Dell MD3200, MD3220 owner manual Virtual Disk Expansion, Using Free Capacity, 132

NOTE: If the RAID level of the disk group is RAID level 5, or RAID level 6, and the expansion enclosure has enclosure loss protection, Display only physical disks that ensures enclosure loss protection is displayed and is selected by default.

4in the Available physical disks area, select physical disks up to the allowed maximum number of physical disks.

NOTE: You cannot mix different media types or different interface types within a single disk group or virtual disk.

5Click Add.

A message prompts you to confirm your selection.

6To add the capacity to the disk group, click Yes.

You can also use the Command Line Interface (CLI) on both Windows and Linux hosts to add free capacity to a disk group.

After the capacity expansion is completed, additional free capacity is available in the disk group for creation of new virtual disks or expansion of existing virtual disks.

Virtual Disk Expansion

Virtual disk expansion is a dynamic modification operation that increases the capacity of standard virtual disks.

NOTE: Snapshot repository virtual disks can be expanded from the CLI or from MDSM. All other virtual disk types are expandable only from the CLI.

If you receive a warning that the snapshot repository virtual disk is becoming full, you may expand the snapshot repository virtual disk from MDSM. See "Snapshot Repository Capacity" on page 152 for step-by-step instructions.

Using Free Capacity

You can increase the capacity of a virtual disk using the free capacity on the disk group of the standard virtual disk or the snapshot repository virtual disk.

The Free Capacity node, shown in the Logical pane, is a contiguous region of unassigned capacity on a defined disk group. When increasing virtual disk capacity, some or all of the free capacity may be used to achieve the required final capacity. Data on the selected virtual disk remains accessible while the process for increasing virtual disk capacity is in progress.

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Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks