Re: Spanning System Volume

From: Joseph J. Hand (joseph.hand_at_veritas.com)
Date: 06/13/04 

Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 11:58:46 -0400

>From the docs: (note the last line.)

Expand a Dynamic Volume

The Expand Volume command allows you to increase a dynamic volume's size.
You can have the program automatically assign destination disks, or you can
manually assign these disks.

You can expand a volume only if:

    the volume is formatted with NTFS or is a raw dynamic volume

    and

    there is unallocated space on a dynamic disk within the dynamic disk
group onto which the volume can be extended.

You cannot expand a volume if either of the following is true:

    The volume is formatted with FAT or FAT32.

    There is not enough unallocated space available on the dynamic disks
within the dynamic disk group to extend the volume.

You can extend volumes onto a maximum of 256 disks. No portion of an
extended volume can be deleted without deleting the entire volume.

A system or boot volume is extended in increments of the disk's cylinder
size and only into contiguous space at the end of the volume.

The case appears to be only in to contiguous space. Somewhere else, it also
stated that you can grow a basic disk as well in the same fashion, at least
covering the diskpart.exe functionality without having to open the CLI.

I would also agree with your assessment on use in a non-enterprise. Without
a SAN, the usefulness of the product goes down a couple of notches.

jh

"Bjorn Landemoo" <mvp2.REMOVE@landemoo.com> wrote in message
news:0osoc0ph4trdb49tbu52srbi23u1paf9uf@4ax.com...
> Ahh, so you still need contiguous space directly after the system volume?
> So, what happens, then, when you span, is that Veritas updates the hard
> link in the partition table, resulting in one larger contiguous system
> volume? Else, if the volume would have two underlying volumes that where
> spanned, funny things might happen during early stages of boot, if boot
> files happened to be located on the second - not hard linked - underlying
> volume.
>
> I'm sure that the product is very handy in enterprise environments, but it
> might be too much for small companies with an administrator that
> miscalculated the needed space for their system volume.
>
> Best regards
>
> Bjorn
> --
> Bjorn Landemoo - mvp2@landemoo.com - http://landemoo.com/
> Microsoft MVP (Windows Server - File System)
>
> "Joseph J. Hand" <joseph.hand@veritas.com> wrote:
>
> >Yes, that is correct. There are still some caveats... like the need for
> >contiguous space, etc... but, if you are building a cluster or some other
> >real critical type of environment, you will welcome the "Dynamic Disk"
> >capabilities... mirror the boot/system drive to the SAN, mirror the data
> >volumes to a dissimilar, cheaper disk array cabinet, without having to
spend
> >7M on expensive, identical hardware... Software can be useful.
> >
> >700 is list price, I think... for Standard Server...
> >
> >(Sales Pitch Over...) :)
> >
> >jh
> >
> >
> >"Bjorn Landemoo" <mvp2.REMOVE@landemoo.com> wrote in message
> >news:q3koc0pblogm1iod1ej3jguhk5mk1bqmtr@4ax.com...
> >> Joseph
> >>
> >> Is that "VERITAS Storage Foundation for Windows"?
> >>
> >> I have seen more than one user converting their disk to dynamic and
then
> >> expecting to be able to extend the system volume. Would upgrading to
> >> Veritas (for, how much is it, $700?) in this situation give them this
> >> possibility?
> >>
> >> If that is the case, this upgrade would probably be a better option
than a
> >> backup and restore to solve the problem.
> >>
> >> And, yes, this feature would really be welcome in the base version...
> >>
> >> Best regards
> >>
> >> Bjorn
> >> --
> >> Bjorn Landemoo - mvp2@landemoo.com - http://landemoo.com/
> >> Microsoft MVP (Windows Server - File System)
> >>
> >> "Joseph J. Hand" <joseph.hand@veritas.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> >My Bad...
> >> >
> >> >I work for VERITAS... this is possible in the upgraded version of Disk
> >> >Management that we sell. One of those features that seem like it
should
> >be
> >> >in the base version and me getting confused due to too many bits of
> >> >information stuck in the old noggin...
> >> >
> >> >jh
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >"Bjorn Landemoo" <mvp2.REMOVE@landemoo.com> wrote in message
> >> >news:hsrmc05ejiqsiha7rdt4kj8i6souv353br@4ax.com...
> >> >> Joseph
> >> >>
> >> >> You cannot span the system volume, according to this MS Knowledge
Base
> >> >> article:
> >> >>
> >> >> http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323442
> >> >>
> >> >> Another thing, you can use RAID1 (mirroring) on your system volume,
as
> >> >this
> >> >> article explains:
> >> >>
> >> >> http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323432
> >> >>
> >> >> Diskpart.exe seems to be one of the better options in Carey's case.
> >> >>
> >> >> Best regards
> >> >>
> >> >> Bjorn
> >> >> --
> >> >> Bjorn Landemoo - mvp2@landemoo.com - http://landemoo.com/
> >> >> Microsoft MVP (Windows Server - File System)
> >> >>
> >> >> "Joseph J. Hand" <joseph.hand@veritas.com> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> >The system volume can be made dynamic. The rules are simple, you
can
> >not
> >> >> >make a system volume into a RAID1 or RAID5, but you can grow it by
> >> >> >concatenating (spanning). Since the LUN you present is already
RAID5
> >via
> >> >> >hardware, you should be able to grow it at the hardware level,
rescan
> >the
> >> >> >bus, convert it to dynamic, and expand it without a hitch.
> >> >> >
> >> >> >The utility you spoke of is called DISKPART.EXE. It should not be
> >needed
> >> >> >here.
> >> >> >
> >> >> >jh
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> >"Carey" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> >> >news:1b67d01c44fe6$1ebcd260$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> >> >> >> We expanded our Raid 5 array from 135Gb to 208Gb.
> >> >> >> In Disk Management, the disks are basic, and im curious if
> >> >> >> it is possible to span the c: drive or SYSTEM volume if I
> >> >> >> convert disk 0 to dynamic disks.
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> I was told MS actually makes a utility that will do this.
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> Any insight is appreciated.
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >
> >>
> >
>

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