Rasilient PixelStor 5000 - Rules for Adding Storage

Introduction
PixelStor 5000 User Manual
Rev. 1, May 2013
2-2
2.1.2 Rules for Adding Storage
PixelStor 5000 and PixelStor 100e/312e/324e expansion enclosures follow the concept of “disk
groups”. A “disk group” (DG) is composed of an associated group of disks with similar RAID
properties. All DGs must be assigned a RAID level. The system supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 50, 60
10. The following rules must be followed when creating DGs for a PixelStor
5000/100e/312e/324e system:

A DG can span across interconnected PixelStor 5000 and PixelStor 100e/312e/324e
systems.

Drives within a DG can reside in any order across any of the enclosures in a system.

Capacity of a DG can be expanded by adding disks from the available pool of global spare
disks. (Adding disks to a disk group may require multiple disks.)

DGs can be accessed by either controller, but must be assigned a primary controller.

Drives not assigned to a disk group will be classified as “Global Spares”

Global spare(s) can reside on any of the interconnected chassis to protect any DG. A Global
Spare cannot be added to RAID 0 DG.

Failed disks or disks disassociated from their disk group will be classified as “Orphans” by
the system.
Table 2-2 Disk Group Parameters
Disk Group (DG) Parameters
RAID 0
RAID5
RAID50
RAID6
RAID60
RAID1
RAID 1+0
Minimum # of Drives per DG
2
3
6
4
8
2
4
Maximum # of Drives per DG
108
108
108
108
108
108
108
Maximum # of Drives per
System (PixelStor 5000)
108
108
108
108
108
108
108
DGs Allowed per System
1-16
1-16
1-16
1-16
1-16
1-16
1-16
RAID Levels Allowed per DG
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Drives Must be Added in
Singles
Three’s
Group 6
Four’s
Group 8
Pairs
Pairs
Global Spare Capability
N/A
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Access to DG by both
Controllers
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

To improve the utilization of the available storage capacity and ensure
reliability, it is recommended that all disk drive modules within a DG be the
same size and from the same manufacturer. This is because for each RAID
Group, the system scales down to the size of the smallest drive (except for
RAID 0).