Dell MD3200, MD3220 owner manual Storage Partitioning, 126

Keep these guidelines in mind when you change the RAID level of a disk group:

•You cannot cancel this operation after it begins.

•The disk group must be in Optimal status before you can perform this operation.

•Your data remains available during this operation.

•If you do not have enough capacity in the disk group to convert to the new RAID level, an error message appears, and the operation does not continue. If you have unassigned physical disks, use the Disk Group>> Add Free Capacity (Physical Disks) option to add additional capacity to the disk group. Then retry the operation.

To change the RAID level of a disk group:

1Select the Logical tab.

2Select the disk group.

3Select Disk Group→ Change→ RAID Level.

4Select the RAID level (RAID Level 0, RAID Level 1, RAID Level 5, or RAID Level 6). The currently selected option is designated with a dot.

5Click Yes.

The RAID level operation begins.

Storage Partitioning

A storage partition is a logical entity consisting of one or more virtual disks that can be accessed by a single host or shared among hosts that are part of a host group. The first time you map a virtual disk to a specific host or host group, a storage partition is created. Subsequent virtual disk mappings to that host or host group do not create another storage partition.

One storage partition is sufficient if:

•Only one attached host accesses all of the virtual disks in the storage array.

•All attached hosts share access to all of the virtual disks in the storage array.

When you choose this type of configuration, all of the hosts must have the same operating system and special software (such as clustering software) to manage virtual disk sharing and accessibility.

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Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks