volume create

Creates a volume in the group.

When creating a volume, you must specify the volume name and size. A volume will be created in the default pool, unless you specify a different pool. By default, a volume has read-write permission and is set online. A volume will use the group-wide snapshot, thin-provisioning, and iSCSI settings unless you override the settings when you create the volume or modify the volume.

Note: The actual amount of reserved space for the volume is rounded up to the nearest multiple of 15MB.

When you create a volume, an iSCSI target name is automatically generated. This is the name that iSCSI initiators use to access the volume through TCP/IP port 3260 (the standard iSCSI port). The iSCSI target name will consist of the iSCSI target prefix (iqn.2001-05.com.equallogic, by default), followed by a generated string, followed by the volume name.

An example of an iSCSI target name is shown here:

iqn.2001-05.com.equallogic:6-4b0200-062460afe-13000011cd5c1-dbvol

You can also enable thin provisioning on a volume either at the time you create it or later. Thin provisioning can provide you with a more efficient method of allocating storage space to users. However, it should only be used in environments with administrators who can closely monitor disk space usage.

When you create a volume that does not have thin provisioning enabled, the full volume size is reserved for the volume (consumed from free pool space). Therefore, the volume’s reported size (that is, the size seen by iSCSI initiators) will be the same as the volume reserve.

When you enable thin provisioning on a volume, you specify the minimum volume reserve, in addition to a volume size. In this case, only the volume reserve is consumed from free pool space. Therefore, the volume’s reported size will be larger than or equal to the volume reserve.

As the volume reserve is used (for example, data is written to the volume), the volume reserve for a thin-provisioned volume will grow automatically. When in-use space reaches a user-defined warning limit, an alarm and event message is generated. When in-use space reaches the user-defined maximum, the volume is set offline.

See the Group Administration guide for more information on thin-provisioned volumes.

Note: Snapshot reserve, local replication reserve, and replica reserve are based on a percentage of the volume reserve.

Format

volume create vol_name size [parameter]

Variables

vol_name

Volume name, up to 64 alphanumeric characters.

Access to a volume is always through the iSCSI target name, not through the volume name.

Volume names must be unique in the group. For example, if you have multiple storage pools, no two volumes in different pools can have the same name.

size[GB]

Volume size (reported size as seen by initiators). Volume size is assumed to be megabytes unless you specify otherwise. You can specify size with any of the following suffixes: m, mb, MB, g, gb, or GB.

Because of rounding algorithms, the group’s actual capacity may be less than the capacity shown in the CLI or GUI. If you attempt to create a volume that uses more than the group’s remaining capacity as displayed, the volume creation will fail, and you will receive an error message that states the actual available space.

Parameters

bind member_name	Binds the new volume to the specified member. Volume data will be restricted to this member. Binding a volume to a member will override any RAID preference and automatically performance load balancing for the volume.
description text	Description for the volume, up to 128 alphanumeric characters. If the text contains spaces, surround it with quotation marks.
iscsi-alias alias_name	iSCSI target alias, up to 64 alphanumeric characters, for the volume. Some iSCSI initiators can see the alias. The default is the group-wide setting, as described in grpparams def-iscsi-alias.
online\|offline	Volume status. The default is online.
pool pool_name	Pool in which the volume data will reside. The default is the default pool.
read-write\|read-only	Volume permission. The default is read-write.
snap-depletion action	Action to take when the snapshot reserve is exceeded, either delete-oldest (delete the oldest snapshots, the default) or volume-offline (set the volume and its snapshots offline). The default is the group-wide setting, as described in grpparams def-snap-depletion .
snap-reserve n%	Amount of space, as a percentage of the volume size, to reserve for snapshots. You must include the percent sign. The default is the group-wide setting, as described in grpparams def-snap-reserve .
snap-warn n%	Threshold at which an alarm is generated because the amount of free space reserved for snapshots has fallen below this value, as a percentage of the total reserved snapshot space. You must include the percent sign. The default is the group-wide setting, as described in grpparams def-snap-warn .
thin-provision	Enables thin provisioning on the volume.
thin-min-reserve n%	Minimum volume reserve (default is 10% of the total volume size) for a thin-provisioned volume. This is the amount of immediately writable, guaranteed space reserved for the volume.
thin-growth-warn n%	When the amount of in-use space reaches this value, as a percentage of the volume size, a warning alarm and event message is generated. Applies only to thin-provisioned volumes. The default is the group-wide limit, as described in grpparams def-thin-growth-warn.
thin-growth-max n%	When in-use space reaches this limit, as a percentage of the volume size, the volume will be set offline. Applies only to thin-provisioned volumes. The default is the group-wide limit, as described in grpparams def-thin-growth-max.
unrestricted	Allows unrestricted host access to the volume and its snapshots, which is not recommended. Instead, create access control records to limit host access. See volume select access for more information.

Examples

The following command creates a 100 GB volume named dbvol in pool perf1:

> volume create dbvol 100GB pool perf1

Volume creation succeeded.

iSCSI target name is iqn.2001-05.com.equallogic:6-4b0200-062460afe-
13000011cd5c1-dbvol

The following command attempts to create a volume of 3.05 GB (with no snapshot reserve), which is larger than the free space in the default pool, and returns a message stating the actual amount of free pool space:

> volume create total 3.05GB snap-reserve 0%

% Error - Available space is less than requested

Available Group space= 3120MB

Requested Volume size= 3123MB Requested Reserved Space= 0MB

As the example shows, the actual free pool space available for volumes is 3120 MB or 3.046875 GB, which is less than the 3.05 GB specified in the command line.

The following command attempts to create a volume of 1200GB with a 200% snapshot reserve, in a pool with sufficient space for the volume, but not the requested snapshot reserve amount:

agroup> volume create hugevol 1200gb snap-reserve 200%

% Error - Available space is less than requested

Available Group space = 1690785MB

Requested Volume size = 1228800MB Requested Reserved Space = 2457600MB

The following command creates a thin-provisioned volume of 200 GB, with a minimum reserve of 20%, a threshold warning set at 75%, and a maximum growth limit set to 85%:

agroup> volume create vol-thin1 200GB thin-provision thin-min-reserve 20% thin-growth-warn 75% thin-growth-max 85%

Volume creation succeeded.

iSCSI target name is iqn.2001-05.com.equallogic:0-8a0906-5041d1a02-

61cffd39bde46374-vol-thin1