Creating NMV Pools
If you are not familiar with Network Managed Volumes (NMVs), refer to About Network Managed Volume Pools for information. Before you create your pools, you must be familiar with the attributes of the different pool types in order to make the appropriate selections, refer to Pool Types for detailed information. In order to create NMVs, you must first create NMV pools and add raw disks to them. Ensure you have disks available for the pools, refer to Preparing Disks for NMV Pools.
Please keep in mind when creating NMV pools:
-
You can create an unlimited number of pools.
-
NMV-based virtual volumes must have a size which is a multiple of the NMV SAU size. Valid SAU sizes are between 1-2048 megabytes (and must be a power of 2). The default size is 128 MB. A 128 MB SAU size can safely handle pools containing up to 1000 TB of storage resources. If you intend on adding more than 1000 TB of storage to the pool, you should increase the SAU size accordingly. However, you may have to specify a smaller value when using certain operating systems (such as Solaris). Application server operating systems may have limitations on how they work with NMVs. Refer to our Technical Support Web site for operating system specifics.
-
Creating virtual volume mirrors from pools of the same size SAUs allows for greater optimization.
-
NMVs from dynamic pools are created with a default logical size of 2 terabytes (TB), but virtual volumes created from dynamic NMVs can be resized up to a maximum logical size of 1 petabyte (PB). After the virtual volume is mapped, the application server will discover a volume whose size is determined by the logical size. NMVs allocate physical storage to these large virtual volumes as demanded by the application servers, allowing your application servers to do their own capacity planning. As the application encroaches on the current physical allocation, additional blocks (SAUs) are automatically taken from the available space in the pool. However, be prepared to add disks to the pool as application servers allocate space and thresholds are approached. After creating your pool, it is important to set the Alert Capacity Threshold to alert you in the Event Log if your pool storage reserves become low.
-
If you are using Dual Path (DP) configurations, refer to About Dual Path for important information.
Follow the steps below to create NMV pools:
-
In the Managed Volumes tab of SANmanager, select the storage server pool folder in the left pane and choose New Pool from the context menu.
-
In the Creating New Pool dialog box, enter the desired size of the SAU in megabytes. Once the pool is created, the size cannot be changed. Valid sizes are between 1-2048 megabytes and must be a power of 2. The default setting is 128 MB.
-
In the Pool Type area, choose from Dynamic, Static Striped or Static Spanned.
-
Click OK.
-
Apply the configuration.
-
If you have created dynamic pools, you can set alerts for your pools, refer to Setting Alert Threshold.
Next, refer to Adding Disks to NMV Pools.