When LUNs belonging to an ESXi cluster are encapsulated behind VPLEX, the ESXi administrator needs to be provided with the Virtual Volume Page Data (VPD) of the virtual volumes. The VPD contains metadata about the virtual volumes that allows the ESXi host to properly identify and interact with them.
* Encapsulation Process: During the encapsulation process, the physical LUNs are virtualized and presented as virtual volumes through VPLEX. This process involves the VPLEX claiming the LUNs and presenting them to the ESXi hosts as new devices1.
* Re-discovery of Datastore and RDM LUNs: After encapsulation, the ESXi administrator must perform a rescan of the storage adapters to discover the new virtual volumes. The VPD of the virtual volumes, which includes information such as the device identifiers and characteristics, is crucial for the ESXi host to recognize and mount the datastores and RDM LUNs2.
* Importance of VPD: The VPD is essential because it provides the ESXi host with the necessary information to differentiate between the virtual volumes and other storage devices. Without the VPD, the ESXi host may not be able to properly identify the encapsulated LUNs, leading to issues with datastore accessibility1.
* Best Practices: It is recommended to follow the best practices and required configurations for a vSphere Metro Storage Cluster using EMC VPLEX Storage array as outlined in VMware KB articles and Dell support documents. This ensures a smooth encapsulation process and proper functioning of the ESXi hosts with the VPLEX storage volumes1.
In summary, sharing the Virtual Volume VPD with the ESXi administrator is a critical step in ensuring that the ESXi cluster can successfully re-discover the datastore and the RDM LUNs after they have been encapsulated behind VPLEX.