What is VMware vSAN? | Storage Virtualization Software | VMware

Future Proof Hyperconverged Infrastructure with the Broadest Deployment Flexibility

Integrated hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) powered by vSAN, combined with vSphere, enables you to manage compute and storage with a single, integrated platform. Take the easiest path to future-ready HCI and hybrid cloud with an integrated solution that improves business agility, speeds operations and lowers costs.

Seamless Evolution to HCI

Extend virtualization to storage with a secure hyperconverged solution that leverages existing tools and is integrated with your hypervisor and leading public clouds.

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Unified App Management

Manage both virtual machine and container-based applications seamlessly, through integration with VMware Tanzu.

Lower Costs

Achieve better price per performance by supporting the latest storage technology on industry-standard servers.

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Flexible Deployment

Use HCI anywhere with the industry’s broadest ecosystem: 18 OEM server vendors and native services with leading public clouds including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud and Alibaba Cloud.

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WHY CHOOSE VMWARE FOR HCI?

Benefits of vSAN

Scale Without Compromise

Scale compute and storage flexibly and efficiently based on application needs with VMware HCI Mesh.

WHY VMWARE HCI MESH

Simplify Operations

Easily roll out new infrastructure and applications with minimal training.

Developer-Ready Infrastructure

Get self-service capabilities that developers need to create apps at scale, while providing IT admins the governance needed to manage VMs and containers.

Use Cases

Business Critical Apps

VDI

Remote & Branch Offices

Disaster Recovery

Related Resources

Why Customers Choose vSAN

Understand why customers are choosing vSAN to simplify data center operations and lower CapEx.

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Gartner Magic Quadrant for HCI

VMware continues to be a Magic Quadrant Leader in Hyperconverged Infrastructure Software.

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Related Products

Connect any user to any application in any cloud at an unprecedented scale with VMware Secure Access and these related products.

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Standard

Best suited for hybrid environments with per-VM storage policies.

Advanced

Standard Edition plus all-flash space efficiency features.

Enterprise

Advanced Edition plus software-defined, data-at-rest encryption and stretched clusters.

Enterprise Plus

Advanced management for performance optimization, efficient capacity management and more.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the benefits of vSAN?

vSAN benefits include:

Seamless evolution – vSAN is integrated with vSphere. Extend virtualization to storage leveraging the same tools and skillsets.
Industry-leading flexibility – You can run HCI on certified solutions from 18 OEM server vendors and as native services with leading public clouds.
Multi-cloud capabilities – You get consistent operations from edge to core to cloud, with intrinsic security throughout.
Traditional and modern apps on the same platform.

What are the hardware requirements for running vSAN?

A vSAN cluster needs at least two physical hosts with dedicated local storage devices and shared witness. See the VMware Compatibility Guide for Systems/Servers and VMware Compatibility Guide for vSAN for more information.

What are the software requirements for running vSAN?

vSAN is integrated with the VMware vSphere Hypervisor, so there’s no need to install additional software or deploy storage controller virtual appliances to every host in the cluster, as is often the case. Only vCenter Server is required to configure and manage a vSAN cluster.

Can I use existing SAN and NAS storage in the same cluster as vSAN?

Yes, vSphere can access and use traditional datastores with vSAN and vSphere Virtual Volumes. In most cases, vSphere Storage vMotion can be used to migrate VMs between these datastore types. This makes it easy to migrate existing workloads when performing maintenance or retiring a storage solution.

Where can I find guidance on sizing a vSAN cluster?

To evaluate an existing environment for migration to vSAN, request a free HCI assessment. Data collected can be used along with the vSAN ReadyNode Sizer to help determine suitable vSAN ReadyNode server configurations.

How do I add storage capacity to a vSAN cluster?

Storage capacity can be increased in a couple ways: either scale-out your clusters by adding nodes, or scale-up existing nodes by adding capacity. Cluster Quickstart makes it easy to add compute and storage capacity to a vSAN cluster.

What are my deployment options for vSAN?

There are four deployment options available for vSAN: a jointly engineered turnkey system, Global Partner Appliances, vSAN ReadyNodes, and as a service with cloud providers. See vSAN deployment options for more information.

How do I enable vSAN?

For detailed guidance on enabling vSAN, see vSAN documentation.

How do I configure vSAN, step by step?

For step by step instructions on configuring a vSAN cluster, see vSAN documentation.

What are vSAN ReadyNodes?

vSAN ReadyNodes are x86 servers that have been pre-configured, tested and certified for VMware HCI software. Each ReadyNode is optimally configured for vSAN with the required amount of CPU, memory, network, I/O controllers and storage. For more information, see vSAN ReadyNodes.