3ware 9690SA SAS/SATA RAID Software

3ware

SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide

Supports the 9690SA Models

PN 720-0175-00 September 2007

User Guide

©2004-2007 Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC). All rights reserved. This publication may be copied or reproduced for reference purposes only. All other purposes require the express written consent of AMCC, 215 Moffett Park Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94089. AMCC shall not be responsible or liable for, and shall be held harmless against, any and all damages, claims, and/or disputes that arise from the copying or reproduction of this publication.

Trademarks

3ware®, Escalade®, 3DM®, and TwinStor® are all registered trademarks of AMCC. The 3ware logo, 3BM, Multi-Lane, StorSave, StorSwitch, StreamFusion, and R5 Fusion are all trademarks of AMCC. PowerPC and the PowerPC logo are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. Windows® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Firefox® is a registered trademark of the Mozilla Foundation. PCI Express® is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG®. All other trademarks herein are property of their respective owners.

Disclaimer

While every attempt is made to make this document as accurate as possible, AMCC assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this document, nor does AMCC make any commitment to update the information contained herein.

About this User Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

How this User Guide is Organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Screenshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Using the 3ware HTML Bookshelf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® SAS/SATA RAID Controller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

What’s New with 9690SA Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

RAID Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Available RAID Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Determining What RAID Level to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Using Drive Capacity Efficiently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Support for Over 2 Terabytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3ware Tools for Configuration and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Monitoring, Maintenance, and Troubleshooting Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter 2. Getting Started with Your 3ware RAID Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Chapter 3. First-Time RAID Configuration Using 3BM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Basic Steps for Creating a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Specifying a Hot Spare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Making Drives Visible to the Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Checking the Motherboard Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 What Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Chapter 4. Driver Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Driver Installation Under Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Materials Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Creating a 3ware Driver Diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Installing the 3ware Driver and Windows on a New Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Installing the Driver on a System that Boots from a Different Device . . . . . . . . . . 34

Making Units Managed by a 3ware Controller Available to Windows . . . . . . . . . . 37 Driver Installation Under Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Obtaining 3ware Linux Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Driver Installation Under Red Hat Linux or Fedora Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Driver Installation Under SuSE Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Compiling a 3ware Driver for Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Chapter 5. 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Starting 3BM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Exiting the 3BM Configuration Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Working in the 3BM Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Adjusting BIOS Loading Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Displaying Information About the Controller and Related Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Getting Help While Using 3BM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chapter 6. 3DM 2 (3ware Disk Manager) Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Browser Requirements for 3DM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Installing 3DM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Starting 3DM and Logging In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

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Logging In to the 3DM Web Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Starting the 3DM Daemon under Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Starting the 3DM Process under Microsoft Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Viewing 3DM Remotely Using a Web Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Working with the 3DM Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

3DM Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Viewing Information Abou t D ifferent Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Refreshing the Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

3DM Screens and What They're Used For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Setting Up 3DM Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Setting and Changing 3DM Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Managing E-mail Event Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Enabling and Disabling Remote Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Setting the Listening Port # . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Setting the Frequency of Page Refreshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Chapter 7. Configuring Your Controller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

Viewing Information About a Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 About Controller Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Viewing Controller Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Setting the Auto Rebuild Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Using Auto-Carving for Multi LUN Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Setting the Size of Volumes Created with Auto-Carving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Enabling and Setting Up Staggered Spin-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Viewing Information About a Phy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Changing the Phy Link Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Chapter 8. Configuring Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Configuring a New Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Configuration Options When Creating a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Creating a Unit through 3DM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Creating a Unit through 3BM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Ordering Units in 3BM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Partitioning, Formatting, and Mounting Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Creating a Hot Spare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Specifying a Hot Spare through 3DM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Specifying a Hot Spare through 3BM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Naming a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Setting Unit Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Enabling and Disabling the Unit Write Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Setting Auto Verify for a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Setting Continue on Source Error During Rebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Enabling and Disabling Queuing for a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Setting the StorSave Profile for a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Changing An Existing Configuration by Migrating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

RAID Level Migration (RLM) Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Changing RAID Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

Expanding Unit Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Informing the Operating System of Changed Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Deleting a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Deleting a Unit through 3DM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Deleting a Unit through 3BM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Removing a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Removing a Unit Through 3DM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Removing a Unit Through 3BM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Moving a Unit from One Controller to Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

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Moving Units from an Earlier 9000 Series to a 9690SA Controller . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Adding a Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Removing a Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Rescanning the Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Chapter 9. Maintaining Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

