Users Guide

Edit Disk capacity
Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) allows you to increase the storage capacity of selected RAID levels while the system remains online. The
controller redistributes the data on the array(called Reconfiguration), placing new space available at the end of each RAID array.
Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) can be achieved in two ways:
• If free space is available on the smallest physical drive on the virtual disks group after starting LBA of Virtual disks, the virtual disk´s
capacity can be expanded within that free space. This option allows you to enter the new increased virtual disk size. If disk group in a
virtual disk has space available only before starting LBA, then Edit Disk Capacity in same disk group is not permitted even though there
is Available Space on a physical drive.
• A virtual disk's capacity can also be expanded by adding additional compatible physical disks to the existing virtual disk group. This
option does not allow you to enter the new increased virtual disk size. New increased virtual disk size is calculated and displayed to the
user based on the used disk space of existing physical disk group on a particular virtual disk, existing raid level of the virtual disk and
the number of new drives added to the virtual disk.
Capacity Expansion allows user to specify the final VD size. Internally final VD size is conveyed to PERC in percentage (this percentage is
the space user would like to use from empty space left in the array for the local disk to expand). Because of this percentage logic final VD
size after reconfiguration completes may be different from what user provided for scenario where user is not giving maximum VD size
possible as the final VD size (percentage turns out to be less than 100%). User does not see difference in this entered VD size and final VD
size after reconfiguration, if maximum possible VD size is entered by user.
Raid Level Migration
RAID Level Migration (RLM) refers to changing a virtual disk´s RAID level. iDRAC9 provides an option to increase the VD size using RLM.
In a way, RLM allows migrating the RAID level of a virtual disk which in turn may increase the size of virtual disk.
RAID level migration is the process of converting a VD with one RAID Level to another. When you migrate a VD to a different Raid Level,
the user data on it is redistributed to the format of the new configuration.
This configuration is supported by both staged and realtime.
The below table describes possible reconfigurable VD layouts while reconfiguring (RLM) a VD with addition of disks and without addition
of disks.
Table 46. Possible VD Layout
Source VD Layout Possible target VD Layout with Disk
Add
Possible target VD Layout Without disk
addition
R0 (single disk) R1 NA
R0 R5/R6 NA
R1 R0/R5/R6 R0
R5 R0/R6 R0
R6 R0/R5 R0/R5
Permitted operations when OCE or RLM is going on
The following operations are allowed when OCE/RLM is going on:
Table 47. Permitted operations
From Controller End behind
which a VD is going through
OCE/RLM
From VD End (which is going
through OCE/RLM)
From any other Ready State
Physical Disk on the same
controller
From any other VD (which
is not going through
OCE/RLM) End on the
same controller
Reset Configuration Delete Blink Delete
Export Log Blink Unblink Blink
Set Patrol Read Mode Unblink Assign Global Hot Spare Unblink
Start Patrol Read Convert to non-RAID Disks Rename
Managing storage devices 203