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Sunday 14 January 2018

VMFS5 vs VMFS6

Several versions of the VMFS file system have been released since its introduction. ESXi supports VMFS3, VMFS5, and VMFS6.

For all VMFS version, ESXi offers complete read and write support. On all versions of VMFS, you can create and power on virtual machines.

Host Access to VMFS Versions:-


VMFS
ESXi
VMFS6
Read and write
VMFS5
Read and write
VMFS3
Read and write
Note:
You can continue to use existing VMFS3 datastores, but you cannot create new ones. If you have existing VMFS3 datastores, migrate virtual machines to the VMFS6 datastore.

Comparison of VMFS5 and VMFS6
Features and Functionalities
VMFS5
VMFS6
Access for ESXi 6.5 hosts
Yes
Yes
Access for ESXi hosts version 6.0 and earlier
Yes
No
Datastores per host
512
512
512n storage devices
Yes (default)
Yes
512e storage devices
Yes. Not supported on local 512e devices.
Yes (default)
Automatic space reclamation
No
Yes
Manual space reclamation through the esxcli command. See Manually Reclaim Accumulated Storage Space.
Yes
Yes
Space reclamation from guest OS
Limited
Yes
GPT storage device partitioning
Yes
Yes
MBR storage device partitioning
Yes
For a VMFS5 datastore that has been previously upgraded from VMFS3.
No
Storage devices greater than 2 TB for each VMFS extent
Yes
Yes
Support for virtual machines with large capacity virtual disks, or disks greater than 2 TB
Yes
Yes
Support of small files of 1 KB
Yes
Yes
Default use of ATS-only locking mechanisms on storage devices that support ATS. See VMFS Locking Mechanisms.
Yes
Yes
Block size
Standard 1 MB
Standard 1 MB
Default snapshots
VMFSsparse for virtual disks smaller than 2 TB.
SEsparse for virtual disks larger than 2 TB.
SEsparse
Virtual disk emulation type
512n
512n
vMotion
Yes
Yes
Storage vMotion across different datastore types
Yes
Yes
High Availability and Fault Tolerance
Yes
Yes
DRS and Storage DRS
Yes
Yes
RDM
Yes
Yes
 

When you work with VMFS5 and VMFS6 datastores, consider the following:
  1. Upgrade. After you upgrade your ESXi hosts to version 6.5, you can continue using any existing VMFS5 datastores. To take advantage of VMFS6 features, create a VMFS6 datastore and migrate virtual machines from the VMFS5 datastore to VMFS6 datastore. You cannot upgrade the VMFS5 datastore to VMFS6.
  2. Datastore Extents. A spanned VMFS datastore must use only homogeneous storage devices, either 512n or 512e. The spanned datastore cannot extend over devices of different formats.
  3. Block Size. The block size on a VMFS datastore defines the maximum file size and the amount of space a file occupies. VMFS5 and VMFS6 datastores support the block size of 1 MB.
  4. Storage vMotion. Storage vMotion supports migration across VMFS, vSAN, and Virtual Volumes datastores. vCenter Serverperforms compatibility checks to validate Storage vMotion across different types of datastores.
  5. Storage DRS. VMFS5 and VMFS6 can coexist in the same datastore cluster. However, all datastores in the cluster must use homogeneous storage devices, either 512n or 512e. Do not mix devices of different formats within the same datastore cluster.

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