How does my selected workload impact volume creation?

During volume creation, you are prompted for information about a workload’s use. The system uses this information to create an optimal volume configuration for you, which can be edited as needed. Optionally, you can skip this step in the volume creation sequence.

• Application-specific . When you are creating volumes using an application-specific workload, the system may recommend an optimized volume configuration to minimize contention between application workload I/O and other traffic from your application instance. Volume characteristics like I/O type, segment size, controller ownership, and read and write cache are automatically recommended and optimized for workloads that are created for the following application types.

  • Microsoft^® SQL Server^TM

  • Microsoft^® Exchange Server^TM

  • Video Surveillance applications

  • VMware ESXi^TM (for volumes to be used with Virtual Machine File System)

  You can review the recommended volume configuration and edit, add, or delete the system-recommended volumes and characteristics using the Add/Edit Volumes dialog box.

• Other (or applications without specific volume creation support). Other workloads use a volume configuration that you must manually specify when you want to create a workload that is not associated with a specific application, or if there is no built-in optimization for the application you intend to use on the storage array. You must manually specify the volume configuration using the Add/Edit Volumes dialog box.