What are the steps involved in creating a virtual disk?

When you configure a storage array, you must first organize the physical disks into disk groups, and then you can make virtual disks in a disk group. The hosts that are attached to the storage array write data to the virtual disks and read data from the virtual disks.

Note:

You can make disk groups in the unconfigured capacity of a storage array, and you can make virtual disks in the free capacity of a disk group. Unconfigured capacity is made up of the physical disks that are not already assigned to a disk group. Free capacity is space in a disk group that has not been assigned to a virtual disk.

The following figure shows a configured storage array. The storage array has nine physical disks. One disk group uses six physical disks. The disk group has been configured into three virtual disks. One physical disk has been configured as a hot spare. Two physical disks remain as unconfigured capacity.

Free capacity Disk group Virtual disk Virtual disk Virtual disk Hot spare physical disk Unconfigured capacity

If you want to make a virtual disk, use one of the subsequent procedures:

• Make a new disk group from unconfigured capacity. You can define the RAID level and capacity (the number of physical disks) for the disk group. You can define the parameters for the first virtual disk in the new disk group.
• Make a new virtual disk in the free capacity of a current disk group. Only define the parameters for the new virtual disk.

Related Links:

• What is a storage array?
• What is the difference between free and unconfigured capacity?