VMware Getting Started - Storage Enclosure Guidance

There are many options for storage enclosures, including chassis with redundant power supplies, redundant cabling in both 3.5" and 2.5" form factors.

You may also leverage JBOD arrays with SoftNAS.

After you have chosen which of the above methods of connecting JBOD (just a bunch of disks) to VMware, then you are ready to install and configure SoftNAS. If you are just giving SoftNAS a try on a smaller-scale basis, then almost any VMware-compatible disk storage will suffice as a starting point. Just remember, you don't need to spend a lot to get high-performance, high-quality NAS capabilities with SoftNAS, as there is enormous flexibility and choice available due to the broad compatibility provided by VMware and Linux.

Please review RAID Considerations for additional information on available and recommended data disk configurations.

After the installation of SoftNAS, we recommend U pdating VMware Tools to ensure you have the latest version of VMware Tools installed for your VMware system. This will ensure you can gracefully shut down and reboot SoftNAS from the VMware vSphere or vCenter console (as with any other VM) and that you have the latest vmxnet3 drivers (required for optimal 10 GbE throughput).