Synology Storage Console for VMware
Synology Storage Console for VMware is a storage management plugin on vSphere Client that simplifies managing and monitoring multiple Synology storage systems. Your Synology NAS is referred to as a storage system in Storage Console. After installing Storage Console, you can take application-consistent snapshots directly from DSM.
Terminology:
- Application-consistent snapshot: Application-consistent snapshot is a type of snapshot that ensures data consistency. When you try to take an application-consistent snapshot for a LUN on DSM, VMware vCenter Server will be notified and all data will be flushed from the memory to the LUN before the snapshot is taken. Once the snapshot is taken, vCenter Server will resume its usual I/O operations on VMware datastores.
Installation
System Requirements
- VMware: vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 U2 or above
Note: Synology Storage Console for VMware only works on vSphere Client. - Synology: DSM 6.2.3 or above
Steps
- Download the installer file (.ova) from Download Center.
- Open vSphere Client, right click on a host and select Deploy OVF Template. Follow the instructions in the wizard.
- Power on the virtual machine. Storage Console will be automatically installed on VMware vCenter Server Appliance.
- Log out from vSphere Client and log in again to complete the installation.
Note:
- For more detailed information on Storage Console installation, please refer to this tutorial article.
- Storage Console is deployed as a virtual machine on vSphere Client. VMware vCenter information and virtual machine network settings can be modified on the administration console with default username root and password synology.
- To start using Storage Console, you must add a storage system.
Managing your storage systems
In Storage Console, administrators can manage their Synology storage systems on VMware vSphere Client.
To enter the main page of Storage Console, click Menu on the home screen and select Synology Storage Console.
To add a storage system:
Go to the Storage System page from the left panel, click ADD and enter the IP address and credentials of the new storage system.
To remove a storage system:
On the Storage System page, click REMOVE to delete a storage system.
To edit a storage system:
On the Storage System page, click EDIT to modify the IP address and credentials of a storage system if needed.
To monitor storage systems:
Once a storage system is added to the Storage Console, you can monitor its overall status by going to the Dashboard page. Information such as volume usage and datastore details can be found here.
In the Storage System section, you can see the statuses of each storage system:
- Critical: When seeing this status, you are strongly advised to take immediate actions to resolve the LUN or volume issues.
- Warning: When seeing this status, you should go to DSM for more information about the situation.
- Normal: Your Synology storage system is working well.
To view storage system details:
On the Storage System page, click on the name of each storage system to view more detailed information, such as volume usage and virtual machines.
Operating on your hosts and datastores
With Storage Console installed on your vSphere client, you can quickly and directly operate on the hosts and datastores from the right-click menus. The Monitor tabs provided further details of virtual machines' disks and datastores.
Host operations
On the list of Hosts and Clusters, right click on a host and you will find Synology Storage Console in the context menu. Form here, you can do the following:
- Create a datastore: Click New Datastore to create a new datastore for the selected host following the onscreen instructions in the wizard.
- Optimize host settings: Click OPTIMIZE to allow the system to modify setting, inclusive of timeout values, I/O queue depth and VAAI features, to achieve better transfer performance and connection stability.
To check the disk information of virtual machines on a host, go to the Monitor tab of the selected host and click Synology Storage Console.
Datastore operations
On the Storage page, you will find all datastores. Right click on a datastore and select Synology Storage Console in the context menu. Form here, you can expand the capacity of a datastore by selecting Expand Datastore.
To view datastore details, go to the Monitor tab of the selected datastore and click Synology Storage Console for more detailed information.
Managing Storage Console
On the Management page, you can do the following:
- Export logs: You may provide the logs when contacting Synology Technical Support to help them identify and understand the issues.
- Update Synology Storage Console
- Uninstall Synology Storage Console: Please uninstall Storage Console on the page before shutting down the virtual machine.
VMware VASA Provider
VMware VASA Provider enhances storage management between Storage Console and the vCenter Server. You can manage VM storage policies with the help of VMware VASA Provider (VASA 1.0).
To add a storage policy:
- In the vSphere Client, navigate to the vCenter Server.
- On the Configure tab, click Storage Providers under More.
- Click the Add icon.
- Enter the connection information for the storage provider (VASA Provider running on the Storage Console virtual machine).
- Name: Give the storage provider a name.
- URL: https://IP of Synology Storage Console:8443/vasa/services/vasaService
- User name: root
- Password: synology (or your custom password)
- Click OK.
Note:
- Administrators can create users other than the "root" user.
To extend the certificate:
The storage provider certificate is set to expire two years after the initial registration. If the certificate expires, VASA Provider might not function properly. We suggest renewing the certificate before it expires.
- Log in to Storage Console for VMware using an SSH command.
- Update the certificate with command
vpcli vasa renew_cert - Restart the VASA service with command
vpcli service stop --vasa; vpcli service start --vasa - You can check if the validity period has been extended at Storage Providers under the Configure tab.