# Creating a New Storage Configuration Using the Advanced Configuration Option

The advanced configuration procedure provides an easy way to create a new storage configuration. Advanced configuration gives you greater flexibility than simple configuration because you can select the drives and the virtual drive parameters when you create a virtual drive. In addition, you can use the advanced configuration procedure to create spanned drive groups.
Note: When a physical drive is in the Prepare for Removal state, you cannot create a virtual drive using that physical drive.
Perform the following steps to create an advanced storage configuration.

1. On the Server dashboard or the Controller dashboard, select Configure > Advanced Configuration.
   The Advanced Configuration window opens.
   Figure 1. Advanced Configuration Window
2. Select a RAID level for the drive group from the drop-down box.
3. (Optional) Click Compare and Select to view the detailed information on each RAID level.
   Also see RAID Levels for more information.
   When you use advanced configuration, the RAID controller supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 00, 10, 50, 60, RAID 1E, PR-11, and Spanned R1E (PRL-11). The window text gives a brief description of the RAID level that you select. The RAID levels that you can choose depend on the number of drives available.
4. (Optional) Select the Encryption check box if you want to apply the encryption logic to secure the data in the virtual drive.

   You can add a hot spare to all of the RAID levels except RAID 0 and RAID 00. Also, you can create a secured virtual drive only when the security capable drives are present. This check box is disabled when there are no secured drives.

5. (Optional) Select the Data Protection check box to detect data corruption on media and prevent system errors caused by silent data corruption (SDC).

   This check box is disabled when there are no secured drives (Data Protection).

6. Click Next.
7. Click Add Physical Drives to add physical drives to the drive group.
   Refer the following sections for more information:

   - For information on how to add physical drives, see Adding Physical Drives.

   - For information on adding hot spare drives to the drive group, see Adding Hot Spares to the Existing Drive Group.

8. Select the span depth using the slider bar.
9. Click Add Virtual Drives to add virtual drives to the drive group.
   The Virtual Drive Settings window appears.
   Figure 2. Virtual Drive Settings Window

   For information on configuring virtual drives, see Adding Virtual Drives.

10. Click Add Virtual Drives.
11. Click Finish.
    A confirmation message appears if the storage configuration is successfully completed.

- Adding Physical Drives
- Adding Hot Spares to the Existing Drive Group
- Adding Virtual Drives

Parent topic: Configuration