vVols Virtual Machines on NetApp ONTAP – What LUNs are created?

This post illustrates the LUNs created when using the NetApp Virtual Storage Console for VMware.

Prior to our vVol datastore and vVol VMs setup, we have the following LUNs and igroups which will be ignored for the rest of the post.

cluster1::> lun show
Vserver Path State Mapped Type Size
------- ---------------- ------ ------ ------ ----
svm1 /vol/iscsi/iscsi online mapped vmware 20GB

cluster1::> igroup show
Vserver Igroup Protocol OS Type Initiators
------- --------- -------- ------- ---------------------------
svm1 initgroup iscsi vmware iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx1
iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx2
svm1 sql iscsi windows -


One notable thing is that we have 2 * ESXi hosts in our lab VMware cluster.

Creating a vVol Datastore

After creating a Storage Capability Profile, we create a vVol datastore consisting of 3 Flexvols using the NetApp VSC for Vmware (vSphere plugin).

Image: New vVol Datastore Creation with 3 Flexvols


And we see the following LUNs and igroup.

cluster1::> lun show
Vserver Path State Mapped Type Size
------- ---- ----- ------ ---- ----
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/vvolPE-1615496750216 online mapped vmware 4MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/vvolPE-1615496750200 online mapped vmware 4MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv3/vvolPE-1615496750216 online mapped vmware 4MB

cluster1::> igroup show
Vserver Igroup Protocol OS Initiators
------- ------ -------- -- ----------
svm1 vvol-igroup-1 iscsi vmware iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx1,iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx2


3 * Protocol Endpoint LUNs (1 per flexvol in our vVol datastore.)
The newly created vvol igroup has our 2 * ESXi hosts in, and this will be the same for the rest of this walkthrough.

Creating our first vVol VM

Now we create our first vVol VM, and see what LUNs we get.

cluster1::> lun show
Vserver Path State Mapped Type Size
------- ---- ----- ------ ---- ----
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f4f7a7a.vmdk online - vmware 4GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503030.vmdk online - vmware 1.50GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/vvolPE-1615496750216 online mapped vmware 4MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/vvolPE-1615496750200 online mapped vmware 4MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv3/vvolPE-1615496750216 online mapped vmware 4MB


At this point the VM is not powered on:

  • The 4GB LUN ending f7a7a.vmdk holds the VM's files.
  • The 1.5GB LUN ending 03030.vmdk is the actual VM's disk drive.

Resizing Disk Drive to 8GB and Powering it On

If we resize the VM's hard disk from 1.5GB to 8GB and power it on (it has 128MB memory) these are the LUNs we now see:

cluster1::> lun show
Vserver Path State Mapped Type Size
------- ---- ----- ------ ---- ----
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f4f7a7a.vmdk online - vmware 4GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503030.vmdk online - vmware 8GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/vvolPE-1615496750216 online mapped vmware 4MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503031.vmdk online - vmware 128MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/vvolPE-1615496750200 online mapped vmware 4MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv3/vvolPE-1615496750216 online mapped vmware 4MB


  • The 4GB LUN ending f7a7a.vmdk holds the VM's files.
  • The 8GB LUN ending 03030.vmdk is the actual VM's disk drive.
  • The 128MB LUN ending 03031.vmdk is the memory swap LUN.

Interesting to notice that none of these vVol VM LUNs say mapped!

Image: vVol Virtual Machine Files in the f7a7a.vmdk LUN


Skipping Ahead to 5 * vVol VMs

Now we skip ahead to where we have 5 * vVol Vms, of which 4 are powered on. And one of the VMs has had it's memory upped to 12GB.

Image: 5 * vVol VMs


cluster1::> lun show
Vserver Path State Mapped Type Size
------- ---- ----- ------ ---- ----
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f4f7a7a.vmdk online - vmware 4GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f50302d.vmdk online - vmware 5GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503030.vmdk online - vmware 8GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503036.vmdk online - vmware 128MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503037.vmdk online - vmware 128MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503038.vmdk online - vmware 128MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503039.vmdk online - vmware 4GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv1/vvolPE-1615496750216 online mapped vmware 4MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503032.vmdk online - vmware 4GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503033.vmdk online - vmware 6GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503034.vmdk online - vmware 4GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503041.vmdk online - vmware 12GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503042.vmdk online - vmware 4GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503043.vmdk online - vmware 7.50GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv2/vvolPE-1615496750200 online mapped vmware 4MB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv3/naa.600a0980774f6a344d2446434f503035.vmdk online - vmware 7GB
svm1 /vol/iscsi_Vvol_fv3/vvolPE-1615496750216 online mapped vmware 4MB


Highlighted above we have:
  • In green the 5 * VM's files vmdk's.
  • In cyan the 5 * VM's disk drives (each VM has 1 disk drive, each is a different size here – 5 , 6, 7, 7.5, 8).
  • In yellow the 4 * powered on VM's memory swap LUNs (3 have 128MB memory, the fourth has 12GB memory).

Comments