The new version mainly adds two features in virtualization to better integrate VNX and VMware features. This article will introduce VASA in detail.
- VASA (vStorage API for Storage Awareness)
- VAAI (vStorage API for Array Integration) for multiple NFS snapshots)
Solution:
VASA features
VASA is an API developed by VMware. It is used in vCenter to display storage information. VASA is similar to VNX Unisphere. Just as VNX uses unisnx to display host VMware information, the storage administrator can better manage storage; in VASA and vSphere 5 environments, vCenter can obtain and display VNX information, so that the VMware administrator can better manage the VMware environment.
VCenter obtains information from VNX through VASA:
- VNX system model
- SP, I/O port
- LUN, file system, etc.
VMware administrators can more effectively manage storage after learning the LUN and file system capacity attributes, such as whether fast vp is enabled or compression is enabled, in addition, you can conveniently view and monitor the running status and capacity alarms of VNX storage in the VM environment.
VASA and VSI (Virtual Storage Integrator) are different.
- VASA does not require any plug-ins, but VSI needs to install plug-ins in vCenter
- VASA can view storage information, while VSI can not only view but also configure and manage storage
- VASA is a VMware custom function that uses Out of band HTTP protocol and storage communication
VASA architecture
The process Storage Monitoring Service (SMS) on the vCenter Server communicates directly with the VASA embedded in VNX. The vSphere client obtains information from the vCenter Server. Multiple vCenter servers can communicate with the same VNX.
Establish a VASA connection between the vCenter Server and VNX
First, log on to vCenter through vSphere client and go to Home> Administration> Storage Providers. Click Add in the upper-right corner. As shown in the preceding figure, enter the storage name, URL, and logon account vmadmin.
The Vmadmin account is a new account category added in the new version of VNX. It is used to view and monitor basic VNX storage functions. The command for creating a Vmadmin account is: Naviseccli security-adduser-user-Password-Scope global | local-role vmadmin
URL for connecting to VNX Control station
- Https ://: 5989/vasa/services/vasaService
- Global account: storageDomain
- LDAP account: <LDAP domain>
URL for connecting to VNX Storage processor
- Https :///Vasa/services/vasaService
- Global account:(No prefix required)
- LDAP account: <LDAP domain>
After adding Control Station and Storage Processor (A or B) of VNX, you can view the Storage information after synchronously refreshing in vCenter.
View the storage configuration on the NFS datastore Summary interface. The following figure shows that Datastore is stored on the SAS disk array with FAST Cache enabled.
Capacity attribute ID
The LUN or file system displayed by VASA identifies the capacity attribute. The attributes listed in the following figure include the physical disk category, whether to enable FAST Cache, and Thin LUN, these attributes are defined in the vSphere system. You can also use the vSphere Client to customize the capacity attribute. After the capacity attribute of Datastore is identified, you can select a suitable Datastore as needed when creating a virtual machine.
When the VM is manually or automatically migrated to different datastores, we can use the VASA function to check whether the VM is migrated to the appropriate storage.
In addition to checking the applicability of VM storage, the integration of VASA and VNX allows administrators to monitor whether VNX runs normally and whether the storage capacity reaches the threshold in vCenter.
