Creating a storage pool using the GUI

With available SDs, administrators can create a storage pool at any time. After being created, a storage pool can be expanded until it contains up to 256 SDs.

When creating a tiered storage pool, to attain optimal performance, make sure that the SDs of the metadata tier (Tier 0) are on the highest performance storage type.

Navigate to Home > Storage Management > Storage Pools, and click create to launch the Storage Pool Wizard.
Select either Untiered Storage Pool or Tiered Storage Pool.

Note: If you are creating a tiered storage pool, this will create Tier 1 User-data, of the tiered storage pool).
From the list of available SDs, select the SDs for the storage pool/tier.

Select at least four SDs for use in building the new storage pool/tier. To select an SD, select the check box next to the ID (Label).

An untiered storage pool cannot contain SDs on RAID systems with different disk types or RAID levels. Any attempt to create a storage pool from such dissimilar SDs will be refused.

A tiered storage pool can contain SDs on RAID systems with different disk types, as long as they are in different tiers. A tiered storage pool cannot, however, contain SDs with different RAID levels. Any attempt to create a storage pool with SDs that have different RAID levels will be refused.

For the most efficient use of storage capacity in an untiered storage pool or in a tier of a tiered storage pool, best practice is for all SDs be of the same capacity, width, stripe size, and disk size. However, after first acknowledging a warning prompt, you can create a storage pool with SDs that are not identically configured.
Specify the storage pool label.
Verify your settings, and click next to display a summary page.

The summary page displays the settings that will be used to create the storage pool/tier.

If you have already set up mirrored SDs for disaster preparedness or replication purposes, and you want the server to be aware of the mirror relationship, select the Look For Synchronously Mirrored System Drives check box.

Note: Before selecting the Look For Synchronously Mirrored System Drives check box, you must have finished configuring the mirrored SDs using the RAID tools appropriate for the system hosting the mirrored SDs. For example, you would use True Copy to create the mirrored SDs.

Note: The Look For Synchronously Mirrored System Drives check box is used only when setting up mirrored SD relationships using Hitachi TrueCopy. The Look For Synchronously Mirrored System Drives check box is not used with Hitachi Universal Replicator (HUR) or global-active device (GAD) software.
After you have reviewed the information, click create to create the storage pool/tier.
If you are creating an untiered storage pool, you can now either:
- Click yes to create file systems (refer to the File Services Administration Guide for information on creating file systems).
- Click no to return to the Storage Pools page without creating file systems.
If you are creating a tiered storage pool, you can now either:
- Click no to return to the Storage Pools page if you do not want to create the metadata tier (Tier 0) of a tiered storage pool.
- Click yes to display the next page of the wizard, which you use to create the metadata tier (Tier 0) of a tiered storage pool.
  1. Specify which SDs to use in the tier by selecting the check box next to the SD label.
  2. Click next to display the next page of the wizard, which is a summary page.
  3. If you have mirrored SDs, for disaster preparedness or replication purposes, and you want the server to be aware of the mirror relationship, select the Look For Synchronously Mirrored System Drives check box.
  4. After you have reviewed the information, click add to create the metadata (Tier 0) tier of the storage pool. A confirmation dialog appears, and you can now choose to create file systems in the storage pool, or you can return to the Storage Pools page.
    - Click yes to create file systems (refer to the File Services Administration Guide for information on creating file systems).
    - Click no to return to the Storage Pools page.
Note: After the storage pool has been created, it can be filled with file systems. For more information, see the File Services Administration Guide.