VVols meet Nimble H5 plugin

[mamatadesaiNim]

With NimbleOS 5.1 going IPR, one of the features we are most excited about is the H5 plugin for VMware vCenter.  Hop on over to Bharath’s post for a complete overview of this plugin for the HTML5 vSphere client.  What we want to show you in this post is how EASY the H5 plugin makes setting up VVols!

Note: please make sure your vCenter and ESX hosts are time synchronized using an NTP server.

1. Installing the plugin and registering VP: one step

This capability has been present in NimOS since 2015.  On the HPE Nimble Storage array, navigate to Administration --> VMware Integration --> Register a vCenter or Add another vCenter.  Make sure to check both boxes for “Web Client” and “VASA Provider (VVols)”.  This will register the HPE Nimble Storage H5 plugin and VP (VASA Provider) with vCenter.NimOS VMware Integration page

Hop on over to the vCenter HTML5 web client.  You may see a request to refresh your browser for plugin installation if you were already logged in.

2.  Create a VVol datastore

The biggest advantage of the latest H5 plugin is that the VI admin can create and maintain the VVol datastore right from the native vCenter plugin UI.  You do not need to login to the HPE Nimble Storage array GUI anymore to manage VVols.  Navigate to a Datacenter / Cluster or an ESX host.  Right click on the element and select "Nimble Actions" from the context menu.Nimble Actions

Select the registered HPE Nimble Storage array you want to create the VVol datastore on, and follow the simple dialogs!

Select the arrayNow select the datacenter / cluster / hosts / protocol.  Using this information, an initiator group will be automatically created, per host.

Select hostsNow decide the size of the VVol datastore.  This is the Space Limit of the container we create on the array.

Size of the VVol datastore

If you'd like to limit IOPS or Mbps on this VVol datastore, specify the upper limits next.

Performance upper limits

Create should spawn off a task on vCenter.

Task kicked off on vCenter

Keep an eye on the vCenter Task Console and make sure the uber task NIMBLESTORAGE.CreateDatastore.label completes successfully, after all its child tasks are complete.

Progress of the uber task on vCenterThat's it!  How easy was that?

Let us know if you've tried using VVols, and if this feature makes your life just a bit easier!

[GregorMendess]

Wow, so much useful information here!