Reclaiming free space vSphere 6.5

[AAJNNY]

I'm new to Nimble arrays and am looking for some pointers. I recently went through several Windows 2008/2012 guests and deleted TBs worth of files/data that is no longer needed. This space is no longer needed on those guests and can be reused elsewhere. Some data stores are VMFS 5, and some are VMFS 6. We're on ESXi 6.5 U3. In a previous job, we used a PureStorage flash array, and there were different levels of effort required to 'reclaim' the space depending on the VMFS version, and the Windows version.

What steps do I need to take to 'reclaim' this empty space? And a related question, if I delete a hard drive from a VM, do I need to do anything to reclaim the space to the data store?

[mamatadesaiNim]

Issuing unmaps on VMFS will free up space. 

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2057513

Be aware auto unmap may sometimes not work on VMFS6 https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/60267

Always make sure to have at least one powered on VM on the VMFS datastore for unmaps to go through.

[MattForris]

With the reclaiming of space on a VMFS type datastore within vCenter, this process can vary with the version of VMFS that the datastore has been formatted wiht. If you are looking for the specifics on how to reclaim space you can open case with the Nimble Support team and we will be glad to assist in this task.  

Please also remember that anytime you are in need of immediate assistance, you can contact Nimble Storage support directly by phone or email: 

Phone: (US): 1-877-364-6253 | (UK): 44-808-134-9962 | (SG): 65-800-852-3823 > extension 2 

Email: support@nimblestorage.com