VMUGCZ Online Event Recap: vSAN File Services (Deeper Dive) [CZ] — Jiří Viktorin (Feb 26, 2026)

Yesterday’s VMUGCZ online event delivered exactly what many VMware admins appreciate most: a practical deep dive that goes beyond the wizard.

In “vSAN File Services a little bit deeper”, Jiří Viktorin walked through how vSAN File Services works “under the hood,” what you should have ready before enabling it, and what to watch out for when moving from lab to production.

🎥 YouTube recording in CZ [Czech]: https://youtu.be/gUmk-gLn3Pw

What the session covered

1) vSAN File Services architecture

Where components run, how the service is built on top of the vSAN stack, and why that matters for day-2 operations.

2) Requirements & prerequisites

The fundamentals that decide if the deployment is smooth or painful:

vSAN readiness
network considerations
DNS correctness
certificates and trust chain expectations
common gotchas before deployment

3) NFS / SMB shares — configuration and operational tips

Practical guidance around share configuration and planning for ongoing operations.

4) Monitoring, troubleshooting, and common problems

What to monitor, typical failure patterns, production limits, and best practices — plus how to troubleshoot efficiently.

Who should watch it

VMware admins / vSphere & vSAN enthusiasts
anyone considering File Services in production
people who want more than a “click-through” setup

Quick community question

Are you already using vSAN File Services in production — or still testing it in a lab? Share your experience in the comments.

VMUGCZ Event in Prague – 2024-05-23

A Day of Innovation and Networking

VMware User Group Czech Republic (VMUGCZ)

Yesterday’s VMUGCZ event in Prague was a fantastic success, bringing together professionals and enthusiasts for a day filled with insightful sessions, engaging discussions, and valuable networking opportunities.

Agenda:

Welcome by VMUGCZ Leaders
The event began with a warm welcome from the VMUGCZ leaders, setting the stage for an exciting day ahead. They provided an overview of the agenda, highlighting the key topics and sessions that attendees could look forward to.

Keynote: VCF, AI, and Other Things
Joe Baguley from Broadcom kicked off the keynote with a deep dive into VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), the evolving role of AI, and other emerging technologies. His presentation was followed by a lively Q&A session led by Vlastimil Horák from VMware by Broadcom, allowing attendees to ask questions and engage directly with the experts.

Understanding NSX in VCF: Best Practices for VCF Networking
Karel Novak from VMware by Broadcom delivered a detailed session on understanding NSX within VCF. He shared best practices for optimizing VCF networking, providing practical insights and solutions for common challenges.

Coffee Break and Social Networking
The first coffee break offered a chance for attendees to mingle, discuss the morning sessions, and network with peers and industry experts. It was a great opportunity to build connections and share ideas.

The Future is Here: ExaGrid Tiered Backup Storage
Piotr Łukasiewicz from ExaGrid Systems introduced the latest innovations in tiered backup storage. His presentation highlighted the benefits of ExaGrid’s solutions, emphasizing how they can enhance data protection and recovery strategies.

Ootbi by Object First – Best Storage for Veeam
Walter Berends from ObjectFirst discussed the optimal storage solutions for Veeam, focusing on the features and advantages of Ootbi by Object First. His insights were particularly valuable for those looking to improve their data storage and management practices.

Lunch Break
A delicious lunch provided a welcome break and another opportunity for attendees to network and discuss the day’s topics in a more informal setting.

Google Cloud VMware Engine: AI-Assisted Automation for Your Workloads
Agnieszka Koziorowska from Google presented on the integration of AI-assisted automation with VMware workloads on Google Cloud. Her session showcased practical applications and the significant benefits of this advanced technology.

AI for Accident Analysis and 3D Reconstruction
Enrico Pittini and Pavel Kučera from DataVision demonstrated the use of AI for accident analysis and 3D reconstruction. Their presentation highlighted real-world use cases and the technological advancements driving these innovations.

Coffee Break and Social Networking
Another coffee break allowed attendees to relax and continue their networking conversations, exchanging thoughts on the afternoon sessions.

Before Calling in the Backups
Boris Mittelmann from Veeam discussed the importance of preparedness in backup management. He shared strategies and best practices to ensure effective and efficient backup processes.

VCF aka Virtuální Cloudová Fantazie
A community session led by Martin Dimitrov, Libor Junek, and Josef Zach explored the capabilities of VMware Cloud Foundation. Titled “Virtuální Cloudová Fantazie” this session provided info from real-life VCF deployment.

Roundtable with VMUG Leaders and Speakers
The roundtable discussion offered an interactive platform for VMUG leaders and speakers to engage with the audience. Attendees had the chance to ask questions, share insights, and discuss various topics in an open forum.

