CHAPTER 3

Managing Disk Volumes

This document describes redundant array of independent disks (RAID) concepts, and how to configure and manage RAID disk volumes using the server’s on-board serial attached SCSI (SAS) disk controller.

This chapter contains the following sections:

■“RAID Requirements” on page 39

■“Disk Volumes” on page 39

■“RAID Technology” on page 40

■“Hardware Raid Operations” on page 42

RAID Requirements

To configure and use RAID disk volumes on the server, you must install the appropriate patches. For the latest information on patches for the server, see your server’s firmware product notes for this release. Patches are available for download from http://www.sun.com/sunsolve. Installation procedures for patches are included in text README files that accompany the patches.

Disk Volumes

From the perspective of the server’s on-board disk controller, disk volumes are logical disk devices comprising one or more complete physical disks.

Once you create a volume, the operating system uses and maintains the volume as if it were a single disk. By providing this logical volume management layer, the software overcomes the restrictions imposed by physical disk devices.

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