VNX: Unable to create Raid group/Storage Pool

Summary: VNX: Unable to create Raid group/Storage Pool

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Symptoms

Unable to create Storage pool/RAID group even though there are unbound drives.

While creating a new RAID group:
Error: There are no more disks available to create a RAID.

While creating a new storage pool:
Error: There are no more disks available to create pool. Note that the system disk are not eligible for use in a pool.

Cause

The drives used to create a RAID group / storage pool were showing unbound in disk list [Unisphere > System > Storage Hardware > Disk]. However these unbound drives were showing as part of raid group [In Unisphere > Storage > Storage Pool > Raid Group]. And this raid group, RAID type was showing as Unbound. Refer the screenshot. 


In the screen shot it can be seen that disk Bus 0 Enclosure 0 Disk 15 drives shows as unbound. It also shows that this drive is part of raid group "RAID Group 2" and the RAID Type shows as unbound. 

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In the below logs, it can be seen the drives 0.0.15 to 0.0.19 shows as unbound but also part of Raid Group 2. 

0.0.15      2    600GB SAS           HITACHI    Cobra-D        PPGJR17B         118032767    005049250PWR  C260       Unbound     --            6     6                    
0.0.16      2    600GB SAS           HITACHI    Cobra-D        PPGK24ZB         118032767    005049250PWR  C260       Unbound     --            6     6                    
0.0.17      2    600GB SAS           HITACHI    Cobra-D        PPGHLMRB         118032767    005049250PWR  C260       Unbound     --            6     6                    
0.0.18      2    600GB SAS           HITACHI    Cobra-D        PZKD8URD         118032767    005049250PWR  C3B2       Unbound     --            6     6                    
0.0.19      2    600GB SAS           HITACHI    Cobra-D        PPGET75B         118032767    005049250PWR  C260       Unbound     --            6     6                    
      

SPA/B_arrayconfig.txt file:

        RAIDGroup[2]:                                                 <<<<<< Raid group 2
          Capacity: 5613414400
          FreeSpace: 5613414400
          LargestUnboundSegmentSize: 5613414400
          RGRaidType: 0
          Type: 0
          OperationPriority: 1
          WillBeRemoved: false
          IsPrivate: false
          State: 3
          MaxLuns: 256
          RawCapacityBlocks: 5613414400
          PercentDefragmented: 100
          PercentExpanded: 4294967295
          LunExpansionEnabled: false
          LegalRaidTypes: 153
          RGUserDefinedPowerSaving: false
          RGUserDefinedLatencyTolerance: 0
          IsRGHardwarePowerSavingEligible: true
          IsRGPowerSavingEligible: true
          IsRGInStandByState: false
          ElementSize: 128
          Disks: 
            Disk[0.0.19]: 
              Name: Bus 0 Enclosure 0 Disk 19
              Bank: -1
              BankAsInteger: 4294967295
            Disk[0.0.18]: 
              Name: Bus 0 Enclosure 0 Disk 18
              Bank: -1
              BankAsInteger: 4294967295
            Disk[0.0.17]: 
              Name: Bus 0 Enclosure 0 Disk 17
              Bank: -1
              BankAsInteger: 4294967295
            Disk[0.0.16]: 
              Name: Bus 0 Enclosure 0 Disk 16
              Bank: -1
              BankAsInteger: 4294967295
            Disk[0.0.15]: 
              Name: Bus 0 Enclosure 0 Disk 15
              Bank: -1
              BankAsInteger: 4294967295  
 

Resolution

Destroy the Raid Group in which the RAID Type shows as "unbound" and the disks in the raid group shows as unbound. Then these drives can be used to create new pool or raid group. Destroying the raid group will delete all the LUNs. Ideally such Raid Group will not have any LUNs in them. Incase if there are any LUNs in such type of Raid group, Raid group can be destroyed after deleting the LUN. If the LUNs are required, then donot delete the LUN or Raid Group.

Affected Products

VNX/VNXe

Products

VNX1 Series, VNX2 Series, VNX/VNXe
Article Properties
Article Number: 000055356
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 20 Oct 2025
Version:  4
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