Social Networking: Grill, Beer, and Hockey
The event concluded with a relaxed social networking session featuring a grill, beer, and watching the Hockey World Championship on big screen. (Czech Republic vs. USA. [1:0] ) It was a fun and enjoyable end to a day packed with learning and networking.

Overall, the VMUGCZ event in Prague was a resounding success, offering valuable insights, practical knowledge, and plenty of opportunities for professional growth and connection. Check out some photos from the event below!

Joe Baguley (VMware by Broadcom) Keynote

Karel Novak (VMware by Broadcom)

Piotr Lukasiewicz (ExaGrid Systems)

Martin Stetka (Object First)

Walter Berends (Object First)

Google Cloud

Pavel Kučera (DataVision)

Boris Mittelman (Veeam)

Libor Junek, Josef Zach, Martin Dimitrov (community session)

Social links:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7199790189827739648

HCI Bench – vSAN performance tool – Part 3: Tests and Results

Tests

Once you hit the “Test” button you can go watch some movies. It’s take a time depend on your HW. For me it was couple of hours.

It starts with VM deployment

It will create bunch of VM’s (each 4vCPU, 4GB of RAM, 9xHDD (total 250GB))

Testing was done by using Vdbench VM with input argument “-fvdb-8vmdk-100ws-4k-70rdpct-100randompct-8threads”

Results

Tested VSAN configuration:

4x Node configuration with 10gigabit connection
VC build: VMware vCenter Server 6.5.0 build-7515524

Each ESXi host:

Build: VMware ESXi 6.5.0 build-7388607
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Silver 4114 CPU @ 2.20GHz ( Packages: 2, Cores: 20 )
Memory: 256 GB
Server vendor/model: Dell Inc. PowerEdge FC640
VSAN Disks:
- SSD: Local TOSHIBA Disk (naa.58ce38ee2000c0ad)
  - TOSHIBA PX05SMB080Y
  - 800 GB
- SSD: Local TOSHIBA Disk (naa.58ce38e06c8a274d)
  - TOSHIBA PX05SRB192Y
  - 1920 GB
- SSD: Local TOSHIBA Disk (naa.58ce38e06c8a26fd)
  - TOSHIBA PX05SRB192Y
  - 1920 GB
- SSD: Local TOSHIBA Disk (naa.50000397cc89cd79)
  - TOSHIBA PX05SMB080Y
  - 800 GB

After Vdbench testing is finished, the results are collected from all VM’s. And you can view the result at

In the .TXT file is summary results

Or you can download your result in zip file from

In this saved .zip file are also the graphs with more details. Same what you can see on web http://<YOUR_BENCHMARK2_IP>:8080/results/

Graphs

Just few of them..

Per disk

Almost in each graph section you can click and get full graphs.

Text results

Also on a web and in the .ZIP file are result in text form…

Copyright (c) 2000, 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Vdbench distribution: vdbench50406 Wed July 20 15:49:52 MDT 2016
For documentation, see 'vdbench.pdf'.
16:52:41.075 Created output directory '/root/vdbench/output'
16:52:41.106 input argument scanned: '-fvdb-8vmdk-100ws-4k-70rdpct-100randompct-8threads'
16:52:41.170
16:52:41.171 Adjusted default JVM count for host=localhost from jvms=1 to jvms=8 because of iorate=max and a total of 8 sds.
16:52:41.171
16:52:41.311 Starting slave: /root/vdbench/vdbench SlaveJvm -m localhost -n localhost-10-180314-16.52.41.043 -l localhost-0 -p 5570 -d86
16:52:41.333 Starting slave: /root/vdbench/vdbench SlaveJvm -m localhost -n localhost-11-180314-16.52.41.043 -l localhost-1 -p 5570 -d86
16:52:41.363 Starting slave: /root/vdbench/vdbench SlaveJvm -m localhost -n localhost-12-180314-16.52.41.043 -l localhost-2 -p 5570 -d86
16:52:41.385 Starting slave: /root/vdbench/vdbench SlaveJvm -m localhost -n localhost-13-180314-16.52.41.043 -l localhost-3 -p 5570 -d86
16:52:41.408 Starting slave: /root/vdbench/vdbench SlaveJvm -m localhost -n localhost-14-180314-16.52.41.043 -l localhost-4 -p 5570 -d86
16:52:41.432 Starting slave: /root/vdbench/vdbench SlaveJvm -m localhost -n localhost-15-180314-16.52.41.043 -l localhost-5 -p 5570 -d86
16:52:41.470 Starting slave: /root/vdbench/vdbench SlaveJvm -m localhost -n localhost-16-180314-16.52.41.043 -l localhost-6 -p 5570 -d86
16:52:41.504 Starting slave: /root/vdbench/vdbench SlaveJvm -m localhost -n localhost-17-180314-16.52.41.043 -l localhost-7 -p 5570 -d86
16:52:42.427 All slaves are now connected
16:52:45.108 Starting RD=run1; I/O rate: Uncontrolled MAX; elapsed=3600 warmup=1800; For loops: None

