This tutorial chapter illustrates how two components of the Array Manager application, hardware RAID and software RAID, function together. You should read this chapter and follow all the steps if you are a new user or if you are getting reacquainted with the application.
In this chapter, you will learn how to do the following:
Create RAID-0 virtual disks from array disks.
Upgrade the virtual disks to dynamic disks.
Create a dynamic mirrored volume on the dynamic disks.
Note: For this tutorial, you should have four unused array disks under
Array Group 0(connected through a controller card) and Array
Manager software installed on your system. It is recommended that
your disks all be the same size.
To complete this tutorial, it is assumed that you are familiar with array disks and RAID concepts. Refer to the following sections or chapters for detailed information:
RAID functions can be implemented with either hardware RAID (through a RAID controller) or software RAID (RAID programming without specific hardware).
In this tutorial, you will use hardware RAID to create two RAID-0 virtual disks. Each virtual disk will contain two array disks. Once the virtual disks are created, they are displayed as disks in the Windows NT® or Windows® 2000 operating system.
Software RAID can be configured on top of the hardware RAID volumes and provide a powerful variety of features. In this tutorial, you will upgrade the two virtual disks, which are classified as basic disks, to dynamic disks. Then you will use Array Manager's software RAID functions to create a dynamic mirrored volume, as shown in the illustration above. The mirrored volume provides redundancy to your configuration.
Disk 0 in the above illustration refers to the computer's boot disk.
To get started with the tutorial, do the following:
Verify that you have four unused array disks connected through a controller card that supports hardware RAID, such as the PERC controller. Because the first two disks will be mirrored to the second two disks, the second pair should be the same size or larger than the first pair.
Open the Array Manager application. The Array Manager window appears. (If enabled, the Quick Access window appears. Close the Quick Access window.)
Note: The screens for this tutorial represent a server that has a storage
subsystem with a PERC controller. If you have a different controller,
the arrangement of storage objects in the GUI may vary slightly.
In the left pane, left-click on the plus signs (+) to browse down the subdirectories until you locate Array Group 0 under the Logical Array storage object, as shown in the following screen.
If you have a PERC controller, right-click Array Group 0. If you have a PowerVault 660F controller, right-click the disk group icon for the disk group you just created.
From the context menu, select Create Virtual Disk.
Read the contents in the Create Virtual Disk window. Click Next to continue.
The next window, Select Creation Mode, shows two options: Custom Mode and Express Mode. For this tutorial, Express Mode is recommended. Accept the default parent array group (Array Group 0).
Express Mode examines your current physical array disks and available space, then calculates where the virtual disk is laid out on the array disks.
Custom Mode allows for a more detailed configuration and should be used by experienced administrators with a good knowledge of RAID levels and hardware. Choosing Custom Mode allows you to pick the disks to use to create the virtual disk. The process is otherwise identical to Express Mode.
Click Next to continue.
The Select Virtual Disk Type window appears.
You are asked for the following information:
Name — Type in Virtual Disk or leave blank. A number will be appended to the name by the program. If you leave the entry box blank, the name Virtual Disk will be given to the virtual disk.
Type — The RAID level. Select RAID-0.
Size — The size of the virtual disk. Indicate a size that is the total capacity or close to the total capacity of the first two disks.
Stripe Size — Select the default 64 KB.
Read Policy — Select the default Read Cache Enabled.
Write Policy — Select the default Write Cache Enabled.
Cache Policy — Select the default Direct I/O.
The Default Disk Selection window appears. Array Manager automatically selects the number of disks required for the selected operation. Click Next to continue.
Using Custom Mode
If you chose Custom Mode, follow the instructions on the wizard to continue.
The final screen displays. The Rescan Disk Layout checkbox is checked by default. This process allows Microsoft® Windows NT/2000 to recognize the new virtual disk. A Rescan Disk Layoutcan be performed later if the box is not checked when you create the virtual disk.
Click Finish to create the virtual disk. You can now create volumes on the new virtual disk. Array Manager displays the virtual disk under Array Group 0. In the right pane, "Initializing" appears under the Status column and the progress is noted.
When initialization is complete, "Ready" appears under the Status column.
