VMware Data Storage is a logical container that hides the virtual machine’s physical storage specifications and provides a single model for storing virtual machine files, log files, virtual disks, and ISO images.
Data storage can contain different types of storage, local storage, iSCSI, NAS (Network Access storage), SAN.
Types of Datastores :
VMFS : VMFS is a block-level file system used to store virtual machines and snapshots.
NFS : NFS (Network File System) is built into ESXi hosts and uses the NFS-over-TCP/IP protocol to manage NFS NAS (Network Access Storage) volumes. ESXi hosts can mount NFS volumes and then use them for their storage needs.
vSAN : A virtual storage network is a logical representation of a network consisting of physical storage areas. It is a software-defined storage product used in conjunction with the VMware ESXi hypervisor.
vVol : The vVols datastore is a repository for vCenter Server and vSphere Client.
