VMware-vSphere-Storage-Appliance-Technical-Whitepaper

Introduction In VMware vSphere 5.0 (“vSphere”), VMware is releasing a new software storage appliance to the market called the vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA). This appliance provides an alternative shared storage solution for small-to-medium business (SMB) customers who might not be in a position to purchase a SAN or NAS array for their virtual infrastructure. Without shared storage configured in a vSphere environment, customers have not been able to exploit the unique features available in vSphere 5.0, such as vSphere High Avai lability (vSphere HA), vSphere vMotion (vMotion), and vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (vSphere DRS). The VSA is designed to provide shared storage for everyone. This paper presents an overview of the VSA architecture, deployment of a VSA storage cluster, and basic monitoring and managing.