Guidance for connecting External Storage Arrays to a vSAN ESA cluster.

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

The article provides guidance on integrating external storage array into an existing vSAN ESA cluster. It outlines the feasibility, prerequisites, and critical hardware considerations to ensure environment stability.

Environment

VMware ESXi 8.x

Resolution

1. Feasibility and Architecture
Adding external storage to a vSAN ESA cluster is a supported configuration.
vSAN ESA and external storage operate on isolated data paths. vSAN ESA utilizes direct NVMe PCIe lanes for internal object storage, while external arrays communicate via dedicated Host Bus Adapters or NICs.

2. Prerequisites for Implementation
Confirm the storage array model and its specific firmware version are certified for VMware ESXi 8.x via the VMware Compatibility Guide.
Dedicated FC/SAS HBAs for block storage or high-speed NICs for iSCSI/NFS.
Sufficient PCIe slots to support both the vSAN NVMe tier and the new external storage controllers.

3. Implementation Steps
To connect the storage, follow the below steps:
Install and configure the necessary HBAs or NICs on each node in the cluster.
Zone and mask the LUNs from the storage array to all hosts in the vSAN cluster to ensure uniform visibility.
In the vSphere Client, navigate to the cluster and perform a Storage Rescan to detect the new LUNs.
Create a standard VMFS Datastore on the presented LUNs.

Note:
Never attempt to route vSAN ESA NVMe drives through an external storage controller or HBA. vSAN ESA requires direct PCIe passthrough to the NVMe devices for critical performance monitoring and SMART health data.