VMware Virtual SAN: Deploy & Manage [v6]

In this course you will learn how to manage a software-defined storage VMware Virtual SAN 6.

The course is based on the VMware ESXi 6 , VMware vCenter Server 6 and VMware Virtual SAN 6.

Bittnet carries out VMware trainings through authorized partners.

VMware Virtual SAN: Deploy & Manage [v6] is a technical course focused on the deployment, configuration, management, and troubleshooting of VMware Virtual SAN, now known as VMware vSAN, in a VMware vSphere environment. The course is designed to provide administrators and infrastructure professionals with the knowledge required to build a hyperconverged storage environment in which compute and storage resources are managed as an integrated platform. Rather than relying exclusively on traditional external storage arrays, vSAN aggregates local storage devices from ESXi hosts and presents them as a shared datastore that can be consumed by virtual machines. The program therefore connects virtualization administration with software-defined storage concepts and practical data-center operations.

The course is based on vSAN version 6 and is particularly relevant for professionals working with VMware vSphere environments who need to understand how software-defined storage can simplify infrastructure design and administration. vSAN uses storage devices installed directly in ESXi hosts and combines them into a distributed datastore. This architecture allows organizations to create highly available storage using standard server hardware while managing storage policies and capabilities directly through the VMware virtualization platform.

A fundamental objective of the course is to understand the architecture of vSAN and the role it plays within a vSphere cluster. Participants learn how vSAN integrates with ESXi and vCenter Server and how local disks from multiple hosts can be combined into a shared storage resource. Understanding this architecture is essential because vSAN is not simply another datastore type: its operation depends on the interaction between the vSphere cluster, storage devices, networking, virtual machine storage policies, and the distributed components responsible for protecting and presenting virtual machine data.

The program introduces the requirements for deploying a vSAN cluster and explains the importance of appropriate hardware configuration. Storage controllers, magnetic disks, flash devices, network connectivity, ESXi hosts, and vSphere configuration all contribute to the reliability and performance of the resulting environment. Participants learn how to evaluate the components that form a vSAN configuration and how to prepare hosts before enabling the service. This preparation is particularly important in production environments, where hardware compatibility and correct configuration directly influence the stability of the storage platform.

Another important topic is the organization of storage into disk groups. vSAN 6 uses a combination of flash-based devices and magnetic disks in hybrid configurations, while all-flash architectures introduce a different storage design. Participants learn how storage devices are organized and how disk groups contribute to the overall vSAN architecture. This provides a foundation for understanding capacity, caching, performance and failure behavior within the cluster.

Networking is another critical aspect of vSAN administration. Because virtual machine data is distributed across multiple hosts, reliable network communication is essential. The course therefore examines the networking requirements for vSAN and the configuration of VMkernel networking used for vSAN traffic. Participants learn why network design, bandwidth, latency, redundancy and correct VLAN configuration are important factors when building a vSAN environment. These concepts are particularly significant because storage performance in a distributed architecture is closely connected to network performance.

The course also explores the creation and configuration of a vSAN cluster. Administrators learn how to enable vSAN, configure disk groups and establish the shared datastore used by virtual machines. VMware vCenter Server provides the central management interface through which many of these operations are performed, allowing administrators to manage storage and compute resources as part of the same virtual infrastructure. The course therefore reinforces the relationship between vSphere cluster administration and software-defined storage management.

One of the most important concepts in vSAN is the use of storage policies. Instead of managing storage characteristics only at the datastore level, vSAN allows administrators to define policies that describe the storage requirements of individual virtual machines or virtual disks. These policies can specify characteristics such as the number of failures that a virtual machine should tolerate and the way its components should be distributed across the cluster. This policy-driven approach makes it possible to align storage behavior with application requirements.

Participants learn how storage policies influence the placement and protection of virtual machine objects. This is an important shift from traditional storage administration, because the administrator can express requirements at the virtual machine level rather than manually configuring individual storage resources. Different applications can therefore receive different levels of availability and protection while using the same underlying vSAN datastore.

