Troubleshooting
Problem
This document describes the i operating system size considerations and limits on virtual disks.
Resolving The Problem
Virtual disk sizes do not need to exactly match the capacity points of the physical disks that can be attached to the IBM i. The capacities can be any size you want, keeping the following rules in mind:
|
o | The smallest virtual disk that can be added into an auxiliary storage pool (ASP) is 160 MB. IVM, VIOS, and external storage may allow you to create disks with a smaller capacity than 160 MB; however, the disks will not be usable in an i partition. |
| o | The largest virtual disk supported is 2 TB; however, for performance reasons it is recommended that you do not create a single drive with such a large capacity. |
| o | The largest load source drive is 1.2 TB. |
| o | The smallest load source capacity allowed is 17 GB. In order to have a virtual disk of size 17 GB, it must be created as a 19.2 GB drive. Technically the system will allow a smaller disk size when using virtual disks; however, this will cause problems later--for example, when you go to upgrade to the next release and try to expand the LIC space. IBM i release v7r1m0 requires 35gb minimum load source and IBM i release v7r2m0 requires a 70gb load source. |
| o | When investigating the need for system level mirror protection for the virtual disks, you should first study your partition configuration to determine if mirror protection is really necessary. If the actual disk units in the VIOS partition or the i-hosted partition are already protected, you should examine your IBM i configuration to determine if the i system level mirror protection is actually going to increase the availability or access to the data. The system requires that disk units which are smaller than 35 GB be mirrored with disks of the exact same capacity. If you have disk units larger than 35 GB, those disks can be mirrored to disks of an unequal capacity, as long as the disks are within approximately 17 GB of capacity |
| o | IBM i has a limit of 32,767 virtual adapters per partition. NOTE: For 4096 disk sector support at 7.2 with D/TD840 or D/T6B4E-050 drives, Please see http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1020957 for minimum firmware levels and PTFs. ** NOTE** Concurrent removal of external and virtual storage devices whether configured or non-configured is NOT supported by IBM i. The support statement isn't limited to virtual (attached) disk. Removing external storage LUNs from an active partition is NOT supported on IBM i, regardless of whether they are attached natively or via a virtual adapter. Virtual SCSI disks are also considered "external" storage by the client even when the backing hardware on the server partition are internal storage. As for removing the volume group, it doesn't matter how they are connected (vSCSI, NPIV, or Natively), the volumes should always be removed from the configuration first, then the partition shut down, then the volume group can be destroyed/removed. The partition should be shutdown prior to removing or unassigning and virtual disk units or LUNs. |
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Historical Number
484989395
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Document Information
Modified date:
11 November 2019
UID
nas8N1013717