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Storage Container Merge?

  • 30 January 2019
  • 9 replies
  • 3654 views

I've inherited a Nutanix setup. I've noticed there is 1 Storage Pool setup and 4 Storage Containers. (see screenshot). 

I don't know what is the Default setup looked like so I don't know which are required.
I'd like to have 1 container.

Currently attached to Nutanix Host
VDI_POC
nutanix-peristent-pool

Not attached
NutanixManagementShare
SelfServiceContainer

All of my VMs are on the VDI_POC.
Can I somehow delete the other 3 and combine them into the VDI_POC without losing data/downtime?
 

ef9304e4-6858-4094-a323-b16510dd4970.jpg

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9 replies

C
I have almost the exact same circumstance and I am really interested in the answer. I know my cluster was installed less than 1 year ago. Nutanix recommends 1 container in their documentation, why would the vendor use 4? Can they, should they, be merged?

I
Badge +1
I have the same question. I have three containers which I believe are defaults, the selfservicecontainer and default container I have mounted to vSphere but I do not know what the purpose of the two containers are. They both have the same settings, namely the compression, dedupe etc is turned off on both of them. The three containers use all of the storage pool so I can't create any others even if I wanted to. I'd rather have one container mounted to vSphere.
M
Userlevel 3
Badge +6
Unlike disk partitions, containers are only logical entities. You can add more containers as long as there is free logical space on the storage pool.

IMHO having multiple containers still makes sense in 2019 if they have different settings for compression, dedup and the like.

Keep in mind that moving vdisks between containers to empty a container for deletion can be a lenghty process. If you have Hycu as your backup solution, it can be considerably easier.
I
Badge +1
Thanks MMSW, do you know what the significance of the selfservicecontainer is? It uses half the pool. I can't find out anything about it except I read one article the defaults should not be deleted. I just figured there must be a logical reason for its creation instead of one large default container.
I
Badge +1
Okay, I spoke to Nutanix support for clarification. The selfservicecontainer is created to use with the self service features of Prism Central. If you are not using those features you can just ignore it. Since it is just a logical division it is not actually going to use the space even though in Prism it is assigned 7TB. So in my case I can just mount the default container and use it and it can expand to the total amount of usable storage.

Clear as mud?
I
Guys - I had nutanix on the phone yesterday and those containers are basically 'folders' that you use to separate your VMs and config the settings per folder for like de-dup. They are not individually using up storage. You can create a new container and then remove containers as long as they are empty without any issues since they are just 'folders'.
I
Badge +1
Did you get the idea that the size of the container is a hard limit? I was told that is was not, so for example if I had two 5TB containers but didnot use one, the other could grow to 10TB. But once mounted in vSphere that does not seem to be the case. The container size appears to be a hard limit.
I
The max capacity is the max you can use for that container. I don't understand all the numbers but he said since I have a 24TB enclosure I can use half that, which is why it says Max 12TB on my VDI_POC container (5 used 7 left) I don't know if the max numbers change or not if you start filling them up or not. (meaning I don't know if my 12TB will shrink if I started using different folders). Just know what your max is and what is currently used the rest isn't important since it can be de-dup'd etc...I'm not sure how vCenter reads it and if its accurate or not. I'd watch it in Prism to be safe.
I
Badge +1

Sounds right, thanks. I think what i was told by Nutanix was a bit misleading or I didn't understand. vSphere does see it as a hard limit so I need to delete my unused container and increase the default. Since I am running all VDI on this I don't see a need for multiple containers.

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