add an additional local disk to your XenServer 5.5 host

1. How to add an additional local disk to your
XenServer 5.5 host
After I described how to convert an existing local XenServer storage repository to support thin
provisioning I’m now going to show you how you can add an additional local disk to your
XenServer host.
Actually that’s pretty straight forward and the first thing you have to do is to add a new physical
hard drive in your host. After that you boot up your XenServer again and go to the CLI.
[Side note: Red marked entries have to be changed with your own parameters or can differ from my
entries. Also the command you have to enter on the CLI are marked bold.]
On the XenServer CLI you have to list your physical disk with fdisk.
fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 499 4008186 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 500 998 4008217+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 999 30401 236179597+ 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdb: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table
There you can see your new hard drive. In my case it shows up as /dev/sdb. For integrating the hard
disk into your XenServer you first have to reveal the UUID of your host. This is done by the
following command.
xe host-list
uuid ( RO) : ba3d140c-3de5-499b-b831-7c40d82958a9
name-label ( RW): xs-tarenz01
name-description ( RO): Default install of XenServer
The last step is to create a new XenServer storage repository. You have three options for doing so.
First option: create a normal LVHD storage repository. This is by the way the default storage
repository type.
xe sr-create host-uuid=ba3d140c-3de5-499b-b831-7c40d82958a9
content-type=user type=lvm device-config:device=/dev/sdb
shared=false name-label="Local storage 2"
Second option: Create a LVHD storage repository with thin provisioning support.
xe sr-create host-uuid=ba3d140c-3de5-499b-b831-7c40d82958a9
content-type=user type=lvm device-config:device=/dev/sdb
shared=false name-label="Local storage 2" sm-
config:allocation=thin
Third option: Create a EXT storage repository with thin provisioning support and direct access to
the vhd files.

2. xe sr-create host-uuid=ba3d140c-3de5-499b-b831-7c40d82958a9
content-type=user type=ext device-config:device=/dev/sdb
shared=false name-label="Local storage 2"
…and finish. Now you have added an additional storage repository on your newly added physical
hard drive to your XenServer.
http://www.timarenz.de/how-to-add-an-additional-local-disk-to-your-xenserver-5-5-host