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Advanced Disk and Volume Management

Dell™ PowerVault™ 715N NAS Systems Administrator's Guide

  How the Drives Are Configured

  Using the Array Manager to Manage Your Disks and Volumes

This section provides information about the drives on your NAS system and how to use Dell OpenManage™ Array Manager to manage your disks and volumes and your physical hard drives.

How the Drives Are Configured

The NAS system, which is a rack-mounted system, has four IDE hard drives that are in a RAID configuration. Each drive contains both a copy of the operating system and one or more data partitions (see Table 3-1). The working copies of the Microsoft® Windows® Powered operating system and boot sectors are installed on two hard drives in partitions that are RAID 1 (mirrored) partitions. Additional copies of the operating system are placed on the other two drives in RAID 1 partitions. Data can be stored on all four drives in partitions that are configured as RAID 5.

Table 3-1. Hard Drive Partitions

Volume	Disks and RAID Layout	Description
C:	0 and 1: RAID 1	Primary operating system volume (3 GB)
D:	2 and 3: RAID 1	Recovery operating system volume (3 GB)
E:	0, 1, 2, and 3: RAID 5	Data volume (remaining space on all hard drives)

Using the Array Manager to Manage Your Disks and Volumes

Although Dell OpenManage Array Manager provides a comprehensive solution to storage management, you should use it for advanced features that cannot be performed from the Disks tab in the NAS Manager.

Array Manager allows you to configure your storage devices and the logical volumes contained in your system. Array Manager displays storage configuration in both a physical and a logical view. The physical view shows the physical connections between the storage devices. The logical view shows a logical representation of your storage as logical volumes.

Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager

1. Log in to the NAS Manager.
   
   

See "Logging in to the NAS Manager" in "NAS Manager."

2. Click Maintenance.
   
   
3. Click Terminal Services.
   
   
4. Log in to the Terminal Services session as an administrator.
   
   

NOTE: The NAS Manager default administrator user name is administrator and the default password is powervault.

5. From the Advanced Administration Menu, click Disk Management under System Management.
   
   

NOTE: If the Advanced Administration Menu does not display, double-click the Advanced Administration Menu icon on the desktop of the NAS system.

6. If a Dell OpenManage Array Manager window with buttons such as Create Volume or Create Virtual Disk displays, click the task you want to perform, or close the window to view the Array Manager Console.
   
   

Array Manager Console

The Array Manager console display uses a tree view to display storage objects in the left pane of the window and tabbed views in the right pane to display additional information about storage objects. The following subsections provide more information about the left and right panes.

Left Pane

The left pane shows objects that the Array Manager software detects. The major storage objects are the local system object, arrays, disks, and volumes. By clicking the plus sign (+) in front of a storage object, you can see the subordinate storage objects under that object.

• Disks represent the disks recognized by the Microsoft Windows Powered operating system.
  
  
• Volumes include dynamic RAID volumes created in Array Manager, primary and extended partitions, and logical drives associated with extended partitions.
  
  
• My Network Places, History, and Favorites provide remote connection functionality not supported by the PowerVault 715N system and should be ignored.
  
  

Right Pane

The right pane identifies the various objects and their status and displays any error conditions that might exist. The four tabbed views in the right pane include the following:

• The General tab displays parameters based on the objects you select in the console's tree view.
  
  

The parameters for Disks are as follows:

• Name is the name of the object.
  
  
• Status can vary, depending on the object. Common status conditions are Online, Healthy, and Resynching.
  
  
• Type identifies the object, such as Dynamic Disk.
  
  
• Disk Group shows an entry for disks in a basic or dynamic group.
  
  
• Capacity is the maximum size of the disk.
  
  
• Unallocated Space is the amount of free hard-drive space still available.
  
  
• Graphical Layout is a graphical representation of how much of the disk is being used.
  
  
• Progress shows the current progress (percentage of completion) for tasks.
  
  
• Device is the type of disk: All of the drives on the NAS system are IDE drives. However, two of the drives will appear in Array Manager as SCSI drives. This is a design issue that will be addressed in a later release.
  
  
• Port identifies the controller card. A SCSI port has zero or more target IDs, and a target ID has one or more logical unit numbers (LUNs).
  
  
• LUN is the logical unit number.
  
  
• Target is the SCSI ID that uniquely identifies the disk on the controller card.
  
  
• Vendor identifies the vendor on hardware objects.
  
  

The parameters for Volumes are as follows:

• Name is the name of the object.
  
  
• Status can vary, depending on the object. Common status conditions are Online, Healthy, and Resynching.
  
  
• Layout identifies the object, such as Dynamic Mirrored Volume and Dynamic Striped Volume.
  
  
• Disk Group shows an entry for disks in a basic or dynamic group.
  
  
• Capacity is the maximum size of the disk.
  
  
• Free Space is the amount of free hard-drive space still available.
  
  
• Progress shows the current progress (percentage of completion) for tasks.
  
  
• File System shows the type of file system.
  
  
• Graphical Layout is a graphical representation of how much of the disk is being used.
  
  

• The Events tab displays event log messages associated with storage objects.
  
