HP StorageWorks Clustered File System 3.6.1 for Windows installation guide (AP809-96008, October 2009)

Chapter3:InstallHPStorageWorksClusteredFileSystem 19
IfyourdiskarraysoftwareprovidesthecapabilitytocreateLUNs,we
recommendthatyoucreatethreeLUNsforthemembershippartitions.
EachLUNshouldcontainaminimumof1GB.
AftercreatingtheLUNs,usetheWindowsLogicalDiskManagement
(WLDM)utilitytocreateasinglepartitiononeachLUN.
(See“Disk
PartitionAlignment,”below.)
NOTE: WhenusingWLDMtomanageyourSANdisks,besuretosetthe
disktypeto“Basic.”Ifthedisktypeiscurrentlysetto“Dynamic,”
right‐clickonthediskandselect“ConverttoBasicdisk.”HP
ClusteredFileSystemwillnotbeabletoaccessyourSANdisksif

thedisktypeissetto“Dynamic.”
HPClusteredFileSystemsupportsbothMBRbasicdisksandGPT
basicdisks.ForMBRbasicdisks,youcanuseeitherprimary
partitionsorextendedpartitionswithlogicaldrives.
Whenyouconfiguretheclusterlaterinthisprocedure,youcancreateHP
ClusteredFile
Systemmembershippartitionsonthepartitionsthatyou
justcreated.
IfyouareunabletocreateLUNsonyourdiskarray,youcanplacethe
membershippartitionsonregulardiskpartitions.Youcanusethe
WindowsLogicalDiskManagementutilitytocreatetheappropriate
partitions.
Disk Partition Alignment
Manydiskarraysaresensitiveto
misalignedI/Ooperationsandrequire
I/Otobealignedonblockboundariesforperformancereasons.For
example,anarraymay“prefer”tohaveI/Ooperationsoccuronnatural
blockboundaries,suchas4‐KBblocks.Ifapartitionstartsatanon‐block
boundary,asinglelogicalwritecanspanmore
physicalblocksthatit
wouldonapartitionstartingonablockboundary,resultinginadditional
I/Ooperations.Theexactalignmentcharacteristicsvarybymanufacturer
andmodel;consultyourstoragevendorforalignmentrecommendations.
ThisissueoccursbecausetheWindowspartitiontablecausesspacetobe
reservedatthestartof
theLUN,whichcancauseamisalignmentwiththe
array’sstorage.Ifyourstoragearrayisaffectedbythisissue,thesimplest