The new virtual disk appears in the General tab view similar to the example screen that follows. In the screen, Virtual Disk 0 is the boot disk and was already created. Virtual Disk 1 is the newly created disk.
If your configuration is similar to the one shown in the screen above, Virtual Disk 1 appears under Array Group 0 in the tree view in the left pane of the console window. If you click the plus sign (+), you will see Array Disk 0:1 and Array Disk 0:2, indicating that the virtual disk was created from these two array disks, as shown in the sample screen that follows.
Repeat steps 1 - 10 described in the preceding section to create a second striped virtual disk. Give it the default name of "Virtual Disk," select RAID-0, and make the disk the same size as the first virtual disk.
If the newly created virtual disks do not appear under Disks, then perform a rescan by selecting Rescan from the View pull-down menu. Rescan forces the Array Manager software to locate and query all the objects in the system. This can take several minutes if there are numerous disks in the system.
In the left pane, you will see the two new virtual disks under Array Group 0. Under the Disks node, you will see two new disks. In the sample screen that follows, each disk displays an error symbol because it does not yet have a disk signature on it. Most controllers require that the disk signature be added manually. The PERC 2, PERC 2/Si, PERC 3/Si, and PERC 3/Di controllers on Windows NT are the exceptions.
In the sample screen that follows, notice that the top computer node also displays the error symbol. Whenever there is an error on a subordinate storage object, the top node in the tree view displays an error symbol. Because the tree view can be collapsed down to the top computer node, it is important that it display the error condition so that you can be aware that an error exists even when the tree is fully collapsed.
When you have a virtual disk that requires a disk signature, you will see that fact noted in the disk listing of the General tab of the Array Manager console, as shown in the sample screen that follows.
This section explains how to upgrade a newly created virtual disk to a dynamic disk.
Note: On Windows NT, the disk must not contain partitions or
volumes. It should be an empty disk. On Windows 2000, the disk can
contain partitions and/or basic volumes.
Click the plus sign (+) on Disks to see the available disks.
Select one of the new virtual disks, and right-click on it to display a menu.
Select Upgrade to Dynamic Disk Group.
You are asked to select disks to upgrade. The disk you highlighted is selected by default and appears in the right pane under Upgrade these disks to dynamic. The other disk is shown on the left side of the window under Basic disks.
Select the other diskand click Add. This moves the disk into the right pane. You can upgrade multiple disks at once.
This is the final step in the process of creating a mirrored volume on the striped virtual disk. You will use the Create Volume wizard in this process.
Right-click on the icon of one of the upgraded disks and select Create Volume.
Read the information about partitions and volumes in the Create Volume wizard and then click Next to continue.
The Select Partition or Volume window appears. Because you have selected a Dynamic disk, the Dynamic Volumeradio button is selected. Click Next.
The Select Volume Type window appears. Name the volume and provide a size in MB or GB. If you leave the default size, the application will create a mirrored volume that fills both dynamic disk volumes.
Concatenated will be chosen by default. Since you are creating a mirrored volume, click the Mirroredcheckboxto request a mirrored volume. Click Next.
Note: The sample screen shown below was taken on a Windows NT
system, and thus it does not show the Query Max Size button that is
available on Windows 2000 systems. For more information on this
button, see Creating a Dynamic Volume in the Volume Management
chapter.
The Verify Disks window appears and shows the current configuration. (You can click Modify to choose different dynamic disks for the volume.)
Verify the disks that the volumes will be on. The wizard displays a view of the volumes. Click Next to continue, or Back to alter your selections.
Assign a drive letter. Click Next.
Note: The sample screen above was taken on a Windows NT system,
and thus it does not show the additional option of mounting a drive at
an empty NTFS folder that is available on Windows 2000 systems.
Format the volume, using either NTFS or FAT. If you are using Windows 2000, FAT32 is also given as a choice. You can leave the Allocation Unit Size as Default.
If desired, select a formatting option:
Quick format — Formats the disk without checking for bad sectors.
Enable file and folder compression — Can be used only if you choose NTFS format.
Click Next to continue, then Finish.
You now have a striped (hardware RAID) and a mirrored (software RAID) volume that you created from your hardware array disks. Click Volume 1 in the left pane, and the statistics appear in the right pane.
