This topic applies to the page in XInsight for managed systems running QSM 4.2 or later or XEVO 3.2 or later.

The Pool page provides options for creating and managing storage pools, disk groups, volumes, provisioning policies, and pool properties.

Go to Storage > Pool. Select a pool from the Pools panel to view its capacity, health, storage configuration, and available management options.

Create a Pool #

Click the + icon in the lower-left corner of the Pools panel to open the New Pool Creation wizard. The wizard guides the process of creating a pool, configuring its first disk group, and creating an initial volume.

The wizard generally includes the following stages:

1. Create Pool
2. Create Disk Group
3. Create 2nd Disk Group when Auto Tiering is enabled
4. Create Volume
5. Ready to Complete

Create Pool #

Enter a unique Pool Name. And select one of the following pool types:

• Thick Provisioning Pool: Preallocates storage capacity to provide consistent performance. Enable QCompact(Deduplication and Compression) as required; this feature requires at least 16 GB of system memory.
• Thin Provisioning Pool: Allocates storage capacity dynamically as data is written. Enable Auto Tiering to distribute data across different storage tiers.

Restriction: Volume Restore is supported only for thick-provisioning pools. Volumes in thin-provisioning pools cannot be restored using the Volume Restore feature.

Enable Pool Encryption when the pool uses supported self-encrypting drives (SEDs).

Note: When Pool Encryption is enabled, only eligible SEDs are available for selection.

Restriction: A pool with QCompact enabled must use only SSDs, including NVMe SSDs. HDDs cannot be used in the pool. QCompact is not supported on XN1 systems.

Note: QCompact requires an active license or subscription. If the option is not available, verify that the required subscription is enabled.

Create Disk Group #

Select an enclosure, and then select the disks to include in the disk group. The selected disks appear in the Selected Disks panel.

Under Disk Group Settings, select a RAID Level and configure the additional settings as required. The available RAID levels and settings depend on the number and type of selected disks.

Note: Mixing SSDs and HDDs in the same disk group limits performance to that of the slower drives and may affect overall read and write performance.

When the disk group configuration is valid, click Next.

Create a Second Disk Group #

This stage appears when Auto Tiering is enabled.

Select disks from a different storage tier than the first disk group, and then configure the RAID Level and other disk group settings as required.

The capacity of a higher-tier disk group cannot exceed the capacity of a lower-tier disk group.

When the disk group configuration is valid, click Next.

Create Volume #

For QSM systems, select Block Volume or File Volume, and then select the volume usage:

• RAID: Creates a volume for general storage use.
• Replication Task: Creates a volume for replication use.

For XEVO systems, select the volume usage. Volume-type selection is not available.

Enter a Volume Name, specify the Capacity, and configure Snapshot Space, Create Quantity, and Block Size as required. The available settings depend on the selected volume type and system family.

Ready to Complete #

Review the pool, disk group, and volume settings.

Click Previous to modify the configuration or Finish to create the pool.

Pool Information #

Select Pool to view the basic information for the selected pool, including the pool name, allocated and unallocated capacity, and current health status.

The usage bar indicates the percentage of the pool capacity that is currently allocated.

The Health field can display the following states:

• Good: The pool is operating normally.
• Degraded: One or more disk groups have encountered an issue, but the pool remains operational.
• Failed: The pool is damaged and unavailable for normal use.

Provision Type #

Select Provision Type to view the provisioning policy assigned to the pool:

• Thick Provisioning: Preallocates storage capacity when a volume is created.
• Thin Provisioning: Allocates storage capacity as data is written.

The provisioning type is selected during pool creation and cannot be changed afterward.

Pool Properties #

Select Pool Properties to view the features enabled for the pool, such as:

• Pool Encryption
• QCompact
• Auto Tiering

The displayed properties depend on the system family, provisioning type, and pool configuration.

Current Controller #

Select Current Controller to view the controller currently managing the pool.

On a dual-controller system, select Controller 1 or Controller 2 to assign pool ownership to the selected controller.

Note: Changing the current controller might temporarily affect access to the pool. Perform this task when the storage workload is low.

