VMware vSAN is a software-defined storage solution. It aggregates local drives across a cluster of servers, consolidating them into a single, shared storage pool.
The key benefit of vSAN is that it simplifies management:
- First, by allowing organisations to use local server storage instead of dedicated shared storage hardware.
- Secondly, by making policy-driven storage provisioning possible straight from the vSphere interface.
As with all of VMware's software solutions, users need to be trained. In particular, they must be able to troubleshoot this complex piece of software quickly and efficiently.
To do this, companies need to invest in training. One of the best ways to do this is through VMware Education Delivery Partner (VEDP) courses.
These VMware-authorised courses provide controlled virtual sandbox environments where students can learn to troubleshoot VMware software without breaking production.
VEDP courses are an essential part of cloud training infrastructure, helping produce the cloud engineers of tomorrow in safe, isolated training zones.
So, how can they help learners troubleshoot vSAN issues? Let's find out.
What are the benefits of VEDP labs for troubleshooting vSAN issues?
Like all VEDP labs, the courses related to vSAN give learners a sandbox environment where vSAN clusters can be intentionally misconfigured or subjected to simulated failures. But unlike in real-world scenarios, there are no negative consequences.
Instead, learners can practice recovery procedures until they become routine. After completing training, engineers are better equipped to troubleshoot confidently and effectively.
And when we talk about a sandbox environment, we're talking about a realistic, hands-on experience that uses the same tools as those used in production.
Here are some specific ways that a VEDP lab can help learners troubleshoot issues without affecting production.
Safe fault injection
In a VEDP lab, learners can simulate all the things that companies are so desperate to avoid in real life. That includes disk failures, host outages, network partitioning, capacity shortages and storage policy misconfigurations.
By injecting these faults safely, learners internalise the procedures needed to troubleshoot them.
Troubleshoot workflows
Cloud engineers use tools like VMware vCenter Server, vSAN Health Service, RVC and ESXCLI to diagnose issues in production.
These tools can be used in the lab exactly as they would be in production environments.
Learn failure signatures
"Failure signatures" are the observable indicators that point to a specific fault condition. In the context of vSAN, these include alarms, health checks, object states and resynchronisations. Learners can familiarise themselves with all of these in the safe environment of a VEDP lab.
Validate recovery procedures
VEDP labs aren't just good for learning skills. They also allow for troubleshooting and recovery procedures to be practised repeatedly before engineers perform them in production.
In the case of recovery, these procedures can include disk replacement, cluster rebalancing, storage policy remediation and network fixes.
Increase confidence
In the real world, troubleshooting needs to be confident – after all, these are problems that could lead to costly disruptions if left unchecked.
VEDP labs offer the opportunity to experiment without consequences. And because the tasks are repeatable, they can be done again and again until the cloud engineer is confident and skilled.
These are the broad-brush benefits of vSAN troubleshooting experience in a virtual sandbox environment. But what's a specific example that might be learned in this way?
Troubleshooting vSAN issues: an example
