presenting the aggregated capacity provided by hosts in the
cluster.
Objects provide the resources that are files and folders in VMFS or NFS.

Virtual Virtual Objects Virtual Virtual

Machine Machine Machine Machine
vSAN Datastore

vSAN
Cluster
Disk Group Disk Group Disk Group Disk Group Disk Group Disk Group

vSAN Network

VMware vSAN: Deploy and Manage 3-3

© 2017 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.
Summary: Top 5 vSAN 6.7U1 New Enhancements

1. vSAN can now be managed with the vSphere Client

2. vSAN has a New Cluster Quickstart

3. vSAN can support TRIM/UNMAP

4. vSAN Performance Service is now enabled by default

5. vSAN Policies have new names

CONFIDENTIAL 4
Enhancement #1:
vSAN can now be managed with the vSphere
Client

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Managing vSAN with vSphere Client
The vSphere Client UI provides diagnostic information such as warnings, errors, and notifications
that can help you troubleshoot vSAN cluster configuration issues.

Click Details to
open the Health
checklist for the
selected object.
Now you can do everything with the vSphere Client

Monitor your vms with

the vSphere Client
Enhancement #2:
vSAN has a New Cluster Quickstart

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Using Quickstart to Create vSAN Clusters
VMware vSphere® Client™ provides an all-new wizard-based interface to create a vSAN Cluster
1. Cluster basics: Enable cluster-level services such as vSphere DRS, VMware vSphere® High
Availability, and vSAN.
2. Add hosts: Add multiple hosts to the cluster.
3. Configure cluster: Configure the vSAN cluster in the following order:
• DVS
• VMware vSphere®
vMotion® traffic
• Storage traffic
• Claim disks
• Fault domains
Using Quickstart to Create vSAN Clusters (cont.)
Enhancement #3:
vSAN now supports TRIM/UNMAP

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

About TRIM/UNMAP
• TRIM/UNMAP is supported but disabled by default in vSAN 6.7 U1.
• The following performance details are available for TRIM/UNMAP:
• Recovery Unmap Throughput
• Unmap Throughput
• Latency
• Disable
How to activate TRIM/UNMAP
• TRIM/UNMAP is enabled via the RVC.
• The RVC command is vsan.unmap_support
Enhancement #4:
The Performance Service is now enabled by
default

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Using the vSAN Performance Service
Unlike previous versions, vSAN Performance Service is now enabled by default:
• The performance history database is created and stored as an object.
• The vSAN Default Storage Policy is assigned to a statistics object.
• The data collected remains in the statistics object for 90 days.

Click EDIT to open and enable the

performance service.

The performance service is

enabled by default.
How to access vSAN Cluster Performance Views
When the vSAN performance service is turned on, the cluster summary displays an
overview of vSAN performance statistics in a graphical format.
Enhancement #5:
vSAN policies have new names

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

New vSAN naming conventions
Notice the new vSAN naming examples below…
The number of failures to tolerate determines whether objects covered by the policy use RAID 5 or RAID 6:
• RAID 1 is used for objects when the number of failures to tolerate is 1, 2, or 3.
• RAID 5 is used for objects when the number of failures to tolerate is 1.
• RAID 6 is used for objects when the number of failures to tolerate is 2.
Are there other noteworthy changes with
vSAN 6.7U1?

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Well, yes… there are more vSAN 6.7 U1 enhancements
1. Some former host settings are now cluster settings
• VSAN.SwapThickProvisionDisabled is one of those.
• VSAN.ClomRepairDelay no longer needs to be changed at the host level.

2. Further VUM Integration

• Controller firmware updates can now be performed via Update Manager
• Expect this capability to grow with every release

3. Proactive Tests have been enhanced

• Some older tests are gone (such as the multicast test)
• A new network performance test has been added (which uses unicast).
vSAN Interoperability
vSAN 6.7 is supported for use with many VMware technologies, and others, such as:
• VMware vSphere® Replication™ • VMware Cloud Foundation™
• vSphere Site Recovery Manager • VMware Validated Design™
• VMware vSphere® Fault Tolerance • VMware Cloud on Amazon Web Services
• VMware vRealize® Automation™ • Third-Party file service solutions through
VMware Ready for vSAN
• OpenStack framework
• Oracle RAC
• VMware Horizon® View™
• Windows Server Failover Clustering
• VMware vRealize® Log Insight™

© 2018 VMware, Inc. VMware vSAN: Deploy and Manage | 3-22

 Register for our courses for a deeper dive on all vSAN 6.7 U1
enhancements

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VMware vSAN: Production Operations [V6.7]

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Thank You

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