Creating virtual disks Virtual disks (VDisks) Specifying zone information

Perform this task to create a virtual disk (VDisk) for a SAN Volume Controller.

Steps

Perform the following steps to create a virtual disk:

  1. From the IBM Director Task pane, click Multiple Device Manager (MDM). The MDM menu opens.
  2. Click Manage Storage Units. The Manage Storage Units menu opens.
  3. Drag the Virtual Disks icon from the Task pane to the Group Contenst pane. Drop the icon on the SAN Volume Controller for which you want to create a VDisk.. The Create Virtual Disk panel opens.
  4. Type a name for the new VDisk in the VDisk name field.

    The name must not exceed 15 characters and the first character must not be numeric. Also the name must not begin with the type of object being named, for example do not use a name like VDisk0001. If you leave the name blank, the system automatically assigns a virtual disk name.

  5. Select the MDisk group to which you want to add the new VDisk from the MDisk group list.
  6. Select the number of VDisks you want to create (1 - 1024) in the VDisk quantity field.

    The system automatically generates names for additional new VDisks by adding a prefix to the initial name you assigned. For example, PRW0001, PRW0002, PRW0003.

  7. Select the size of the VDisks you want to create (1 - 1024) in the VDisk size field. Select MB or GB from the list on the right.

    The maximum VDisk size that you can use for creating the virtual disk is displayed in the Maximum VDisk size field.

    Note:Note: This field is only enabled for sequential and striped VDisks.
  8. Click Format VDisk before to enable striped mode.
  9. Select the host to which you want the new VDisks assigned from the Host ports list.
    Note:Note: If the host port that you wish to select and the storage device ports are not in the same zone, you are given the option in step 9 to use the Create new zone panel to create a new zone that contains the selected ports.
  10. Click OK to create the VDisks and close the Create VDisks panel. If the creation is successful, the system displays a message such as, The following VDisks were successfully created VDisk names.
  11. Optionally, click Cancel to cancel the creation of new VDisks.
Result

The new VDisks are added to the MDisk table.

Note:Note: There are conditions under which the MDM repository may not be synchronized with the actual storage configuration. Symptoms of this state include:
  • SVC managed disks or virtual disks that have been created are not seen by MDM.
  • Storage system fibre=channel ports do not show up in the Create disk or Create volumes panel.
To fix this problem, issue the perform inventory collection command on the involved storage systems.
Related topics Virtual disks (VDisks) Specifying zone information

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