VMware vSAN 8 Advanced

Build policy-managed shared storage for virtual machines using supported storage devices in a VMware cluster. VMware vSAN 8 Advanced provides software-defined storage for compatible VMware clusters. It brings supported host storage resources together into a shared datastore and uses virtual-machine storage policies to control how data is placed and protected, giving administrators a common way to manage storage alongside compute. It is a cluster storage component rather than a standalone Windows application. The storage workflow begins with a compatible cluster, suitable storage devices and the network configuration needed for hosts to communicate. Administrators define the storage behavior required by virtual-machine workloads, then use policies to express placement and protection requirements. This keeps the requested storage service connected to the workload rather than relying only on a manually chosen location. Capacity and resilience depend on the topology, available hardware and selected policy. A policy cannot provide a protection level that the cluster lacks resources to satisfy, so health checks and capacity planning remain part of normal operation. Different vSAN architectures and releases have their own hardware requirements and should be assessed before changing an established environment. vSAN is a storage component integrated into VMware infrastructure, not a standalone Windows disk utility. It runs on vSphere hosts managed by vCenter Server, which are licensed separately. This Advanced edition does not include vSAN data-at-rest encryption; Broadcom lists that feature for Enterprise and Enterprise Plus.

Features

• Pools local host disks into one shared datastore
• Storage policies per VM
• Deduplication and compression (all-flash)
• RAID-5/6 erasure coding
• No encryption (Enterprise and up)