My Journey from Infrastructure Admin to Cloud Architect: Leveraging vSAN Batch Processing for Seamless Storage Policy Migration
As an infrastructure administrator, I have spent countless hours managing virtual machines (VMs) and ensuring their optimal performance. However, as my organization has evolved and grown, so too have our storage needs. We have transitioned from a traditional on-premises infrastructure to a cloud-based environment, and with it, we have adopted vSAN as our primary storage solution. With this shift, I have found myself not only managing VMs but also architecting our cloud infrastructure. In this blog post, I will share my journey from an infrastructure admin to a cloud architect and how I leveraged vSAN batch processing to seamlessly migrate our storage policy for 20 VMs.
The Challenge: Migrating Storage Policy for 20 VMs
As our organization grew, we realized that our existing storage policy was no longer meeting our needs. We had 100 VMs with VMDKs attached to a vSAN Default Storage Policy (RAID-1), and we wanted to migrate 20 of these VMs to a new FTT=0 Stripe-3 storage policy. While it may be reasonable to apply the new storage policy one by one, we decided to take advantage of vSAN’s batch processing feature to migrate all 20 VMs at once.
The Solution: Batch Processing with vSAN
To migrate our VMs to the new storage policy, we followed these simple steps:
1. Go to the VM folder on the cluster level and use Shift to select the desired number of VMs (in this case, 20).
2. Note that we will not be able to select SPBMs on VMDK level; instead, the storage policy will be applied for all of the selected VMs for all of their VMDKs.
3. Once we have selected all 20 VMs, we can wait and observe our resync dashboard.
The Caveat: Batch Processing Limitations
While batch processing is a powerful feature, it has some limitations that we need to be aware of. One such limitation is that vSAN batch processing only processes VMDKs in batches, not individual files or objects. Therefore, if we have a large number of small VMDKs, it may take longer for the batch processing to complete. Additionally, if we have any SPBMs on VMDK level, we will not be able to select them using the Shift key. In such cases, we need to manually select each VM and apply the storage policy individually.
The Benefits: Streamlined Migration and Improved Performance
By leveraging vSAN batch processing, we were able to seamlessly migrate our storage policy for 20 VMs in a single operation. This not only saved us time and effort but also ensured that all of our selected VMs were migrated to the new storage policy simultaneously, resulting in improved performance and reduced downtime.
Conclusion: From Infrastructure Admin to Cloud Architect
My journey from an infrastructure admin to a cloud architect has been filled with challenges and opportunities. As our organization grew, so did our storage needs, and we had to adapt to new technologies and solutions. Leveraging vSAN batch processing was a game-changer for us, allowing us to seamlessly migrate our storage policy for 20 VMs in a single operation. This experience has not only taught me the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest technologies but also the value of leveraging automation and batch processing to streamline complex tasks. As we continue to grow and evolve, I am excited to see where this journey will take us next.