Why did my storage pool status change to “Warning (Space Low)”?
Applicable Products
- QuTS hero h5.1.5 and later
- Storage & Snapshots
Introduction
The storage pool status "Warning (Space Low)" is a new feature implemented in QuTS hero h5.1.5. When free space in a storage pool is running low, the system alerts you by changing the pool's status to "Warning (Space Low)".
If free space in a storage pool runs too low, it can affect data storage, snapshot, and application services. The new status is therefore designed to ensure that you pay attention to the remaining free space or take action to free up more space before it is too late.
Scenarios
There are at least two common scenarios in which the status of your storage pool might suddenly change to "Warning (Space Low)":
| Scenario | Cause |
|---|---|
| You updated QuTS hero from h5.1.4 or earlier to h5.1.5 or later. | Before the firmware update, your storage pool was already running low on space. |
| You created a thick shared folder or a thick block-based LUN and allocated too much free space in the storage pool to it. | Creating thick shared folders or thick LUNs requires preallocating space. Preallocated space is considered utilized space in the storage pool. |
Other common situations can also cause free space in a storage pool to diminish over time, such as regularly taking many snapshots without deleting older ones, or writing large amounts of data to thin shared folders or thin LUNs.
Solutions
To resolve a "Warning (Space Low)" status on a storage pool, you can increase free space in the pool or disable the pool's low space alert.
There are several options available for increasing free space in a pool. Disabling the pool's low space alert is not recommended unless you are familiar with your pool space usage.
Increasing free space in the storage pool
- Open Storage & Snapshots.
- Go to Storage > Storage/Snapshots.
- Identify a storage pool with a "Warning (Space Low)" status.
- Click Warning (Space Low).
The Increase Pool Free Space window opens.TipYou can also access this window through the pool management window. In Storage > Storage/Snapshots, select the storage pool, click Manage to open the pool management window, and then click Action > Free some space. - Select one or more options in the window and follow the on-screen instructions.
Depending on the configuration of your storage pool, one or more of the following options might be available:- Delete older snapshots.
- Release unused pool guaranteed snapshot space.
- Release unused shared folder or LUN guaranteed snapshot space.
- Release pool-overprovisioning space.
- Convert a thick shared folder to a thin shared folder.
- Expand the storage pool.
Disabling the low space alert on the storage pool
- When the low space alert is disabled on a storage pool, the system will not alert you even when free space in the pool is running very low. Insufficient free space can affect data storage, snapshot, and application services.
- We recommend disabling the low space alert only when there are thick shared folders or thick LUNs but no installed apps in the pool.
- Open Storage & Snapshots.
- Go to Storage > Storage/Snapshots.
- Identify a storage pool with a "Warning (Space Low)" status.
- Click Manage.
The storage pool management window opens. - Click Action, and then select Set Threshold.
The Alert Threshold window opens. - Deselect Alert when pool space is low.
- Click Apply.
