User Manual
Table Of Contents
- Dell PowerVault MD 34XX/38XX Series Storage Arrays Administrator's Guide
- Introduction
- About Your MD Series Storage Array
- Physical Disks, Virtual Disks, And Disk Groups
- Disk Pools
- Thin Virtual Disks
- RAID Levels
- Segment Size
- Virtual Disk Operations
- Disk Group Operations
- RAID Background Operations Priority
- Virtual Disk Migration And Disk Roaming
- Advanced Features
- Multi-Path Software
- Load Balancing
- Monitoring System Performance
- Interpreting Performance Monitor Data
- Viewing Real-time Graphical Performance Monitor Data
- Customizing the Performance Monitor Dashboard
- Specifying Performance Metrics
- Viewing Real-time Textual Performance Monitor
- Saving Real-time Textual Performance Data
- Starting and Stopping Background Performance Monitor
- Viewing Information about the Current Background Performance Monitor Session
- Viewing Current Background Performance Monitor Data
- Saving the Current Background Performance Monitor Data
- Viewing Saved Background Performance Monitor Data
- What are invalid objects in the Performance Monitor?
- Discovering And Managing Your Storage Array
- Out-Of-Band Management
- In-Band Management
- Storage Arrays
- Setting Up Your Storage Array
- Locating Storage Arrays
- Naming Or Renaming Storage Arrays
- Setting A Password
- Adding Or Editing A Comment To An Existing Storage Array
- Removing Storage Arrays
- Enabling Premium Features
- Displaying Failover Alert
- Changing The Cache Settings On The Storage Array
- Changing Expansion Enclosure ID Numbers
- Changing The Enclosure Order
- Configuring Alert Notifications
- Battery Settings
- Setting The Storage Array RAID Controller Module Clocks
- Using iSCSI
- Changing The iSCSI Target Authentication
- Entering Mutual Authentication Permissions
- Creating CHAP Secrets
- Changing The iSCSI Target Identification
- Changing The iSCSI Target Discovery Settings
- Configuring The iSCSI Host Ports
- Advanced iSCSI Host Port Settings
- Viewing Or Ending An iSCSI Session
- Viewing iSCSI Statistics And Setting Baseline Statistics
- Edit, Remove, Or Rename Host Topology
- Event Monitor
- About Your Host
- Disk Groups, Standard Virtual Disks, And Thin Virtual Disks
- Creating Disk Groups And Virtual Disks
- Thin Virtual Disks
- Advantages Of Thin Virtual Disks
- Physical Vs Virtual Capacity On A Thin Virtual Disk
- Thin Virtual Disk Requirements And Limitations
- Thin Volume Attributes
- Thin Virtual Disk States
- Comparison—Types Of Virtual Disks And Copy Services
- Rollback On Thin Virtual Disks
- Initializing A Thin Virtual Disk
- Changing A Thin Virtual Disk To A Standard Virtual Disk
- Choosing An Appropriate Physical Disk Type
- Physical Disk Security With Self Encrypting Disk
- Configuring Hot Spare Physical Disks
- Enclosure Loss Protection
- Drawer Loss Protection
- Host-To-Virtual Disk Mapping
- Creating Host-To-Virtual Disk Mappings
- Modifying And Removing Host-To-Virtual Disk Mapping
- Changing Controller Ownership Of The Virtual Disk
- Removing Host-To-Virtual Disk Mapping
- Changing The RAID Controller Module Ownership Of A Disk Group
- Changing The RAID Level Of A Disk Group
- Removing A Host-To-Virtual Disk Mapping Using Linux DMMP
- Restricted Mappings
- Storage Partitioning
- Disk Group And Virtual Disk Expansion
- Disk Group Migration
- Storage Array Media Scan
- Disk Pools And Disk Pool Virtual Disks
- Difference Between Disk Groups And Disk Pools
- Disk Pool Restrictions
- Creating A Disk Pool Manually
- Automatically Managing The Unconfigured Capacity In Disk Pools
- Locating Physical Disks In A Disk Pool
- Renaming A Disk Pool
- Configuring Alert Notifications For A Disk Pool
- Adding Unassigned Physical Disks To A Disk Pool
- Configuring The Preservation Capacity Of A Disk Pool
- Changing The Modification Priority Of A Disk Pool
- Changing The RAID Controller Module Ownership Of A Disk Pool
- Checking Data Consistency
- Deleting A Disk Pool
- Viewing Storage Array Logical Components And Associated Physical Components
- Secure Disk Pools
- Changing Capacity On Existing Thin Virtual Disks
- Creating A Thin Virtual Disk From A Disk Pool
- Using SSD Cache
- How SSD Cache Works
- Benefits Of SSD Cache
- Choosing SSD Cache Parameters
- SSD Cache Restrictions
- Creating An SSD Cache
- Viewing Physical Components Associated With An SSD Cache
- Locating Physical Disks In An SSD Cache
- Adding Physical Disks To An SSD Cache
- Removing Physical Disks From An SSD Cache
- Suspending Or Resuming SSD Caching
- Changing I/O Type In An SSD Cache
- Renaming An SSD Cache
- Deleting An SSD Cache
- Using The Performance Modeling Tool
- Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Snapshot Virtual Disk Vs. Snapshot Virtual Disk (Legacy)
- Snapshot Images And Groups
- Snapshot Virtual Disk Read/Write Properties
- Snapshot Groups And Consistency Groups
- Understanding Snapshot Repositories
- Creating Snapshot Images
- Scheduling Snapshot Images
- Performing Snapshot Rollbacks
- Creating A Snapshot Group
- Converting A Snapshot Virtual Disk To Read-Write
- Viewing Associated Physical Components Of An Individual Repository Virtual Disk
- Creating A Consistency Group
- Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk Of A Snapshot Image
- Snapshot Virtual Disk Limitations
- Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk Repository
- Changing The Settings Of A Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Disabling A Snapshot Virtual Disk Or Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Re-creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk Or Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Renaming A Snapshot Virtual Disk Or Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Deleting A Snapshot Virtual Disk Or Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Creating A Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Creating A Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk Repository (Manually)
