Configuration : Understanding RAID Levels : Creating a Virtual Drive Using Simple Configuration

Creating a Virtual Drive Using Simple Configuration
Simple configuration mode is the quickest and easiest way to create a new storage configuration. When you select simple configuration mode, the system creates the best configuration possible using the available drives.
 
Follow these steps to create a new storage configuration in a simple configuration mode.
1.
Select the controller node, and select Operations>>Create Virtual Drive in the menu bar, as shown in the following figure.
Figure 22 Virtual Drive Creation Menu
 
 
The dialog for choosing the configuration mode (simple or advanced) appears, as shown in the following figure.
Figure 23 Virtual Drive Creation Mode
 
 
 
2.
Select the Simple radio button and click Next.
The Create Virtual Drive - Allocate capacity dialog appears, as shown in the following figure. If unconfigured drives are available, you have the option to use those unconfigured drives. If unconfigured drives are available, the Create Drive Group Settings window appears and you can go to step 4.
Figure 24 Create Virtual Drive
 
 
 
3.
The Create Virtual Drive - Drive Group and Virtual Drive Settings window appears, as shown in the following figure. If different types of drives are attached to the controller, such as HDD, SSD, SAS, and SATA, an option is available to allow drive type mixing.
The Summary window appears, as shown in Figure 26.
Figure 25 Create Drive Group Settings
 
 
4.
 
5.
When you use simple configuration, the RAID controller supports RAID levels 1, 5, and 6. In addition, it supports independent drives (configured as RAID 0). The screen text gives a brief description of the RAID level that you select. The RAID levels that you can choose depends on the number of drives available.
6.
Select the Assign a hot spare check box if you want to assign a dedicated hot spare to the new virtual drive.
If an unconfigured good drive is available, that drive is assigned as a hot spare. Hot spares are drives that are available to replace failed drives automatically in a redundant virtual drive.
7.
Select the Use drive security check box if you want to set a drive security method.
The LSI SafeStore™ Data Security Service encrypts data and provides disk-based key management for your data security solution. This solution protects the data in the event of the theft or loss of drives.
8.
Use the drop-down menu in the Virtual drives field to select the number of virtual drives you want to create.
9.
10.
Click Next.
The Create Virtual Drive - Summary window appears, as shown in the following figure. This window shows the selections you made for a simple configuration.
Figure 26 Create Virtual Drive - Summary Window
 
 
11.
Click Back to return to the previous window to change any selections or click Finish to accept and complete the configuration.
The new virtual drive is created after you click Finish. After the configuration is completed, a dialog box notifies you that the virtual drives were created successfully.
 
*NOTE  
If you create a large configuration using drives that are in a powersave mode, it could take several minutes to spin up the drives. A progress bar appears as the drives spin up. If any of the selected unconfigured drives fail to spin up, a box appears that identifies the drive or drives.