Storage DRS (SDRS) Questions

[markajohnson]

Hi,

I've been using the new APIs to provision using SDRS and had some questions.  Sorry if this is documented somewhere but I haven't been able to find it:

1.  If I create a VM in SDRS (using RecommendDatastores, Apply, etc), I can also add a disk using the same procedure.  If the VM is moved due to executing automatic settings, will the filename of the VirtualDisk get updated (showing the path with the new datastore)?  (Like when you're browsing the cluster with the web interface or from the Hardware tab on the Virtual Machine Properties in the vSphere Client)

2.  If I detach a disk from a VM in SDRS but don't delete it, will it ever get moved for any reason?

3.  Can I create a VirtualDisk on a specific datastore on the datastore cluster and attach it to a VM in the same datastore cluster and have it move around as determined by SDRS or is that disk locked to that datastore?

4.  Is it possible to "lock" a VM from being moved for a period of time?

Thanks for any help.

Mark

[peetz]

Hi,

here are some answers to your questions:

1. I'm not sure if I understand your question, but ... if a VM's disks get moved then all references to it will be of course updated to point to the new location. You might need to refresh the view in the client (or reload the object in scripts) though to see the updated values.

2. I would not expext SDRS to take any action on orphaned VMDK files.

3. It depends. You can set (anti-) affinity rules for VMDK files per VM. The default is to keep all VMDK files of a VM together, but you can change that.

4. Yes, you can define VM overrides in the Datastore Cluster settings and disable SDRS for specific VMs this way.

Hope this helps. I suggest that you look at all the relevant SDRS settings in the web client (the legacy client might not expose all of them).

- Andreas

[Gortee]

Evening,

I'll try to add to Peetz answers:

1.  If I create a VM in SDRS (using RecommendDatastores, Apply, etc), I can also add a disk using the same procedure.  If the VM is moved due to executing automatic settings, will the filename of the VirtualDisk get updated (showing the path with the new datastore)?  (Like when you're browsing the cluster with the web interface or from the Hardware tab on the Virtual Machine Properties in the vSphere Client) -> It does get updated in all views and via REST

2.  If I detach a disk from a VM in SDRS but don't delete it, will it ever get moved for any reason? -> SDRS does not like loads that are not managed by it.  If the disk is detached it's not managed by SDRS and it will not do anything at all with it.  (I have ISO's in a SDRS cluster and they never move even if datastore is full)

3.  Can I create a VirtualDisk on a specific datastore on the datastore cluster and attach it to a VM in the same datastore cluster and have it move around as determined by SDRS or is that disk locked to that datastore? ->You can create it in any datastore then enable SDRS on the vm (in order to choose the location you have to disable SDRS on that VM) once enabled SDRS will move it as normal rules require/allow.

4.  Is it possible to "lock" a VM from being moved for a period of time? ->You can and you can schedule these changes in the web client.  

In other words I agree 100% with Peetz with some additional details.  Let us know if you have more questions.

Thanks,

J