Dell MD3620I, MD3600I owner manual RAID Controller Virtual Disk States Description

3Provide host server access.

4Create mappings to associate the virtual disks with the host servers.

NOTE: Host server access must be created before mapping virtual disks.

Disk groups are always created in the unconfigured capacity of a storage array. Unconfigured capacity is the available physical disk space not already assigned in the storage array.

Virtual disks are created within the free capacity of a disk group. Free capacity is the space in a disk group that has not been assigned to a virtual disk.

Virtual Disk States

Table 4-2 describes the various states of the virtual disk, recognized by the storage array.

Table 4-2. RAID Controller Virtual Disk States

State	Description
Optimal	The virtual disk contains physical disks that are online.
Degraded	The virtual disk with a redundant RAID level contains an inaccessible
	physical disk. The system can still function properly, but performance
	may be affected and additional disk failures may result in data loss.
Offline	A virtual disk with one or more member disks in an inaccessible
	(failed, missing, or offline) state. Data on the virtual disk is no longer
	accessible.
Force online	The storage array forces a virtual disk that is in an Offline state to an
	Optimal state. If all the member physical disks are not available, the
	storage array forces the virtual disk to a Degraded state. The storage
	array can force a virtual disk to an Online state only when a sufficient
	number of physical disks are available to support the virtual disk.

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Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts