Here is some more detail and color for the requirements and recommendations with the FlashArray: There is a detailed KB that outlines some of these workflows that can be found here. Having a backup of the Config vVol also helps the recovery process or roll back process for the VM in the event that there is an issue. A snapshot of the Config vVol is required for the vSphere Plugin's VM undelete feature.Recommended: Either configured a SPBM policy to snapshot all of the vVol VM's Config vVols or manually put Config vVols in a FlashArray protection group with snapshot scheduled enabled.Please see the failure scenerio KB for more detail on this. While a vCenter server can run on vVols, in the event of any failure on the VASA Management Path combined with a vCenter server restart, the environment could enter a state where vCenter Server may not be able to boot or start.Requirement: Do not run vCenter servers on vVols.The Best Practice is to use the recommended HW version that your vSphere Environment is running as long as it's at 11 or higher.Recommended: Use Virtual Machine Hardware version 11 or higher.Requirement: Network port 8084 must be open and accessible from vCenter Servers and ESXi hosts to the FlashArray that will be used for vVols.Recommended: Configure Syslog forwarding for vSphere environment.The time and data must be configured to the current date/time. Requirement: NTP must be configured the same across all ESXi hosts and vCenter Servers in the environment.With regards to the vSphere environment, there are some networking requirements and some strong recommendations from Pure Storage when implementing vVols in your vSphere Environment. If using vVols array based replication for failover and recovery methods, Pure Storage strongly recommends running at minimum Purity//FA 5.3.6.Īs always, please ensure you follow standard Pure Storage best practices for vSphere. If using Virtual Volumes and FlashArray replication, ensure that anticipated recovery site is running vSphere 6.5 or later. The Hardware Version will need to be 15 or later when the Virtual Machine needs to have more than 15 virtual devices per SCSI controller.Use Virtual Machine hardware version 11 or later.Configure snapshot policies for all Config vVols (VM home directories).The Protocol Endpoint should be connected to Host Groups and not Individual Hosts.Please see this section of the Failure Scenerio KB for more information.
If running Purity 5.1+ create a Local Array Admin to authenticate with.When registering the VASA Provider, use a local FlashArray User.This namespace must exist for vVols management path to operate correctly.The 'pure-protocol-endpoint' must not be destroyed.Configure host and host groups with appropriate initiators on the FlashArray.Ensure that vCenter Server and ESXi Host managemen t networks have TCP port 8084 access to FlashArray controller management ports.Configure NTP and Syslog for VMware environment and FlashArray.FlashArray 400 Series, FlashArray//M, FlashArray//X, FlashArray//C.Purity//FA 5.3.6+ is required for SRM + vVols sup port.