Selecting Virtual Drive Settings

The Virtual Drive Settings window enables you to configure the virtual drives. Detailed descriptions for all of the parameters are present in the Virtual Drive Settings window.

The virtual drive settings differ or may not be supported for some controllers. For more information, see LSI Storage Authority Feature Comparison Matrix.

Perform the following steps to configure a virtual drive:

1.	Specify the number of virtual drives you want to create.

2.	Specify the size of the virtual drives you want to create.

Each virtual drive has the same capacity. If you specify the capacity first and then the number of virtual drives, the virtual drive capacity is adjusted with the available capacity.

3.	Enter a name for the virtual drive in the Virtual Drive Name field.

The virtual drive name can have a maximum of 15 characters.

4.	Select a strip size from the Strip Size drop-down list.

Strip sizes of 64 KB, 128 KB, 256 KB, 512 KB, and 1024 KB are supported.

5.	Specify the initialization status. The options follow:

Fast Initialization

Full Initialization

No Initialization

6.	Specify the read policy for the virtual drive. The options follow:

No Read Ahead

Always Read Ahead

7.	Specify the write policy for the virtual drive. The options follow:

Write Through

Write Back

Always Write Back

The write policy depends on the status of the Energy Pack. If the Energy Pack is not present, is low, is failed, or is being charged, the current write policy switches to Write Through.

8.	Specify the I/O policy for the virtual drive. The options follow:

Cached IO

Direct IO

9.	Specify a disk cache setting for the virtual drive. The options follow:

Unchanged

Disabled

Enabled

10.	Click Add Virtual Drives.

The newly created virtual drive appears in the Advanced Configuration window just below the Virtual Drives section.

NOTE  You will lose some drive capacity if you choose drives with uneven and large capacity while creating a virtual drive.

If you want to modify the virtual drive settings before finishing the configuration, click the icon.

The Virtual Drive Settings window opens.

You can modify the settings and click Modify Virtual Drive.