If you are changing the RAID level to accommodate the performance needs of the applications that are accessing the volume group, be sure to meet the following prerequisites:

The volume group must be in Optimal status.
You must have enough capacity in the volume group to convert to the new RAID level.

Steps

Select Storage > Pools & Volume Groups.
Select the volume group that you want to edit, and then click View/Edit Settings.

The Volume Group Settings dialog box appears.

Select the Settings tab, and then edit the volume group settings as appropriate.

Field details

Setting	Description
Name	You can change the user-supplied name of the volume group. Specifying a name for a volume group is required.
RAID level	Select the new RAID level from the drop-down menu. RAID 0 striping Offers high performance, but does not provide any data redundancy. If a single drive fails in the volume group, all of the associated volumes fail, and all data is lost. A striping RAID group combines two or more drives into one large, logical drive. RAID 1 mirroring Offers high performance and the best data availability, and is suitable for storing sensitive data on a corporate or personal level. Protects your data by automatically mirroring the contents of one drive to the second drive in the mirrored pair. It provides protection in the event of a single drive failure. RAID 10 striping/mirroring Provides a combination of RAID 0 (striping) and RAID 1 (mirroring), and is achieved when four or more drives are selected. RAID 10 is suitable for high volume transaction applications, such as a database, that require high performance and fault tolerance. RAID 5 Optimal for multi-user environments (such as database or file system storage) where typical I/O size is small and there is a high proportion of read activity. RAID 6 Optimal for environments requiring redundancy protection beyond RAID 5, but not requiring high write performance. RAID 3 can be assigned only to volume groups using the command line interface (CLI). When you change the RAID level, you cannot cancel this operation after it begins. During the change, your data remains available.
Optimization capacity (AB3100 and AB6100 only)	When a volume group is created, a recommended optimization capacity is generated that provides a balance of available capacity versus performance and drive wear life. You can adjust this balance by moving the slider to the right for better performance and drive wear life at the expense of increased available capacity, or by moving it to the left for increased available capacity at the expense of better performance and drive wear life. SSD will have longer life and better maximum write performance when a portion of their capacity is unallocated. For drives associated with a volume group, unallocated capacity is comprised of a group’s free capacity (capacity not used by volumes) and a portion of the usable capacity set aside as additional optimization capacity. The additional optimization capacity ensures a minimum level of optimization capacity by reducing the usable capacity, and as such, is not available for volume creation.

Setting

Description

Name

You can change the user-supplied name of the volume group. Specifying a name for a volume group is required.

RAID level

Select the new RAID level from the drop-down menu.

RAID 0 striping
Offers high performance, but does not provide any data redundancy. If a single drive fails in the volume group, all of the associated volumes fail, and all data is lost. A striping RAID group combines two or more drives into one large, logical drive.
RAID 1 mirroring
Offers high performance and the best data availability, and is suitable for storing sensitive data on a corporate or personal level. Protects your data by automatically mirroring the contents of one drive to the second drive in the mirrored pair. It provides protection in the event of a single drive failure.
RAID 10 striping/mirroring
Provides a combination of RAID 0 (striping) and RAID 1 (mirroring), and is achieved when four or more drives are selected. RAID 10 is suitable for high volume transaction applications, such as a database, that require high performance and fault tolerance.
RAID 5
Optimal for multi-user environments (such as database or file system storage) where typical I/O size is small and there is a high proportion of read activity.
RAID 6
Optimal for environments requiring redundancy protection beyond RAID 5, but not requiring high write performance.

RAID 3 can be assigned only to volume groups using the command line interface (CLI).

When you change the RAID level, you cannot cancel this operation after it begins. During the change, your data remains available.

Optimization capacity (AB3100 and AB6100 only)

When a volume group is created, a recommended optimization capacity is generated that provides a balance of available capacity versus performance and drive wear life. You can adjust this balance by moving the slider to the right for better performance and drive wear life at the expense of increased available capacity, or by moving it to the left for increased available capacity at the expense of better performance and drive wear life.

SSD will have longer life and better maximum write performance when a portion of their capacity is unallocated. For drives associated with a volume group, unallocated capacity is comprised of a group’s free capacity (capacity not used by volumes) and a portion of the usable capacity set aside as additional optimization capacity. The additional optimization capacity ensures a minimum level of optimization capacity by reducing the usable capacity, and as such, is not available for volume creation.

Click Save.

A confirmation dialog box appears if capacity is reduced, volume redundancy is lost, or shelf/drawer loss protection is lost as a result of the RAID level change. Select Yes to continue; otherwise click No.

Results

If you change the RAID level for a volume group, SANtricity System Manager changes the RAID levels of every volume that comprises the volume group. Performance might be slightly affected during the operation.