Checking Unit and Drive Status through 3DM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Viewing a List of Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Enclosure Drive LED Status Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Unit Statuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Drive Statuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 About Degraded Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 About Inoperable Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Locating a Drive by Blinking Its LED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Alarms, Errors, and Other Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Viewing Alarms, Errors, and Other Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Using the Alert Utility Under Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Downloading an Error Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Viewing SMART Data About a Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Background Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

About Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

About Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Starting a Verify Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Rebuilding Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Cancelling a Rebuild and Restarting It with a Different Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Setting Background Task Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Background Task Prioritization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Scheduling Background Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Viewing Current Task Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Turning On or Off Use of a Task Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Removing a Task Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Adding a New Task Schedule Slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Selecting Self-tests to be Performed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Chapter 10. Maintaining Your Controller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156

Determining the Current Version of Your 3ware Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Updating the Firmware and Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Downloading the Driver and F i rmw are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Updating the Firmware Through 3DM 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Updating the 3ware Driver and Firmware Under Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Using the Update Utility With Multiple Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Updating the 3ware Driver Under Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Updating the 3ware Driver Under Red Hat or Fedora Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Updating the 3ware Driver Under SuSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Updating the Firmware Under Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Viewing Battery Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Testing Battery Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Chapter 11. Managing an Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179

Viewing a List of Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Checking Enclosure Component Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Fan Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Temp Sensor Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Power Supply Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Slot Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Locating a Specific Enclosure Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

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Downloading an Enclosure Diagnostic Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Chapter 12. 3DM 2 Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186

Controller Summary page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Controller Details page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Unit Information page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Unit Details page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Drive Information page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Drive Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Controller Phy Summary page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Controller Settings page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Scheduling page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Maintenance page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Alarms page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Battery Backup page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Enclosure Summary page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Enclosure Details page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 3DM 2 Settings page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Chapter 13. Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222

Web Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Before Contacting Customer Su pp o rt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Basic Troubleshooting: Check This First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Command Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Problems and Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Enclosure-Related Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Hardware Installation Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Software Installation Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Problems in 3DM and 3BM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Error and Notification Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Error and Notification Message Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270 Software Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277

Installing Software from a Graphical User Interface (GUI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 Installing Software on Linux from the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Uninstalling Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Uninstalling 3DM under Microsoft Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Uninstalling 3DM under Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Compliance and Conformity Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .287

FCC Radio Frequency Interference Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 European Community Conformity Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Warranty, Technical Support, and Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .289

Limited Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Warranty Service and RMA Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 AMCC Technical Support and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Sales and ordering information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Feedback on this manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .292

vi 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide, Version 9.5

About this User Guide

This document, 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide, Version 9.5, provides instructions for configuring and maintaining RAID units on 3ware 9690SA series RAID controllers.

This guide assumes that you have already installed your controller and drives in your system and any enclosures, if you have th em. If you have n ot yet done so, see the installation guide that came with your controller . If y ou do not have the printed copy, a PDF of the installation guide is available on your 3ware CD, or you can download it from: http://www.3ware.com/support/

userdocs.asp. (Note that there are different installation guides for different

3ware RAID controller models.) There are often multiple ways to accomplish the same configuration and

maintenance tasks for your 3ware RAID controller. This manual includes instructions for performing tasks using two tools:

• 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM), which runs at the BIOS level

• 3ware Disk Manager 2 (3DM 2), which runs in a browser

You can also perform many tasks at the command line, using 3ware’s Command Line Interface (CLI). The CLI is described in a separate manual: 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Controller CLI Guide. Information from both this Users Guide and the CLI Guide are also available in the 3ware HTML Bookshelf, available in the 3ware Documentation folder and on your 3ware CD. (For more information, see “Using the 3ware HTML Bookshelf” on page ix.)

How this User Guide is Organized

Table 1: Chapters and Appendices in this Guide

Chapter/Appendix Description

1. Introduction Provides an overview of product features for the 3ware 9690SA controller models. Includes system requirements and an introduction to RAID concepts and levels.

vii 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide, Version 9.5

Table 1: Chapters and Appendices in this Guide

Chapter/Appendix Description

2. Getting Started Provides a summary of the process you should follow to get started using your 3ware RAID controller.

3. First-Time RAID

Configuration Using 3BM

4. Driver Installation Describes how to install drivers for the 3ware

5. 3ware BIOS Manager

(3BM)

Provides step-by-step instructions for configuring RAID units if you have just installed the controller.

controller if you have just installed and configured it. Describes the basics of using 3BM.