Mar 14, 2018 interval i/o MB/sec bytes read resp read write resp resp queue cpu% cpu%  rate 1024**2 i/o pct time resp resp max stddev depth sys+u sys
16:52:46.275 1 8869.00 34.64 4096 70.24 3.055 2.808 3.639 312.221 12.932 27.3 22.5 4.2
16:52:47.047 2 27285.00 106.58 4096 69.45 2.133 1.826 2.830 29.948 3.173 58.3 20.5 3.5
16:52:48.077 3 29975.00 117.09 4096 70.13 2.118 1.781 2.912 46.267 3.361 63.5 13.6 2.4
16:52:49.065 4 30425.00 118.85 4096 69.48 2.089 1.716 2.938 30.170 3.152 63.6 6.4 1.1
16:52:50.068 5 31824.00 124.31 4096 70.48 2.003 1.651 2.842 59.798 3.233 63.7 3.2 0.7
16:52:51.060 6 31044.00 121.27 4096 69.51 2.048 1.700 2.840 52.844 3.213 63.5 13.5 1.8
16:52:52.066 7 33020.00 128.98 4096 70.06 1.933 1.629 2.643 26.811 2.974 63.9 5.8 1.0
16:52:53.063 8 32574.00 127.24 4096 69.99 1.954 1.629 2.713 28.718 3.070 63.7 3.7 0.7
16:52:54.057 9 32823.00 128.21 4096 69.90 1.947 1.609 2.732 23.752 3.194 63.9 3.7 0.7
16:52:55.056 10 33120.00 129.38 4096 69.56 1.926 1.599 2.673 24.818 3.125 63.8 2.6 0.7
16:52:56.051 11 32846.00 128.30 4096 69.28 1.928 1.639 2.580 24.851 2.875 63.4 3.8 1.0
16:52:57.059 12 32356.00 126.39 4096 69.44 1.976 1.672 2.669 30.840 3.177 63.8 2.6 0.3
16:52:58.080 13 34012.00 132.86 4096 69.92 1.905 1.575 2.670 28.106 3.177 64.8 2.0 0.7
16:52:59.057 14 33399.00 130.46 4096 70.01 1.877 1.570 2.594 38.115 3.134 62.6 3.6 1.6
.
.

Related parts:

HCI Bench – vSAN performance tool – Part 1: Installation
HCI Bench – vSAN performance tool – Part 2: Configuration
HCI Bench – vSAN performance tool – Part 3: Tests and Results

HCI Bench – vSAN performance tool – Part 2: Configuration

Benchmark VM Configuration

Default configuration

Once the VM is deployed turn it on.
Go to your browser and navigate to your benchmark VM “Benchmark2” in my case. And enter your “root” password what you set during OVF deployment.Continue reading “HCI Bench – vSAN performance tool – Part 2: Configuration”

HCI Bench – vSAN performance tool – Part 1: Installation

What is HCI Bench

HCIBench stands for “Hyper-converged Infrastructure Benchmark”. It’s essentially an automation wrapper around the popular and proven VDbench open source benchmark tool that makes it easier to automate testing across a HCI cluster. HCIbench aims to simplify and accelerate customer POC performance testing in a consistent and controlled way. The tool fully automates the end-to-end process of deploying test VMs, coordinating workload runs, aggregating test results, and collecting necessary data for troubleshooting purposes.

HCIBench is not only a benchmark tool designed for vSAN, but also could be used to evaluate the performance of all kinds of Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Storage in vSphere environment.

HomePage:
http://labs.vmware.com/flings/hcibench

User Guilde:
http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmw-tools/hcibench/HCIBench_User_Guide.pdf

Prerequisites

vSphere 5.5 environment or higher with vCenter (doesn’t support deployment on a standalone ESXi host).
Good to have DHCP on VLAN where the benchmark VM will be deployed.
vMotion configured

Installation

Log into vCenter via Web Client
Download OVA file from: http://labs.vmware.com/flings/hcibench
Deploy OVF file

Select name and location for your VM

Review details

Accept license agreement
Select storage. Put it outside the VSAN datastore

Select destination network
If there’s no DHCP Server on the VLAN which Vdbench client VMs will be deployed on, or the VLAN for Vdbench client VMs can not be routed from the Public Network, map this Network to the VLAN and Enable DHCP Service in the Web UI if needed