4.1.0 HP PolyServe Matrix Server administration guide (T5392-96073, October 2010)

7 Configure dynamic volumes
Matrix Server includes a Volume Manager that you can use to create, extend,
recreate, or delete dynamic volumes. Dynamic volumes allow large filesystems to
span multiple disks, LUNs, or storage arrays.
Dynamic volumes can be deported from the matrix and later imported back into the
original matrix or into another matrix.
Overview
Basic and dynamic volumes
Volumes are used to store PSFS filesystems. There are two types of volumes: dynamic
and basic.
Dynamic volumes are created by the Volume Manager. They can include one or
more disks, disk partitions, or LUNs that have been imported into the cluster. These
entities are called subdevices. A single PSFS filesystem can be placed on each
dynamic volume. Additional subdevices can be added to a dynamic volume as
necessary, and the filesystem on the volume can also be extended.
A basic volume consists of a single disk partition that has been imported into the
cluster. A PSFS filesystem is then created directly on the disk. Basic volumes can be
converted to dynamic volumes.
Types of dynamic volumes
Matrix Server supports two types of volumes: striped and concatenated. The volume
type determines how data is written to the volume.
• Striping. When a dynamic volume is created with striping enabled, a specific
amount of data (called the stripe size) is written to each subdevice in turn. For
example, a dynamic volume could include three subdevices and a stripe size of
2 MB. That amount of data will be written to the first subdevice, then to the second
HP PolyServe Matrix Server 4.1.0 administration guide 83