Manage datastore storage policies

Set tenant limits for cloud storage service levels

You can control tenant access to private cloud storage by service levels with datastore tier limits and abstract datastore tier limits.

To set limits for a datastore tier in a single datacenter

1. Go to Users → edit enterprise 

2. Go to Datacenters

3. Edit an allowed datacenter and go to Allocation limits

4. Set limits for the Allowed tiers for this enterprise

   • This view will display tiers that the enterprise is allowed to use (as configured on the enterprise's Datastore tiers tab).

5. Click Accept to save the Enterprise datacenter resources

 Storage limits at this level are independent of limits at the datastore tier limits for the enterprise. 

See Configure an enterprise in a cloud location#Setallocationlimitsforatenantinadatacenterorregion

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Edit enterprise datacenter resources with datastore tier limits

To set limits for a group of datastore tiers in more than one datacenter use Abstract datastore tier limits.

Before you begin:

1. Go to Infrastructure →  Abstract datastore tiers

2. For each service level, create an Abstract datastore tier

3. Go to Infrastructure → Private

4. Select each datacenter → go to Datastore tier

5. Create or edit each datastore tier and select an Abstract datastore tier

To set Abstract datastore tier limits:

1. Go to Users → edit enterprise → Allocation limits

   • This view will display all tiers at the enterprise level (Abstract datastore tiers) even if the tenant cannot access them.

2. Set limits for tiers that will be Allowed tiers for this enterprise and save

See Manage enterprises#Setallocationlimitsforanenterprisetocontrolresourceusage

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Set enterprise storage limits for the platform with abstract datastore tiers

You can display tenant usage and limits for abstract datastore tiers on the Home view dashboard. See Dashboard widgets#Abstractdatastoretiers 

Recommend datastore tiers for a VM template

The administrator can recommend datastore tiers for VM templates, as well as hardware profiles.

To recommend datastore tiers:

1. Go to Apps library → Templates → edit a template

2. Go to the Recommended tab, which lists the datastore tiers that are available in the datacenter.

3. Optional: to display datastore tiers as Recommended for this template, select them from the list

4. Optional: to restrict the user to the selected hardware profiles and datastore tiers, select the Enable only recommended DS Tiers checkbox.

When the user creates a VM, the platform will display the tiers that are available to the user's enterprise and recommended for the template.

• If you selected the option to Enable only recommended DS Tiers, then the user can only select from the recommended tiers. If there are no tiers available, the user will not be able to create a VM.

Set default storage service levels with datastore tiers

For a VM, if a user does not configure a datastore tier, the platform will select a default tier, if any is set.

The platform selects a default tier in the following priority order from highest to lowest:

1. template disk

2. virtual datacenter

3. datacenter

4. any of the allowed tiers

5. null

A null tier means that datastore tiers are not in use.

When the user deploys, if the selected tier cannot be used, the deploy will fail with a scheduler error.

Set the default datastore tier for the datacenter

To set the default tier for the datacenter

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datastore tiers

2. Edit the tier and go to General information

3. Select the Default option

4. Click Save

Set the default datastore tier for a template disk

You can set the default service level when you add or edit an existing template disk.

To set the default datastore tier for a template disk

1. Go to Apps library → Private → select datacenter

2. Edit the template

3. Go to Disks → edit disk 

4. Select a Datastore tier to set as the default

5. Click Save

On the Disks tab, the platform displays the default tier for each disk.

Set the default datastore tier for the virtual datacenter

To set a default datastore tier for the virtual datacenter: 

1. Go to Virtual datacenters → Create or edit a virtual datacenter → Defaults 

2. Select an appropriate Default datastore tier

Set the storage service level of a VM disk

To set the storage service level for a specific hard disk, assign a datastore tier. 

When you create a VM from a standard VM template, the template may have a recommended tier or the disks may have a default datastore tier set by the administrator. The administrator may enforce the use of a recommended tier. 

• To remove the current service level, click the x symbol beside the Datastore tier name 

• To optionally set a new service level, select another tier from the list. 

• If you do not select a tier, the platform will use the defaults