Virtual Volumes (vVols)

Virtual volumes is VMware's functionality for management of VMs and their data (such as VMDKs and physical disks). The ability to manage virtual volumes using VMware virtual disks mapped to volumes is a new feature in vSphere 6.0.

Both vVols and regular volumes can coexist on the same array or set of arrays (group or pool). vVols are visible in both the CLI and GUI as regular volumes, for monitoring their capacity and performance. However, you use the vCenter UI to manage vVols. For more information, see the VMware Integration Guide.

When you edit, delete, offline, or online a vVol using the vol commands, a warning message is displayed.

You can perform limited tasks in the array OS, as described in this section.