Administrator Guide

During Data Collector deployment time (installation or migration) and during VASA provider registration, the production user is reminded to
use an external database.
Use of the internal database is a consideration for lab deployments only. Depending upon the protection model used in deployment, failure
to use the external database could result in the loss of some or all VVols metadata when the
Data Collector is uninstalled or deleted. Use of
the external database negates this risk during uninstall or delete.
The external database is expected to be deployed in a highly available manner including redundant switching connectivity.
Lab Experimentation Use of VVols
In a preproduction lab environment, it is conceivable that a user may experiment with VVols and choose to purge all data on the array and
restart with the intention of redeploying another VVols lab environment for experimentation purposes.
The proper steps for purging data in a LAB environment only are:
1. Using VMware vCenter — Delete all respective VVols VMs
2. Using Storage Center—Perform Purge
In the event the order is reversed (by accident), VVols metadata remains in the database even if the Data Collector is uninstalled. This
metadata must be deleted to ensure a robust operating environment if a new lab environment is to be set up and intended to use VVols.
Failure to do so results in failures to some VVols VM operations to reference incorrect metadata.
If the order is reversed, contact technical support to work through the purge process.
VMware Virtual Volume Concepts
The following figure shows the virtual volumes (VVols) model defined by VMware.
The VVol framework introduces these components:
• VASA provider — A VASA provider (VP) is a software component that acts as a storage awareness service for vSphere. Storage
vendors develop VASA providers to work with their specific storage arrays.
• Protocol endpoint (PE) — A protocol endpoint is the connection used for VVol storage, and the means by which you can access VVol
storage containers. The protocol endpoint is also where access controls are placed and initiators are queried to ensure that they are
permitted access to the storage containers and virtual volumes. Protocol endpoints are created and presented by Unisphere Central
when a VMware ESXi 6.0 server type is created in Unisphere Central.
Storage Center Administration
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