Advanced Features; Storage Partitions - Dell PowerVault MD3000 Hardware Owner's Manual

Advanced Features

The RAID enclosure supports several advanced features:
• Storage Partitioning, including host-to-virtual disk mapping
• Virtual Disk Snapshots
• Virtual Disk Copy
NOTE:
Virtual Disk Snapshot and Virtual Disk Copy are premium features that must be activated separately. If you
have purchased these features, an activation card is supplied that contains instructions for enabling this
functionality.

Storage Partitions

Storage partitioning enables hosts to share access to virtual disks in a storage array. A storage partition is
a logical entity consisting of one or more virtual disks that can be accessed by a single host or shared
among hosts that are part of a host group. To create a storage partition, you first define a host or host
group, then define a host-to-virtual disk mapping.
Storage partitions give multiple hosts or host groups access to the same host-to-virtual disk mappings.
With these mappings, you can control which host or host group may have access to a virtual disk in your
storage array.
The first time you map a virtual disk to a specific host or host group, a storage partition is created. Any
subsequent mappings to that host or host group do not create new storage partitions.
Under the following conditions, only a single storage partition is required:
• You have only one attached host that will access all of the virtual disks in the storage array. A single host
can be attached to only one partition.
• You plan to have all attached hosts share access to all virtual disks on the storage array. When you
choose this type of configuration, all of the hosts must have the same operating system and must have
special software (such as clustering software) to manage virtual disk sharing and accessibility.
If either of the following is true, you must use more than one storage partition:
• You want specific hosts to access specific virtual disks in the storage array.
• You have hosts with different operating systems attached to the same storage array.
NOTE:
The storage array can support up to four storage partitions.
Host-to-Virtual Disk Mapping
The host server attached to a storage array accesses various virtual disks on the storage array through its
host ports. Specific virtual disk-to-LUN mappings to an individual host can be defined. In addition, the
host can be part of a host group that shares access to one or more virtual disks.
Using Your RAID Enclosure
37