Users Guide

Working With Dell Storage
The Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin communicates with Dell Storage Manager and enables the management of Dell Storage.
Topics:
• Introduction to Dell Storage
• Creating and Managing VMFS Datastores on Storage Centers
• Configuring, Creating, and Recovering Snapshots
• Create and Manage Replications and Live Volumes
Introduction to Dell Storage
An administrator can use the Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin to manage Dell storage on a Storage Center.
A Storage Center configures and uses storage based on the following settings.
Storage Term Description
Storage Tier
(physical media classes)
Storage tiers represent the classification of all physical storage media in the
Storage Center. Storage Center automatically populates storage tiers with the
available media in the Assigned disk folder.
● Tier 1: Contains the fastest media appropriate for frequently used, mission-
critical data. Tier 1 media is typically the most expensive media.
● Tier 2: Contains medium-quality media appropriate for medium-priority data.
● Tier 3: Contains slower, inexpensive media appropriate for backup copies,
Replays, and low-priority, rarely used data.
Storage Type
(RAID level and page size)
Within each tier, the following storage types are available.
● Non-redundant: RAID 0 with 2-MB page size
● Single Redundant: RAID 10, RAID 5–5, RAID 5–9 with 512 KB, 2 MB, or 4 MB
page size
● Dual redundant: RAID 10, RAID 6-6, RAID 6-10 with 2 MB page size
● The default and recommended setting for storage type is dual redundant, and
for drive 18 TB or larger, dual redundant is required and enforced.
Volume
(a logical unit of storage)
A volume is a logical unit of storage on the Storage Center. When you add a
datastore within the vSphere Client, you create and map a new Dell volume
as a datastore, or map an existing Dell volume as a datastore. When mapping
an existing Dell volume as a datastore, the volume must have been a previously-
formatted VMFS volume that was used as a datastore and unmapped.
Live Volume
(keeps applications online and data
accessible during planned or unplanned
downtime )
A Live Volume is a replicating volume that can be mapped and active on a source
and destination Storage Center at the same time.
Data Type
(writeable or Snapshot)
Volume data can be either of the following types:
● Writeable: Data written to storage dynamically
● Snapshot: Point-in-time copy data
Storage Profiles
(applied to a volume to determine how
data is migrated on the Storage Center )
Storage Profiles determine how volume data is stored and migrated on the
Storage Center. The following Storage Profiles are defined by the system:
● Recommended: Available only on Storage Center with Licensed Data
Progression. Use the Recommended profile to optimize Data Progression and
performance on the Storage Center. The Recommended profile allows the
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12 Working With Dell Storage