As a vExpert and VMware fanatic, I’m always eager to share my knowledge and experience with the community. In this blog post, I’ll be discussing how to perform storage performance tests on VMware vSphere vSAN using the VMware Hyper-converged Infrastructure Benchmark fling (HCIBench).

Before we dive into the testing, let me provide some background information. HCIBench is a storage performance testing automation tool that simplifies and accelerates customer Proof of Concept (POC) performance testing in a consistent and controlled way. The storage devices we are using in this video are the Intel® Optane™ SSD DC P4800X Series 375GB, 2.5in PCIe x4, 3D XPoint™, but this procedure can be used to add any compatible storage devices in ESXi to a vSAN datastore.

Now, let’s get started with the testing! In this video, I’ll be showing you how to use HCIBench to perform various storage performance tests on vSAN. The tests include FIO Benchmarks (4K/70%Read/100%Random, 4K/100%Read/100%Random, 8K/50%Read/100%Random, 256K/100%Write/100%Sequential) and VDBENCH Benchmarks (4K/70%Read/100%Random, 4K/100%Read/100%Random, 8K/50%Read/100%Random, 256K/100%Write/100%Sequential).

The results generated from these tests are available for download in PDF format. These benchmarks provide a comprehensive view of the storage performance and can help you evaluate the suitability of different storage devices for your vSAN environment.

In conclusion, performing storage performance tests on vSAN using HCIBench is a valuable tool for evaluating the suitability of different storage devices and optimizing the performance of your vSAN environment. I hope this blog post has provided you with useful insights and practical information that can help you in your virtualization journey.

References:

* VMware Cloud Foundation Design Guide 01 JUN 2023

* WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH INTEL OPTANE? – Mr vSAN – Simon Todd Matt Mancini blog

* VMware vSAN 8.0 U1 Express Storage Architecture Deep Dive

* VMware vSAN 7.0 U3 Deep Dive Paperback – 5 May 2022