A Dynamic Disk Pool (DDP) in a NetApp E-Series storage array requires a minimum of 11 physical drives for its initial creation. This requirement is fundamental to the DDP architecture, which allocates the drive space for user data, distributed parity, and reserved capacity for reconstruction and preservation. The system uses these 11 drives to establish the initial pool structure, ensuring there is enough capacity to begin operations and maintain data protection and availability in the event of a drive failure. Attempting to create a DDP with fewer than 11 drives will result in an error in SANtricity System Manager.

A. 12: While a DDP can be created with 12 drives, this is not the minimum number required by the SANtricity operating system.

B. 8: Eight drives are insufficient to meet the architectural requirements for data, parity, and reserved capacity needed to initialize a DDP.

C. 3: Three drives are a common minimum for traditional RAID 5, but this quantity is far below the minimum needed for a Dynamic Disk Pool.

1. NetApp E-Series SANtricity 11.7 System Manager

Online Documentation: In the section "Create volume group or disk pool

" the prerequisites state

"For a dynamic disk pool

you need at least 11 drives of the same media type and security type."

2. NetApp Technical Report TR-4090

"Dynamic Disk Pools on NetApp E-Series": In Section 3.1

"Creating a Dynamic Disk Pool

" the document specifies

"A DDP requires a minimum of 11 drives to be created." (Page 7).

3. NetApp E-Series SANtricity Command Line Interface (CLI) and API Guide

Version 11.70: The documentation for the create diskPool command implicitly requires a drive count that satisfies the minimum pool size

which is established as 11 drives in the architecture.