vSphere datastore typical setup?

[romatlo32]

Hi folks,

Just curious how other folks setup their datastores?

We have several that have started out as 1.5 TB and keep increasing as needed.

Do folks typically have fewer but larger datastores/volumes?

Or see any benefit to having more datastores that are less and increase as you go?

Pic attached...

[mamatadesaiNim]

Hello romatlo32,

I'll let other customers answer the main question.  Quick plug for the Nimble vCenter plugin here - it makes growing VMFS datastores very easy!  Just right click on the datastore and hit grow.  A small screenshot attached here.

--m

[Nick_Dyer]

Hello!

It's widely recommended to _not_ have large datastores. This can cause trouble when trying to perform VM quieced snapshots, and can also cause queuing problems.

There's been a few threads on the old Nimble forum (now ported here). here's a good example: https://community.hpe.com/t5/Array-Setup-and-Networking/How-big-are-your-VMFS-datastores-how-many-VMs/m-p/6982448

Also i'd recommend checking out VVols if you haven't already. It gets rid of the whole "VMs per datastore/how large should a datastore be" discussions. :)

[wave2453]

If you can do VVols do it they are amazing. However, if you can't I hold to the 1 datastore per VM with an extra 20GB or 10% of server storage (whichever is larger) to the LUN.

[drwatson101]

I started with 1Tb and have increased a couple of them up to 2 Tb as needed, but typically create a new datastore. Haven't had any issues with that size or performance on a Hybrid model array.  Also haven't tried the vvols yet.