6. 3ware Disk Manager 2

(3DM 2)

7. Configuring Your

Controller

8. Configuring Units Describes how to configure new units and hot spares,

9. Maintaining Units Describes how to check unit and dri v e status, review

10. Maintaining Your

Controller

11. Managing an

Enclosure

12. 3DM 2 Reference Describes the features and functions on each of the

13. Troubleshooting Provides common problems and solutions, and

A. Glossary Includes definitions for terms used throughout this

Describes the basics of using 3DM. Also includes information about installing and uninstalling 3DM, and how to start the 3DM process manually, if required.

Describes how to view details about the controller, check its status, and change configuration settings that affect the controller and all associated drives.

change existing configurations, and set unit policies.

alarms and errors, schedule background maintenance tasks, and manually start them, when necessary or desirable. Includes explanations of initialization, verify, rebuild, and self-tests.

Describes how to update the driver, and move a unit from one controller to another. Also includes information about checking battery status on a BBU (Battery Backup Unit).

Describes how to view details about an enclosure, check the status of enclosure components, and locate specific enclosure components by blinking an associated LED.

pages in 3DM.

explains error messages.

guide.

B. Software Installation Provides instructions for installing software

management tools (3DM 2, CLI, tw_update) and documentation.

C. Compliance and

Conformity Statements

D. Warranty, Technical

Support, and Service

Provides compliance and conformity statement.

Provides warranty information and tells you how to contact technical support.

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Conventions

The following conventions are used throughout this guide:

• 3BM refers to the 3ware BIOS Manager.

• 3DM and 3DM 2 both refer to the 3ware Disk Manager, version 2.

• In the sections that describe using 3DM, current controller is used to refer

• Unit refers to one or more disks configured through 3ware to be treated by

• Boldface is used for buttons, fields, and settings that appear on the screen.

•

Screenshots

The screenshots in this documentation are examples only, and may not exactly reflect the operating system and browser you are using. 3ware software works on a number of different operating systems, including Microsoft Windows® and Linux®, and runs in a number of different browsers. In addition, the version numbers shown in screenshots for drivers, firmware, and software may not match your version. For the current released and tested version number, see the latest release notes.

Conventions

to the controller which is currently selected in the drop-down list.

the operating system as a single drive. Also known as an array. Array and unit are used interchangeably throughout this manual.

Monospace font is used for code and to indicate things you type.

In addition, the fields and columns in 3DM 2 vary for different models of 3ware RAID controllers. If you have multiple controllers of different models, you may notice some differences when switching between them in 3DM. For example, when displaying information about the 9690SA controllers, 3DM displays “VPorts” (for virtual port) on some screens while for earlier controllers the label is “port.”

Using the 3ware HTML Bookshelf

The 3ware HTML Bookshelf is an HTML version of this user guide and the CLI Guide, combined as one resource. It is available on your 3ware CD, in the /doc/3wareHTMLBookshelf folder. It can also be installed along with the software, as described in “Software Installation” on page 277.

To make use of the 3ware HTML Bookshelf

1 To launch the bookshelf at the opening page, do one of the following:

• For Windows, from the Start menu, choose Programs > AMCC >

Bookshelf shortcut.

www.3ware.com ix

• Navigate to the 3wareHTMLBookshelf folder on the 3ware CD and

Click the Show Navigation button to display the Table of Contents

double click the file index.html.

• For Linux, open a browser window to the following location:

/opt/AMCC/Documentation/index.html

When you use either of these methods, a navigation panel at the left automatically opens. It includes a Table of Contents, Index, and Search.

You can also open the bookshelf by double-clicking any other html file in the 3wareHTMLBookshelf folder. When you open an individual file, the navigation pane does not automatically open. In this case, you can display the navigation pane by clicking the

Figure 1. Navigation Button in the 3ware HTML Bookshelf Window

Show Navigation button at the left.

Note: The 3ware HTML Bookshelf is created as a set of HTML documents

that are often displayed from a website. When installed on your personal computer, some browsers flag them as “active content,” and require your approval before displaying the content.

If you see messages similar to the following, you must confirm the display of active content in order to see the pages.

x 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide, Version 9.5

Introducing the 3ware® SAS/ SATA RAID Controller

AMCC 3ware RAID controllers deliver full-featured, true hardware RAID to servers and workstations. AMCC's RAID controllers offer Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA) interfaces. Combined with an advanc ed RAID management feature-set that includes web-based, command-based, and API (application programming interface) software components, AMCC controllers provide compelling RAID solutions.

