How to PROPERLY adjust storage space size (maximum) after adding drive

muchomurka · 07 Jun 2020

Gonzo said:

my QNAP JBOD app had a link to Storage Spaces

If you want to try it, use the following commands to create your own storage space:

Code:

$PhysicalDisks = Get-StorageSubSystem -FriendlyName "Windows Storage*" | Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $True
New-StoragePool -FriendlyName "QNAP StoragePool" -StorageSubsystemFriendlyName "Windows Storage*" -PhysicalDisks $PhysicalDisks
Update-StoragePool -FriendlyName "QNAP StoragePool" -Confirm:$False

$VirtualDiskSize=Get-VirtualDiskSupportedSize -StoragePoolFriendlyName "QNAP StoragePool" -ResiliencySettingName Simple
New-VirtualDisk -StoragePoolFriendlyName "QNAP StoragePool" -FriendlyName "QNAP VirtualDisk" -Size $VirtualDiskSize.VirtualDiskSizeMax -ProvisioningType Thin  -ResiliencySettingName "Simple" -NumberOfColumns 8

Initialize-Disk -VirtualDisk (Get-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName "QNAP VirtualDisk") -passthru | New-Partition -AssignDriveLetter -UseMaximumSize | Format-Volume -NewFileSystemLabel "QNAP Volume" -FileSystem NTFS -Confirm:$false -ClusterSize (32KB)

Hope parameters are correctly set for your needs:
-ResiliencySettingName Simple ... no redundancy used
-NumberOfColumns 8 ... optimized for speed, use 1 for JBOD-like speed
-ClusterSize (32KB) ... you can use 64KB if you plan to add more disks.

Gonzo · 07 Jun 2020

Thanks for the new procedure! I think I'll give this a try in the next couple of days just to see how it works and learn something new. Why did you specify "-ProvisioningType Thin" instead of Fixed?

muchomurka · 07 Jun 2020

Gonzo said:

Thanks for the new procedure! I think I'll give this a try in the next couple of days just to see how it works and learn something new.

You're welcome. Please let us to know whether you achieve success. And try to understand what the commands do, powershell is very powerful and valuable tool; it can be useful in the future as your administrator's skill.

Why did you specify "-ProvisioningType Thin" instead of Fixed?

~~I did some re-testing and found out that "-ProvisioningType Fixed" blocks possibility to extend virtualdisk & volume after adding more physical disks to the pool.~~

Correction: Because I wrongly calculated new size for virtualdisk extension; Get-VirtualDiskSupportedSize command returns some weird values different than I expect. Storage spaces creation works ok, I am still working on method how to extend it.

Update: Resolved, see post #16.

Gonzo · 07 Jun 2020

I usually thought of thin provisioning as something like the "auto extend" setting on a database table. Instead of running out of storage and crashing the app, thin provisioning will add storage space as needed to the volume. Of course, your pool must have the unallocated space available for thin provisioning to make sense. In my case, my disk array has a physical limit of 8 disks, and I'm going to allocate all space so there really isn't anything left for thin provisioning to work with....

muchomurka · 07 Jun 2020

Thin provisioning - Wikipedia
So something like set-size-past-the-physical-limits. Useful if you have several virtual disks in one pool - their declared sizes (not exhausted yet) can be much greater than the real pool size.

muchomurka · 08 Jun 2020

To overcome many limitations of Storage Spaces applet in Control Panel (size limit, missing parameters etc), Powershell procedures must be used instead. Here they are:

How to create new Storage Space with Simple resiliency (no redundancy)
The safest parameters (cluster size, number of columns, provisioning) are used. Only advanced users should change them.

Code:

$pool="DataPool"
$vdisk="DataVirtualdisk"
$volu="DataVolume"
$provis="Fixed"
$colu=1
$clus=64KB

# Do not change these lines
$stor="Windows Storage*"
$resil="Simple"

$Harddisks = Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $True
New-StoragePool -FriendlyName $pool -StorageSubsystemFriendlyName $stor -PhysicalDisks $Harddisks
Update-StoragePool -FriendlyName $pool -Confirm:$False

$VirtualDiskSize=Get-VirtualDiskSupportedSize -StoragePoolFriendlyName $pool -ResiliencySettingName $Resil
New-VirtualDisk -StoragePoolFriendlyName $pool -FriendlyName $vdisk -Size $VirtualDiskSize.VirtualDiskSizeMax -ProvisioningType $provis  -ResiliencySettingName $resil -NumberOfColumns $colu

Initialize-Disk -VirtualDisk (Get-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName $vdisk) -passthru | New-Partition -AssignDriveLetter -UseMaximumSize | Format-Volume -NewFileSystemLabel $volu -FileSystem NTFS -Confirm:$false -ClusterSize ($clus)

How to extend existing Storage Space with Simple resiliency (no redundancy)
Number of disks added must correspond with number of columns.

Code:

$pool="DataPool"
$vdisk="DataVirtualdisk"

# Do not change these lines
$stor="Windows Storage*"
$temppoolname="Dummy"

$Tempdisks = Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $True
New-StoragePool -FriendlyName $temppoolname -StorageSubsystemFriendlyName $stor -PhysicalDisks $Tempdisks
Update-StoragePool -FriendlyName $temppoolname -Confirm:$False
$resil = (Get-VirtualDisk $vdisk).ResiliencySettingName
$AddedDiskSize=Get-VirtualDiskSupportedSize -StoragePoolFriendlyName $temppoolname -ResiliencySettingName $resil
Remove-StoragePool -FriendlyName $temppoolname -Confirm:$False

$Newdisks = Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $True
Add-PhysicalDisk -StoragePoolFriendlyName $pool -PhysicalDisks $Newdisks

$Virtualdiskresize =  ($AddedDiskSize).VirtualDiskSizeMax + (Get-VirtualDisk $vdisk).Size
Resize-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName $vdisk -Size ($Virtualdiskresize)

$VirtualDisk = Get-VirtualDisk $vdisk
$Partition = $VirtualDisk | Get-Disk | Get-Partition | Where PartitionNumber -Eq 2
$Partition | Resize-Partition -Size ($Partition | Get-PartitionSupportedSize).SizeMax

Regarding Mirror & Parity procedures... maybe next time.