- Disabling A Snapshot Virtual Disk Or Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Re-creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk Or Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Changing The Modification Priority Of An Overall Repository Virtual Disk
- Changing The Media Scan Setting Of An Overall Repository Virtual Disk
- Changing The Pre-read Consistency Check Setting Of An Overall Repository Virtual Disk
- Increasing The Capacity Of An Overall Repository
- Decreasing The Capacity Of The Overall Repository
- Performing A Revive Operation
- Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks (Legacy)
- Scheduling A Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk Using The Simple Path
- Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk Using The Advanced Path
- Specifying Snapshot Virtual Disk Names
- Snapshot Repository Capacity
- Re-Creating Snapshot Virtual Disks
- Disabling A Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Re-Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy
- Using Virtual Disk Copy With Snapshot Or Snapshot (Legacy) Premium Feature
- Types Of Virtual Disk Copies
- Creating A Virtual Disk Copy For An MSCS Shared Disk
- Virtual Disk Read/Write Permissions
- Virtual Disk Copy Restrictions
- Creating A Virtual Disk Copy
- Preferred RAID Controller Module Ownership
- Failed RAID Controller Module
- Copy Manager
- Copying The Virtual Disk
- Storage Array Performance During Virtual Disk Copy
- Setting Copy Priority
- Stopping A Virtual Disk Copy
- Recopying A Virtual Disk
- Removing Copy Pairs
- Device Mapper Multipath For Linux
- Configuring Asymmetric Logical Unit Access
- Premium Feature—Remote Replication
- About Asynchronous Remote Replication
- Remote Replicated Pairs And Replication Repositories
- Types Of Remote Replication
- Remote Replication Requirements And Restrictions
- Setting Up Remote Replication
- Activating Remote Replication Premium Features
- Deactivating Remote Replication
- Remote Replication Groups
- Replicated Pairs
- Management Firmware Downloads
- Downloading RAID Controller And NVSRAM Packages
- Downloading Both RAID Controller And NVSRAM Firmware
- Downloading Only NVSRAM Firmware
- Downloading Physical Disk Firmware
- Downloading MD3060e Series Expansion Module EMM Firmware
- Self-Monitoring Analysis And Reporting Technology (SMART)
- Media Errors And Unreadable Sectors
- Firmware Inventory
- System Interfaces
- Storage Array Software
- Start-Up Routine
- Device Health Conditions
- Trace Buffers
- Collecting Physical Disk Data
- Event Log
- Recovery Guru
- Storage Array Profile
- Viewing The Physical Associations
- Recovering From An Unresponsive Storage Array Condition
- Locating A Physical Disk
- Locating An Expansion Enclosure
- Capturing The State Information
- SMrepassist Utility
- Unidentified Devices
- Recovering From An Unidentified Storage Array
- Starting Or Restarting The Host Context Agent Software
- Getting Help
Storage Manager does not enforce 120-physical disk limit when you setup a RAID 0 or RAID 10
configuration. Exceeding the 120-physical disk limit may cause your storage array to be unstable.
RAID Level Usage
To ensure best performance, you must select an optimal RAID level when you create a system physical
disk. The optimal RAID level for your disk array depends on:
• Number of physical disks in the disk array
• Capacity of the physical disks in the disk array
• Need for redundant access to the data (fault tolerance)
• Disk performance requirements
RAID 0
CAUTION: Do not attempt to create virtual disk groups exceeding 120 physical disks in a RAID 0
configuration even if premium feature is activated on your storage array. Exceeding the 120-
physical disk limit may cause your storage array to be unstable.
RAID 0 uses disk striping to provide high data throughput, especially for large files in an environment that
requires no data redundancy. RAID 0 breaks the data down into segments and writes each segment to a
separate physical disk. I/O performance is greatly improved by spreading the I/O load across many
physical disks. Although it offers the best performance of any RAID level, RAID 0 lacks data redundancy.
Choose this option only for non-critical data, because failure of one physical disk results in the loss of all
data. Examples of RAID 0 applications include video editing, image editing, prepress applications, or any
application that requires high bandwidth.
RAID 1
RAID 1 uses disk mirroring so that data written to one physical disk is simultaneously written to another
physical disk. RAID 1 offers fast performance and the best data availability, but also the highest disk
overhead. RAID 1 is recommended for small databases or other applications that do not require large
capacity. For example, accounting, payroll, or financial applications. RAID 1 provides full data redundancy.
RAID 5
RAID 5 uses parity and striping data across all physical disks (distributed parity) to provide high data
throughput and data redundancy, especially for small random access. RAID 5 is a versatile RAID level and
is suited for multi-user environments where typical I/O size is small and there is a high proportion of read
activity such as file, application, database, web, e-mail, news, and intranet servers.
RAID 6
RAID 6 is similar to RAID 5 but provides an additional parity disk for better redundancy. RAID 6 is the most
versatile RAID level and is suited for multi-user environments where typical I/O size is small and there is a
high proportion of read activity. RAID 6 is recommended when large size physical disks are used or large
number of physical disks are used in a disk group.
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