2.1 vSAN Key Requirements
As outlined above, vSAN runs as a part of VMware ESXi™ hypervisor, but has additional and more-restrictive requirements:
• A minimum of three vSAN nodes contributing storage to the cluster. (VMware strongly recommends four nodes.)
• A minimum of one SSD and one HDD (or capacity-tier SSD) per node, contributing to storage for exclusive use by vSAN.
• ESXi 5.5/U1 or later and equivalent vCenter Server version.
o Use 5.5/U2/P05 if 5.5 is in use.
o VMware strongly recommends 6.0 or later.
• The same storage controller must not serve both vSAN and VMware vSphere VMFS under the following circumstances:
o If an attached VMFS volume is being used for persistent logging.
o If VMs on a VMFS datastore are resident on a disk/RAID group attached to a controller that also serves vSAN disks.
• Servers, network interfaces, and so on must be on the vSphere HCL.
• Storage controllers, SSDs, and HDDs must be on the vSAN specific HCL.
o Including driver and firmware revisions.
• VMware vSphere Web Client is exclusively used for vSAN operations and management.
• Dedicated 1-GbE link for vSAN or a 10-GbE link (preferred).
o 10-GbE required for all-flash configuration.
• Upstream switches must handle multicast traffic.