Datastores
ESXi
hosts use
storage space on a variety of physical storage systems, including internal and
external devices and networked storage.
A host can discover storage
devices to which it has access and format them as datastores. Each datastore is
a special logical container, analogous to a file system on a logical volume,
where the host places virtual disk files and other virtual machine files.
Datastores hide specifics of each storage product and provide a uniform model
for storing virtual machine files.
Depending on the type of storage
you use, datastores can be backed by the following file system formats.
- Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) - High-performance file system optimized for storing virtual machines. Your host can deploy a VMFS datastore on any SCSI-based local or networked storage device, including Fibre Channel and iSCSI SAN equipment.
- Network File System (NFS) - File system on a NAS storage device.ESXisupports NFS version 3 and 4.1. The host can access a designated NFS volume located on an NFS server, mount the volume, and use it for any storage needs.