Dell MD3600I, MD3620I Management: System Interfaces

Management: System Interfaces 235

Management: System Interfaces

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

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

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

storage resources, such as MD3600i Series 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 MD3600i Series VDS Provider enables Windows tools, including the

Disk Manager, to access and configure storage array virtual disks.

The VDS Provider for the MD3600i Series storage arrays is available on the

MD3600i 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-

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

utilize snapshot and disk copy functionality provided by third-party storage

resources, such as MD3600i Series storage arrays. The combination of the

VSS component and the VSS Provider, included on the MD3600i Resource

media, enables the MD3600i Series storage 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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