When attempting to change the provisioning type of a virtual disk on a VMware ESXi using NetApp NFS storage, users may find that only "thin" provisioning option is available
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x
This limitation occurs because the VMware ESXi hosts need the NetApp VAAI (vStorage APIs for Array Integration) plugin to perform certain storage operations on NetApp storage arrays.
The NetApp VAAI plugin provides hardware accelerated operations that allow seamless disk provisioning on NetApp NFS datastore.
To enable full provisioning option on virtual disks with NetaApp NFS Storage follow these steps to install and configure the NetApp plugin on your ESXi host:
1. Download the Netapp VAAI Plugin
2. Install the VAAI plugin on the ESXi host:
esxcli software vib install-v /path/plugin.vib