This section introduces the features and concepts of AMCC 3ware RAID controllers. It is organized into the following topics:

• What’s New with 9690SA Models

• System Requirements

• Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels

• 3ware Tools for Configuration and Management

• Monitoring, Maintenance, and Troubleshooting Features

What’s New with 9690SA Models

The 9690SA models in 3ware’s 9000 series of RAID controllers have the following features and benefits:

• Dual-ported SAS drive support

• Ability to have SAS and/or SATA drives on the same controller

• Connectivity with up to 128 single-ported drives or 64 dual-ported drives

• Up to 32 drives in a unit

• Up to 32 active units

• Support for storage enclosures

• Simultaneous RAID 6 parity generation to maximize RAID 6

performance

• 8th-generation StorSwitch™ non-blocking switch fabric for maximum

controller output

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Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® SAS/SATA RAID Controller

• StreamFusion™ optimizes RAID 5 and RAID 6 disk accesses to

maximize application performance under heavy loads

• StorSave™ BBU with write journaling optimizes data protection and

performance

• RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and Single Disk

• PCI Express® x8 connectivity

• If you have a supported enclosure, the drive Locate feature allows you to

easily identify a drive in the enclosure by blinking the LED associated with it. Depending on your enclosure, you may also be able to identify fans, power supplies, and temperature controls.

System Requirements

3ware 9690SA model RAID controllers have the following requirements:

Motherboard and Slot Requirements

A workstation-class or server-class motherboard, with an available PCI Express x8 or x16 slot that complies with PCI 1.1 or later.

A list of motherboards that have been tested is available at

http://www.3ware.com/products/sys_compatibility.asp

Drive Requirements

The 3ware 9690SA RAID controller may be connected to up to 128 SAS and / or SATA drives. If all drives are SAS drives and connections are made to both ports of each SAS drive from the controller (for redundancy and performance), then a maximum of 64 drives may be used. A maximum of 32 drives are allowed per RAID unit and up to 32 active RAID units per controller. You cannot mix SAS and SATA drives in the same unit.

Drives and drive enclosures must meet SAS (3.0 Gbps) and SATA (1.5 or 3.0 Gbps) standards.

A list of drives that have been tested is available at

http://www.3ware.com/products/sys_compatibility.asp

Drives may be of any capacity or physical form factor. The length of internal unshielded interface cables may not exceed 1M (39”)

and a maximum of 6M (234”) for external shielded cables.

2 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide, Version 9.5

System Requirements

Enclosure Requirements

Enclosure management features in 3ware software are available for supported enclosures with expanders that provide SCSI Enclosure Services 2 (SES-2).

Note: SAFTE (SCSI Accessed Fault Tolerant Enclosure) is not supported at

this time. A list of supported enclosures is available at

http://www.3ware.com/products/sys_compatibility.asp

Cascading of enclosures is limited to 4 enclosures based on the same expander. Enclosures may contain cascaded expanders internally.

Operating System

3ware RAID controllers may be used with:

• Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, both 32-bit and 64-bit x86

• Red Hat Linux, 32-bit and 64-bit x86

• SuSE Linux, 32-bit and 64-bit x86

• Fedora Core, 32-bit and 64-bit x86

• Other versions of Linux, 32-bit and 64-bit x86, using the open source

Linux 2.4 or 2.6 kernel driver

For the latest driver versions for all operating systems, see the current Release Notes at http://www.3ware.com/support/.

Other Requirements

• Adequate air flow and cooling

• Adequate power supply for drives

• 3DM 2 (3ware Disk Manager) displays information in a browser. It

requires one of the following browsers:

• Internet Explorer 5.5 and later

• Mozilla Firefox 1.2 and later

• Netscape 7 and later

In addition:

• JavaScript must be enabled

• Cookies must be enabled

• For best viewing, screen resolution should be 1024 x 768 or greater,

with 16-bit color or greater.

For a complete listing of features and system requirements, refer to the 3ware SATA RAID Controller datasheets, available from the website at http://

www.3ware.com/products.

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Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® SAS/SATA RAID Controller

Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels

3ware RAID controllers use RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) to increase your storage system’s performance and provide fault tolerance (protection against data loss).

This section organizes information about RAID concepts and configuration levels into the following topics:

• “RAID Concepts” on page 4

• “Available RAID Configurations” on page 5

• “Determining What RAID Level to Use” on page 11

RAID Concepts

The following concepts are important to understand when working with a RAID controller:

•

Arrays and Units. In the storage industry, the term “array” is used to

describe two or more disk drives that appear to the operating system as a single unit. When working with a 3ware RAID controller, “unit” is the term used to refer to an array of disks that is configured and managed through the 3ware software. Single-disk units can also be configured in the 3ware software.

