Virtual Storage Basics

Introduction

Virtualization is a buzzword that’s been around for decades, but it’s only in the past few years that its potential has been fully realized. Virtual storage allows multiple virtual machines (VMs) to share a single physical disk resource. You can use this type of storage to consolidate your servers or reduce costs by using less expensive storage than individual servers would require for each VM.

What Is Virtual Storage?

Virtual storage is a technology that allows multiple virtual machines (VMs) to, at least in theory, have all their disks appear to be part of a single pool of storage. The benefit of virtual storage is that it can help you reduce your costs by sharing the same amount of disk space across multiple VMs instead of having each VM have its dedicated disk volume. The concept behind virtual storage is simple: you create one or more pools within which VMs can access their data as if they were physically attached to on-premises servers or cloud storage services.

The advantage of virtualized storage here is that there’s no limit on how many VMs you can host or what size they might need. Though this depends on whether or not your server has enough RAM and CPU power for each VM individually hosted on it. If not then it makes sense financially speaking because then only one additional CPU will be required per VM rather than two extra ones required per host server node.

How to Create Virtual Storage?

You can create virtual storage with any on-premises server or cloud storage service that supports VASA, the VMware architecture for allocating storage to virtual machines. VASA allows you to assign storage to individual VMs, which means that each VM has its separate data store. This is an ideal solution if your organization doesn’t want a large amount of shared or public cloud storage behind its firewall and security measures are relatively easy to implement on top of it.

A VASA implementation requires some additional setup and configuration, but it’s not complicated. The standard doesn’t change how your existing storage works; rather, it provides a standardized way of managing the information on each device so that different workloads can be handled in different ways.

If you’re using an existing storage array from another manufacturer or if you have a small network that does not need scale-out, then adding VASA won’t require much work at all. You simply enable it as part of your initial setup process with your vendor and then let them handle everything else. But if your network has grown significantly over time or recently moved into something more scalable say, four nodes instead of two, then implementing VASA will require some additional planning ahead of time.

This is because now multiple hosts are running across multiple sites connected via WAN links while also sharing local disks between their computing clusters. It means there needs to be some kind of protocol agreed upon between these various network devices so they know what resources belong where before anything else gets started.

Role of Data Management with VMs

VMs can’t access disks directly from the VM itself, so you need to use some sort of management solution like vSphere Data Protection (VDP), VMware vCenter Server, or third-party tools like GlusterFS. The most common way of sharing disks between VMs is to use a management solution like vSphere Data Protection (VDP), VMware vCenter Server, or third-party tools like GlusterFS.

This can be done through the VM’s operating system or directly with the storage resources themselves. If you want your virtual machines to have direct access to their disk resources, then they must run on ESXi hosts that have local storage controllers installed. In this case, each host will provide its interface for accessing its attached disks and there will be no need for any additional software for this functionality to work reliably and efficiently.

Types of Virtual Storage Configurations and Advantages

There are three basic types of virtual storage configurations, iSCSI, NFS, and Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). Each has its advantages and drawbacks.

Virtualization makes it possible for multiple VMs to share the same physical disk resources. You can use virtualization to create multiple VMs that share the same physical disk resources. With this capability, you can increase the number of VMs on a host or reduce cost and resource utilization by eliminating redundant hardware. Virtualization also enables you to move VMs between physical hosts without physically moving them; this is called migration. In some cases, it’s possible for users at different locations, and in different time zones to access the same file system. This is known as storage area networking (SAN).

Virtual Storage and Future

Virtual Storage is the future of storage. It’s cheap, it’s available at any time, and it has a wide variety of uses. And it’s going to get better. Virtual storage will be able to do more than just store files and save space on your hard drive.

It will soon be able to keep track of your important documents and other valuable information so that you don’t have to worry about losing them or misplacing them. And that’s not all. Virtual Storage can also allow you to access those files from anywhere in the world, which means you never have to worry about being too far away from where something important is happening.

You always have access to your files no matter what part of the world you’re in. Imagine being able to work with someone else remotely without having to worry about them losing the file because they left it somewhere else or because their computer crashed halfway through trying to open it. You will be able to give presentations or documents over email without having to carry around all those heavy books around everywhere with you at all times. This is what the future holds for Virtual Storage.

Conclusion

Virtual storage is the process of using virtual machines (VMs) in place of physical storage. Virtual machines are often used to increase the performance of a server or to reduce its cost. They can also be used as backup units for physical machines. Virtualization makes it possible for multiple VMs to share the same physical disk resources. When you’re running a large number of VMs and need to manage those disks, virtual storage is the solution that’s right for you.