Which configuration practice is recommended for enhancing datastore performance?

Utilizing SSDs in conjunction with HDDs is recommended for enhancing datastore performance due to the inherent speed advantages of solid-state drives (SSDs) over traditional hard disk drives (HDDs). By leveraging the high-speed data access capabilities of SSDs, organizations can achieve significantly reduced latency and improved input/output operations per second (IOPS) for workloads that require rapid data processing.

This configuration practice, often referred to as hybrid storage, allows for the storage of frequently accessed data or performance-critical applications on the SSDs while still maintaining larger capacity and cost-effectiveness for less critical or infrequently accessed data on HDDs. This approach optimizes performance by ensuring that the high-speed storage resources are used where they can provide the greatest benefit, resulting in better overall efficiency and responsiveness of the virtualized environment.

In contrast, using multiple extents in datastores can add complexity to the storage architecture without necessarily improving performance. Implementing thin provisioning helps in efficient space utilization but does not directly correlate with enhanced performance. Managing all datastores from different vCenter Servers introduces administrative complexity and can impede performance through potential management overhead. Thus, SSD and HDD utilization provides a more direct and effective improvement to datastore performance.