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Refer to Document ID:
1459411092807
Content Creation Date March 31, 2016
Storage > Storage Configuration > Storage Pools. In the Pools tab, click Create.
Description
Create a
pool on
page 2
Create a
RAID
group on
page 4
A RAID group is a set of disks, all with the same capacity and
redundancy, on which you create one or more LUNs. A RAID 6 group
usually has 6 or 12 disks, but can have 4, 8, 10, 14, or 16 disks. A
RAID 5 group must include at least three disks. A RAID 3 group must
include five or nine disks. A RAID 1/0 group must include at least two
disks. The storage-system type determines the number of RAID groups
that it supports.
Create a pool
Before you begin
You can create pools that use multiple RAID types, one RAID type per tier, to satisfy
multiple tiering requirements within a pool. To do this:
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When you first create the pool, select the RAID type for each tier.
When you expand an existing pool by adding additional drives, the system selects
the same RAID type that was used when you created the pool.
When you expand an existing pool by adding a new disk type tier, you need to select
the RAID type that is valid for the new disk type. For example, best practices suggest
using RAID 6 for NL-SAS drives, and RAID 6, 5, or 1/0 for other drives.
Lets you create a pool-type storage pool with disks and default property values that the
software selects, or with disks and property values that you select.
Note
When you create a pool-type storage pool, and the FAST VP enabler is installed, the autotiering status for that pool is automatically set to Scheduled. By default, the pool uses
the default auto-tiering schedule until a new schedule is created. At any time, you can
change the auto-tiering status from Scheduled to Manual. This action removes the pool
from any auto-tiering schedule. To relocate the pool data, you must then use the Start
Data Relocation option.
Procedure
1. In the systems drop-down list on the menu bar, select the storage system.
2. Select Storage > Storage Configuration > Storage Pools.
3. In Pools, click Create.
4. In the General tab, under Storage Pool Parameters, select Pool.
The software assigns an ID to the storage pool. The default value is the smallest
available ID for the currently selected storage system. You cannot edit the value.
5. To prevent the pool from participating in the auto-tiering schedule, clear the
Scheduled Auto-Tiering check box. The auto-tiering state for the pool is set to Manual.
6. In Storage Pool Name, assign a name to the pool. You can change the default name
that displays. This name must be unique across all pools.
7. For each disk type available in the pool, a default RAID configuration and number of
disks appears. If a disk type is not available for the pool, it does not display. If you
have multiple disk types available for use in the pool, set the value to 0 if you do not
want to include a specific disk type in the pool.
The software automatically populates the number of disks with the recommended
value for the selected RAID configuration. Alternatively, you can select a different
number of disks up to the maximum number of disks supported for pools for the
storage-system type.
8. If you want to manually choose the disks, under Disks, select Manual.
a. Click Select.
b. In Disk Selection, if the disks you want in the storage pool are in just one
enclosure, then click that enclosure in Select From.
c. For each disk under Selected Disks that you do not want in the storage pool, select
the disk and then click the left arrow.
The disk moves from Selected Disks to Available Disks. The value in the Unused
Disks for Hot Spares column in Disk Summary changes based on your disk
selections.
d. For each disk under Available Disks that you want in the storage pool, select the
disk and then click the right arrow.
The disk moves from Available Disks to Selected Disks. The value in the Unused
Disks for Hot Spares column in Disk Summary changes based on your disk
selections.
e. When Selected Disks includes all the disks you want, click OK.
9. Optionally, assign advanced properties for the pool. Click the Advanced tab:
a. Add a text description for the pool.
b. Specify the consumed capacity (% full threshold) of the pool that will trigger an
alert.
Create a pool
10.Click Apply to create the pool. You can now create additional pools, or click Cancel to
close the dialog box.
