MSA 2040 SMU Reference Guide

Using the Provisioning Wizard 61
3 Provisioning the system
Using the Provisioning Wizard
The Provisioning Wizard helps you create a vdisk with volumes and to map the volumes to hosts. Before using this
wizard, read documentation and Resource Library guidelines for your product to learn about vdisks, volumes, and
mapping. Then plan the vdisks and volumes you want to create and the default mapping settings you want to use.
The wizard guides you through the following steps. For each step you can view help by clicking the help icon in
the wizard panel. As you complete steps they are highlighted at the bottom of the panel. If you cancel the wizard at
any point, no changes are made.
• Specify a name and RAID level for the vdisk
• Select disks to use in the vdisk
• Specify the number and size of volumes to create in the vdisk
• Specify the default mapping for access to the volume by hosts
• Confirm changes and apply them
NOTE: To create an NRAID, RAID-0, or RAID-3 vdisk, you must use the CLI create vdisk command. For more
information on this command, see the CLI Reference Guide.
Step 1: Starting the wizard
1. In the Configuration View panel, right-click the system and select either Provisioning > Provisioning Wizard or
Wizards > Provisioning Wizard. The wizard panel appears.
2. Click Next to continue.
Step 2: Specifying the vdisk name and RAID level
A vdisk is a virtual disk that is composed of one or more disks, and has the combined capacity of those disks. The
number of disks that a vdisk can contain is determined by its RAID level. When you create a vdisk, all its disks must
be the same type: either SAS SSD, enterprise SAS, or midline SAS.
A vdisk can contain different models of disks, and disks with different capacities. If you mix disks with different
capacities, the smallest disk determines the logical capacity of all other disks in the vdisk, regardless of RAID level.
For example, the capacity of a vdisk composed of one 500-GB disk and one 750-GB disk is equivalent to a vdisk
composed of two 500-GB disks. To maximize capacity, use disks of similar size. For greatest reliability, use disks of
the same size and rotational speed.
In a single-controller system, all vdisks are owned by that controller. In a dual-controller system, when a vdisk is
created the system automatically assigns the owner to balance the number of vdisks each controller owns; or, you can
select the owner. Typically it doesn’t matter which controller owns a vdisk.
In a dual-controller system, when a controller fails, the partner controller assumes temporary ownership of the failed
controller’s vdisks and resources. If the system uses a fault-tolerant cabling configuration, both controllers’ LUNs are
accessible through the partner.
When you create a vdisk you can also create volumes within it. A volume is a logical subdivision of a vdisk, and can
be mapped to controller host ports for access by hosts. The storage system presents only volumes, not vdisks, to hosts.
To create a vdisk
1. Set the options:
• Vdisk name. This field is populated with a default name, which you can change. A vdisk name is case
sensitive; cannot already exist in the system; and cannot include a comma, double quote, angle bracket or
backslash. The name you enter can have a maximum of 32 bytes.