Volume Moves

Volume move operations allow you to move volumes between folders or between pools.

Important notes about volume moves:
  • Volume moves are not supported for volumes configured for synchronous replication.
  • You should always use storage vMotion to move VMware virtual volumes (vVols) from the vCenter. Moving vVols using the GUI can be a highly disruptive operation and can lead to a loss of data or VM accessibility

When you move a volume from one pool to another, parts of the volume might exist on either the pool or a folder of that pool. When the move is complete, the data exists only on the destination pool or folder. It is not preserved on the source pool or folder.

The two most common reasons to move data are to increase performance by moving a volume from a single-array pool to a multi-array pool or to manually balance space usage between pools.

When you move a volume between pools, you also move all of its snapshots and clones. User access permissions and encryption settings move with the volume.

During a move, the change from one pool to another is transparent. There is no disruption of service, and, during the move process, any write is made to the current location of that part of the volume. A move between pools can require some time, depending on the amount of data in the volume, the number of clones, and the pools being migrated to and from. A move to or from a folder is almost immediate.

IMPORTANT: During a move, some volume data will reside partially on both pools; consequentially, when performing a move, you must use the HPE Storage Connection Manager on the host to facilitate the move. You should also use Connection Manager to check hosts for old connections to targets that connect directly to data IPs.

If these connections exist, then for each target, perform one of the following tasks:

  • Confirm that other connections to the corresponding group discovery IP exist.
  • Establish new connections that point to the corresponding group discovery IPs before disconnecting these old connections.

In addition, make sure you perform the same checks for any defined static, favorite, or persistent targets and update any connections as necessary.

Volumes can be moved independently or simultaneously with other volume-move operations. However, while in the process of a move, you cannot start another move on the same volume.

NOTE: For Fibre Channel groups, in order to avoid losing data paths between the host and the volume being moved, it is recommended that you check that Fibre Channel connectivity exists between the host and the arrays in an FC group prior to initiating a volume move operation.