Users Guide

The virtual disk recongure Step 2 page enables you to select the RAID level and size for the recongured virtual disk. The Expand
Capacity option appears only for PERC H730P MX and PERC H745P MX controllers with rmware version 7.1 or later.
If you selected Expand Capacity in Step 1, this page allows you to expand the capacity of the virtual disk.
To Recongure a Virtual Disk (Changing the RAID Level and Size): Step 2 of 3
1 Select the new RAID level for the virtual disk — The available RAID levels depend on the number or physical disks selected and the
controller. The following describes the possible RAID levels:
• Depending on the controller, Concatenated enables you to combine the storage capacity of several disks or to create a virtual disk
using only a single physical disk. For information on whether the controller supports a single physical disk or two or more when
using Concatenated, see Number Of Physical Disks Per Virtual Disk. Using Concatenated does not provide data redundancy nor
does it aect the read and write performance.
• Select RAID 0 for striping — This selection groups n disks together as one large virtual disk with a total capacity of n disks. Data is
stored to the disks alternately so that they are evenly distributed. Data redundancy is not available in this mode. Read and write
performance is enhanced.
• Select RAID 1 for mirroring disks — This selection groups two disks together as one virtual disk with a capacity of one single disk.
The data is replicated on both disks. When a disk fails, the virtual disk continues to function. This feature provides data redundancy
and good read performance, but slightly slower write performance. The system must have at least two physical disks to use RAID
1.
• Select RAID 5 for striping with distributed parity — This selection groups n disks together as one large virtual disk with a total
capacity of (n-1) disks. When a disk fails, the virtual disk continues to function. This feature provides better data redundancy and
read performance, but slower write performance. The system must have at least three physical disks to use RAID 5.
• Select RAID 6 for striping with additional parity information — This selection groups n disks as one large virtual disk with a
capacity of (n-2) disks. Two sets of parity information are alternately stored on all disks. The virtual disk remains functional with up
to two disk failures.
• Select RAID 10 for striping over mirror sets — This selection groups n disks together as one large virtual disk with a total capacity
of (n/2) disks. Data is striped across the replicated mirrored pair disks. When a disk fails, the virtual disk continues to function. The
data is read from the surviving mirrored pair disk. This feature provides the best failure protection, read and write performance. The
system must have at least four physical disks to use RAID 10.
NOTE
:
– RAID 10 virtual disk reconguration is applicable only for PERC 9 family of hardware controllers with the latest
rmware version.
– Other RAID level virtual disks cannot be converted to RAID 10 virtual disks.
– RAID 10 virtual disks cannot be converted to any other RAID level virtual disks.
– RAID 10 virtual disk reconguration is supported only for even number of physical disks.
– RAID 10 virtual disk reconguration is allowed for a maximum of 32 disks.
– RAID 10 virtual disk reconguration operation is applicable only for single span with 32 disks.
– RAID 10 virtual disk reconguration operation is not supported with Intelligent Mirroring.
NOTE: For RAID 10 partial virtual disks, there are only two methods to increase the disk size or capacity:
– Expanding the capacity by increasing the percentage value.
– Adding disks into the original RAID 10 virtual disk.
NOTE: If you create RAID10 with uneven spans in PERC9 controller and then tries to import the RAID10 VD from
PERC9 to PERC10, the import fails.
2 In the Size eld, type the size of the recongured virtual disk. The minimum and maximum allowable size is displayed below the Size
eld. These values reect the new capacity of the virtual disk after any addition or deletion of physical disks which you may have
chosen in Virtual Disk Task: Recongure (Step 1 of 3).
3 Click Continue to go to the next page or Exit Wizard if you want to cancel.
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Virtual Disks