An icon for the new pool is visible in Storage > Pools/RAID Groups > Pools. Once the
pool is in the Initializing state, you can create LUNs within the pool.
a. Determine whether you want to enable power settings for the RAID group.
b. Determine whether you want the stripe element size to be 128K or 1024K (High
Bandwidth Reads). Some read intensive applications may benefit from a larger
stripe element size. The high bandwidth stripe element size is available for RAID 5
RAID groups that contain 5 disks (4+1). The High Bandwidth Reads option is not
supported on Flash drives.
7. Click Apply to create the RAID group storage pool. You can now create additional RAID
group storage pools, or click Cancel to close the dialog box.
You can now create LUNs within the RAID group.
Expand a pool
Expands the physical user capacity of a storage pool by adding disks to the pool. The
maximum number of disks allowed in a storage pool is based on storage-system type and
the new disks should be the same type as what is currently in the storage pool.
Procedure
1. Select a storage system.
2. Select Storage > Storage Configuration > Storage Pools > Pools.
3. Do one of the following:
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By default, the Automatic option for disk selection is enabled. For each disk type that
is available in the pool, a default RAID configuration and number of disks to add
appears. If a disk type is not available for the pool, it does not display. Change the
RAID configuration or number of disks if necessary.
If you select Manual and then click Select, you can manually select the disks you want
to add to the storage pool.
4. After you add all the disks that you want to the storage pool, click OK to begin the
expand operation. The software validates the disk configuration and if valid,
successfully completes the operation. If the software discovers problems with the
configuration, it returns an appropriate error or warning message.
Expand a pool
d. On the RAID Group Properties window, select the Disks tab, and then make sure
that the disks you want are listed in that RAID group.
e. If the RAID group contains the disks you want, unbind all the LUNs in the RAID
group.
2. Delete all LUNs in a RAID group.
a. In the Details pane, click the LUNs tab.
b. Right-click the icon for a LUN in the RAID group, and then click Delete.
c. Click Yes.
d. When all LUNs in the RAID group are deleted, you can delete the RAID group.
3. Delete the RAID group.
a. Right-click the icon for the RAID group you want to delete, and then click Delete.
b. Click OK.
Storage Pools
A storage pool is an aggregation of disk storage that Automatic Volume Management
(AVM) uses to create and extend file systems. The VNX system supports system-defined
storage pools, user-defined storage pools, and mapped pools.
A mapped pool is a storage pool that is dynamically created during the normal storage
discovery (diskmark) process for use on the VNX for File. It is a one-to-one mapping with
either a VNX storage pool or a FAST Symmetrix Storage Group. A mapped pool can contain
different types of LUNs that use any combination of data services (thin, thick, autotiering, mirrored, VNX compression). However, for the best file system performance, EMC
recommends that the mapped pool contain only the same type of LUNs that use the same
data services (all thick; all thin; all the same auto-tiering options; all mirrored or none
mirrored; all compressed or none compressed).
AVM is a feature of the VNX for File that allows you to create and manage volumes
automatically, without manual volume management by an administrator. AVM organizes
disk volumes into storage pools containing space that can be allocated to file systems.
Managing Volumes and File Systems with VNX AVM contains additional storage pool
information.
Flash drives behave differently than Performance or Capacity drives, and AVM therefore
uses different logic to configure file systems on Flash drives. To configure Flash drives for
maximum performance, AVM may select more disk volumes than are needed to satisfy
the requested capacity. While the individual disk volumes are no longer available for
manual volume management, the unused Flash drive space is still available for creating
additional file systems or extending existing file systems. Managing Volumes and File
Systems with VNX AVM contains additional information about using Flash drives.
Procedure
1. Select Storage > Storage Configuration > Storage Pools for File.
2. Click Create.
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3. In the Create from field, select whether you want to use a storage pool or a meta
volume to create a new pool. Choosing Storage Pool allows you to create a pool by
specifying a size. Choosing Meta Volume allows you to create a pool by using
volumes.
4. In the Name field, specify a name for the new storage pool.
The storage pool name must be unique on a particular VNX for file. It can be up to 255
characters long, and can include only letters, numbers, hyphens (-), underscores (_),
and periods (.). The name cannot begin with a number, hyphen, or period.
