Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 9 Version 3.15.15.15 User's Guide

Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) allows you to increase the storage capacity of selected RAID levels while the system remains online. The controller redistributes the data on the array(called Reconfiguration), placing new space available at the end of each RAID array.

Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) can be achieved in two ways:

• If free space is available on the smallest physical drive on the virtual disks group after starting LBA of Virtual disks, the virtual disk´s capacity can be expanded within that free space. This option allows you to enter the new increased virtual disk size. If disk group in a virtual disk has space available only before starting LBA, then Edit Disk Capacity in same disk group is not permitted even though there is Available Space on a physical drive.
• A virtual disk's capacity can also be expanded by adding additional compatible physical disks to the existing virtual disk group. This option does not allow you to enter the new increased virtual disk size. New increased virtual disk size is calculated and displayed to the user based on the used disk space of existing physical disk group on a particular virtual disk, existing raid level of the virtual disk and the number of new drives added to the virtual disk.

Capacity Expansion allows user to specify the final VD size. Internally final VD size is conveyed to PERC in percentage (this percentage is the space user would like to use from empty space left in the array for the local disk to expand). Because of this percentage logic final VD size after reconfiguration completes may be different from what user provided for scenario where user is not giving maximum VD size possible as the final VD size (percentage turns out to be less than 100%). User does not see difference in this entered VD size and final VD size after reconfiguration, if maximum possible VD size is entered by user.