VMware Virtual SAN Stretched Cluster - Performance and Best Practices

One of the most distinguishing features of VMware Virtual SAN 6.1 is the availability of stretched cluster deployment. The stretched cluster allows the Virtual SAN customer to configure two geographically located sites, while synchronously replicating data between the two sites. This provides high availability and protection against a single site failure.


This white paper examines the performance aspects of a Virtual SAN stretched cluster deployment. Specifically, it examines the overhead of synchronously replicating data across two geographical sites by benchmarking against a regular, single site Virtual SAN cluster deployment. Failure scenarios of a single hard disk and entire site failure are considered. The Virtual SAN stretched cluster can handle both failure scenarios robustly.