Pool creation is initiated automatically when SANtricity System Manager detects unassigned drives in the storage system. You can use automatic pool creation to easily configure all unassigned drives in the storage system into one pool and to add drives into existing pools.

Before you begin

You can launch the Pool Auto-Configuration dialog box when one of these conditions are true:

At least one unassigned drive has been detected that can be added to an existing pool with similar drive types.
Eleven (11) or more unassigned drives have been detected that can be used to create a new pool (if they cannot be added to an existing pool due to dissimilar drive types).

About this task

Keep in mind the following:

When you add drives to a storage system, SANtricity System Manager automatically detects the drives and prompts you to create a single pool or multiple pools based on the drive type and the current configuration.
If pools were previously defined, SANtricity System Manager automatically prompts you with the option of adding the compatible drives to an existing pool. When new drives are added to an existing pool, SANtricity System Manager automatically redistributes the data across the new capacity, which now includes the new drives that you added.
When configuring an AB6100 or AB3100 storage system, make sure each controller has access to an equal number of drives in the first 12 slots and an equal number of drives in the last 12 slots. This configuration helps the controllers use both drive-side PCIe buses more effectively.

You can launch the Pool Auto-Configuration dialog box using any of the following methods:

When unassigned capacity is detected, the Pool Auto-Configuration recommendation appears on the Home page in the Notification area. Click View Pool Auto-Configuration to launch the dialog box.
You can also launch the Pool Auto-Configuration dialog box from the Pools and Volume Groups page as described in the following task.

Steps

Select Storage > Pools & Volume Groups.
Select More > Launch pool auto-configuration.

The results table lists new pools, existing pools with drives added, or both. A new pool is named with a sequential number by default.

System Manager performs the following tasks:
- Creates a single pool if there are a sufficient number of drives with the same drive type (HDD or SSD) and have similar capacity.
- Creates multiple pools if the unassigned capacity consists of different drive types.
- Adds the drives to an existing pool if a pool is already defined in the storage system, and you add new drives of the same drive type to the pool.
- Adds the drives of the same drive type to the existing pool, and use the other drive types to create different pools if the new drives are of different drive types.
To change the name of a new pool, click the Edit icon (the pencil).
To view additional characteristics of the pool, position the cursor over or touch the Details icon (the page).

Information about the drive type, security capability, data assurance (DA) capability, shelf loss protection, and drawer loss protection appears.

For AB6100 and AB3100 storage systems, settings are also displayed for resource provisioning and volume block sizes.
Click Accept.