Policy-Based Storage
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Objective: Use policy-based storage to create tiered
storage
In this lab, you will perform the following tasks:
1. Add Datastores for Use by Policy-Based Storage
2. Use vSphere Storage vMotion to Migrate a Virtual Machine to the Gold Datastore
3. Configure Storage Tags
4. Create Virtual Machine Storage Policies
5. Assign Storage Policies to Virtual Machines
Task 1: Add Datastores for Use by Policy-Based Storage
You create two small datastores for use by your VMware vCenter Server™ instance as simple tiered storage. Each datastore is approximately 8 GB in size.
Students should do this task individually.
1. In the Firefox window, click the vSphere Web Client tab.
2. Point to the Home icon and select Storage.
3. Create datastores to be used as simple tiered storage.
a. In the Storage inventory tree, right-click the Training data center
d. Under type, leave VMFS clicked and click Next.
e. In the datastore name text box, enter Gold.
f. From the Select a host drop-down menu, select the VMware ESXi™ host.
g. In the disk/LUN list, select the entry for the lowest LUN number attached to an iSCSI device and click Next.
Local drives are labeled as VMware Serial Attached. Do not select these drives.
h. Keep the default partition configuration and click Next.
i. Review the datastore configuration and click Finish.
4. Repeat step 3 to add the second nonlocal datastore, named Silver.
Task 2: Use vSphere Storage vMotion to Migrate a Virtual Machine to
the Gold Datastore
You manually configure the migration of a virtual machine to one of the new datastores before configuring policy-based storage.
Students should do this task individually.
1. Use VMware vSphere® Storage vMotion® to migrate the Win01 virtual machine to the Gold datastore.
a. In the left pane, click the Hosts and Clusters icon.
b. In the Hosts and Clusters inventory tree, select the Win01 virtual machine.
c. From the Actions drop-down menu, select Migrate.
d. In the Migrate dialog box, click Change storage only and click Next.
e. In the datastore list, select the Gold datastore, leave all other settings at default values, and click Next.
f. Review the migration details and click Finish.
g. In the Recent tasks pane, monitor the migration task to completion. The migration must complete.
2. In the middle pane, click the Related Objects tab and click the Datastores tab to verify that storage is set to the Gold datastore.
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Task 3: Configure Storage Tags
You create the tags necessary to implement simple tiering. The Storage Tiers tag category contains the Gold and Silver identifier tags associated with individual datastores.
Students should do this task individually.
1. In the left pane, click the Storage icon.
2. In the Storage inventory tree, select the Gold datastore.
3. In the middle pane, click the Manage tab and click the Tags tab.
4. In the Tags panel, click the New Tag icon.
5. Configure a new tag category and the Gold identifier tag.
a. For Category, select New Category from the Category drop-down menu.
Selecting New Category expands the dialog box to include both tag and category configuration options.
Categories can be created only as part of the identifier tag creation process.
b. In the Name text box, enter Gold Tier.
c. In the Category Name text box, enter Storage Tiers.
d. Click OK to accept the default values for the remaining settings.
6. In the Storage inventory tree, select the Silver datastore.
7. In the middle pane, click the New Tag icon.
8. Configure a new tag category and the Silver identifier tag.
a. In the Name text box, enter Silver Tier.
b. Select Storage Tiers from the Category drop-down menu.
Task 4: Create Virtual Machine Storage Policies
You assign storage policies to virtual machines and specify the configuration settings to be enforced.
Students should do this task individually.
1. Point to the Home icon and select Policies and Profiles.
2. In the left pane, click VM Storage Policies.
3. Create a Gold Tier storage policy.
a. In the Objects panel, click the Create a new VM storage policy icon.
b. In the Name text box, enter Gold Tier Policy and click Next.
c. Under Rule Sets, review the information provided and click Next.
d. For Rule-Set 1, click Add tag-based rule.
e. In the Add Tag-Based Rule dialog box, select Storage Tiers from the Categories drop- down menu, select the Gold Tier check box, and click OK.
f. Click Next.
g. Under Compatible storage, verify that the Gold datastore is listed and click Next.
h. Under Ready to complete, click Finish.
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Task 5: Assign Storage Policies to Virtual Machines
You assign the Gold and Silver policies to individual virtual machines and mitigate compliance issues. Students should do this task individually.
1. Point to the Home icon and select Hosts and Clusters.
2. Apply a virtual machine storage policy to a virtual machine.
a. In the Hosts and Clusters inventory tree, right-click the Win01 virtual machine.
b. From the Actions drop-down menu, select VM Policies > Edit VM Storage Policies.
c. In the Manage VM Storage Policies dialog box, select Gold Tier Policy from the drop- down menu and click Apply to all.
d. In the list, verify that the Gold Storage policy is assigned to Hard disk 1.
e. Click OK.
f. Click the Summary tab.
g. In the VM Storage Policies panel, verify that the Gold Tier policy appears and that the policy is compliant.
The policy is compliant because the Win01 virtual machine was already moved to a policy- appropriate datastore.
3. Apply a noncompliant storage policy to a virtual machine.
a. In the Hosts and Clusters inventory tree, select the Win02 virtual machine.
b. From the Actions drop-down menu, select VM Policies > Edit VM Storage Policies.
c. In the Manage VM Storage Policies dialog box, select Silver Tier Policy from the drop- down menu and click Apply to All.
d. In the list, verify that the Silver Tier policy is assigned to Hard disk 1.
g. In the VM Storage Policies panel, verify that the Silver Tier policy appears and that the policy is not compliant.
The Silver Tier policy is noncompliant because the Win02 virtual machine disk is stored on a datastore that is not tagged as a part of the assigned policy.
4. Remediate the compliance issue.
a. From the Actions drop-down menu, select Migrate.
b. In the Migrate dialog box, click Change storage only and click Next.
c. In the datastore list, select the Silver datastore.
With a virtual machine storage policy assigned to the Win02 virtual machine, datastores are listed as either Compatible or Incompatible in the migration dialog box.
d. Click Next.
e. Review the migration details and click Finish.
f. In the Recent tasks pane, monitor the migration task to completion. The migration must complete.
5. In the VM Storage Policies panel, verify that the Silver Tier policy is reported as compliant.
6. If the Silver Tier policy is reported as noncompliant, remediate the compliance issue.
a. From the Actions drop-down menu, select VM Policies > Check VM Storage Policy
Compliance.
b. In the Recent Tasks pane, monitor the compliance check to completion,.
c. In the VM Storage Policies panel, verify that the Silver Tier policy is reported as being compliant.