VMware vCloud Director Storage Policies

Part 5 of the VMware vCloud Director series shows you how to setup tiered vSphere Storage Policies to be used later on in vCloud Director. Storage Policies are setup within the vSphere Web Client.

In the background I have already mounted 4 NFS datastores which will represent 4 tiers of storage:

  • vcloud6-platinum1
  • vcloud6-gold1
  • vcloud6-silver1
  • vcloud6-bronze1

1. Log into the vSphere Web Client. Before setting up VM Storage Policies we will be setting up some storage tags. On the home screen click on Storage on the right hand side.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
2. We will start with tagging the platinum storage. On the right hand side click on Manage – Tags – and click on New Tag

vCloud Director Storage Policies
3. Type in a Name and Description to reference the platinum storage tag. Drop down the menu next to Category and select New Category.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
4. Type in a Category Name, description and make sure you have On tag per object selected along with Datastore under Associable Object Types. Click Ok.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
5. We have now tagged our platinum datastore with the Platinum Storage Tag. Repeat the previous steps to create Tags for your gold, silver and bronze datastores.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
6. Browse back to the home screen within the vSphere Web Client. On the right hand side click on VM Storage Policies.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
7. Type a Name and Description for the Platinum Storage Policy.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
8. A summary screen is displayed explaining what rule-sets are. Click Next.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
9. Next to Categories at the top, drop down the menu and select Platinum Storage Category. Tick the box next to Platinum Storage Tag. Click Ok.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
10. This Platinum Storage Policy will be satisfied by any storage that is tagged with the Platinum Storage Tag. Meaning if I assign the Platinum Storage Policy to a virtual machine, it will look at what datastores have the Platinum Tag assigned and place the virtual machine there. Click Next.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
11. You can click on Compatible to see which storage has been tagged with the Platinum Storage Tag. Storage that contains other tags will be listed under Incompatible Storage.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
12. A summary of your settings are displayed. Click Finish.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
13. Repeat the last few steps to create a Storage Policy for the Gold, Silver and Bronze Storage Tags.

vCloud Director Storage Policies
Disclaimer:
All the tutorials included on this site are performed in a lab environment to simulate a real world production scenario. As everything is done to provide the most accurate steps to date, we take no responsibility if you implement any of these steps in a production environment.