Users Guide

CAUTION: Performing a fast initialize causes existing data to be inaccessible.
The fast initialize task does not write zeroes to the disk blocks on the physical disks. It is because the Fast Initialize task does not perform
a write operation, it causes less degradation to the disk.
A fast initialization on a virtual disk overwrites the first and last 8 MB of the virtual disk, clearing any boot records or partition information.
The operation takes only 2-3 seconds to complete and is recommended when you are recreating virtual disks.
A background initialization starts five minutes after the Fast Initialization is completed.
Full or slow initialization
The full initialization (also called slow initialize) operation initializes all physical disks included in the virtual disk. It updates the metadata on
the physical disks and erases all existing data and file systems. You can perform a full initialization after creating the virtual disk. In
comparison with the fast initialize operation, you may want to use the full initialize if you have trouble with a physical disk or suspect that it
has bad disk blocks. The full initialize operation remaps bad blocks and writes zeroes to all disk blocks.
If full initialization of a virtual disk is performed, background initialization is not required. During full initialization, the host is not able to
access the virtual disk. If the system reboots during a full initialization, the operation terminates and a background initialization process
starts on the virtual disk.
It is always recommended to do a full initialization on drives that previously contained data. Full initialization can take up to 1-2 minutes per
GB. The speed of initialization depends on the controller model, speed of hard drives, and the firmware version.
The full initialize task initializes one physical disk at a time.
NOTE:
Full initialize is supported only in real-time. Only few controllers support full initialization.
Encrypting virtual disks
When encryption is disabled on a controller (that is, the security key is deleted), manually enable encryption for virtual disks created using
SED drives. If the virtual disk is created after encryption is enabled on a controller, the virtual disk is automatically encrypted. It is
automatically configured as an encrypted virtual disk unless the enabled encryption option is disabled during the virtual disk creation.
You must have Login and Server Control privilege to manage the encryption keys.
NOTE:
Though encryption is enabled in the controllers, user needs to manually enable encryption on the VD if VD is
created from iDRAC. Only if the VD is created from OMSA, it would be automatically encrypted.
Assigning or unassigning dedicated hot spares
A dedicated hot spare is an unused backup disk that is assigned to a virtual disk. When a physical disk in the virtual disk fails, the hot spare
is activated to replace the failed physical disk without interrupting the system or requiring your intervention.
You must have Login and Server Control privilege to run this operation.
You can assign only 4K drives as hot spare to 4K virtual disks.
If you have assigned a physical disk as a dedicated hot spare in Add to Pending Operation mode, the pending operation is created but a job
is not created. Then, if you try to unassign the dedicated hot spare, the assign dedicated hot spare pending operation is cleared.
If you have unassigned a physical disk as a dedicated hot spare in Add to Pending Operation mode, the pending operation is created but a
job is not created. Then, if you try to assign the dedicated hot spare, the unassign dedicated hot spare pending operation is cleared.
NOTE:
While the log export operation is in progress, you cannot view information about dedicated hot spares on the
Manage Virtual Disks page. After the log export operation is complete, reload or refresh the Manage Virtual Disks page
to view the information.
Rename VD
To change the name of a Virtual Disk, the user must have System Control privilege. The virtual disk name can contain only alphanumeric
characters, spaces, dashes and underscores. The maximum length of the name depends on the individual controller. In most cases, the
maximum length is 15 characters. The name cannot start with a space, end with a space, or be left blank. Every time a virtual disk is
renamed, an LC Log gets created.
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Managing storage devices