VNX for File questions

Hi Guys,

VNX for file has been a bit of a challenge for me and therefor I have decided to start this discussion and ask some questions.

From what I read, there are two types for storage pools for file: system defined and user define.

1- Where can I see that “system defined” storage pool for file in unisphere?

2- What is the user defined one? Do you create this by going to “Storage”-->“storage pool for file” in unisphere?

3- What is a storage pool that displays “mapped” under “type”?

4- When you go to “Storage” --> “storage pool for file” in unisphere and click “create” to create a storage pool for file, where is the space for that pool provisioned from? (how do I know what disks are being used)?

Responses(3)

J

j_balaji1

1 Message

2

March 11th, 2015 13:00

Hi Maxsven,

1.) System Defined - Once you have added one or more Traditional LUNs created from RAID group to Storage Group ~filestorage and clicked on "Rescan the storage systems" in the Right Panel on "Storage Pools for file". The System Defined Storage Pool will be populated automatically depending on drive type, Raid group etc. by the AVM and visible under "Storage Pools for File".

2.) Type of the storage pool:

a. User (user-defined storage pool) i.e. the Storage Pool created by User from the System Defined Pool or meta volume.

b. System (system-defined storage pool) -- As explained above.

c. Mapped (mapped storage pool)- A mapped pool is a file storage pool that is dynamically created during the normal storage discovery (diskmark) process. It is a one-to-one mapping with either a VNX for Block storage pool or a FAST Symmetrix Storage Group.

3.) A Mapped Pool is automatically created with the same name as of Block Storage Pool if LUNS belonging to a particular Storage Pool are allocated to VNX File (added to Storage Group ~filestorage).

4.) The LUNS provisioned for VNX File are known as Disk Volumes. It is visible under Storage-->Storage Configuration--> Volumes in VNX unified or File only Models. To answer your first question, the space is provisioned either from from the "system defined or Mapped" pool or Meta volumes depending on whether you select "Storage Pool" or Meta Volume respectively. If you select Meta volumes, you can select the volumes to add but all the volumes must be of same drive type. To know the disk volumes being used for existing storage pools for file, right-click on Storage pool and click properties --> the list of volumes in the storage pool (member volumes) will be displayed. Click the link to view the properties of member volumes in the storage pool.

R

Rainer_EMC

8.6K Posts

0

March 11th, 2015 15:00

More explanation and examples are in the MVM and AVM PDF manuals available from support.emc.com

maxsven

23 Posts

0

March 25th, 2015 05:00

Hi J_balaji,

Thanks a lot for the response, that actually does clarify a lot of my points.

Just some more questions if you wouldn’t mind!

I have tried to create a traditional LUN and presented it to ~filestorage and ran a “rescan storage system”. However, I did not find any storage pool created for file and when I went in unisphere to --> Storage --> storage pool for file and clicked “create”, there was no storage detected by the system to create a storage pool when selecting “meta volume” or “storage pool”.
When I select “create storage pool” under “storage pools for file”, what is the difference between the two options “storage pool” and “meta volume”? I know what a meta volume is, but why is it an option here in parallel to a "storage pool"
How do you create a “user defined storage pool”?
What does the “disk provisioning for file wizard” do?

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