Virtual volumes

IBM® Spectrum Control Base Edition delivers comprehensive storage virtualization support, using VMware Virtual Volume (VVOL) technology.

The VVOL architecture, introduced in VMware VASA 2.0, preserves the concept of a traditional datastore, maintaining familiarity and compatibility with previous data storage implementations. However, the virtual disks in a VVOL datastore can use different storage attributes (services), which may include thin/thick provisioning, snapshot support, encryption, etc. Moreover, each VVOL can be managed independently. This improves system scalability, ensures granular management, leverages hardware features and performance of storage arrays at the VM level, providing complete end-to-end cloud solution. An additional entity, a storage space, includes one or more services, and can be assigned to different storage customers.

The IBM Storage Provider for VMware VASA implements the VMware Virtual Volume API, providing an out-of-band management bridge between vSphere and the storage array. This separates the management path from the data path, which connects the ESXi servers to the virtual disks in a VVOL datastore through a Protocol Endpoint (PE), as illustrated below. Instead of simply presenting a LUN to the hypervisor, letting an ESXi host do data placement and access, a storage system takes on itself a bulk of storage-related functions.

For instructions about how to configure a VVOL-enabled storage service, see Creating a VVOL-enabled service.