5. In the Description field, type a description of the storage pool.
There is no limit on the number of characters used in the description. Entry of a
description is optional.
6. If you chose to create the storage pool from a Storage Pool:
a. From the Template Pool drop-down list, select the storage pool to use that has
system-defined storage pools with space available.
Note
9. Click OK.
The storage pool name must be unique on a particular system. It can be up to 255
characters long, and can include only letters, numbers, hyphens (-), underscores (_),
and periods (.). The name cannot begin with a hyphen or period.
4. In the Description field, modify the description of the storage pool.
5. Select the Slice Pool Volumes by Default option to enable AVM to slice member
volumes from the storage pool when pool space is allocated to a file system.
If you enable the option, any file system created from this pool will be created using
slice volumes.
If you disable this option, AVM creates a new file system from the pool by allocating
entire unused disk volumes to the file system; this is critical to some features. For
instance, TimeFinder/FS, an application that uses only Symmetrix storage, requires its
associated file systems to have exclusive use of all disk volumes as it does not
recognize sliced volumes created by the host VNX for file.
6. Click OK.
Flash drives behave differently than Performance or Capacity drives, and AVM therefore
uses different logic to configure file systems on Flash drives. To configure Flash drives for
maximum performance, AVM may select more disk volumes than are needed to satisfy
the requested capacity. While the individual disk volumes are no longer available for
manual volume management, the unused Flash drive space is still available for creating
additional file systems or extending existing file systems. Managing Volumes and File
Systems with VNX AVM contains additional information about using Flash drives.
Procedure
1. Select Storage > Storage Configuration > Storage Pools for File.
2. Select the name of the storage pool you want to extend.
If Automatic Extension is enabled for a system-defined storage pool, you cannot
select the pool. System-defined storage pools are extended automatically if there are
any unused disk volumes available that fit the storage profiles associated with the
system-defined storage pools based on need.
3. Click Extend.
4. If you are extending the storage pool by specifying the size:
a. From the Template Pool drop-down list, select the storage pool to use that has
system-defined storage pools with space available.
Note
d. In the Number of Stripe Members box, specify the number of members needed in
the stripe. The minimum value is 2. The recommended size for the specified pool
displays as the default in this box when the page is opened and when you change
the Template Pool option. The recommended size for most pools is 4.
For backend pools, such as for VNX for Block storage pools, you cannot specify the
stripe size. A value of N/A is displayed. For storage pools with Flash drives, AVM
identifies how to stripe and you cannot specify an override. A value of N/A is
displayed.
5. If you are extending the storage pool by adding volumes to it, from the Add Volumes
section, select one or more volumes to extend the storage pool. Only volumes of the
same disk type already used in the pool are available for selection.
If the selected storage pool has no member volumes, all volumes available in the
system appear in lists based on their disk types. You can only select volumes of the
same type to extend the pool. When you select a volume of a particular disk type, the
lists of all other disks types are disabled. If all the volumes are unselected, all the lists
are enabled.
6. Click OK.
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2. Before deleting a user-defined storage pool, select the pool and click Properties to
display a list of objects that use the pool. View the Used by field to find what needs to
be removed from the pool before it can be deleted.
Shrink the size of a storage pool on page 11contains information on removing objects
from the pool.
3. Select the names of the user-defined storage pools you want to delete.
To choose more than one, select one name, and then press Ctrl-click to choose others
or press Shift-click to choose a range.
The rows for the selected storage pools are highlighted.
4. Click Delete.
The Confirm Delete page appears.
5. Select Perform Recursive Delete if you want to delete not only the storage pools, but
also their member volumes.
The deep deletion of each volume stops when the delete operation encounters either
an underlying volume in use or a disk volume (disk volumes cannot be deleted).
If you do not select the Perform Recursive Delete option, the volumes in the pool
remain as stand-alone volumes after the delete completes.
6. Click OK.
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