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Dell EMC PowerVault MD 34XX/38XX Series Storage Arrays Administrator's Guide

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Creating standard virtual disks

Keep these important guidelines in mind when you create a standard virtual disk:
  • Many hosts can have 256 logical unit numbers (LUNs) mapped per storage partition, but the number varies per operating system.
  • After you create one or more virtual disks and assign a mapping, you must register the virtual disk with the operating system. In addition, you must make sure that the host recognizes the mapping between the physical storage array name and the virtual disk name. Depending on the operating system, run the host-based utilities, hot_add and SMdevices.
  • If the storage array contains physical disks with different media types or different interface types, multiple Unconfigured Capacity nodes may be displayed in the Total Unconfigured Capacity pane of the Storage & Copy Services tab. Each physical disk type has an associated Unconfigured Capacity node if unassigned physical disks are available in the expansion enclosure.
  • You cannot create a disk group and subsequent virtual disk from different physical disk technology types. Each physical disk that comprises the disk group must be of the same physical disk type.
    NOTE: Ensure that you create disk groups before creating virtual disks. If you chose an Unconfigured Capacity node or unassigned physical disks to create a virtual disk, the Disk Group Required dialog is displayed. Click Yes and create a disk group by using the Create Disk Group Wizard. The Create Virtual Disk Wizard is displayed after you create the disk group.
To create standard virtual disks:
  1. In the AMW, select the Storage & Copy Services tab.
  2. Select a Free Capacity node from an existing disk group and do one of the following:
    • From the menu bar, select Storage > Virtual Disk > Create > Virtual Disk.
    • Right click on the Free Capacity and select Create Disk Group.
    The Create Virtual Disk: Specify Parameters window is displayed.
  3. Select the appropriate unit for memory in Units and enter the capacity of the virtual disk in New virtual disk capacity.
  4. In Virtual disk name, enter a virtual disk name of up to 30 characters.
  5. In the Map to host list, select an appropriate host or select Map later.
  6. In the Data Service (DS) Attributes area, you can select:
    • Enable data assurance (DA) protection on the new virtual disk
    • Use SSD cache
  7. In the Virtual disk I/O characteristics type list, select the appropriate Virtual Disk I/O characteristics type. You can select:
    • File system (typical)
    • Database
    • Multimedia
    • Custom
    NOTE: If you select Custom, you must select an appropriate segment size.
  8. Select Enable dynamic cache read prefetch.
    For more information about virtual disk cache settings, see Changing The Virtual Disk Cache Settings.
    NOTE: Enable dynamic cache read prefetch must be disabled if the virtual disk is used for database applications or applications with a large percentage of random reads.
  9. From the Segment size list, select an appropriate segment size.
  10. Click Finish.
    The virtual disks are created.
    NOTE: A message prompts you to confirm if you want to create another virtual disk. Click Yes to proceed further, else click No.
    NOTE: Thin virtual disks are supported on disk pools. For more information, see Thin Virtual Disks.
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