•

Mirroring. Mirrored arrays (RAID 1) write data to paired drives

simultaneously . If one drive fails, the data is preserved on the paired drive. Mirroring provides data protection through redundancy. In addition, mirroring using a 3ware RAID controller provides improved performance because 3ware’s TwinStor technology reads from both drives simultaneously.

•

Striping. Striping across disks allows data to be written and accessed on

more than one drive, at the same time. Striping combines each drive’s capacity into one large volume. Striped disk arrays (RAID 0) achieve highest transfer rates and performance at the expense of fault tolerance.

Distributed Parity . Parity works in combination with striping on RAID 5,

•

RAID 6, and RAID 50. Parity information is written to each of the striped drives, in rotation. Should a failure occur, the data on the failed drive can be reconstructed from the data on the other drives.

•

Hot Swap. The process of exchanging a drive without having to shut

down the system. This is useful when you need to exchange a defective drive in a redundant unit.

4 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide, Version 9.5

• Array Roaming. The process of removing a unit from a controller and

putting it back later, either on the same controller, or a different one, and having it recognized as a unit. The disks may be attached to different ports than they were originally attached to, without harm to the data.

For definitions of other terms used throughout the documentation, see the “Glossary”.

Available RAID Configurations

RAID is a method of combining several hard drives into one unit. It offers fault tolerance and higher throughput levels than a single hard drive or group of independent hard drives. RAID levels 0, 1, 10 and 5 are th e most popular. AMCC's 3ware controllers support RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and Single Disk. The information below provides a more in-depth explanation of the different RAID levels.

For how to configure RAID units, see “Configuring a New Unit” on page 85.

Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels

RAID 0

RAID 0 provides improved performance, but no fault tolerance. Since the data is striped across more than one disk, RAID 0 disk arrays achieve high transfer rates because they can read and write data on more than one drive simultaneously. The stripe size is configurable during unit creation. RAID 0 requires a minimum of two drives.

When drives are configured in a striped disk array (see Figure 2), large files are distributed across the multiple disks using RAID 0 techniques.

Striped disk arrays give exceptional performance, particularly for data intensive applications such as video editing, computer-aided design and geographical information systems.

RAID 0 arrays are not fault tolerant. The loss of any drive results in the loss of all the data in that array, and can even cause a system hang, depending on your operating system. RAID 0 arrays are not recommended for high availability systems unless additional precautions are taken to prevent system hangs and data loss.

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Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® SAS/SATA RAID Controller

Figure 2. RAID 0 Configuration Example

RAID 1

RAID 1 provides fault tolerance and a speed advantage over non-RAID disks. RAID 1 is also known as a mirrored array. Mirroring is done on pairs of drives. Mirrored disk arrays write the same data to two different drives using RAID 1 algorithms (see Figure 3). This gives your system fault tolerance by preserving the data on one drive if the other drive fails. Fault tolerance is a basic requirement for critical systems like web and database servers.

3ware uses a patented technology, TwinStor®, on RAID 1 arrays for improved performance during sequential read operations. With TwinStor technology, read performance is twice the speed of a single drive during sequential read operation.

The adaptive algorithms in TwinStor technology boost performance by distinguishing between random and sequential read requests. For the sequential requests generated when accessing large files, both drives are used, with the heads simultaneously reading alternating sections of the file. For the smaller random transactions, the data is read from a single optimal drive head.

Figure 3. RAID 1 Configuration Example

RAID 5

RAID 5 provides performance, fault tolerance, high capacity, and storage efficiency. It requires a minimum of three drives and combines striping data with parity (exclusive OR) to restore data in case of a drive failure. Performance and efficiency increase as the number of drives in a unit increases.

Parity information is distributed across all of the drives in a unit rather than being concentrated on a single disk (see Figure 4). This avoids throughput loss due to contention for the parity drive.

6 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide, Version 9.5

Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels

RAID 5 is able to tolerate 1 drive failure in the unit.

Figure 4. RAID 5 Configuration Example

RAID 6

RAID 6 requires a 3ware 9650SE or 9690SA RAID controller. RAID 6 provides greater redundancy and fault tolerance than RAID 5. It is

similar to RAID 5, but has two blocks of parity information (P+Q) distributed across all the drives of a unit, instead of the single block of RAID 5.

Due to the two parities, a RAID 6 unit can tolerate two hard drives failing simultaneously. This also means that a RAID 6 unit may be in two different states at the same time. For example, one sub-unit can be degraded, while another may be rebuilding, or one sub-unit may be initializing, while another is verifying.

