Lab: Storage Configuration

Objective

Configure a complete storage environment in VergeOS, including vSAN tier setup, NAS share provisioning, and storage health validation.

Prerequisites

• Completed Module 1: Architecture Fundamentals
• Completed Module 3: Installation
• Completed Module 5 reading (vSAN Architecture, Storage Tiers, NAS Shares, Best Practices)
• A running VergeOS cluster with at least 2 nodes and available physical disks

Difficulty

Intermediate — Requires understanding of storage concepts (disk tiers, redundancy, file shares)

Estimated Time

1.5 hours

Steps

Part 1: vSAN Tier Configuration

Set up storage tiers to organize physical disks by performance characteristics.

1. Navigate to the Storage section in the VergeOS UI
2. Review the physical disks available in your cluster:
   • Identify SSD vs HDD drives
   • Note drive sizes and current assignments
3. Configure storage tiers:
   • Assign SSDs to Tier 1 (performance)
   • Assign HDDs to Tier 2 (capacity)
4. Verify the vSAN pool shows correct disk assignments and available capacity
5. Review the redundancy settings and adjust if needed for your node count

Part 2: NAS Share Provisioning

Create file-level shares for workload access.

1. Create a CIFS/SMB share:
   • Name the share (e.g., “app-data”)
   • Configure the storage allocation and tier placement
   • Set permissions for user/group access
2. Create an NFS share:
   • Name the share (e.g., “backup-target”)
   • Configure export settings and allowed networks
   • Set appropriate access permissions
3. Verify both shares are accessible from a test VM or client

Part 3: Storage Monitoring

Validate storage health and performance.

1. Navigate to the Storage dashboard
2. Review key metrics:
   • Capacity utilization per tier
   • IOPS and throughput statistics
   • Deduplication and compression ratios
3. Verify redundancy status shows healthy across all nodes
4. Identify any alerts or warnings in the storage health view

Part 4: Storage Best Practices Validation

Confirm your configuration follows recommended guidelines.

1. Review tier assignments against workload requirements
2. Verify redundancy settings are appropriate for your node count
3. Check that capacity headroom meets the recommended minimum (typically 20-30% free)
4. Document your storage configuration for future reference

Verification

Your storage lab is complete when you can answer yes to all of the following:

• vSAN tiers are configured with appropriate disk assignments
• At least one CIFS/SMB share is provisioned and accessible
• At least one NFS share is provisioned and accessible
• Storage dashboard shows healthy status across all nodes
• Deduplication and compression are active on the vSAN
• Redundancy settings are appropriate for the cluster size