Merging Pools

Thanks Joe, We are merging a 6110E with a 6110XV to create a larger pool. We have delegated space on the 6110E pool. Will the pool merge destroy this reserve or move it over!?

We've under 300 connections at the minute! So plenty of room!

The arrays are;

6110E:  24 x 3TB/7200 RPM

6110XV: 7 x 400GB SSD & 17 x 600GB 10000 RPM

We've got SAN HQ installed but on a machine I can't access at present!

Thanks Don, however, with the space requirements we have, this has been decided as the solution.

Both members are currently RAID 6 and given Dell's latest best practise advice around the use of >1TB disks for RAID 6 only, I assume there wont be any issue with both members being RAID 6!?

Also, I am planning to merge the larger array (pool2) into the smaller array (pool1). Does pool 1 need the space to accomodate all the data from pool 2 in order for this to work!?

To answer your two questions:

Q: Will the pool merge destroy this reserve or move it over

A: No, all reserve will move with the members/volumes

Q: Does pool 1 need the space to accomodate all the data from pool 2 in order for this to work!?

A: No, merging a larger pool into a smaller one is fine.

-joe

Thanks Joe, as per Don's comments, what are your thoughts regarding the merging of Hybrid and regular arrays!?

I agree with Don regarding you could not see the full benefit of APLB in this instance.  One of the main reasons (as Don indicted) is that most of the volume slices will reside on the larger SATA array, so the faster array could be underutilized, and lower you’re Return on Investment.

For example: if the two members have the same workload and both have high, but similar, latency then APLB will not attempt to optimize arrays, so there is no page movement that would improve performance.

However, you stated that you need the space, so your options are a bit limited at this time (aside from purchasing an additional array).

A possible work-a-round is to move just a few of your volumes  from one pool to another, to free up your space needs.  For instance, if you need more space in the hybrid pool, move underutilized volumes or volumes that don’t need the performance of the SAS disks, to the SATA Pool.

-joe

I understand this, guys! Thankyou for your answers! Although it's not entirely my decision to make! To confirm, no volumes are deleted as a result of the merge!? Sorry to ask so many questions, just can't afford to overlook anything. I'm upgrading the firmware just before the pool merge!

Hi, am merging my existing storage pool into the new one, however the existing one and new one are in different raid level, may i know what's behavior if joining storage pool with different raid level?

Pool 1 is running out of space (currently is R6 and unable to convert to R50 as its limitation), and if i need to re-configure the raid, i need to migrate volumes out, however pool 2 not enough space to host all the volumes on pool 1, so may i know whats the impact if pool-1 R6 merging into pool-2 R50?

Currently:

Pool 1: 1 x PS6000-raid 6 with 16x600 15k rpm 

Pool 2: 2 x PS6100-raid 50 with 16 x 600 15krpm

Hi Donald, thanks for the info!

If so I'll merge the existing pool1 to pool2

pool1 got few volumes and pool1 is almost full ~7TB, left less than 100GB free space

pool2 got few volumes and total size is ~19TB and left ~3TB plus

So can u advise what's the best way to merge pool1 into pool 2? 

My firmware is V8.0.5 for all 3 arrays, OS connecting to them is 2012 R2