Users Guide

Table 13. Virtual disk policies (continued)

Option Description

● Default (Disk Default)

● Enable

● Disable

4. Click Apply Changes.

The changes made are saved successfully.

Configure Virtual Disks

When configuring the virtual disks, you should consider the workload intended; RAID 1: for simple boot disk; RAID 5 or 6: for file

or web servers (sequential reads/writes of files); RAID 10: for transactional database (small random reads and writes).

Virtual disks configured on hard drives should use the controller default cache setting of Write Back and Read Ahead.

Virtual disks configured on SSDs can use the same controller defaults settings as hard drives. Most users perform a copy of OS

files or a data base to the new array. This setting provides optimum performance in this configuration.

Once the copy is complete, the array can be used as it is depending on the number and type of SSDs. It is recommended to

enable FastPath by changing the controller's Write cache policy to Write Through and the Read cache policy to No Read Ahead.

FastPath is developed to achieve the best random read/write performance from SSDs.

Only IO block sizes smaller than the virtual disk's stripe size are eligible for FastPath. In addition, there should be no background

operations (rebuild, initialization) running on the virtual disks. FastPath is disabled if there is active background operation.

NOTE: RAID 50, and RAID 60 virtual disks cannot use FastPath.

NOTE: The Physical Disk Power Management feature is not applicable to FastPath-capable virtual disks.

Perform expand virtual disk operation

Prerequisites

To enable expand virtual disk feature from the HII Configuration Utility, perform the following steps:

Steps

1. Enter the Dell PERC 11 Configuration Utility. See Navigate to Dell PERC 11 configuration utility.

2. Click Main Menu > Virtual Disk Management.

The list of virtual disks is displayed.

3. Select the virtual disk.

4. From the Operations drop-down menu, select Expand Virtual Disk.

NOTE: You can view the Expand Virtual Disk feature only if there is free space available in the associated disk group.

5. Click Go.

6. To expand virtual disk, enter the percentage of available capacity, and then click Ok.

A screen is displayed asking if you are sure you want to perform the operation.

7. Select the Confirm option.

8. Click Yes.

The expand virtual disk operation is completed successfully.

Perform consistency check

Prerequisites

To enable consistency check from the HII Configuration Utility, perform the following steps:

Manage PERC 11 controllers using HII configuration utility