Skip to main content

What is a Datastore in VMware?

 What is a Datastore in VMware?


A datastore in VMware is a logical storage container used by ESXi hosts to store and manage files related to virtual machines (VMs) and other components. It abstracts the physical storage devices and presents a uniform storage interface in the vSphere environment.

Think of a datastore like a shared folder or hard drive where all VM-related files are kept — regardless of whether the underlying storage is local, SAN, or NAS.

---

🗂️ Common Files Stored in a Datastore

Here are the main types of files you’ll find in a VMware datastore:

File Extension Description Purpose

.vmdk Virtual Disk File Contains the VM's data – like a virtual hard drive
.vmx VM Configuration File Contains settings (CPU, RAM, devices) for the VM
.nvram BIOS/UEFI Settings File Saves the state of the virtual firmware
.log Log File Records VM operations for troubleshooting
.vmem VM Memory File Stores the VM's memory during suspend or snapshot
.vswp Swap File Used when the VM runs out of allocated RAM
.vmsd Snapshot Metadata Tracks information about snapshots
.vmsn Snapshot State File Saves the state of VM at snapshot time (RAM + device state)
.iso ISO Image File Disk image of OS installers or tools
.flp Floppy Image File (Legacy) Floppy disk image used for boot tools or drivers
.rbs, .dmp, .ctk Various backup, crash dump, and change tracking files

---

📁 Examples of What’s Stored in a Datastore

1. Virtual Machines

.vmx (config), .vmdk (disks), .nvram, .log, .vswp, etc.

2. Snapshots

.vmsn, .vmsd, delta .vmdk files

3. Templates & ISO Images

OS installers, VMware Tools ISOs

4. Scripts and Other Files

Custom scripts, backups, exported OVF/OVA files

---

🔧 How a Datastore is Used

Deploy VMs from templates or ISOs

Store VM data persistently

Backup/restore operations

Snapshot storage

vMotion and shared VM access across hosts (for shared datastores)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 high-level EC2 scenario-based questions to challenge your AWS & DevOps skills

 Here are 10 high-level EC2 scenario-based questions to challenge your AWS & DevOps skills 1. Your EC2 instance is running but you can’t connect via SSH. What troubleshooting steps will you take?  Check Security Group inbound rules (port 22 open to your IP).  Verify Network ACLs (NACLs not blocking inbound/outbound).  Confirm instance’s Public IP / Elastic IP.  Validate Key Pair and correct permissions on .pem.  Ensure SSM Agent is installed (Session Manager can help).  Check system logs on the console for OS-level issues. 2. You terminated an EC2 instance by mistake. How can you prevent this in the future? Enable Termination Protection in EC2 settings. Use IAM permissions to restrict TerminateInstances. Tag critical instances and set resource policies. 3. Your EC2 instance needs to access an S3 bucket securely. What’s the best way to configure this? Best practice: Attach an IAM Role with least privilege policy to the EC2 instance. Avoid hardcoding...
Post a Comment
Read more

GitOps-Driven Management of VKS Clusters: Enabling GitOps on VCF 9.0 (Part 03)

  GitOps-Driven Management of VKS Clusters: Enabling GitOps on VCF 9.0 (Part 03) In the Part-02 blog, we walked through the process of deploying an Argo CD instance within a vSphere Namespace on  VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 , enabling a GitOps-based approach to manage Kubernetes workloads in a vSphere environment. With Argo CD successfully installed, we now have a powerful toolset to drive declarative infrastructure and application delivery. In this blog post, we’ll take the next step by demonstrating how to  provision and manage VKS clusters  directly through the Argo CD  UI and CLI . This allows us to fully operationalise GitOps within the private cloud, delivering consistency, scalability, and automation across the Kubernetes lifecycle. Importance of Managing the Kubernetes Cluster with a Gitops Approach Adopting a GitOps-based approach for managing Kubernetes clusters enables declarative, version-controlled, and automated operations by leveraging Git a...
Post a Comment
Read more
 https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?articleNumber=389217 VMware Aria Suite Backup and Restore Documentation Issue/Introduction This article host backup and restore documentation for VMware Aria Suite 2019 product lines. Environment VMware Aria Suite 8.x VMware Aria Automation 8.x VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator 8.x Cause Technical documentation has been migrated from docs dot vmware dot com to  https://techdocs.broadcom.com . During this migration, some content considered End of Life (EOL) or End of General Support (EOGS) was not targeted for migration. Resolution PDF files are provided in this article while these documents are restored to https://techdocs.broadcom.com. Attachments Backup & Restore with EMC Avamar for VMware Aria Suite.pdf get_app Backup & Restore with Netbackup for VMware Aria Suite.pdf get_app VMware Aria Suite Backup and Restore by Using vSphere Data Protection.pdf get_app
Post a Comment
Read more