Dell PowerVault MD3200 Owner's Manual - Page 215

17 Management: System Interfaces Microsoft Services Virtual Disk Service The Microsoft® Virtual Disk Service (VDS) is a component of the Windows® operating system. The VDS component utilizes third-part vendor specific software modules, known as providers, to access and configure third-party storage resources, such as MD3200i storage arrays. The VDS component exposes a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that provides a single interface for managing disks and other storage hardware. The MD3200i Series VDS Provider enables Windows tools, including the Disk Manager, to access and configure storage array virtual disks. The VDS Provider for the MD3200i Series arrays is available on the MD3200i Series resource media. For more information on VDS, see microsoft.com. Volume Shadow-Copy Service The Microsoft Volume Shadow-copy Service (VSS) is a component of the Microsoft Windows operating system. The VSS component utilizes third-part vendor specific software modules, known as providers, to access and utilize snapshot and disk copy functionality provided by third-party storage resources, such as MD3200 Series storage arrays. The combination of the VSS component and the VSS Provider, included on the MD3200 Resource media, enable the MD3200 Series arrays to be utilized by third-party and Windows backup and snapshot applications. NOTE: Virtual disks that is used as source virtual disks for VSS snapshots should have names no longer than 16 characters. The VSS hardware provider uses the source virtual disk name as a prefix for the snapshot and repository virtual disk names. The resulting snapshot and repository names are too long if the source virtual disk name exceeds 16 characters. Management: System Interfaces 215