Administrator Guide

Creating Server Volumes and Datastores
Creating a volume on a Windows server or creating a datastore on a VMware server automatically creates a Storage Center
volume and maps it to the server in one operation.
Related tasks
Create a Datastore and Map it to VMware ESX Server on page 164
Create a Volume and Map it to a Windows Server
You can create a volume, map it to a Windows server, format it, and mount it on the server in one operation.
Steps
1. Click the Servers view.
2. In the Servers pane, select the Windows server on which to create the volume.
3. In the right pane, click Create Volume. The Create Volume dialog box opens.
4. Enter a name for the volume in the Label field. The name is displayed as the disk label in Windows.
5. Select a unit of storage from the drop-down menu and enter the size for the volume in the Total Space field. The available
storage units are kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), and terabytes (TB).
6. Select the smallest amount of disk space that can be allocated for a file in the Allocation Size drop-down menu. The default
allocation value is dependent on the size of the volume.
7. Select how to format the volume from the Format Type drop-down menu:
● GPT: Formats the volume using the GUID Partition Table disk partitioning scheme.
● MBR: Formats the volume using the master boot record disk partitioning scheme.
8. Specify how to mount the volume in the Drive or Mount Point area:
● Use Next Available Drive Letter: The volume is mounted on the server using the next unused drive letter.
● Assign to Drive Letter: The volume is mounted on the server using the drive letter selected from the drop-down menu.
To update the list of drive letters that are available on the server, click Refresh.
● Mount to Empty NTFS Folder: The volume is mounted to an empty folder on the server. The path to the folder must
be entered in the text field. To verify the path entered is valid, click Verify mount point is available.
9. Select the Storage Center on which to create the volume.
● To manually choose a Storage Center, select it from the Storage Center drop‑down menu.
● To automatically choose a Storage Center based on capacity and performance, click Recommend a Storage Center.
The drop-down menu displays the recommended Storage Center.
10. If you want to specify a custom LUN, restrict mapping paths, configure multipathing, or make the volume read-only, click
Advanced Mapping.
11. To configure settings for the Storage Center volume that will be created, click Volume Settings. In the Volume Settings
dialog box that appears, modify the options as needed, then click OK.
a. Select the folder in which to create the volume from the Volume Folder drop-down menu.
b. Type notes in the Notes field as needed.
c. To schedule snapshot creation and expiration for the volume, apply one or more Snapshot Profiles by clicking Change
across from Snapshot Profiles.
d. If Chargeback is enabled, select the department to charge for storage costs associated with the volume by clicking
Change across from Chargeback Department.
e. To enable caching for reads on the volume, select the Enabled check box across from Read Cache.
f. To enable caching for writes on the volume, select the Enabled check box across from Write Cache.
g. To enable compression on eligible data in the volume, select the Enable check box across from Compression.
h. To use specific tiers and RAID levels for volume data, select the appropriate Storage Profile from the Storage
Profile drop-down menu. Using the Recommended Storage Profile allows the volume to take full advantage of data
progression.
i. If more than one Storage Type is defined on the Storage Center, select the Storage Type to provide storage from the
Storage Type drop-down menu.
To use a QoS profile, select a Volume QoS Profile or Group QoS Profile from the drop down lists.
12. Click OK.
Storage Center Server Administration
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