  
• The Disk View tab displays a graphical layout of the disks on your system, including CDs or other removable media.
  
  
• The DM View tab is grayed-out on the Array Manager console.
  
  

Disk Management

This subsection provides conceptual and procedural information about how Array Manager implements basic and dynamic disks.

The following topics are discussed:

• Upgrading a basic disk to a dynamic disk
  
  
• Reactivating dynamic disks
  
  
• Merging foreign disks
  
  

Upgrading a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk

Basic and Dynamic Disks

Disks are any storage unit presented to Windows 2000 as a single contiguous block of storage. When using the Array Manager, you can use two types of disks—basic or dynamic.

Basic disks employ the traditional disk partitioning used by MS-DOS® and Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT® 4.0 operating systems. A basic disk can have up to four primary partitions or three primary partitions plus an extended partition. The extended partition can be subdivided into a number of logical drives.

Dynamic disks contain volume management databases comprising information about all other dynamic disks and volumes on a system. This information allows dynamic disks to support dynamic volumes, which are defined in the following subsection. Storage on a dynamic disk is divided into volumes instead of partitions.

Basic and Dynamic Volumes

A volume is made up of portions of one or more physical disks. You can format a volume with a file system and access it by a drive letter. Like disks, volumes can be basic or dynamic.

Basic volumes refer to volumes created on basic disks. They include primary and extended partitions and logical drives on extended partitions.

Dynamic volumes are volumes created on dynamic disks. There are five types of dynamic volumes—simple, spanned, mirrored, striped, and RAID-5. However, you can expand only simple and spanned volumes using Dell OpenManage Array Manager. These are the only types of volumes that this document addresses. See the Dell OpenManage Array Manager online help for more information about mirrored, striped, and RAID-5 dynamic volumes.

To upgrade a basic disk to a dynamic disk, perform the following steps:

1. Launch Array Manager.
   
   

See "Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager."

2. Right-click the disk you want to upgrade and click Upgrade Dynamic Disk.
   
   

The Upgrade Disk Wizard provides information about upgrading.

3. Click Next to continue.
   
   

The system asks you to select the disks to upgrade.

4. Add the basic disks you want to upgrade to the list of dynamic disks and click Next.
   
   
5. Click Finish.
   
   

NOTE: After a disk is upgraded to dynamic, it cannot be reverted back to basic unless all volumes on that disk are removed. Dell recommends that you do not revert a disk back to basic after data volumes are present.

Reactivating Dynamic Disks

A dynamic disk might appear as a missing disk when it is corrupted, powered down, or disconnected. You can reactivate a dynamic disk to bring it back online by performing the following steps:

1. Launch Array Manager.
   
   

See "Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager."

2. Right-click the disk labeled Missing or Offline dynamic disk.
   
   
3. Click Reactivate Disk on the menu.
   
   

The disk is labeled Online after it has been reactivated.

Merging Foreign Disks

Dynamic disks with a foreign status are disks that have been moved from another system. You cannot reactivate a foreign disk; you must merge the disk to the system. To change the status of a foreign disk and enable it to be seen as a part of the current system, use the Merge Foreign Disk command.

To merge foreign disks, perform the following steps:

1. Launch Array Manager.
   
   

See "Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager."

2. Right-click a disk marked as Foreign and click Merge Foreign Disks.
   
   

The Merge Foreign Disk Wizard displays.

3. Select the foreign disks that you want to merge to the system.
   
   

By default, the system selects all foreign disks to be merged.

4. Click Next.
   
   
5. Click Next again to validate the volume status of each foreign disk.
   
   
6. Click Finish.
   
   

Volume Management

This subsection provides conceptual and procedural information about how Array Manager implements basic and dynamic volumes.

The following topics are discussed:

• Volume overview
  
  
• Checking partition or volume properties
  
  
• Formatting a partition or volume
  
  
• Deleting a partition or volume
  
  

Volume Overview

A volume is a logical entity that is made up of portions of one or more physical disks. A volume can be formatted with a file system and can be accessed by a drive letter.

Like disks, volumes can be basic or dynamic. In Array Manager, basic volumes refer to all volumes that are not on dynamic disks. Dynamic volumes are logical volumes created from dynamic disks with Array Manager.

In your system, create all data volumes and dynamic volumes on dynamic disks.

Checking Partition or Volume Properties

1. Launch Array Manager.
   
   

See "Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager."

2. Right-click the partition or volume to be checked.
   
   
3. Select Properties from the context menu.
   
   

The Properties window displays.

4. Check the properties for your volume.
   
   

Formatting a Partition or Volume

1. Launch Array Manager.
   
   

See "Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager."

2. Right-click the volume or partition you want to format, and then click Format.
   
   
3. Select NTFS as the file system type.
   
   

NOTE: The PowerVault 715N supports only NTFS partitions. Formatting all partitions as NTFS allows for advanced features only available under that file system.

4. Enter a label for the volume.
   
   

The label appears on the Array Manager console. If a name has been selected, this name appears in the Name field. You can change the name by typing a different name.

5. Enter an allocation size or use the default, which is automatically selected.
   
   
6. Select the file system type and formatting options:
   
   
   • Quick format — Formats the volume or partition without scanning for bad sectors in the volume or partition. Check the box to use this format method.
     
