VMware vSphere
Flash Read Cache
Disk Configuration
Q8. What types of storage device interface are supported
for vSphere Flash Read Cache?
A8. SATA, SAS and PCI Express.
Q9. What is the maximum number of Flash devices that can
be used per ESXi host for vSphere Flash Read Cache?
A9. A maximum of eight Flash-based devices per ESXi host.
Q10. What is the maximum Virtual Flash Host Swap Cache
supported by ESXi hosts?
A10. The maximum supported is 4TB per ESXi host.
Host Configuration
Q1.
A1.
FAQ / 1
A18. No. vSphere Flash Read Cache supports the use of only
virtual RDMs.
FAQ / 2
Interoperability
Q38. Is vSphere Flash Read Cache compatible with
VMware vSphere vMotion?
A38. Yes. The vSphere vMotion workflow has been modified to
include two new migration settings for cache contents:
Always migrate the cache contents (copy)
Do not migrate the cache contents (drop)
Q39. The VFFS is a nonshared local resource container. How
can vSphere vMotion work?
A39. VFFS is compatible with vSphere vMotion, svMotion and
XvMotion. vSphere vMotion migrations are automatically
converted into an XvMotion operation in this case.
Q40. What is the impact of migrating the virtual machine
cache contents?
A40. Depending on the size of the cache contents, the migration
operation can take longer than usual to complete, but the
virtual machine maintains the cache contents.
Q41. What happens if the cache contents are discarded as
part of the migration operation?
A41. The migration operation will complete much faster, but the
data must be recached on the target host after the
migration has been completed.
Q42. How does VMware vSphere Distributed Resource
Scheduler (vSphere DRS) handle migrations of virtual
machines with Virtual Flash Read Cache?
A42. vSphere DRS doesnt automatically migrate virtual
machines with Virtual Flash Read Cache as part of its load
balancing operations, except when a host is placed in
maintenance mode or during major overutilization
contention events.
Q43. Can the VFFS be managed at a cluster level?
A43. No. The VFFS is managed at the host level only. During
virtual machine power-on, vSphere DRS makes initial
placement based on the available VFFS on each host at the
cluster level.
FAQ / 3
A53. No. vSphere Flash Read Cache does not use any
application or guest-level intelligence to selectively choose
what data must be cached. It caches all data, based on I/O
heuristics maintained by vSphere Flash Read Cache.
A58. No. The virtual machines will fail to power on. The
resources provided by vSphere Flash Read Cache are
not taken into account by vSphere HA admission
control operations.
Q66. Where are the vSphere Flash Read Cache files located?
Hardware
A66. The vSphere Flash Read Cache files are located on the
ESXi host under the /vmfs/volumes/vffs/vflash.
FAQ / 4
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