Should I make one large vvol, or split it up?

[x_Jesh]

Hello,

Is there any reason to make two or more seperate vvols in vCenter? Or is making one large vVol the best bet? We have 50 VMs. I don't see why it would make sense to split it up? Thanks!

[Sheldon Smith]

First question: What storage array are you using?

For Nimble Storage (and as I recall for 3PAR), there is a one-to-one relationship between each VMDK, vCenter VVol and the underlying storage array volumes. With Nimble Storage, there are two entities:

1. vCenter VVol datastore
2. vCenter VVol

As I recall, each vCenter VVol datastore maps to a Nimble Storage folder.
Each VVol in that datastore folder is a Nimble Storage volume.

Each VM will require a minimum of three VMDKs, so a minimum of three VVols. (See above; one-to-one mapping between VMDK and Nimble Storage volume.)

[x_Jesh]

We are using AF-232396 ,  Model AF20  

I guess I should have asked, is it better to make multiple vvols in datastore manager in vcenter? Is there any benefit?

[Sheldon Smith · Accepted solution]

A VVol datastore is a Nimble folder. A Nimble folder can optionally have 

• performance -- IOPS and MBPS limits
• capacity -- Usage, provisioned and overdraft limits

See the Nimble Command Reference for details on the underlying folder command.

[x_Jesh]

Gotcha. So it's a personal preference thing. Thanks Sheldon!

[mamatadesaiNim]

Great question!  Glad that you're thinking about this before implementing the solution.  And Sheldon pointed out the correct differences to consider.

If space restrictions are not required, one single large vvol datastore per array pool tends to work in most cases.  IOPS can actually be specified on a per volume basis as well, applying it as a VM storage policy.