Dell DL4000 Appliance Deployment Guide

PDF

Provisioning storage

The appliance configures available internal storage and any attached supported external storage enclosures for:
  • Repositories
    NOTE: If fibre channel HBA is configured then the process of creating the repositories is manual. Rapid Recovery will not create a repository automatically in the root directory. For more information, see Configuring the DL4000 using fibre channel storage (optional).
  • Disk volumes for standby VMs or any other purpose
    NOTE: MD1200s with 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, or 4TB (for high capacity) drives connected to the H810 controller are supported. Up to four MD1200s are supported.
    NOTE: The DL4000 high-capacity configuration supports either H810 PERC SAS adapter or a Fibre Channel HBA. For more information on configuring fibre channel HBAs, see the DL4xxx — Fibre Channel Implementation whitepaper located at https://www.dell.com/support.

Before you begin provisioning storage on the disk, determine how much storage you want to allocate for standby virtual machines. You can allocate any percentage of the available capacity remaining after creating the Rapid Recovery repository to host standby virtual machines. For example, if you are using Storage Resource Management (SRM), you can allocate up to 100 percent capacity of the storage remaining after creating the Rapid Recovery repository. Space can be allocated for standby VMs only on the appliances that are provisioned to host virtual machines. Using the Rapid Recovery’s Live Recovery feature, you can use these virtual machines to quickly replace a failed server that the appliance protects.

Based on a medium-sized environment that does not need standby virtual machines, you can use all of the storage to back up a significant number of agents. However, if you need more resources for standby virtual machines and back up a smaller number of agent machines, you can allocate more resources for larger VMs.

When you select the Appliance > Provisioning tab, the Rapid Recovery Appliance software locates the available storage space for all supported controllers in the system and validates that the hardware meets the requirements.

To complete disk provisioning for all available storage:

  1. Click Appliance > Provisioning.
    The Provisioning screen displays the Repositories and Storage Volumes sections.
    CAUTION: Before proceeding ensure Step 2 through Step 4 is followed in this procedure.
  2. Provision available storage to create:
    • Repository
    • Disk volumes for standby VMs or any other purpose
  3. To create a repository:
    1. On the provisioning page, in the Repositories section, click Add New Repository
      The Add New Repository dialog box appears.
    2. Enter the information as described in the following table.
      Table 1. Provisioning storageEnter the information in the text boxes as described in the table to create a repository with required attributes.
      Text Box Description
      Repository Name Enter the display name of the repository.

      By default, this text box consists of the word Repository and a number, which corresponds to the number of repositories for this Core. For example, if this is the second repository, the default name is Repository 2. Change the name as needed.

      Repository names must contain between 1 and 40 alphanumeric characters, including spaces. Do not use prohibited characters or prohibited phrases . For more information, see the topics ‘prohibited characters’ or ‘prohibited phrases’ in the Dell Data Protection | Rapid Recovery 6.0 User Guide.

      Controller Select the appropriate storage controller depending on whether you are creating repository on internal storage or on direct-attached storage enclosure.
      Enclosure Select the appropriate storage enclosure.
      RAID type Select the appropriate RAID level. You have the following options for RAID configuration: 1, 5, or 6.
      NOTE: Your system allows you to create repository only in the RAID levels in which the storage is configured and as available out of factory. To create repository in desired RAID configuration, you must configure your storage in the desired RAID level. To configure storage in the desired RAID level, see Dell RAID controller documentation at https://www.dell.com/support.
      Estimated capacity Displays the estimated capacity available for creating a repository.
      Controller available space Displays the available space on the controller.
      Size Enter the size of the repository.
    3. Click Create.
      A new repository is created.
  4. To create disk volumes for standby VM or any other purpose:
    1. In the Storage Volume section, click Create Volume.
    2. In the Create Volume dialog box, specify the following information for a new disk volume Volume name, Controller, Enclosure, RAID type, and Size.
      The Controller available space is displayed by default. You can select one of the following RAID configurations: 1, 5, or 6.
    3. Click Create.
      A new storage volume is created.

Rate this content

Accurate
Useful
Easy to understand
Was this article helpful?
0/3000 characters
  Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
  Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
  Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
  Please select whether the article was helpful or not.
  Comments cannot contain these special characters: <>()\