PowerEdge: How to Create a Virtual Disk on a Dell RAID Controller through System Setup

Steps:

1. Enter the System Setup by pressing F2 during system start.

2. Click Device Settings.
   
   Figure 1: System Setup Main Menu

3. Click the appropriate RAID controller device.
   
   Figure 2: System Setup Device Settings

4. Click Main Menu.
   
   Figure 3: Dashboard View Menu

5. Click Configuration Management.
   
   Figure 4: Configuration Utility Main Menu

6. Click Create Virtual Disk
   
   Figure 5: Configuration Management Menu

7. The following list of options are now displayed to define the Virtual Disk parameters:

   • Select RAID level - allows you to choose the RAID level of your choice.
   • Secure Virtual Disk - If you want to create a secured virtual disk, select Secure Virtual Disk.
     The Secure Virtual Disk option is enabled and selected by default, only if the security key has been configured. Only SED physical disks are listed.
   • Select Physical Disks From - allows you to select one of the physical disk capacities:
     • Unconfigured Capacity: Creates a virtual disk on unconfigured physical disks
     • Free Capacity: Utilizes unused physical disk capacity that is already part of a virtual disk
   • Select Physical Disks - If you want to select the physical disks from which the virtual disks are being created, click Select Physical Disks. This option is displayed if you select Unconfigured Capacity as your physical disk capacity.
   • Select Disk Groups - If you want to select the disk groups from which the virtual disks are being created, click Select Disk Group. This option is displayed if you select Free Capacity as your physical disk capacity.
   • Configure Virtual Disk Parameters - allows you to set the virtual disk parameters when creating the virtual disk. 

8. Click Select Physical Disks.
   
   Figure 6: Create Virtual Disk Menu

9. Choose the appropriate drives and click Apply Changes.
   
   Figure 7: Drive Selection

10. When the action was performed successfully, click OK.
    
    Figure 8: Success Confirmation

11. Name the new Virtual Disk and choose the appropriate settings.

12. Click Create Virtual Disk.
    
    Figure 9: Create Virtual Disk

13. Check Confirm and click Yes.
    
    Figure 10: Confirm Virtual Disk Creation

14. The Virtual Disk is created successfully. Click Ok.

Verify or Change the RAID Configuration

1. Click Virtual Disk Management on the Main Menu.
2. Verify the virtual disk summary such as name, size, and status. To verify or change each virtual disk configuration, click any virtual disk.
3. Verify each item. The name can be changed on this screen. To verify or change configuration details, click Advanced.
4. Some of the items can be changed on this screen. Click Apply Changes after changing items.

Alternatively, the Virtual Disk can also be created from the integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) web interface.

For more information, reference Dell PowerEdge: How to Create a Virtual Disk Using iDRAC9.