Virtualization-Aware Storage (VM-Aware Storage)

Definition - What does Virtualization-Aware Storage (VM-Aware Storage) mean?

Virtualization-aware storage (VM-aware storage) is a type of computer data storage designed to facilitate the management and monitoring of virtual machines (VMs) within a virtualized environment. It enables the storage to be managed at the same time as VMs rather than separately, as logical unit numbers (LUNs) or volumes do.

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Techopedia explains Virtualization-Aware Storage (VM-Aware Storage)

The role of virtualization-aware storage is to serve as a facilitator between the disk array and the virtualization managers, or hypervisors. Although it’s sometimes used interchangeably with software-defined storage (SDS), VAS is actually a subset of SDS that specifies the enhancement of data migration and the performance of virtualized environments. This gives administrators and end users the ability to associate virtual machines with their storage performance, which can aid in troubleshooting. This improves automation efficiency, manageability, as well as storage performance, reliability and cost efficiency.

VM-aware storage specifically focuses on the input and output patterns and sequences of virtual environments and is set up to automatically manage quality of service for each VM. Its drawback is that it’s designed for virtualization, and not all end-users run virtual machines all the time. In that respect, VM-aware storage is not suited to the user’s needs.