Disk Groups #

Select Disk Groups to view the disk groups assigned to the pool. Expand a disk group to view its capacity, RAID level, and other available details.

Click the + icon in the lower-left corner of the Disk Groups panel to open the Create New Disk Group window.

Select the disks to include in the disk group. The selected disks appear under Selected Disks.

Configure the RAID Level and High Latency Disk Warning setting as required, and then click Finish.

Warning: When adding a disk group to an existing pool, avoid using RAID 0 whenever possible. RAID 0 provides no data redundancy. If a RAID 0 disk group fails, the entire pool, including other disk groups in the same pool, may become unavailable.

Remove a Disk Group #

Select the disk group to remove, and then click the − icon in the lower-left corner of the Disk Groups panel.

Restriction: A disk group can be removed only if no data has been written to it. If the disk group contains data, the system does not allow it to be removed.

Disk Properties #

Select Disk Properties to configure disk behavior for the pool.

Disk Write Cache #

Enables or disables the disk write cache. Enabling the write cache might improve write performance but requires appropriate power-loss protection.

Disk Read Ahead #

Enables or disables read-ahead caching for sequential read operations.

Disk Command Queuing #

Enables or disables command queuing to improve the processing of multiple disk requests.

Disk Standby #

Specifies how long a disk can remain idle before entering standby mode.

Volumes #

Select Volumes to view the volumes in the pool.

Each volume displays its current operating status and capacity. Expand a volume to view its details.

Volume Status #

The status displayed next to the volume name indicates its current operating state.

The Status field can display the following states:

• Online: The volume is available for normal use.
• Offline: The volume is not available for normal use.
• Rebuilding, Migrating, Scrubbing, Cloning, Rolling back, Pre-checking, Replicating, Erasing, Moving, Relocating, EE-Rebuilding, or Initiating: Indicates that the corresponding volume operation is in progress.

Volume Health #

The Health field indicates the current health condition of the volume and can display the following states:

• Optimal: The volume is operating normally.
• Partial Optimal: The volume has encountered a read or write error but remains operational.
• Degraded: One drive associated with the volume has failed, but the volume remains accessible.
• Failed: The volume is no longer available for normal use.

Create a Volume #

Click the + icon in the lower-left corner of the Volumes panel to open the Create New Volume window.

For QSM systems, select Block Volume or File Volume, and then select the volume usage:

• RAID: Creates a volume for general storage use.
• Replication Task: Creates a volume for replication use.

For XEVO systems, select the volume usage. Volume-type selection is not available.

Enter a Volume Name, specify the Capacity, and configure Snapshot Space, Create Quantity, and Block Size as required.

Click Finish to create the volume.

Remove a Volume #

The removal sequence depends on the system family.

For QSM systems, select the volume to remove, and then click the − icon in the lower-left corner of the Volumes panel. In the confirmation dialog, click Delete.

For XEVO systems, click the − icon to open the volume deletion window, select the volume to remove, and then click Delete.

Warning: Deleting a volume permanently removes the volume and all data stored on it. This action cannot be undone. Back up all required data before deleting the volume.

Pool Status #

Select Status to view and manage the current operating status of the pool.

Pool Status #

Use the toggle to bring the pool online or take it offline. Taking a pool offline makes all volumes in the pool unavailable.

The Pool Status field can display the following states:

• Online: The pool is operating normally and its data is accessible.
• Offline: The pool is unavailable for normal access.
• Rebuilding, Migrating, Scrubbing, Cloning, Rolling back, Pre-checking, Replicating, Erasing, Moving, Relocating, EE-Rebuilding, or Initiating: Indicates that the corresponding pool operation is in progress.

Scrub Pool #

Click Scrub to check data integrity and RAID consistency.

Pool scrubbing is supported for the following RAID configurations:

• RAID 3, 5, 6, 30, 50, and 60
• RAID EE 5EE, 6EE, 50EE, and 60EE

The Scrub button is available only for supported pools.

Delete a Pool #

Under Pool Deletion, click Delete. Review the confirmation message, and then click Delete again to permanently remove the selected pool.

Warning: Deleting a pool permanently removes the pool, its volumes, and all stored data. This action cannot be undone. Back up all required data before deleting the pool.