Dell PowerVault MD1120 Optimization Manual

Also see for PowerVault MD1 Series: User guide

Contents

Dell PowerVault MD1120 Optimization Manual Manual pdf 21 page image

A REFERENCE GUIDE FOR OPTIMIZING DELL™ POWERVAULT™ MD1XXX FAMILY SAS SOLUTION VER A02PAGE 21 6/16/20086. Dell OpenManage Server AdministratorDell OpenManage Server Administrator is a management application for configuring PowerEdgeservers. The Server Administrator’s configuration abilities for host-based RAID and non-RAID diskstorage are of particular interest for this paper. The Server Administrator enables you to performcontroller and enclosure functions from a single, graphical or command line interface. Thegraphical user interface (GUI) is wizard-driven with features for novice and advanced users anddetailed online help. The command-line interface is fully-featured and scriptable.The Server Administrator provides SAS support with the PERC 5/E and PERC 6/E controllers andthe PowerVault MD1xxx Family storage enclosures. Server Administrator also supports the SCSIand ATA for RAID technologies.Managing the PERC 5/E and PERC 6/E Controllers and the PowerVault MD1xxxFamily Storage EnclosuresAfter installing Server Administrator, the user can expand the storage object in the tree view todisplay the storage components attached to the system. These components include supportedcontrollers and enclosures, virtual disks, physical disks, and the connectors (SAS ports and/orSCSI channels) that comprise the topography of all attached storage.The PERC 5/E and PERC 6/E controllers and the PowerVault MD1xxx Family storage enclosuresare represented in Server Administrator’s tree view. You can select the PERC 5/E and PERC 6/Eobjects and the PowerVault MD1xxx Family object to display the status and to provide access toPERC 5/E and PERC 6/E controllers and PowerVault storage enclosure tasks.Using the Create Virtual Disk WizardsYou can create virtual disks using either Server Administrator’s Create Virtual Disk Express or theCreate Virtual Disk Advanced wizard. These wizards enable you to quickly configure virtual diskattributes, such as the RAID level, size, and physical disk selection.The Express wizard displays the RAID levels supported by the controller and enables you to selectthe desired RAID level and the disk size for a virtual disk. After you select the RAID level, theExpress wizard selects an appropriate number of physical disks for the RAID level. If there isavailable space on disks of this RAID level, these disks will be used for the creation of the virtualdisk. Otherwise, new disks of maximum size are used to create the virtual disk. The Expresswizard displays the physical disks it has selected so that you can confirm the selection beforecreating the virtual disk. The Express wizard also assigns a hotspare to your virtual disk, ifapplicable.The Advanced wizard allows you to select physical disks and specify additional virtual diskproperties such as the read, write, and cache policies.