# Choosing between Express and Custom configuration

In the Configuration wizard, you can choose from two paths to configure your ServeRAID-8i, ServeRAID-7t, or HostRAID controller:

- Click Express configuration for a quick and easy path for you to automatically configure your controller. This path creates the most efficient configuration based on the number and capacity of the ready physical drives available in your system. If four or more ready drives of the same capacity are available, this choice also will define a hot-spare drive.

  Express configuration does the following:

  - Creates one logical drive, up to 2 terabytes (TB) maximum, by grouping together same-sized physical drives.
    Note: If the physical drive size exceeds 2 terabytes (TB), Express configuration removes drives until the size is less than 2 terabytes (TB). It creates an additional logical drive with the left-over drive(s).
  - Assigns a RAID level based on the number of available physical drives:
    - A logical drive with a single physical drive is assigned RAID level-0.
    - A logical drive with two physical drives is assigned RAID level-1.
    - A logical drive with three physical drives is assigned RAID level-5.
    For HostRAID controllers, Express configuration creates a RAID level-1 logical drive.
  - Designates a hot-spare drive for the controller. If four or more ready drives are available, the largest drive will be designated the hot-spare drive.

  Note: When you choose Express configuration, you have the opportunity to review and approve the configuration before the ServeRAID Manager applies the configuration. If you need to modify the configuration, you can do it from the configuration summary.

- Click Custom configuration for a path that lets you manually configure your controller. Choose this path to do any of the following:
  - Define the RAID level of the logical drives.
  - Select the physical drives that you want to include for each logical drive.
  - Define the number and size of the logical drives.
  - Fine tune your configuration for optimal performance
  - Review the configuration summary.

When you are ready to continue, click Next.

## More information

- Understanding stripe-unit size
- Understanding logical drive synchronization
- Understanding physical drive capacity and unusable capacity

Glossary | Contents

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