Setting Up Your Md Storage Solution; Creating Disk Groups; Creating Disk Groups Automatically - Dell PowerVault NX3600 Deployment Manual

Setting Up Your MD Storage Solution

This section assumes you have discovered and completed the initial configuration (naming, assigning iSCSI, and
management port IPs) of your PowerVault MD32x0i/MD36x0i storage arrays in accordance with the topology you plan to
use.
This section provides the steps necessary to configure the host group and virtual disks that are required for the NAS
cluster solution. For additional information regarding a task such as creating virtual disks, see the PowerVault Modular
Disk Storage Manager (MDSM) Help or the Dell PowerVault MD32x0i Owner's Manual at support.dell.com/manuals.
CAUTION: Correctly preparing the PowerVault Modular Disk (MD) storage array is critical for successfully
configuring your NAS solution.
NOTE: It is highly recommended that you set up SMTP email alerts on the MD-Series array to be cautioned in case
of failures that can impact data availability.
NOTE: PowerVault MDSM is available for download on support.dell.com.
NOTE: See the MD storage array documentation at support.dell.com/manuals.
NOTE: Additional configuration is required after completing the steps in the PowerVault Configuration Utility.
Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) must be disabled on the PowerVault MD32x0i storage array
and the storage array must be configured for two logical SANs.
Use the PowerVault MDSM to complete the following tasks:
1. Create disk groups.
NOTE: It is recommended that you create a disk group for each virtual disk. However, you can create multiple
virtual disks in a disk group.
2. Create virtual disk pairs.
3. Create hosts and host group.
4. Map the virtual disks to the host group.

Creating Disk Groups

You can create disk groups either:
• Automatically
• Manually

Creating Disk Groups Automatically

To create disk groups automatically:
1. Launch the PowerVault MDSM software on the management station.
2. Select the MD storage array you plan to use for your NAS storage.
See the Dell PowerVault MD32x0i storage array Deployment Guide at support.dell.com/manuals.
3
19