Creating dynamic volumes

Once the disk groups are created, make the disks within them usable by creating the dynamic volumes that will store data.

Note:

When assigning drive letters to volumes, ensure that the drive letters that you assign are available on all nodes.

To create dynamic volumes

  1. Launch the VEA console from Start > All Programs > Veritas > Veritas Storage Foundation > Veritas Enterprise Administrator or, on Windows 2012 operating systems, from the Apps menu, and select a profile if prompted.
  2. Click Connect to a Host or Domain.
  3. In the Connect dialog box select the host name from the pull-down menu and click Connect.

    To connect to the local system, select localhost. Provide the user name, password, and domain if prompted.

  4. To start the New Volume wizard, expand the tree view under the host node to display all the disk groups. Right click a disk group and select New Volume from the context menu.
  5. At the New Volume wizard opening screen, click Next.
  6. Select the disks for the volume.
    • Make sure the appropriate disk group name appears in the Group name drop-down list. For Site Preference, leave the setting as Siteless (the default).

    • Automatic disk selection is the default setting. To manually select the disks, click Manually select disks and use the Add and Remove buttons to move the appropriate disks to the Selected disks list. Manual selection of disks is recommended.

    • You may also check Disable Track Alignment to disable track alignment for the volume. Disabling track alignment means that the volume does not store blocks of data in alignment with the boundaries of the physical track of the disk.

    • Click Next.

  7. Specify the volume attributes.
    Specify volume attributes
    • Enter a volume name. The name is limited to 18 ASCII characters and cannot contain spaces or forward or backward slashes.

    • Select a volume layout type. To select mirrored striped, click both the Mirrored checkbox and the Striped radio button.

    • If you are creating a striped volume, the Columns and Stripe unit size boxes need to have entries. Defaults are provided.

    • Provide a size for the volume.

      If you click on the Max Size button, a size appears in the Size box that represents the maximum possible volume size for that layout in the dynamic disk group.

    • In the Mirror Info area, select the appropriate mirroring options.

    • Click Next.

  8. In the Add Drive Letter and Path dialog box, assign a drive letter or mount point to the volume. You must use the same drive letter or mount point on all systems in the cluster. Make sure to verify the availability of the drive letter before assigning it.
    • To assign a drive letter, select Assign a Drive Letter, and choose a drive letter.

    • To mount the volume as a folder, select Mount as an empty NTFS folder, and click Browse to locate an empty folder on the disk.

    • Click Next.

  9. Create an NTFS file system.
    • Make sure the Format this volume checkbox is checked and click NTFS.

    • Select an allocation size or accept the default.

    • The file system label is optional. SFW makes the volume name the file system label.

    • Select Perform a quick format if you want to save time.

    • Select Enable file and folder compression to save disk space. Note that compression consumes system resources and performs encryption and decryption, which may result in reduced system performance.

    • Click Next.

  10. Click Finish to create the new volume.
  11. Repeat these steps to create additional volumes.

    Create the cluster disk group and volumes on the first node of the cluster only.