mkdistributedarray

Use the mkdistributedarray command to create a distributed array and add it to a storage pool. (Use the mkarray command to create nondistributed arrays.)

Syntax

mkdistributedarray -level { raid5 | raid6 } -driveclassdriveclass_id -drivecount 4 - 128 [ -stripewidth 3-16 ] [ -allowsuperior ] [ -rebuildareas { 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 } ] [ -rebuildareasgoal { 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 } ] [ -strip { 128 | 256 } ] [ -namenew_name_arg ] { mdiskgrp_id | mdiskgrp_name }

Parameters

-levelraid5 | raid6
(Required) Specifies the RAID level for the array being created. The values are:
  • raid5
  • raid6
-driveclassdriveclass_id
(Required) Specifies the class being used to create the array. The driveclass_id must be a numeric value (specified with the lsdriveclass command).
-drivecount4 - 128
(Required) Specifies the number of drives to use for the array. The minimum drive count for:
  • RAID-5: 4
  • RAID-6: 6
-stripewidth3-16
(Optional) Indicates the width of a single unit of redundancy within a distributed set of drives. The value must be:
  • RAID-5: 3 - 16
  • RAID-6: 5 - 16
-allowsuperior
(Optional) Specifies that you can use drives that are not an exact match to the drive class used when creating the array (such as drives that use different capacity or technology). The system attempts to select the closest match to the class when satisfying the drive count. You can select higher capacity members of the same technology type before you select higher technology members.
Note: For a drive A to be considered superior to drive B, these situations must be true:
  1. Drives A and B are both use=candidate
  2. Drives A and B are both in the same I/O group.
  3. Drive A has an equal or greater speed (RPM) than drive B. (SSD drives are higher speed than all HDDs.)
  4. Drive A has a capacity that is greater than or equal to that of drive B.
  5. Drive A has a blocksize that is smaller than or equal to drive B.
-rebuildareas1 | 2 | 3 | 4
(Optional) Specifies the reserved capacity that is distributed across all drives available to an array. This capacity restores data after a drive failure. The values are:
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
The value is 1 - 4 (inclusive) for RAID-5 and RAID-6 arrays.
-rebuildareasgoal0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
(Optional) Specifies the number of rebuild areas that the array can target to keep available. If the number available in the array falls below this number, a system alert is raised.
Note: The goal value should not exceed the number of rebuild areas specified for the array.
The values are:
  • 0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
-strip128 | 256
(Optional) Specifies the strip size in KiB for the array being configured. The values are 128 or 256.
-namenew_name_arg
(Optional) Specifies the name of the array.
mdiskgrp_id | mdiskgrp_name
(Required) Indicates the MDisk array ID or name.

Description

This command creates distributed arrays.

Remember: You cannot create an unencrypted array to add to an encrypted storage pool.

An invocation example to create an array that uses 40 drives of class 3 with 3 rebuild areas

 mkdistributedarray -level raid6 -driveclass 3 -drivecount 40 -stripewidth 10 -rebuildareas 3 mdiskgrp5

The detailed resulting output:

MDisk, id [6], sucessfully created

An invocation example to create an array with a drive class

 mkdistributedarray -level raid5 -driveclass 0 -drivecount 56 -stripewidth 8 -allowsuperior mdiskgrp2

The detailed resulting output:

MDisk, id [5], sucessfully created

An invocation example to create an array with maximum rebuild areas that logs an error on using the second rebuild area

mkdistributedarray -level raid5 -driveclass 5 -drivecount 60 -rebuildareas 4 -rebuildareasgoal 3 mdiskgrp2

The detailed resulting output:

MDisk, id [6], sucessfully created
Parent topic: Array commands