- Notes, cautions, and warnings
- Getting started
- New user setup
- Configure and provision a new storage system
- Using the PowerVault Manager interface
- System concepts
- About virtual and linear storage
- About disk groups
- About RAID levels
- About ADAPT
- About SSDs
- About SSD read cache
- About spares
- About pools
- About volumes and volume groups
- About volume cache options
- About thin provisioning
- About automated tiered storage
- About initiators, hosts, and host groups
- About volume mapping
- About operating with a single controller
- About snapshots
- About copying volumes
- About reconstruction
- About quick rebuild
- About performance statistics
- About firmware updates
- About managed logs
- About SupportAssist
- About CloudIQ
- About configuring DNS settings
- About replicating virtual volumes
- About the Full Disk Encryption feature
- About data protection with a single controller
- Working in the Home topic
- Guided setup
- Provisioning disk groups and pools
- Attaching hosts and volumes in the Host Setup wizard
- Overall system status
- Configuring system settings
- Managing scheduled tasks
- Working in the System topic
- Viewing system components
- Systems Settings panel
- Resetting host ports
- Rescanning disk channels
- Clearing disk metadata
- Updating firmware
- Changing FDE settings
- Configuring advanced settings
- Changing disk settings
- Changing system cache settings
- Configuring partner firmware update
- Configuring system utilities
- Using maintenance mode
- Restarting or shutting down controllers
- Working in the Hosts topic
- Working in the Pools topic
- Working in the Volumes topic
- Viewing volumes
- Creating a virtual volume
- Creating a linear volume
- Modifying a volume
- Copying a volume or snapshot
- Abort a volume copy
- Adding volumes to a volume group
- Removing volumes from a volume group
- Renaming a volume group
- Remove volume groups
- Rolling back a virtual volume
- Deleting volumes and snapshots
- Creating snapshots
- Resetting a snapshot
- Creating a replication set from the Volumes topic
- Initiating or scheduling a replication from the Volumes topic
- Manage replication schedules from the Volumes topic
- Working in the Mappings topic
- Working in the Replications topic
- About replicating virtual volumes in the Replications topic
- Replication prerequisites
- Replication process
- Creating a virtual pool for replication
- Setting up snapshot space management in the context of replication
- Replication and empty allocated pages
- Disaster recovery
- Accessing the data while keeping the replication set intact
- Accessing the data from the backup system as if it were the primary system
- Disaster recovery procedures
- Viewing replications
- Querying a peer connection
- Creating a peer connection
- Modifying a peer connection
- Deleting a peer connection
- Creating a replication set from the Replications topic
- Modifying a replication set
- Deleting a replication set
- Initiating or scheduling a replication from the Replications topic
- Stopping a replication
- Suspending a replication
- Resuming a replication
- Manage replication schedules from the Replications topic
- About replicating virtual volumes in the Replications topic
- Working in the Performance topic
- Working in the banner and footer
- Banner and footer overview
- Viewing system information
- Viewing certificate information
- Viewing connection information
- Viewing system date and time information
- Viewing user information
- Viewing health information
- Viewing event information
- Viewing capacity information
- Viewing host information
- Viewing tier information
- Viewing recent system activity
- Other management interfaces
- SNMP reference
- Using FTP and SFTP
- Using SMI-S
- Using SLP
- Administering a log-collection system
- Best practices
- System configuration limits
- Glossary of terms
Dell PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System Administrator’s Guide
About spares
Spare disks are unused disks in your system that you designate to automatically replace a failed disk, restoring fault tolerance to disk groups in the system. Types of spares include:
- Dedicated spare. Reserved for use by a specific linear disk group to replace a failed disk. Most secure way to provide spares for disk groups, but expensive to reserve a spare for each disk group.
- Global spare. Reserved for use by any fault-tolerant disk group to replace a failed disk.
- Dynamic spare. Available compatible disk that is automatically assigned to replace a failed disk in a fault-tolerant disk group.
NOTE:You cannot designate spares for ADAPT disk groups. For information on how ADAPT disk groups manage sparing, see About RAID levels.
A controller automatically reconstructs a fault-tolerant disk group (RAID 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 50) when one or more of its disks fails and a compatible spare disk is available. A disk is compatible if it has enough capacity to replace the failed disk and is the same speed and type (enterprise SAS, for example). It is not advisable to mix 10k and 15k disks in a single disk group. If the disks in the system are FDE-capable and the system is secure, spares must also be FDE-capable.
When a disk fails, the system looks for a dedicated spare first. If it does not find a dedicated spare, it looks for a global spare. If it does not find a compatible global spare and the dynamic spares option is enabled, it takes any available compatible disk. If no compatible disk is available, reconstruction cannot start.
NOTE:A best practice is to designate spares for use if disks fail. Dedicating spares to disk groups is the most secure method, but it is also expensive to reserve spares for each disk group. Alternatively, you can enable dynamic spares or assign global spares.
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