You can use this datastore (yet empty) to place the VM files or store operating systems ISO images. Give your Datastore a name (WindowsNFS), enter NFS Folder (/nfs) and NFS server name (IP address or DNS name)Īfter successfull adding the NFS datastore, it appears in the list of available host datastores.Select NFS 4.1 (supported on Windows Server starting from Server 2012).From Action menu select Storage – New > Datastore Login to your vSphere server / ESXi host and select your host. You can configure a folder (or drive) as an NFS share and present it to VMware vSphere, so that it can be used as a datastore.Create a new datastore VMFS volumes should be created in vSphere, rather than via the fdisk tool or from the ESXi installer.
Continue reading to learn how to configure and manage your datastores in VMware vSphere.
Make sure that vmkernel port is configured on your ESXi host. Datastores running on low-end disks or lacking redundancy, for example, should be associated with low-priority VMs. It remains to connect it as a datastore to VMWare host. So we have created a new network NFS share on Windows Server 2012 R2. You can create an NFS share and restrict access to it via PowerShell: New-NfsShare -Name "NFS " -Path "c:\nfs" -AllowRootAccess $true -Permission Readwrite -Authentication sys Grant-NfsSharePermission -Name “NFS” -ClientName 192.168.1.111 -ClientType host -LanguageEncoding ANSI Run New Share Wizard ( Tasks -> New Share) and then select NFS Share-Quick. Switch to the Server Manager console and go to File and Storage Services-> Shares. In this example we created folder c:\nfs, and it is not the best practice :). Next you need to create a new Windows directory that will be used as an NFS mount point.
You can install Server for NFS Features even easier with a single Powershell command: Add-WindowsFeature "FS-NFS-Service" After installation is finished, click on “Close”.On the Server Roles tabs expand section File and Storage Services -> File and iSCSI Services.Open Server Manager console and select Manage -> Add Roles and Features.We already have a server with configured role File and Storage Services. So, at first we first need to configure NFS share on Windows 2012 R2 and then connect it as a datastore on ESXi host. NFS directory usage as a storage for VMWare VM’s files should be considered only for the test or non-critical production environment.