The course also addresses virtual machine components and the distributed nature of vSAN data. A virtual machine’s files are represented by objects that can be distributed across hosts according to the selected storage policy. Understanding these objects and their relationships helps administrators diagnose storage behavior, analyze capacity utilization and understand how vSAN responds when components or hosts become unavailable.

High availability and failure handling are central to the design of vSAN. Because the storage platform is distributed across multiple hosts, it can continue operating when individual components fail, provided that the cluster has been designed with appropriate redundancy. Participants examine different failure scenarios and learn how vSAN responds to failures affecting disks, disk groups, hosts and other infrastructure components. This knowledge is essential for evaluating the resilience of a vSAN deployment and for planning appropriate recovery procedures.

The course also introduces monitoring and management capabilities available to administrators. Effective vSAN administration requires continuous visibility into capacity, performance, health and configuration. Administrators need to be able to determine whether the cluster is operating normally, identify degraded components and understand the consequences of configuration changes. Monitoring therefore becomes an integral part of the operational lifecycle rather than an activity performed only when problems occur.

Troubleshooting is another major component of the training. Participants learn to identify common configuration and operational problems affecting vSAN environments and to use the available VMware tools to investigate them. Troubleshooting can involve storage devices, disk groups, networking, cluster configuration, virtual machine policies or host-level issues. A systematic approach is essential because a problem that appears to be related to storage may actually originate in networking, hardware compatibility or an incorrectly configured vSphere component.

Performance considerations are also important when working with vSAN. Participants gain an understanding of the factors that influence storage performance, including disk technology, cache configuration, network capacity, workload characteristics and storage policies. This knowledge helps administrators make better infrastructure decisions and avoid treating vSAN performance as a simple function of disk speed. In a distributed storage architecture, performance is influenced by the complete path between the virtual machine, ESXi host, network and storage components.

The course also provides a foundation for capacity management. Administrators must understand how the physical capacity of a vSAN cluster translates into usable capacity after accounting for redundancy and storage policies. As virtual machine workloads grow, administrators need to monitor consumption and plan for additional capacity. The distributed architecture makes capacity planning particularly important because changes to the cluster can affect both available space and the ability to satisfy existing storage policies.

Operational procedures such as maintenance and host management are also relevant to a vSAN environment. Administrators need to understand how maintenance operations interact with distributed storage and how workloads can remain available when individual hosts require maintenance. Proper planning is essential to prevent unnecessary data movement or reduced resilience during infrastructure changes.

From a broader infrastructure perspective, VMware Virtual SAN: Deploy & Manage [v6] introduces participants to the principles of hyperconverged infrastructure. By combining compute and storage within the same server infrastructure and managing these resources through VMware’s virtualization platform, organizations can simplify data-center architecture and reduce dependence on specialized storage arrays. At the same time, the distributed nature of vSAN requires administrators to understand storage, networking, virtualization and availability as interconnected components rather than isolated technologies.

The course is particularly suitable for virtualization administrators, system administrators, infrastructure engineers and data-center professionals who are responsible for VMware environments. A good understanding of VMware vSphere and ESXi administration is valuable because vSAN builds directly on these technologies. Familiarity with virtual machines, vCenter Server, clusters, networking and storage concepts allows participants to focus on the specific architecture and operational requirements introduced by vSAN.

The practical orientation of the program is important because vSAN concepts are most effectively understood through configuration and operational scenarios. Deploying a cluster, creating disk groups, configuring networking, assigning storage policies and investigating failures provides a much clearer understanding of the technology than theoretical descriptions alone. These activities also help participants develop the troubleshooting mindset required for production environments.

Although vSAN 6 is now a legacy generation of the technology, the fundamental concepts introduced by the course remain useful for understanding software-defined and hyperconverged storage. Modern vSAN releases have evolved significantly, including changes to architecture, management, hardware support, data services and integration with broader VMware Cloud Foundation environments. Nevertheless, concepts such as distributed storage, storage policies, host-based storage, network-dependent storage traffic, object placement and failure domains remain fundamental to understanding the technology.