Equinix Metal Guide: Configure Virtual Volumes
The recommend way of leveraging Pure Storage FlashArray in a VMware environment is via a storage automation technology called vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols). This integrates FlashArray management and provisioning through a VMware API called VASA (VMware API for Storage Awareness). The VASA provider is a native service on the FlashArray platform.
For more details and requirements, please refer to:
Virtual Volumes Quick Reference
Register VASA Provider
The first step is the register the Pure Storage FlashArray VASA providers. The simplest method is via the Pure Storage Plugin for the vSphere Client. For manual methods please refer to the Pure Storage vVol documentation.
It is recommended to use a local FlashArray user for vVol authentication, but it is best to not use the default pureuser account. Login to the FlashArray web management interface.
Click on Settings > Users > Create User.
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The user should be an array admin.
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Click Create.
Login to the vSphere Client, navigate to the Home screen and click on Pure Storage.
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Choose your desired FlashArray and click Register Storage Provider. Enter in your VASA username and password.
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This will register both VASA providers in vCenter (one from each FlashArray controller). This can be seen by clicking on the vCenter in the inventory view then Configure > Storage Providers.
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Mount a vVol Datastore
Virtual Volumes do not use a formal file system on a LUN for a datastore. Instead it is a capacity limit that is used to set provisioning limits from a FlashArray. To mount the datastore, right-click on the vSphere cluster and choose Pure Storage > Create Datastore.
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Choose vVol, a name, and the cluster to mount it to.
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Finally, choose the array and complete the wizard.
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This will present the datastore to the full cluster. You can click on the datastore inventory view and click on the datastore and on the summary tab will be some FlashArray-specific information on that datastore.
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