Creating a new file system

This procedure creates a new file system. A storage pool is required before a file system can be created.

Procedure

1. From the Home page, navigate to Storage Management File Systems to display the File System page.

2. Click create to display the Create File System page.

   

3. Click File System.

4. Select the required storage pool, and then click next to start the Storage Pool Wizard.

   For more information about the Storage Pool Wizard, refer to the Storage Subsystem Administration Guide.

5. Select a storage pool to contain the file system, then click next to display the Create File System page.

   

   Field/Item	Description
   Storage Pool	Displays the name of the storage pool in which the file system or read cache is being created.
   Free Capacity Amount	Displays the available space in the storage pool that can be used by the file systems.
   Tier 0 Meta-data and Tier 1 User-data	Displays the size of the storage pool’s metadata tier (Tier 0) and the user data tier (Tier 1). NoteThis information applies only to tiered file systems, and is not displayed for untiered file systems.
   Guideline Chunk Size	Displays the approximate size of the chunks used in the selected storage pool.
   Size Limit	If Auto-Expansion is enabled: For an untiered file system, this is the maximum size to which a file system will be allowed to expand. For a tiered file system this is the maximum size to which the user data tier (Tier 1) of the file system will be allowed to expand. If Auto-Expansion is disabled: Specifies the capacity with which the new file system should be created. The file system will be created and this amount of space is immediately allocated to the file system. This means that the currently unused space is reserved for this file system, and is not available for any other use.
   Rounded to nearest chunk	Click to read about how the file system created and expansion is affected by rounding to the nearest chunk size.
   Allocate on Demand or Allocate Now	Available if the storage pool allows auto expansion. Fill the Allocate on Demand check box to create a small file system and allow it to automatically expand to the size limit. Fill the Allocate Now check box to create the file system to the full size specified by the size limit.
   Label	The label (name) by which the file system or read cache should be referenced.
   Initial Capacity	The initial capacity of the file system, or the user data tier of a tiered file system. As auto expansion occurs, the file system will grow to the Size Limit specified in the Size Limit field.
   Assign to EVS	The EVS to which the file system or read cache is assigned.
   Object Replication Target	When this check box is filled, the file system or read cache will be formatted to allow shares and exports.
   Support and Enable Dedupe	When this check box is filled, the file system can support and enable deduplication on the file system.
   Block Size	Sets the optimal block size for the file system or read cache.

6. Enter a Size Limit for the file system.

   This defines the maximum size to which the file system or user data tier can grow through Auto-Expansion. Once the file system has been created, this value can be changed on the File System Details page. This limit is not enforced for manual file system expansions performed through the CLI.

7. The value in the Rounded Size Limit field is calculated automatically, but can be changed. For more information, click Rounded to nearest chunk. If the specified size is not a multiple of the chunk size, the server rounds down to the nearest chunk boundary.

8. Use these radio buttons to enable or disable Auto-Expansion, which allows or constrains growth of this file system or user data tier (for tiered file systems).

   Be aware that storage pools can be configured to prevent the growth of file systems. A file system can never shrink; once space is allocated to a file system, the space cannot be recovered, and the file system cannot be reduced in size. When expanding, the file system will use the storage pool's chunk size as its growth increment. File systems configured to automatically expand will do so when they are about 80 percent full. File systems can be expanded manually through the CLI. File system expansion does not interrupt file services or require the file system to be unmounted.

9. In the Initial Capacity field, set the initial size for the file system or user data tier.

10. In the Label field, enter the name of the file system.

    File system labels are not case sensitive, but they do preserve case (labels will be kept as entered, in any combination of upper and lowercase characters). Also, file system labels cannot contain spaces or any of the following special characters: "&'*/;:<>?\|. File system labels must be unique within a server or cluster. Also, a file system cannot have the same label as a storage pool.

11. From the EVS list, select the EVS to which the file system should be assigned.

12. Fill in the Object Replication Target check box if the file system is intended to be the target of an object replication. When this check box is filled, the file system will be formatted to allow shares and exports.

13. Fill in the Support and Enable Dedupe check box to support and enable deduplication on the file system.

14. In the Block Size field, enter the desired file system block size.

15. Click OK.

Parent Topic

• File Services Administration Guide

  This guide explains about file system formats, and provides information about creating and managing file systems, and enabling and configuring file services (file service protocols).