Administrator Guide

Automatically managing unconfigured capacity in
disk pools
The MD Storage Manager can detect the unconfigured capacity in a storage array. When the unconfigured capacity is detected, the MD
Storage Manager prompts you to create one or more disk pools, or add the unconfigured capacity to an existing disk pool, or both. By
default, the Automatic Configuration dialog is displayed when one of these conditions are true:
• The AMW is opened to manage a storage array, disk pools do not exist in the storage array, and there are enough similar physical disks
to create a disk pool.
• New physical disks are added to a storage array that has at least one disk pool. If there are enough eligible physical disks available, you
can create a disk pool of different physical disk types than the existing disk pool.
NOTE: If you do not want the Automatic Configuration dialog to be displayed again when unconfigured capacity is
detected, you can select Do not display again. If you later want this dialog to be displayed again when unconfigured
capacity is detected, you can select Storage Array > Preferences in the AMW to reset your preferences. If you do not
want to reset the preferences, but do want to invoke the Automatic Configuration dialog, select Storage Array >
Configuration > Disk Pools.
Each physical disk in a disk pool must be of the same physical disk type and physical disk media type and have similar capacity. If there are
enough of physical disks of those types, the MD Storage Manager prompts you to create a single disk pool. If the unconfigured capacity
consists of different physical disk types, the MD Storage Manager prompts you to create multiple disk pools.
If a disk pool is already defined in the storage array, and you add new physical disks of the same physical disk type as the disk pool, the MD
Storage Manager prompts you to add the physical disks to the existing disk pool. If the new physical disks are of different physical disk
types, the MD Storage Manager prompts you to add the physical disks of the same physical disk type to the existing disk pool, and to use
the other physical disk types to create different disk pools.
NOTE:
If there are multiple disk pools of the same physical disk type, a message is displayed indicating that the MD
Storage Manager cannot recommend the physical disks for a disk pool automatically. However, you can manually add
the physical disks to an existing disk pool. You can click No to close the Automatic Configuration dialog and, from the
AMW, select Storage Array > Disk Pool > Add Physical disks (Capacity).
If more physical disks are added to the storage array when the Automatic Configuration dialog is open, you can click Update to detect
the additional physical disks. As a best practice, add all the physical disks to a storage array at the same time. This action enables the MD
Storage Manager to recommend the best options for using the unconfigured capacity.
You can review the options, and click Yes in the Automatic Configuration dialog to create one or more disk pools, or to add the
unconfigured capacity to an existing disk pool, or both. If you click Yes, you also can create multiple equal-capacity virtual disks after the
disk pool is created.
If you choose not to create the recommended disk pools, or not to add the unconfigured capacity to a disk pool, click No to close the
Automatic Configuration dialog. You can then manually configure the disk pools by selecting Storage Array > Disk Pool > Create
from the AMW.
Locating physical disks in a disk pool
You can use the Blink option to physically locate and identify all of the physical disks that comprise a selected disk pool.
To locate a disk pool:
1. Select the Storage & Copy Services tab.
2. Select the disk pool in the Tree view or the Table view.
3. From the menu bar, select Storage > Disk Pool > Blink.
The LEDs on each physical disk that make up the selected disk pool blink.
4. Locate the physical disks in the disk pool, and click OK.
The LEDs stop blinking.
NOTE:
If the LEDs for the disk pool do not stop blinking, from the AMW, select Hardware > Blink > Stop All
Indications.
5. Click OK.
Disk pools and disk pool virtual disks
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