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Virtual Disk Properties and Tasks

Dell OpenManage™ Storage Management User's Guide

  Virtual Disk Properties

  Virtual Disk Tasks

Use this window to view information about the virtual disks and execute virtual disk tasks.

Virtual Disk Properties

The virtual disk properties can vary depending on the model of the controller. Virtual disk properties may include:

Property

Definition

Status

These icons represent the severity or health of the storage component. See Storage Component Severity for more information.

Name

This property displays the virtual disk name.

State

This property displays the current status of the virtual disk. Possible values are:

  • Ready — The virtual disk is functioning normally.

  • Degraded — The virtual disk has suffered a failure of a component and is operating in a degraded state.

  • Resynching — A consistency check or reconfiguration is being performed on the virtual disk.

  • Failed — The virtual disk has suffered a failure of one or more components and is no longer functioning.

  • Failed Redundancy Failing — The virtual disk has lost redundancy due to a drive failure. An additional drive in the virtual disk is receiving S.M.A.R.T. alerts and may fail, causing data loss.

  • Background Initialization — A background initialization is being performed on the virtual disk.

  • Formatting — The virtual disk is being formatted. Formatting applies to the PERC 2, 2/Si, 3/Si, 3/Di, and CERC SATA1.5/6ch controllers. See Format or Initialize for more information.

  • Initializing — The virtual disk is being initialized. Initialization applies to the PERC 2/SC, 2/DC, 3/SC, 3/DCL, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, and CERC ATA100/4ch controllers. See Format or Initialize for more information.

Note: On some controllers, the virtual disk state is not updated until the controller performs an I/O operation. See I/O Requirements for Detecting Drive Status Changes for more information.

Device Name

This property displays the operating system device name for this object.

Read Policy

This property displays the read policy that the controller is using for this virtual disk. See RAID Controller Read, Write, and Cache Policy.

Write Policy

This property displays the write policy that the controller is using for this virtual disk. See RAID Controller Read, Write, and Cache Policy.

Cache Policy

This property displays the cache policy that the controller is using for this virtual disk. See RAID Controller Read, Write, and Cache Policy.

Layout

This property displays the RAID level.

Size

This property displays the total capacity of the virtual disk.

Note: The algorithm for calculating the virtual disk size rounds a value of 0.005 or less down to 0.00 and a value between 0.006 and 0.009 up to 0.01. For example, a virtual disk size of 819.725 will be rounded down to 819.72. A virtual disk size of 819.726 will be rounded up to 819.73.

Stripe Size

This property displays the stripe size of the virtual disk.

Virtual Disk Tasks

Do the following to execute a virtual disk drop-down menu task:

  1. Expand the Storage tree object to display the controller objects.

  2. Expand a controller object.

  3. Select the Virtual Disks object.

  4. Select a task from the Available Tasks drop-down menu.

  5. Click Execute.

Note: Different controllers support different features. For this reason, the tasks displayed on the Tasks drop-down menu can vary depending on which controller is selected in the tree view.
Virtual Disk Drop-down Menu Tasks:

Reconfigure

Use the Reconfigure task to change the virtual disks properties. For example, you can use this task to add array disks or change the RAID level. See Virtual Disk Task: Reconfigure (Step 1 of 3) for more information.

Format or Initialize

Use the Format or Initialize task to erase the files and remove the file systems on a virtual disk. Some controllers require that you initialize a virtual disk before it can be used. See Format or Initialize for more information.

Cancel Background Initialization

On PERC 3/SC, 3/DCL, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, and CERC ATA100/4ch controllers, background initialization of redundant virtual disks begins automatically after the virtual disk is created. Because the initialization is run in the background, other processes can continue while the initialization completes.

The background initialization of a redundant virtual disk prepares the virtual disk for parity information and improves write performance. It is important that the background initialization be allowed to run to completion. You can, however, cancel the background initialization. When you do so, the controller will restart the background initialization at a later time. See Background Initialization on PERC 3/SC, 3/DCL, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, and CERC ATA100/4ch Controllers for more information.

Use the Cancel Background Initialization task to cancel the virtual disk initialization.

Note: On the PERC 2/SC, 2/DC, 3/SC, 3/DCL, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, and CERC ATA100/4ch controllers, the controller firmware uses the rebuild rate setting to control the system resource allocation for the Background Initialization task. See Set Rebuild Rate for more information.

Restore Dead Segments

Use the Restore Dead Segments task to recover data from a RAID-5 virtual disk that has been corrupted. The Restore Dead Segments task attempts to reconstruct data from a corrupt portion of an array disk included in a RAID-5 virtual disk. The Restore Dead Segments task uses the parity or redundant information to reconstruct the lost data. This task is not always able to recover lost data.

Delete

Use the Delete task to destroy all data on the virtual disk. See Virtual Disk Task: Delete for more information.

Assign and Unassign Dedicated Hot Spare

Use the Assign Dedicated Hot Spare task to assign a disk as a backup for a single virtual disk. See Assign and Unassign Dedicated Hot Spare for more information.

Check Consistency

Use the Check Consistency task to verify the accuracy of the redundant (parity) information. This task only applies to redundant virtual disks. When necessary, the Check Consistency task rebuilds the redundant data. If the virtual disk has a Degraded status, running a check consistency may be able to return the virtual disk to Ready status.

Note: On the PERC 2/SC, 2/DC, 3/SC, 3/DCL, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, and CERC ATA100/4ch controllers, the controller firmware uses the rebuild rate setting to control the system resource allocation for the Check Consistency task. See Set Rebuild Rate for more information.

Cancel Check Consistency

Use the Cancel Check Consistency task to stop a check consistency operation that is in progress.

Pause Check Consistency

Use the Pause Check Consistency task to pause a check consistency while it is in progress.

Resume Check Consistency

Use the Resume Check Consistency task to resume a check consistency after it has been paused.

Blink and Unblink

The Blink and Unblink tasks blink or unblink the lights on the array disks included in the virtual disk. See Blink and Unblink for more information.

Rename

Use the Rename task to change the virtual disk's name. See Virtual Disk Task: Rename for more information.

Note: On the CERC SATA1.5/2s controller, you cannot change the default name of a concatenated virtual disk.

Change Policy

Use the Change Policy task to change a virtual disk's read, write, or cache policy. See RAID Controller Read, Write, and Cache Policy for more information.

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