After zoning a disk to a Microsoft Windows server for use with Storage Foundation for Windows (SFW), the disk must have a Microsoft Windows Signature on it. The new disk appears under the Disks tab in the Veritas Enterprise Administrator (VEA) tree view. The disk will display with the words Non-native Disk in the tree view (figure 1).

Figure 1
 

Before the disk that has been initialized by Storage Foundation for UNIX / Linux can be used by Microsoft Windows and SFW, the disk must have a Microsoft Windows disk signature written to it and all of the configuration information removed from it. Once these steps are performed, the disk can then be utilized as a Microsoft Windows Basic disk, a Microsoft Windows Dynamic disk, or a SFW Dynamic disk.

To write a Microsoft Windows signature to the disk, please follow the below procedure:

1. Launch the VEA; Start > Run > type VEA > select OK and follow the prompt to connect to the host. Expand the Disks tab to determine the new disks that show as Non-native Disk. Document the "harddisk" number of the disk to ensure that the configuration information from the correct disks is removed below.
2. In the VEA, right-click a Non-native Disk > select Write Signature from the context menu (figure 2).

Figure 2
 

3. In the Write Disk Signature wizard, leave the default style of signature as Master Boot Record (MBR) if the disk(s) is smaller than 2TB. If the disk(s) are larger than 2TB, change the style of signature to GUID Partition Table (GPT).
4. In the Available disks column, select all disks that display Non-native Disk > Add > OK
5. In the Confirm dialog box, select Yes .

Now that the disks have a Microsoft Windows signature written to them, the disks can be manipulated by Windows to remove the configuration information from them.

To remove the configuration information from the disk, please follow the below procedure:

1. Open a Microsoft Windows Command; Start > Run > type cmd > and select OK .
2. Type diskpart and press Enter.
3. Execute the command select disk # , where # is the harddisk number found in the VEA in step 1 in the above section. Below is an example of the command:
 select disk 11
The diskpart utility will show a result of Disk 11 is now the selected disk.
4. Execute the command list disk and the disk number that was used in step 4 will display an asterisk (*) next to it to indicate it is the selected disk that operations will occur on.
5. Execute the command clean and this clear all of the configuration information off of the disk.
6. Repeat commands 3-5 for all disks that show in the VEA as Non-native Disk.
7. Execute the command exit to exit the diskpart utility.

Now that the disks are clean, all of the configuration information, including the Microsoft Windows disk signature, has been removed from them. Another Microsoft Windows disk signature needs to be written to the disks and they will be available for use as any of the aforementioned disk types.

To write a Microsoft Windows signature to the disk, please follow the below procedure:

1. In the VEA, perform a Rescan; right-click Storage Agent > Rescan . Once the Rescan has completed, the disks that previously displayed Non-native Disk will now displays the words No Signature.
2. Right-click a No Signature Disk > select Write Signature from the context menu (figure 2 above)
3. In the Write Disk Signature wizard, leave the default style of signature as Master Boot Record (MBR) if the disk(s) is smaller than 2TB. If the disk(s) are larger than 2TB, change the style of signature to GUID Partition Table (GPT).
4. In the Available disks column, select all disks that display No Signature > Add > OK
5. In the Confirm dialog box, select Yes .

Now that a Microsoft Windows signature has been written to the disk, the disk displays as a basic disk and can be utilized as any of the aforementioned disk types.