A storage array is a storage entity managed by the storage management software. A storage array consists of a collection of both physical components and logical components. (The term "storage array" replaces the term "RAID
module," which was used in previous versions of the storage management software.)
Physical Components
The physical components of a storage array are described in the
following table.
Component
Description
RAID Controller Module
A RAID controller module consists of a board and that controls the physical disks and implements the storage management
software functions.
RAID Controller Module enclosure
A RAID controller module enclosure contains one or more RAID controller modules, power supply modules, fan modules and other supporting components in a single enclosure.
Physical Disk
A physical disk is an electromagnetic mechanical device that
provides the physical storage media for data.
Expansion enclosure
A expansion enclosure contains a set of physical disks, power supply modules, fan modules,
and other supporting components in a single enclosure.
Note: If your storage array contains mixed , a expansion enclosure for each physical disk type is displayed.
RAID Controller Module/expansion enclosure
Some storage array models combine both RAID controller module and physical disk components in the same enclosure.
Note: If your storage array contains mixed physical disk types, a expansion enclosure for each physical disk type
is displayed.
Logical Components
The physical disks in the storage array provide the physical storage capacity for data. Use the storage management software to configure the physical capacity into logical components (, , and storage array partitions). These components are the tools
that you use to configure, store, maintain, and preserve data on the storage array. The logical components of a storage array are described below:
Component
Description
Disk group
A disk group is a set of physical disks that are logically grouped together by the RAID controller modules in a storage array for the
purposes of creating one or more virtual disks for data storage.
Virtual Disk (or standard virtual disk)
A standard virtual disk is the basic structure you create on the storage array to store data. A virtual disk is configured across a disk group with a specific level to meet application needs for data availability and I/O performance. A virtual disk is seen by the operating system as one physical disk.
Note: A standard virtual disk that is participating in a relationship is represented by the following icons in the Logical View:
Primary virtual disk
Snapshot virtual disk
A snapshot virtual disk is a logical point-in-time image of a standard virtual disk in the storage array.
Free capacity
Free capacityis a contiguous region of unused capacity on a designated disk group.
You can use the space to create one or more virtual disks.
Note: In the Logical View of the , free capacity is shown as . Multiple Free Capacity nodes can exist on a disk group.
Unconfigured capacity
Unconfigured capacity is capacity that is present in the storage array from physical disks that have not been assigned to a disk group.
You can use the space to create new disk groups and virtual disks.
Note: Multiple Unconfigured Capacity nodes might be displayed if your storage array contains mixed . Each physical disk type has an associated Unconfigured Capacity node displayed under the Total Unconfigured Capacity node if are available in the expansion enclosure:
Storage array partition
A storage partition is a logical grouping of one or more storage array virtual disks. Storage Partitioning allows you configure a single storage array as multiple virtual storage arrays up to the maximum value enabled. Access to a storage partition can be restricted to particular or groups of hosts by defining a set of . A virtual disk-to-LUN mapping defines which host or will have access to a particular virtual disk in the storage array.
