vSAN File Services Configuration

vSAN File Services Configuration Steps

What is it?

vSAN File Services is a new feature introduced in vSAN 7.0 that allows objects to be shared via the NFS Protocol (either version 3 or 4.1). This is achieved via appliances running Photon and containers. This feature uses three appliances (will run with a minimum of two) and a maximum of 8. Each appliance uses 4vcpus and 4 or 8 GBs of RAM depending of the version. While setting this up, be aware of the Check Upgrade feature that allows the appliances to be upgraded (rolling upgrade) if new versions are available. According to Cormac Hogan a couple of days ago, 7.1 supports the SMB protocol as well as Kerberos + A.D.

Initial Steps

1. Select your vSAN Cluster, click on the Configure Tab and select Services

2. Click on Enable to the right of File Service and click on Next.

3. Load the OVF for the appliances Manually or automatically.

4. Wait for the task to conclude before clicking on Next. 

5. Specify a File Service Domain (any name, used internally only) and DNS information.

8. Specify a Port Group for the appliances and a Subnet Mask plus Gateway

9 . Specify the IP addresses of the three appliances plus their DNS names.

10. Click on Next and Finish.

What Happens Next

1. A resource pool gets created called ESX Agents with appliances get created and powered on

Create an NFS Shares

1. Select your vSAN Cluster, click on Configure and select  File Server Shares under vSAN

2. Click on Add and select a name for the Share. Add quotas and click on Next. 

3. Click on Allow Access from any IP or specify certain clients

4. Click on Finish.

5. Look at the end result.

How to Monitor the state of the Service

How to Monitor the capacity of the Share