222 Implementing the IBM Storwize V7000 with IBM Spectrum Virtualize V8.2.1
Configuring arrays with the CLI
When you work with the CLI, use mkarray to create traditional RAID and mkdistributedarray 
to create distributed RAID. For this, first retrieve a list of drives that are ready to become array 
members. See 6.2.1, “Working with drives” on page 207, to find information on how to list all 
available drives, read their use roles, and change those use roles.
To create a TRAID MDisk, you must specify a list of drives that you want to add as members, 
its RAID level, and the storage pool name or ID to which you want to add this array. 
Example 6-15 creates RAID-6 array out of seven drives with IDs 0 to 6, and adds it to Pool0. 
Example 6-15   Creating TRAID with mkarray
IBM_Storwize:ITSOV7K:superuser>mkarray -level raid6 -drive 0:1:2:3:4:5:6 Pool0
MDisk, id [0], successfully created
Notice that the storage pool should already exist. See the creation instructions in 6.1.1, 
“Creating storage pools” on page 193. Also, the required amount of spare drives must be 
assigned manually.
To create a DRAID MDisk, specify the RAID level, number of drives, drive class, and target 
storage pool. Drive class depends on drive technology type, connectivity, speed, and 
capacity. The system automatically chooses drives for the array from the available drives in 
the class. The number of rebuild areas is also set automatically, but you can adjust it. 
Example 6-16 creates DRAID6 array out of seven drives of class 1 and adds it to Pool1.
Example 6-16   Creating DRAID with mkdistributedarray (some columns are not shown)
IBM_Storwize:ITSOV7K:superuser>lsdriveclass
id RPM   capacity tech_type       block_size candidate_count superior_count 
0  15000 278.9GB tier_enterprise 512        3               3 
1  10000 558.4GB tier_enterprise 512        11              11
2  10000 278.9GB tier_enterprise 512        1               22 
IBM_Storwize:ITSOV7K:superuser>mkdistributedarray -level raid6 -driveclass 1 
-drivecount 7 -stripewidth 6 Pool1
MDisk, id [0], successfully created
Notice that in this example it was required to specify the stripe width, because for DRAID6 it is 
12 by default. The drive count value must equal or be greater than the combined value of the 
stripe width and rebuild areas count.
To check array initialization progress with the CLI, use lsarrayinitprogress.
6.2.4  Actions on arrays
MDisks that are created from internal storage support specific actions that external MDisks 
do not support. Some actions that are supported on traditional RAID arrays are not supported 
on distributed RAID arrays, and vice versa.
To choose an action, open Pools → MDisks by Pools, select the array (MDisk), and click 
Actions. Alternatively, right-click the array, as shown in Figure 6-42 on page 223.