You can reach the most commonly used features of Array Manager through the Quick Access window. Clicking an icon in this window takes you directly to that feature.
To use Array Manager, you should already be familiar with storage management terms and concepts. If you are not, you should read the Storage Management Concepts chapter before using Array Manager. You can also continue by following the steps in the chapter A Tutorial: Learning Array Manager.
The Quick Access window appears when you start Array Manager. You can also reach this window from the View menu.
Note When using the PowerVault 660F controller, some options on the Quick Access
Window may not function properly. In this case, highlight the appropriate object in
the tree view hierarchy and select the option from the Task pulldown menu.
If the Quick Access window is not already displayed, display this window by selecting the Quick Access Window option from the View pull-down menu.
Click the Create Virtual Disk button on the Quick Access Window. The Create Virtual Disk wizard appears.
Note When using the PowerVault 660F controller, the Create Virtual Disk option on the
Quick Access Window may not function properly. In this case, you can use the Task
pulldown menu to create a virtual disk. See Create Virtual Disk for more
information on creating a virtual disk for the PowerVault 660F.
Read the first wizard, which introduces the concept of virtual disks. Click Next to continue. The Select Creation Mode window appears.
Select Express or Custom and click Next to continue.
Express Mode examines your current physical disk layout and available space, then calculates an appropriate virtual disk layout for you.
Custom Mode allows for a more detailed configuration and should be used by experienced administrators with a good knowledge of RAID levels and hardware. Choosing custom mode allows you to pick the array disks to use to create the virtual disk. The process is otherwise identical to express mode.
Enter a virtual disk type, size, and other attributes and click Next to continue or Back to return to the previous screen.
Note Do not type a number after the virtual disk name, because Array Manager numbers
the virtual disk automatically after it is created. You may want to just leave the
name "Virtual Disk."
You then see the Default Disk Selection window. Array Manager automatically selects the number of disks required for the selected operation. Click Back to make changes or Next to continue.
If you chose Custom mode, use the wizard screen to select disks and attributes for
your virtual disk before clicking Next to continue.
Click Finish to create the virtual disk.
When initializing is complete, the virtual disk appears in the tree view of the Array
Manager console.
If the newly created virtual disk does not appear under Disks in the tree view, then perform a rescan by selecting Rescan from the View pull-down menu. Rescan forces the Array Manager software to locate and query all the objects in the system. This can take several minutes if there are numerous disks on the system.
The Create Volume wizard contains information about creating both partitions and dynamic volumes. To create a partition, use the instructions in the next topic in this chapter. To create a dynamic volume, use the instructions in the Create a Dynamic Volume topic later in this chapter.
You can create partitions only on basic disks. To check the disk type, click the disk and look at the Type column in the right pane.
If the Quick Access window is not already displayed, display this window by selecting the Quick Access Window option from the View pull-down menu.
Click the Create Volume button on the Quick Access window. The Create Volume wizard appears. You can read information about partitions and volumes and then click Next to continue.
You are asked to select whether to create a partition or a volume. Click Next.
If the disk you have selected is a basic disk, the partition radio button is highlighted.
You can create a partition only on a basic disk. To upgrade to a dynamic disk, see
Upgrade a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk later in this chapter.
The Create Volume wizard asks you to select a type and size of the partition. Select Primary or Extended. Click Next to continue.
Select a disk for the partition.
Choose a free space for the partition. Click Next to continue.
Assign a drive letter to this volume, if you wish. Click Next to continue.
Format the volume using either NTFS, FAT or FAT32. File and folder compression is supported only on NTFS volumes.
Choose a file system and formatting option:
Quick format — Formats the disk without checking for bad sectors.
Enable file and folder compression — Can be used only if you choose NTFS format.
Click Next to continue, then Finish.
If there is no free space on the selected disk, the free space selection is shaded. A
message appears on the wizard that indicates a lack of available disk space.
You can create dynamic volumes only on dynamic disks. To check the disk type, click the disk and look at the Type column in the right pane.
If the Quick Access window is not already displayed, display this window by selecting the Quick Access Window option from the View pull-down menu.
Click the Create Volume button on the Quick Access window. The Create Volume wizard appears. You can read information about partitions and volumes and then click Next to continue.
You are asked to select whether to create a partition or a volume. Make sure that the Dynamic volume button is highlighted.
If you have selected a dynamic disk, the Dynamic volume button will already be
highlighted. Click Next to continue.
You are asked to select the volume size, and the type of volume to create. Name the volume and provide a size in megabytes or gigabytes.
If you are creating the volume on a Windows 2000 system, you will see a Query Max
Size button. This button is not available on NT 4.0 systems. The Query Max Size
button works differently, depending on whether you had a disk selected when you
choose the Create Volume command.
If no disk was selected, clicking the Query Max Size button will display the maximum for all available disks in the Total volume size entry box.
If a disk was selected, clicking the Query Max Size button will display the maximum size for the selected disk. However, if you click the button a second time, the size will be the maximum for all available disks.
Select one of the following volume types:
Check Box
Description
Concatenated
Simple or spanned volume (selected by default).
Striped
You must have unallocated space on at least two dynamic disks to create a striped volume. The number of columns is automatically selected as 2.
