40 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts3 Provide host server access.4 Create 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 alreadyassigned in the storage array.Virtual disks are created within the free capacity of a disk group. Free capacityis the space in a disk group that has not been assigned to a virtual disk.Virtual Disk StatesTable 4-2 describes the various states of the virtual disk, recognized by thestorage array.Table 4-2. RAID Controller Virtual Disk StatesState DescriptionOptimal The virtual disk contains physical disks that are online.Degraded The virtual disk with a redundant RAID level contains an inaccessiblephysical disk. The system can still function properly, but performancemay be affected and additional disk failures may result in data loss.Offline A virtual disk with one or more member disks is in an inaccessible(failed, missing, or offline) state. Data on the virtual disk is no longeraccessible.Force online The storage array forces a virtual disk that is in an Offline state to anOptimal state. If all the member physical disks are not available, thestorage array forces the virtual disk to a Degraded state. The storagearray can force a virtual disk to an Online state only when a sufficientnumber of physical disks are available to support the virtual disk.
