Virtual Disk Service; Volume Shadow-Copy Service - Dell PowerVault MD3000i Hardware Owner's Manual

Virtual Disk Service

The Microsoft Virtual Disk Service (VDS) is supported on your RAID storage
array. Microsoft VDS is a set of application programming interfaces (APIs)
that provides a single interface for managing disks and other storage
hardware, including creating volumes on those disks.
The Microsoft VDS installer service for storage provisioning is available on
the MD3000i Resource CD in the \windows\VDS_VSS directory. For more
information on VDS, see www.microsoft.com.
NOTE:
When registering VDS during your Windows setup, the registration
graphical user interface (GUI) prompts you to provide the name of your array
because settings in the GUI are array-specific, not host-specific.

Volume Shadow-Copy Service

The Microsoft Volume Shadow-copy Service (VSS) is a storage management
interface for Microsoft Windows Server
array to interact with third-party applications that use the VSS Application
Programming Interface. Microsoft VSS is included in the Windows
Server 2003 installation.
NOTE:
A volume is another term for virtual disk.
VSS attaches to the service and uses it to coordinate the creation of snapshot
virtual disks on the storage array. VSS-initiated snapshot virtual disks can be
triggered through backup tools, known as requestors. The VSS Provider
Configuration Tool makes available the following configuration options:
• Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Properties — This section contains a
drop-down list for the RAID level and a field for entering source virtual
disk capacity percentage for snapshot repositories.
• Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Location — This section contains a list
of preferences for the location of the snapshot repository virtual disk.
These preferences are honored whenever conditions permit.
The Microsoft VSS installer service for storage provisioning is available on the
MD3000i Resource CD in the \windows\VDS_VSS directory.
NOTE:
When registering VSS during your Windows setup, the registration
graphical user interface (GUI) prompts you to provide the name of your array
because settings in the GUI are array-specific, not host-specific.
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Using Your RAID Enclosure
®
2003. VSS enables your storage