Users Guide

Fast initialization
A fast initialization on a virtual disk overwrites the first and last 8 MB of the virtual disk, clearing any boot records or partition
information. The operation takes only 2–3 seconds to complete, but it is followed by BGI, which takes a longer time to complete.
To perform a fast initialization using the HII Configuration Utility, see Configuring virtual disk parameters on page 56.
NOTE: During full or fast initialization, the host cannot access the virtual disk. As a result, if the host attempts to access
the virtual disk while it is initializing, all I/O sent by the host will fail.
NOTE: When using IDRAC create a VD, the drive undergoes fast initialization. During this process all I/O requests to the
drive will respond with a sense key of "Not Ready" and the I/O operation will fail. If the operating system attempts to read
from the drive as soon as it discovers the drive, and while the fast initialization is still in process, then the I/O operation fails
and the operating system reports an I/O error.
Reconfiguration of virtual disks
An online virtual disk can be reconfigured in ways that expands its capacity and changes its RAID level.
NOTE: Spanned virtual disks such as RAID 50 and 60 cannot be reconfigured.
NOTE: Reconfiguring virtual disks typically impacts disk performance until the reconfiguration operation is complete.
Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) can be done in two ways:
1. If there is a single virtual disk in a disk group and free space is available, the capacity of a virtual disk can be expanded within
that free space. If multiple virtual disks exist within a common disk group, the capacities of those virtual disks cannot be
expanded.
NOTE:
Online capacity expansion is allowed on a disk group with a single virtual disk that begins at the start of the
physical disk. It is not allowed when there is a free space at the beginning of a disk.
2. Free space is also available when the physical disks of a disk group are replaced by larger disks using the replace member
feature. The capacity of a virtual disk can also be expanded by performing an OCE operation to add more physical disks.
RAID level migration (RLM) refers to changing a virtual disk’s RAID level. Both RLM and OCE can be done simultaneously so
that a virtual disk can simultaneously have its RAID level that is changed and its capacity increased. When an RLM or an OCE
operation is complete, a reboot is not required.
CAUTION: Do not attempt disk migration during RLM or OCE operations. This causes loss of the virtual disk.
NOTE: If an RLM or an OCE operation is in progress, then an automatic drive rebuild or copyback operation will not start
until the operation is complete.
NOTE: If the controller already contains the maximum number of virtual disks, you cannot perform a RAID level migration or
capacity expansion on any virtual disk.
NOTE: The controller changes the write cache policy of all virtual disks to write-through until the RLM or OCE operation is
complete.
NOTE: You cannot initiate an OCE or an RLM on any virtual disk on the controller where a virtual disk with an ID of 239
exists.
Features 25