NFS versus ISCSI for VM storage

[zeebahi]

Hi everyone,

We can store VM files in a centralized storage so we can do Vmotion, HA etc,  being new to VMs, I am trying to understand why one should choose one over the other. So far,  I have seen by using NFS, we can avoid dealing with LUNS on storage site.

Thanks and have a good day!!

[depping · Accepted solution]

I guess it is a preference mostly at this point. VMFS (iSCSI) vs NFS is not really a discussion anymore. If you feel comfortable with NFS and it meets your requirements, go for it. If you prefer iSCSI with VMFS, go for it. As long as the storage system has the services you need (snaps / replication etc), at the price point you are looking for, then just go for it. I honestly haven't had this discussion in years. It is more about the type of solution (HCI vs traditional storage), operational complexity etc.

[CurtisGrice]

I use iSCSI because thats what I know. One good case for NFS is that is not stored on a VMFS. This means that you can easily access the VM files from outside of vSphere. I tend to use an NFS datastore in read only mode to store my ISOs and OVAs because I can use the built in Windows NFS client to drag and drop the files. I'm lazy like that.