Creating FlexGroup volumes

A FlexGroup volume can contain many volumes that can be administered as a group instead of individually. You can use Storage Manager to create a FlexGroup volume by selecting specific aggregates or by selecting system-recommended aggregates.

1. Click Storage > Volumes.
2. Click Create > Create FlexGroup.
3. In the Create FlexGroup window, specify a name for the FlexGroup volume.

   By default, the aggregates are selected according to best practices.
4. Click the Volume Encryption button to enable encryption for the volume.

   This option is available only if you have enabled the Volume Encryption license and if the corresponding platform supports encryption.

   Turning on volume encryption might affect the cross-volume storage efficiency when the selected aggregates are encrypted.

5. Specify a size for the FlexGroup volume.

   Note

   You must also specify the measurement units.
6. Enable the FabricPool toggle button to use FabricPool aggregates in the FlexGroup volume.

   • When you enable

     FabricPool, you can select the Tiering policy from the following choices in the drop-down menu:

     Snapshot-only

     Moves the Snapshot copies of only those volumes that are currently not being referenced by the active file system. Snapshot-only policy is the default tiering policy.

     Auto

     Moves the inactive (cold) data and the Snapshot copies from the active file system to the cloud tier.

     Backup (for Storage Manager 9.5)

     Moves the newly transferred data of a data protection (DP) volume to the cloud tier.

     All (starting with Storage Manager 9.6)

     Moves all data to the cloud tier.

     None

     Prevents the data on the volume from being moved to a cloud tier.

   • If you leave FabricPool in the not enabled position, only non-FabricPool aggregates are included in the created FlexGroup volume, and the tiering policy is set to None.

   • If no FabricPool aggregates exist in the SVM, then FabricPool displays in the "not enabled" position and cannot be changed.

   • If only FabricPool aggregates exist in the SVM, then the FabricPool button is displays in the "enabled" position and cannot be changed.

7. If you want to specify particular aggregates, click (advanced options).

   The aggregates associated with the FlexGroup volume you are creating are selected by default, according to best practices. They are displayed next to the Aggregates label.
8. In the Protection section, perform the following actions:
   1. Enable the Volume Protection option.
   2. Select the Replication type.

      Note

      The Synchronous replication type is not supported for FlexGroup volumes.
   3. Click Help me Choose, if you do not know the replication type and relationship type.

      • Specify the values and click Apply.

        The replication type and the relationship type is automatically selected based on the values specified.

   4. Select the relationship type.

      The relationship types can be mirror, vault, or mirror and vault.
   5. Select a cluster and an SVM for the destination volume.
   6. Modify the volume name suffix as required.
9. Click Create to create the FlexGroup volume.