Initialization Overview

Scenarios

• System disk

  When a server is created, a system disk is automatically initialized with master boot record (MBR).

• New data disk
  • If a data disk is created together with a server, EVS automatically attaches it to the server. You only need to initialize it to make it available for use.
  • If a data disk is created explicitly, you need to first attach it to a server and then initialize it.

  For detailed operation instructions, see Table 1.

• Existing data disk

  An existing data disk is a disk created from a snapshot, a backup, or an image, or a disk detached from another server.

  • You can choose not to initialize the disk and use the disk existing partitions.
    • In Linux, mount the partitions on desired mount points and configure auto mount at system start.
    • In Windows, no further action is required. You can simply use the existing partitions.
  • You can also re-initialize the data disk.

    Re-partitioning a disk will erase all the existing data on the disk, so you are advised to use snapshots to back up the disk data first.

    • In Linux, unmount the partitions, delete them (by running fdisk Disk name, entering d and the partition number, and entering w), and then re-initialize the disk.
    • In Windows, delete the partitions (using the volume deletion tool) and then re-initialize the disk.

    For detailed initialization operations, see Table 1.

    Note

    Initializing a disk does not delete the snapshots created for the disk, so you can still use snapshots to roll back data to the source disk after the disk is initialized.

Operation Instructions