     
   • Enable file and folder compression — This option is not supported on the NAS system.
     
     
7. Click OK to begin formatting.
   
   

A progress bar displays in the list view.

Delete a Partition or Volume

NOTICE: You must delete all shares and persistent images from your volume before deleting it. If a volume is removed before all shares of that volume have been removed, the NAS Manager might not display shares correctly.

1. Launch Array Manager.
   
   

See "Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager."

2. Right-click the designated volume, and then click Delete Volume.
   
   
3. Click Yes to delete or No to cancel.
   
   

The system deletes the volume immediately if you click Yes.

Working With Dynamic Volumes

Dynamic volumes are volumes created on dynamic disks with Array Manager. This section discusses how to create and extend dynamic volumes.

Creating a Dynamic Volume

NOTE: To take advantage of all the system features such as defrag and encryption, Dell recommends that you use the default value of 64 KB for the allocation unit size when creating a virtual disk.

1. Launch Array Manager.
   
   

See "Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager."

2. From the toolbar, click the Create Volume icon.
   
   

The Create Volume Wizard appears.

3. Click Next.
   
   

You must select whether to create a partition or a volume. Make sure that the Dynamic Volume button is selected.

The dynamic group to which the volume belongs is automatically created and appears selected.

4. Click Next.
   
   

You are prompted for the volume layout and size of the volume to create.

5. Click Concatenated, Striped, or RAID-5.
   
   
6. If you selected Striped or RAID-5, choose the Number of Columns.
   
   

The number of columns represents the number of disks to be used in the dynamic volume array.

7. Select MB (megabytes) or GB (gigabytes) and enter the size of the volume in Total volume size field, or use the Query Max Size button.
   
   

Query Max Size works differently, depending on whether you have one disk or multiple disks selected.

• If you do not select a disk and click Query Max Size, the size shown in the Total volume size field is the maximum for all available disks.
  
  
• If you select a disk or disks and click Query Max Size, the size indicated is the maximum size for the selected disk(s). However, if you click Query Max Size a second time, the size is the maximum for all available disks.
  
  

8. Click Next.
   
   
9. After all selections are made, verify your settings and click Next.
   
   
10. If you want to select a different disk for the volume you are creating, click Modify to display the Modify Disks dialog box.
    
    
11. Click the disk you want to change, select a disk from the Disk drop-down menu, and then click OK.
    
    
12. Click Assign a drive letter, select the drive letter, and then click Next.
    
    
13. Make sure Format this volume and NTFS are selected.
    
    
14. Type a volume label and an allocation unit size, if you chose to use a size other than the default.
    
    
15. Click Next, and then click Finish.
    
    

Working With Mirrors

A mirrored volume is a volume that duplicates your data to two physical disks. A mirror provides redundancy by simultaneously writing the same data to two separate volumes that reside on different disks. If one of the disks fails, data continues to be written to and read from the unaffected disk.

This section discusses how to add, remove, or break a mirror.

Adding a Mirror

1. Launch Array Manager.
   
   

See "Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager."

2. In the Dell OpenManage Array Manager window, click the Volumes folder to expand it.
   
   
3. In the left pane, right-click a volume name, and then click Add Mirror.
   
   

The Add Mirror Wizard displays.

4. Click Next.
   
   
5. Select Custom Mode, and then click Next.
   
   
6. Verify that the correct disk for mirroring the volume is selected. If the correct disk is not selected, click Modify, and then go to step 7. If the correct disk is selected, go to step 9.
   
   
7. From the Modify Disk Selection window, click the disk you want to change.
   
   

A drop-down box appears.

8. Click the arrow, select a different disk from the drop-down box, and then click OK.
   
   
9. Click Next, and then click Finish to create the mirror.
   
   

Removing a Mirror

Removing a mirror from a volume removes or destroys the data from the selected mirror and leaves the other mirror intact. After you remove a mirror, the space on the disk used by the removed mirrored volume becomes unallocated space. The remaining (no longer mirrored) volume becomes a simple volume on the disk.

To remove a mirror, perform the following steps:

1. Launch Array Manager.
   
   

See "Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager."

2. In the Dell OpenManage Array Manager window, click the Volumes folder to expand it.
   
   
3. In the left pane, right-click a volume name, and then click Remove Mirror.
   
   

The Remove Mirror window displays.

4. Select the mirror you want to remove, and then click OK.
   
   

Breaking a Mirror

Breaking a mirror creates two simple volumes with individual drive letters. Each volume contains the data on the mirror at the time the mirror was broken. The data is no longer redundant, but it remains intact.

To break a mirror, perform the following steps:

1. Launch Array Manager.
   
   

See "Launching Array Manager From the NAS Manager."

2. In the Dell OpenManage Array Manager window, click the Volumes folder to expand it.
   
   
3. In the left pane, right-click a volume name, and then click Break Mirror.
   
   

The confirmation message, Are you sure you want to break the mirror? displays.

NOTICE: If you break the mirror, your data might not be fault-tolerant.

4. If you are sure you want to break the mirror, click OK.
   
   

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