AMCC 3ware’s implementation of RAID 6 requires a minimum of five drives. Performance and storage efficiency also increase as the number of drives increase.

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Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® SAS/SATA RAID Controller

Figure 5. RAID 6 Configuration Example

RAID 10

RAID 10 is a combination of striped and mirrored arrays for fault tolerance and high performance.

When drives are configured as a striped mirrored array, the disks are configured using both RAID 0 and RAID 1 techniques, thus the name RAID 10 (see Figure 6). A minimum of four drives are required to use this technique. The first two drives are mirrored as a fault tolerant array using RAID 1. The third and fourth drives are mirrored as a second fault tolerant array using RAID 1. The two mirrored arrays are then grouped as a striped RAID 0 array using a two tier structure. Higher data transfer rates are achieved by leveraging TwinStor and striping the arrays.

In addition, RAID 10 arrays offer a higher degree of fault tolerance than RAID 1 and RAID 5, since the array can sustain multiple drive failures without data loss. For example, in a twelve-drive RAID 10 array, up to six drives can fail (half of each mirrored pair) and the array will continue to function. Please note that if both halves of a mirrored pair in the RAID 10 array fail, then all of the data will be lost.

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Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels

Figure 6. RAID 10 Configuration Example

RAID 50

RAID 50 is a combination of RAID 5 with RAID 0. This array type provides fault tolerance and high performance. RAID 50 requires a minimum of six drives.

Several combinations are available with RAID 50. For example, on a 12-port controller, you can hav e a grouping of 3, 4, or 6 drives. A grouping of 3 means that the RAID 5 arrays used have 3 disks each; four of these 3-drive RAID 5 arrays are striped together to form the 12-drive RAID 50 array. On a 16-port controller, you can have a grouping of 4 or 8 drives.

No more than four RAID 5 subunits are allowed in a RAID 50 unit. For example, a 24-drive RAID 50 unit may have groups of 12, 8, or 6 drives, but not groups of 4 or 3.

In addition, RAID 50 arrays offer a higher degree of fault tolerance than RAID 1 and RAID 5, since the array can sustain multiple drive failures without data loss. For example, in a twelve-drive RAID 50 array, up to one drive in each RAID 5 set can fail and the array will continue to function. Please note that if two or more drives in a RAID 5 set fail, then all of the data will be lost.

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Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® SAS/SATA RAID Controller

Figure 7. RAID 50 Configuration Example

Single Disk

A single drive can be configured as a unit through 3ware software. (3BM, 3DM 2, or CLI). Like disks in other RAID configurations, single disks contain 3ware Disk Control Block (DCB) information and are seen by the OS as available units.

Single drives are not fault tolerant and therefore not recommended for high availability systems unless additional precautions are taken to prevent system hangs and data loss.

Hot Spare

A hot spare is a single drive, available online, so that a redundant unit can be automatically rebuilt in case of drive failure.

10 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide, Version 9.5

Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels

Determining What RAID Level to Use

Your choice of which type of RAID unit (array) to create will depend on your needs. You may wish to maximize speed of access, total amount of storage, or redundant protection of data. Each type of RAID unit offers a different blend of these characteristics.

The following table provides a brief summary of RAID type characteristics.

Table 2: RAID Configuration Types

RAID Type Description

RAID 0 Provides performance, but no fault tolerance. RAID 1 Provides fault tolerance and a read speed advantage over non-

RAID disks.

RAID 5 This type of unit provides performance, fault tolerance, and high

storage efficiency. RAID 5 units can tolerate one drive failing before losing data.

RAID 6 Provides very high fault tolerance with the ability to protect

against two consecutive drive failures. Performance and efficiency increase with higher numbers of drives.

RAID 10 A combinatio n of striped and mirrored un its for fault tolerance

and high performance.

RAID 50 A combination of RAID 5 and RAID 0. It provides high fault

tolerance and performance.

Single Disk Not a RAID type, but supported as a configuration.

Provides for maximum disk capacity with no redundancy.

You can create one or more units, depending on the number of drives you have installed.

Table 3: Possible Configurations Based on Number of Drives

# Drives Possible RAID Configurations

1 Single disk or hot spare 2 RAID 0 or RAID 1 3RAID 0

RAID 1 with hot spare RAID 5

4 RAID 5 with hot spare

RAID 10 Combination of RAID 0, RAID 1, single disk

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Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® SAS/SATA RAID Controller

Table 3: Possible Configurations Based on Number of Drives

# Drives Possible RAID Configurations

5RAID 6

RAID 5 with hot spare RAID 10 with hot spare Combination of RAID 0, RAID 1, hot spare, single disk

6 or more RAID 6

RAID 6 with hot spare RAID 50 Combination of RAID 0, 1, 5, 6,10, hot spare, single disk

Using Drive Capacity Efficiently

To make the most efficient use of drive capacity, it is advisable to use drives of the same capacity in a unit. This is because the capacity of each drive is limited to the capacity of the smallest drive in the unit.