RAID-5
You must have at least three dynamic disks with sufficient unallocated space to create a RAID-5 volume. Note that you cannot create a RAID-5 volume if you are using a Windows NT® Workstation or a Windows 2000 Professional machine.
Mirrored
You must have two dynamic disks with sufficient unallocated space to create a mirror. You can mirror only a simple or spanned volume. Any other selection will cause the mirror option on the menu to be inactive (dimmed). You cannot mirror a volume if you are using a Windows NT Workstation or Windows 2000 Professional machine.
Click Next to continue, Modify to change, or Back to alter your selections.
After all selections are made, verify your settings and click Next to continue.
Do one of the following:
Choose a drive letter. Click Next to continue. Your next step will be to format the volume.
If you do not want to assign a drive letter, check the appropriate box. This finishes the volume creation process. Click Next to continue, then Finish. The volume will appear without a drive letter and will need to be formatted.
If you are using a Windows 2000 machine, you can also mount the volume at an empty NTFS folder and click Next to continue.
Format the volume, using either NTFS or FAT. File and folder compression is supported only on NTFS volumes. FAT32 is also available under Windows 2000. You can also choose a label, which will appear in the left pane of the Array Manager console.
You can choose a formatting option, if desired. Click the appropriate check box if you want to select the following. By default, neither box is checked.
Quick format — Formats the disk without checking for bad sectors.
Enable file and folder compression — Can be used only if you choose NTFS format.
If the Quick Access window is not already displayed, display this window by selecting the Quick Access Window option from the View pull-down menu.
Click the Upgrade Disk button on the Quick Access window.
The Upgrade to Dynamic Disk wizard explains information about upgrading. Click Next to continue.
You are asked to select disks to upgrade. Add the basic disks you want to upgrade to the list of dynamic disks and click Next to continue, then Finish.
From the Array Manager console, you can view all the servers within any connected Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 2000 domain that have the Array Manager software installed on them. You need administrator-level access rights to install and use Array Manager.
Select Connect from the Computer pull-down menu or right-click the My Network Places icon and select Connect.
The Connect to Computer dialog box appears. Type the name of the computer to connect to.
The Remote Connection dialog box appears and displays the machine name and domain.
Note The Remote Connection dialog box will not come up if you met the security logon
conditions when you logged on initially—that is, your logon name and password
match the user name and password of an administrator account on the remote
computer. If the Remote Connection dialog box does not come up, see When
attempting to access a remote computer, you are denied access or get an error
message in the Troubleshooting chapter.
Enter a User Name. You can enter either a local administrator account name on the computer you choose to connect to or a domain administrator account for the remote computer or for a trusted domain of the remote computer.
Type the password.
If you selected a domain account, enter the domain by using the pull-down list. You can see these domain names under the Array Manager tree in My Network Places | Microsoft Windows Network.
Note If a domain name is not selected, then Array Manager uses a local user account.
The domain name is automatically updated in the window when you change it.
The computer icon for the computer you connected to displays in the tree view of the
Array Manager console.
Note For more information on remote connection, see the chapter on Remote
Management.
From the Quick Access window, use this button to move directly to the View Configuration dialog box. You can view the following information about hardware configuration:
Array Manager generates alerts that are added to the Microsoft Windows NT/2000 application event log. You can view these alerts in the Array Manager Events tab or in the Microsoft Event Viewer.
From the Quick Access window, use this button to move directly to the Events tab in the console. (You will need to close the Quick Access window to see the events in the right pane of the Array Manager console.)
Note For more information on the Event Log and the Events tab, see the chapter on Event
Monitoring.
At the bottom of the Quick Access window is a Show this window at startup check box. This check box is checked (selected) by default. When checked, the Show this window at startup check box indicates that the Quick Access window is automatically displayed when the Array Manager console is launched.
If you do not want the Quick Access window to be displayed when the Array Manager console is launched, uncheck (deselect) the Show this window at startup check box. The Quick Access window can be displayed at any time by selecting Quick Access Window from the View pull-down menu.
At the bottom of the Quick Access window is a Rescan at startup check box. This check box is unchecked (deselected) by default. When checked (selected) the Rescan at startup check box indicates that Array Manager will perform a rescan when the Array Manager Console is launched.
You can perform a rescan at any time by selecting Rescan from the View pull-down menu.
Note When Array Manager is used to manage controllers that support Microsoft Cluster
Server, it is possible that a resource change may have occurred while the Array
Manager console was not running. It is therefore suggested that you check (select)
the Rescan at startup check box on systems with cluster-enabled array controllers.
At the bottom of the Quick Access window is a Hide unknown Windows disks at startup check box. This check box is unchecked (deselected) by default.
The array manager console displays the disks available to the Windows operating system for read and write purposes under the Disks object in the tree view. These disks can be both array disks and virtual disks. When a disk is in an unknown state, it is no longer available to the operating system.
By default, disks that are in an unknown state are displayed in the console. If you do not wish the offline disks to be displayed in the console, select the Hide unknown Windows disks at startup check box.
When selecting or deselecting the Hide unknown Windows disks at startup check box, you need to restart the console in order for the new setting to take effect.
