About this task
Does my controller support this feature? See
Supported features.
| WARNING: There is an automatic initialization in the background which starts and if there are some user data is erased.
|
The
Create Virtual Disk Wizard allows you to select the wizard type and the RAID level. The
Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard calculates the appropriate virtual disk configuration based on the available space and controller considerations. To make your own selections for the virtual disk configuration, select the
Advanced Wizard option.
Before creating a virtual disk, you should be familiar with the information in
Considerations before creating Virtual Disks. You may also want to review
Choosing RAID Levels and Concatenation.
| NOTE: This task is not supported on PERC hardware controllers running in
HBA mode.
|
To create a virtual disk using the
Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard:
Steps
-
In the Server Administrator window, expand
.
-
Click
Connector 0 (RAID).
The
Virtual Disk(s) on Controller <Controller Name> page is displayed.
-
Click
Go to the Create Virtual Disk Wizard.
The
Create Virtual Disk Wizard (Step 1) <Controller Name> page is displayed.
-
Select the
Express Wizard option and the
RAID level from the drop-down list.
- Depending on the controller,
Concatenated enables you to combine the storage capacity of several disks or to create a virtual disk using a single physical disk. For more information about the number of supported physical disks when using
Concatenated, see
Number of Physical Disks per Virtual Disk.
Concatenated does not provide data redundancy or affect the read/write performance.
- Select
RAID 0 for striping. This selection groups
n disks together as a large virtual disk with a total capacity of
n disks. Data is alternately stored in the disks so that they are evenly distributed. Data redundancy is not available in this mode. Read/write performance is enhanced.
- Select
RAID 1 for mirroring disks. This selection groups two disks together as one virtual disk with a capacity of one single disk. The data is replicated on both disks. When a disk fails, the virtual disk continues to function. This feature provides data redundancy and good read performance, but slightly slower write performance. The system must have at least two physical disks to use RAID 1.
- Select
RAID 5 for striping with distributed parity. This selection groups
n disks together as one large virtual disk with a total capacity of
(n-1) disks. When a disk fails, the virtual disk continues to function. This feature provides better data redundancy and read performance, but slower write performance. The system must have at least three physical disks to use RAID 5.
- Select
RAID 6 for striping with additional distributed parity. This selection groups
n disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of
(n- 2) disks. The virtual disk remains functional with up to two disk failures. RAID 6 provides better read performance, but slower write performance. The system must have at least four physical disks to use RAID 6.
- Select
RAID 10 for striping over mirror sets. This selection groups
n disks together as one large virtual disk with a total capacity of
(n/2) disks. Data is striped across the replicated mirrored pair disks. When a disk fails, the virtual disk continues to function. The data is read from the surviving mirrored pair disk. This feature provides the best failure protection, read, and write performance. The system must have at least four physical disks to use RAID 10.
- Select
RAID 50 to implement striping across more than one span of physical disks. RAID 50 groups
n*s disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of
s*(n-1) disks, where s is the number of spans and n is the number of disks within each span.
- Select
RAID 60 to implement striping across more than one RAID 6 span. RAID 60 Groups
n*s disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of
s*(n-2) disks, wheres is the number of spans and
n is the number of disks within each span. RAID 60 provides increased data protection and better read performance, but slower write performance.
-
Click
Continue.