This IBM® Redbooks® publication details the configuration and best practices for using the IBM FlashSystem® family of storage products within a VMware environment. The first version of this book was published in 2021 and specifically addressed IBM Spectrum® Virtualize Version 8.4 with VMware vSphere 7.0. This second version of this book includes all the enhancements that are available with IBM Spectrum Virtualize 8.5.

Topics illustrate planning, configuring, operations, and preferred practices that include integration of IBM FlashSystem storage systems with the VMware vCloud suite of applications:

• VMware vSphere Web Client (vWC)
• vSphere Storage APIs - Storage Awareness (VASA)
• vSphere Storage APIs – Array Integration (VAAI)
• VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM)
• VMware vSphere Metro Storage Cluster (vMSC)
• Embedded VASA Provider for VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols)

This book is intended for presales consulting engineers, sales engineers, and IBM clients who want to deploy IBM FlashSystem storage systems in virtualized data centers that are based on VMware vSphere.

Note: There is a newer version of this book: "IBM Storage Virtualize and VMware: Integrations, Implementation and Best Practices, SG24-8549". This book addresses IBM Storage Virtualize Version 8.6 with VMware vSphere 8. The new IBM Storage plugin for vSphere is covered in this book.

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Host and storage connectivity

Chapter 3. Storage consumption

Chapter 4. Integrating with VMware by using IBM Spectrum Connect

Chapter 5. VMware and IBM Spectrum Virtualize multi-site guidelines

Chapter 6. Embedded VASA Provider for Virtual Volumes

Chapter 7. IBM Storage Insights

Chapter 8. Troubleshooting