Dell PowerFlex Rack with PowerFlex 3.x Administration Guide

Add volumes to a service

Add volumes to a service and verify that the machines are in a connected state.

1. Log in to PowerFlex Manager.
2. From the Services page, click Add Resources and choose Add volumes.
3. From the Add Volume wizard, click Add Existing Volumes or Create New Volumes.
   The Add Existing Volumes option is only available for the hyperconverged service.
4. If you selected Add Existing Volumes, select the Volume and add the Datastore Name Template from the Add Existing Volumes page.
5. To create a new volume for a hyperconverged service:
   1. Click Add Volume.
   2. From the Volume Name list, select Create New Volume to create a new volume now, or select an Auto-Generate name when you create multiple volumes.
   3. In the New Volume Name box, type a name for the volume.
   4. From the Datastore Name list, select Create new datastore to create a new datastore or select an existing datastore.
      If you choose a volume that is mapped to a datastore that was created previously in another hyperconverged or compute-only service, you need to select the same datastore that was associated with the volume in the other service
   5. In the New Datastore Name box, type a name for the datastore.
   6. From the Storage Pool list, select the required storage pool.
   7. In the Volume Size (GB) box, enter the required volume size.
   8. From the Volume Type list, select Thin or Thick.
      A thick volume provides a larger amount of storage in advance, and a thin volume provides on-demand storage and faster setup and startup times.
   9. To use an Auto-Generate name, in the New Volume Name field:
   10. From the Volume Name Template, modify the template based on the volume naming convention.
   11. From the How Many Volumes field, enter the number of volumes that need to be created.
   12. From the Datastore Name Template, modify the template based on the datastore naming convention.
   13. From the Storage Pool list, select the required storage pool.
   14. In the Volume Size (GB) box, enter the required volume size. The minimum size is 8 GB and the value must be divisible by 8.
   15. From the Volume Type list, select Thin or Thick.
   16. Click Next > Finish.
6. To create a new volume for a storage-only service:
   1. From the Volume Name list, select Create New Volume.
   2. In the New Volume Name box, type a name for the volume.
   3. From the Storage Pool list, select the required storage pool.
   4. In the Volume Size (GB) box, enter the required volume size.
   5. From the Volume Type list, select Thin or Thick.
      A thick volume provides a larger amount of storage in advance, and a thin volume provides on-demand storage and faster setup and startup times. If you enable compression for the volume, thin is the only option available for Volume Type.
   6. To use an Auto-Generate name, in the New Volume Name field:
   7. From the Volume Name Template, modify the template based on the volume naming convention.
   8. From the How Many Volumes field, enter the number of volumes that need to be created.
   9. From the Storage Pool list, select the required storage pool.
   10. In the Volume Size (GB) box, enter the required volume size. The minimum size is 8 GB and the value must be divisible by 8.
   11. From the Volume Type list, select Thin or Thick.
   12. Click Next > Finish.
7. To create a new volume for a compute-only service:
   1. From the Volume Name list, select an existing volume.
      For a compute-only service, you can only select an existing volume that has not yet been mapped.
   2. From the Datastore Name list, select Create new datastore or select an existing datastore.
      The Datastore Name field is only available for a hyperconverged or compute-only service, as it applies only to services with ESXi. If the volume was originally created in a storage-only service, you must select Create New Datastore to create a new datastore. Alternatively, if the volume was originally created in a hyperconverged service, you must select the datastore that was already mapped to the selected volume in the other service.
   3. In the New Datastore Name box, type a name for the datastore.
8. (Optional) Click Add Volume to add another volume and enter the required information.
9. Click Save.
   The service moves to the In Progress state and the new volume icons appear on the Service Details page. After the deployment completes successfully, the new volumes are displayed and indicated by a check mark in the Storage list on the Service Details page. The PowerFlex 3.0.1.2 and older GUI shows the new volumes under the storage pool. In PowerFlex 3.5, new volumes are under Configuration > Volumes. For a storage-only service, the volumes are created, but not mapped. For a compute-only or hyperconverged service, the volumes are mapped to SDCs. In the vSphere client, you can see the volumes in the storage section and also see the hosts that are mapped to the volumes, once the mappings are in place.
10. After the service is successfully deployed, log in to the CloudLink Center that was discovered in PowerFlex Manager, and verify that the machines are in connected state, and drives are encrypted.
    NOTE:For PowerFlex nodes with SED drives, CloudLink Center displays the statuses Encrypted HW and Managed.