Dell MD3200i, MD3220i Management: System Interfaces

Management: System Interfaces 223

Management: System Interfaces

The Microsoft® Virtual Disk Service (VDS) is a component of the Windows®

operating system. The VDS component utilizes third-part vendor specific

software modules, known as providers, to access and configure third-party

storage resources, such as MD3200i storage arrays. The VDS component

exposes a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that provides a

single interface for managing disks and other storage hardware. The MD3200i

Series VDS Provider enables Windows tools, including the Disk Manager, to

access and configure storage array virtual disks.

The VDS Provider for the MD3200i Series arrays is available on the MD3200i

Series resource media. For more information on VDS, see microsoft.com.

The Microsoft Volume Shadow-copy Service (VSS) is a component of the

Microsoft Windows operating system. The VSS component utilizes third-part

vendor specific software modules, known as providers, to access and utilize

snapshot and disk copy functionality provided by third-party storage

resources, such as MD3200i Series storage arrays. The combination of the

VSS component and the VSS Provider, included on the MD3200i Resource

media, enable the MD3200i Series arrays to be utilized by third-party and

Windows backup and snapshot applications.

NOTE: Virtual disks used as source virtual disks for VSS snapshots should have

names no longer than 16 characters.

The VSS hardware provider uses the source virtual disk name as a prefix for

the snapshot and repository virtual disk names. The resulting snapshot and

repository names are too long if the source virtual disk name exceeds 16

characters.

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