I have a replica volume that is 16,000GB.  I attempted to "modify disk allocation" and increase the size to 17,000GB.  I get the following error when trying to do this.  After I have done this, the status of this protection group shows "Replica creation scheduled". I believe I'm getting this error message because the volume was formatted with the default NTFS cluster size of 4KB, which limits the volume to 16,384GB (or 16TB).  I have two questions

1. How do I increase the replica volume size?

2. Why did DPM schedule a replica creation? (if I look at the scheduled jobs in the monitoring section, I only see sychronization and recovery point jobs.  No "replica creation" job)

ERROR:

Modify protection group: PROTECTION GROUP NAME failed:

Error 380: The operation failed due to a virtual disk service error

Error details: VdsError:The volume cannot be extended because the number of clusters will

exceed the maximum number of clusters supported by the file system

Recommended action: Retry the operation

Modifying disk allocation for E: N failed:

Error 380: The operation failed due to a virtual disk service error

Error details: VdsError:The volume cannot be extended because the number of clusters will

exceed the maximum number of clusters supported by the file system

Recommended action: Retry the operation 

• Edited by Caleb44 Friday, November 21, 2014 6:32 PM

Hi,

  You have a choice to use one of the below options.

  Option 1)  Migrate the effected datasource using MigrateDatasourceDataFromDPM.ps1 to a Custom Replica Volume that was pre-formatted using a larger cluster size and large enough to protect the whole volume.

  Example using 8K cluster_size.
      format d: /fs:ntfs /a:8192    (Where D: is the custom volume drive letter)

  Using MigrateDatasourceDataFromDPM
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd282970.aspx

 

Option 2) Remove the effected volume from protection, and DELETE the replica.  This will delete ALL recovery points.  Now re-protect the volume but format the REPLICA volume using a larger cluster size and extend it before allowing initial replica to occur. 

NOTE: To do this, You would need to choose to protect only a single folder on the effected volume - then hit the CALCULATE button when it creates the replica volume. That will reduce the replica volume requirement to be just a few GB.  Then chose the option to do the initial replica manually.  Now reformat the replica volume using a larger cluster size, then extend the volume to be the >16TB size that you anticipate the protected volume to be eventually.  Now perform the initial replica by running a Consistency Check (CC), once complete, modify the PG and add the whole volume back into protection and DPM will then protect the entire volume.

Example using 8K cluster_size.
    format d: /fs:ntfs /a:8192   (Where D: is the drive letter assigned to the Replica volume)

Option-4) Remove the server from protection, but maintain the replica.  That allows restores to be done if necessary.  Stand up a NEW DPM Server and re-protect the volumes but format the REPLICA volume using larger cluster size and extend it before allowing initial replica to occur. 

NOTE: To do this, You would need to choose to protect only a single folder on the effected volume - then hit the CALCULATE button when it creates the replica volume. That will reduce the replica volume requirement to be just a few GB.  Then chose the option to do the initial replica manually.  Now reformat the new replica volume using a larger cluster size, then extend the volume to be the >16TB size that you anticipate the protected volume to be eventually.  Now perform the initial replica by running a Consistency Check (CC), once complete, modify the PG and add the whole volume back into protection and DPM will then protect the entire volume.

Example using 8K cluster_size.
    format d: /fs:ntfs /a:8192  (Where D: is the drive letter assigned to the new Replica volume)

Great info, thank you.  I won't need to perform this right away and the protection group still shows "Replica Creation Scheduled" as it's status and has the white circle with an "i".

The protection group still shows "Replica Creation Scheduled" as it's status and has the white circle with an "i".  What should I do about this?

Hi,

Did you run the manual consistency check (CC) yet ?

I haven't, I'll do that, thanks.