The total unit capacity is defined as follows:

Table 4: Drive Capacity

RAID Level Capacity

Single Disk Capacity of the drive RAID 0 (number of drives) X (capacity of the smallest drive) RAID 1 Capacity of the smallest drive RAID 5 (number of drives - 1) X (capacity of the smallest drive)

Storage efficiency increases with the number of disks:

storage efficiency = (number of drives -1)/(number of drives) RAID 6 (number of drives - 2) x (capacity of the smallest drive) RAID 10 (number of drives / 2) X (capacity of smallest drive) RAID 50 (number of drives - number of groups of drives) X (capacity of the

smallest drive)

Through drive coercion, the capacity used for each drive is rounded down so that drives from differing manufacturers are more likely to be able to be used as spares for each other. The capacity used for each drive is rounded down to the nearest GB for drives under 45 GB (45,000,000,000 bytes), and rounded down to the nearest 5 GB for drives over 45 GB. For example, a 44.3 GB drive will be rounded down to 44 GB, and a 123 GB drive will be rounded

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3ware Tools for Configuration and Management

down to 120 GB. For more information, see the discussion of drive coercion under “Creating a Hot Spare” on page 97.

Note: All drives in a unit must be of the same type, either SAS or SATA.

Support for Over 2 Terabytes

Windows XP (32-bit), Windows 2003 (32-bit and 64-bit without SP1) and Linux 2.4 do not currently recognize unit capacity in excess of 2 TB.

If the combined capacity of the drives to be connected to a unit exceeds 2 Terabytes (TB), you can enable auto-carving when you configure your units.

Auto-carving divides the available unit capacity into multiple chunks of 2 TB or smaller that can be addressed by the operating systems as separate volumes. The carve size is adjustable from 1024 GB to 2048 GB (default) prior to unit creation.

If a unit over 2 TB was created prior to enabling the auto-carve option, its capacity visible to the operating system will still be 2TB; no additional capacity will be registered. To change this, the unit has to be recreated.

For more information, see “Using Auto-Carving for Multi LUN Support” on page 78.

You may also want to refer to Knowledgease article # 13431, at http://www.3ware.com/kb/article.aspx?id=13431.

3ware Tools for Configuration and Management

3ware software tools let you easily configure the drives attached to your 3ware RAID controller, specifying which drives should be used together as a RAID unit and the type of RAID configuration you want, and designating hot spares for use if a drive degrades.

3ware provides the following tools for use in configuring and managing units attached to the 3ware controller:

• 3BM (3ware BIOS Manager)

3BM is a BIOS level tool for creating, deleting, and maintaining disk arrays, rebuilding arrays, designating hot spares, and setting controller policies. 3BM is the tool most frequently used to configure units

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Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® SAS/SATA RAID Controller

immediately after installation of the controller, but can also be used after installation to maintain the controller and associated drives.

For general information about working with 3BM, see Chapter 5, “3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) Introduction.”

• 3DM 2 (3ware Disk Manager)

3DM is a daemon (under Linux) and a service (under Windows) which runs in the background on the controller’s host system, and can be accessed through a web browser to provide ongoing monitoring and administration of the controller and associated drives. It can be used locally (on the system that contains the 9690SA) or remotely (on a system connected via a network to the system containing the 9690SA).

For details about working with 3DM, see “3DM 2 (3ware Disk Manager) Introduction” on page 58.

3DM 2 is the current version of the 3ware Disk Manager . Th roughout this documentation, it is referred to interchangeably as 3DM and 3DM 2.

• 3ware Alert Utility (WinAVAlarm)

The 3ware Alert Utility for Windows runs on the system in which the 3ware RAID controller is installed and provides direct notification by popup message and audio alarm when events occur. This utility can be configured to specify the type of events that should generate these notifications. For details, see “Using the Alert Utility Under W indows” on page 134.

• 3ware CLI (Command Line Interface)

The 3ware CLI provides the functionality available in 3DM through a Command Line Interface. You can view unit status and version information and perform maintenance functions such as adding or removing drives, and reconfiguring RAID units online. You can also use it to remotely administer controllers in a system.

