VAAI and cloning not as expected

[MikeLarcher]

I just got around to setting up VAAI and view 5.1.  I am currently using the NFS plugin on a Netapp FAS storage array, and I noticed an issue with cloning speed that will affect its usefulness for View specifically.

VM Snapshots, if a machine has them all committed, I can clone 500GB in under 10 seconds, if it has a single snapshot, even one that has 0 data, its take about as long as a full copy. I can live with not having them on servers and using other tools to back up the machines, and keep snaps, but View relies on the snapshots for pools. 

Waiting for a desktop to clone once before provisioning is not really a huge issue, but it can take 10-15 minutes if the machine is 50gb.  I will say that with VAAI enabled, all refresh jobs happen very fast, and this is definitely a welcome change, especially if you set a pool to refresh at every logout.

Has anyone tackled this and approached it from another way?  I could not even rely on the storage snapshots because View doesn't know about them.  I can use Netapps Rapid Clone tool, but I was hoping VAAI would bring all of the control into a single pane of glass.

(*note:  I am mostly using view for lab type setups right now, so the base images change often and I need to keep several versions around).

[Linjo]

There is some new functionality in View 5.1 called VCAI. For that to work you need a new firmware from NetApp to support this feature.

More about that here:

http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/view-composer-array-integration-tech-preview.html

Please report back with your findings, would be interesting to hear.

// Linjo

[MikeLarcher]

Yes I have tested cloning from both interfaces, the vSphere clients "clone machine" function as well as the VCAI enabled pool, they both function the same.  My assumption is that there are additional calulations that need to happen once a snapshot is in place, so the VAAI cannot simply clone the blocks.

[iforbes]

Yes! Exactly. The thing about VCAI or VAAI NFS is that if the vm being cloned has a VMware snapshot on it, VCAI/VAAI NFS will not work. Let me repeat that - VCAI/VAAI NFS will not work. This is pretty huge for VMware View linked clones because the parent vm requires a VMware snapshot. You cannot get around that. So, I'm confused as to how VCAI benefits a View linked clones environment when I'm building my linked clones and/or performing a recompose.

[MikeLarcher]

According the the release notes, I believe this is resolved in ESXi 5.1 I have to upgrade my vcenter before I can test it out, but as of right now I believe I have a few other tools that are not 5.1 ready. I might just have to stand up a small environment to test it out.

[iforbes]

Nice. So, this is in the vSphere 5.1 release notes? If View didn't rely on snapshots VCAI would be very useful :-). Hopefully, it is resolved in ESXi 5.1. I'll review the release notes. Btw, I recall reading somewhere that VAAI NFS/VCAI didn't support cloning a vm with a VMware snapshot on it. I just can't recall where I read it. Do you know?

Thanks

[MikeLarcher]

https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/08/vsphere-5-1-new-storage-features-2.html

vSphere Storage APIs – Array Integration

vSphere 5.0 introduced the offloading of snapshots to the storage array for VMware View via the VAAI NAS primitive ‘Fast File Clone’. vSphere 5.1 will allow VAAI NAS based snapshots to be used for vCloud Director in addition to being used for VMware View, enabling the use of hardware/native snapshots for linked clones.