Deprecated in vSphere 9.0, this framework has the array, through VASA, hold every virtual machine disk as an individual volume, grouped into storage containers.
Also called vVols.
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Each book explains vSphere Virtual Volumes in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- vSphere
VMware's platform for virtualisation, made up of vCenter and ESX hosts, supplying compute for VCF clusters.
- VASA
API that lets storage providers describe their capabilities to vCenter, feeding SPBM. vVols arrays must have one; vSAN registers its own automatically.
- VMDK
How a virtual disk is stored: a descriptor file and data on NFS or VMFS, or a vSAN object.
- Volume
Holds non-tabular files sitting in cloud storage under Unity Catalog governance, addressed as
/Volumes/<catalog>/<schema>/<volume>. A volume can be external or managed, andWRITE VOLUMEorREAD VOLUMEdecide who may use it. - General-purpose v1
The older storage account kind (
Storage), which lacks access tiers, Archive and premium file shares and retires on 13 October 2026. Converting to ZRS requires first upgrading to GPv2, a one-way change.
Related terms
- Protocol endpoint
With vVols, ESX hosts do not talk to each virtual volume directly; I/O passes through a logical proxy on the storage array, presented as a mount point for NFS or as a proxy LUN for SCSI transports.
- Storage container
Raw capacity on a vVols-capable array, presented through its VASA provider and shown in vCenter as a vVols datastore.