How to Create a Datastore in vSphere Lab?

Objective

The goal of this lab is to provide hands-on experience in creating and configuring a datastore in VMware vSphere.

Prerequisites

• Familiarity with VMware vSphere and ESXi.
• Access to a vSphere environment with at least one ESXi host
• vSphere Client. installed on a local machine.

Lab Overview

In this lab, you will complete the following tasks:

1. Connect to the vSphere environment.
2. Identify available storage devices.
3. Create a new datastore.
4. Configure the datastore properties.
5. Verify datastore creation.

Step-by-Step Lab Guide

Step 1: Connect to the vSphere environment

1. Open the vSphere Client on your local machine.
2. Enter the vCenter Server or ESXi host IP address/hostname and your credentials (username and password).
3. Click “Login” to connect to the vSphere environment.

Step 2: Identify available storage devices

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to the “Hosts and Clusters” view.
2. Select your desired ESXi host in the inventory tree.
3. Click on the “Configure” tab.
4. 
5. Under “Storage,” click “Storage Devices.“
6. Review the list of available storage devices and identify the device you want to use for the new datastore.

Step 3: Create a new datastore.

1. Right-click on the host, and under “Storage,” click “New Datastore.“
2. Click the “Add Datastore” button.
3. Choose the “VMFS” datastore type and click “Next.“
4. Select the storage device you identified in Step 2, Enter a unique name for the datastore, and click “Next.“

Step 4: Configure the datastore properties.

1. Choose the VMFS version (we recommend VMFS-6.)
2. Specify the partition size, Datastore size, and block size if necessary (We recommend the default block size for most use cases).
3. Review the datastore configuration summary and click “Finish.“
4. 

Step 5: Verify datastore creation

1. In the inventory, click “Datastores picture.”
2. Locate your newly created datastore in the list and verify its properties (name, capacity, free space, etc.).
3. Optionally, you can create a test virtual machine on the datastore to confirm its functionality.
   In this lab, you learned how to create and configure a datastore in vSphere. You should now be able to identify available storage devices, create new datastores, and configure datastore properties to meet your needs.

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