An Exascale block volume is an arbitrary-sized allocation of storage space, which can be used as an Exascale Direct Volume (EDV) attachment or iSCSI target.

To create an Exascale block volume, use the ESCLI mkvolume command. For example:

@> mkvolume  1TB --vault myvaultname --attributes name=myvolname

As shown in the example, a typical form of the command specifies:

• The amount of storage space that is allocated to the volume.

  Note:

  If you intend to use the volume to support Oracle ACFS, note that ACFS requires a minimum volume size of 512 MB.
• The vault where the volume is stored.
• The name for the volume, which makes it easier for you to identify it later.

You can also specify a series of optional attributes, which define the detailed characteristics of the volume or constrain the system resources that the volume is allowed to consume. For instance, you can specify the physical media type used to store the volume. By default, volumes are stored on hard disk drives (HC media type).

The following example shows creating a volume that is 100 GB in size and located in the vault named MYVOLS. The example also includes the following specific attribute settings:

• The volume name is set to vol9.

• The volume is created on Extreme Flash (EF) storage media.

• The volume is provisioned with 1000 IOPS (IOs per second).

• The volume is created with two owners (Exascale users named scott and dave).

@> mkvolume 100g --vault MYVOLS --attributes name=vol9,mediaType=EF,iopsProvisioned=1000,owners=scott,dave

After you create a volume, you must create a volume attachment to use the volume. An unattached volume is not available to any clients and is useless in isolation.