The 3ware CLI is described in 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Controller CLI Guide and in the 3ware HTML Bookshelf.

Monitoring, Maintenance, and Troubleshooting Feat ures

Several 3ware RAID controller features aid in monitoring and troubleshooting your drives.

•

SMART Monitoring (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting

Technology) automatically checks a disk drive's health every 24 hours and reports potential problems. This allows you to take proactive steps to prevent impending disk crashes. SMART data is checked on all disk drives (array members, single disks, and hot spares). Monitoring of

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Monitoring, Maintenance, and Troub leshooting Features

SMART thresholds can be turned on and off in 3DM. See, “Selecting Self-tests to be Performed” on page 154 This feature does not apply to SAS drives. (For details, see “Viewing SMART Data About a Drive” on page 136.)

•

Staggered Spinup allows drives that support this feature to be powered-

up into the standby power management state to minimize in-rush current at power-up and to allow the controller to sequence the spin-up of drives. Both SATAII OOB and ATA spin-up methods are supported.The standby power management state is persistent after power-down and power-up. You can set the number of drives that will spin up at the same time, and the time between staggers in 3BM (the 3ware BIOS Management utility). This feature does not apply to drives that are attached to an expan der. For details, see “Enabling and Setting Up Staggered Spin-up” on page 80.

•

Verification and Media Scans. The verify task verifies all redundant

units, and checks for media errors on single disks, spares and RAID 0 unit members. If the disk drive is part of a redundant unit, error locations that are found and are deemed repairable are rewritten with the redundant data. This forces the drive firmware to reallocate the error sectors accordingly. (For more information, see “About Verification” on page 141.)

•

Error Correction. Bad sectors can be dynamically repaired through error

correction (Dynamic Sector Repair). Reallocation of blocks is based intelligently on the location of the block in relation to the stripe.

•

Scheduled Background Tasks. Initialize, rebuild, verify, and self-test

tasks can all be run in the background, at scheduled times. This lets you choose a time for these tasks to be run when it will be least disruptive to your system. You can also define the rate at which background tasks are performed, specifying whether I/O tasks should be given more processing time, or background rebuild and verify tasks should be given more processing time. (For more information, see “Scheduling Background Tasks” on page 150.)

•

Write Cache. Write cache can be enabled or disabled using 3BM,

3DM 2 and CLI. When write cache is enabled, data will be stored in 3ware controller cache and drive cache before the data is committed to disk. This allows the system to process multiple write commands at the same time, thus improving performance. However when data is stored in cache, it could be lost if a power failure occurs. With a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) installed, the data stored on the 3ware controller can be restored. (For more information, see “Enabling and Disabling the Unit Write Cache” on page 102.)

•

StorSave™ Profiles allow you to set the level of protection versus

performance that is desired for a unit when write cache is enabled. (For more information, see “Setting the StorSave Profile for a Unit” on page 106.)

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Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® SAS/SATA RAID Controller

• Enclosure Services. Drives, fans, temperature sensors, and power

supplies in supported enclosures can be identified by flashing LEDs so that you can quickly identify which component needs to be checked or replaced. For more information, see “Managing an Enclosure” on page 179.

Auto Rebuild. For times when you do not have a spare available, setting

•

the Auto Rebuild policy allows rebuilds to occur with an available drive or with a failed drive. (For more information, see “Setting the Auto Rebuild Policy” on page 77.)

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Getting Started with Your 3ware RAID Controller

Setting up your 3ware RAID controller involves these main steps:

• Physically Install the RAID Controller and Drives

• Configure a RAID Unit

• Install the Driver and Make the Operating System Aware of the New

Drives

• Set Up Management and Maintenance Features Once the controller and drives have been physically installed, the order in

which you perform these steps depends in part on whether one of the units you configure will act as your boot drive.

Tip: When you are first setting up your system, you may want to review

“System Requirements” on page 2.

Physically Install the RAID Controller and Drives

To install your controller, follow the instructions in the installation guide that came with your 3ware controller. If you do not have a hardcopy of the installation manual, it is available in the “doc” folder on your 3ware CD, or you can download it from the 3ware website at http://www.3ware.com/

support/userdocs.asp.

For drive installation, see the instructions that came with your enclosure. If you are installing drives in a computer case, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Configure a RAID Unit

If you would like more information about what RAID level to choose for your situation, review the information under “Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels” on page 4. Then turn to “Configuring a New Unit” on page 85.

If you want to install the operating system on and boot from a drive managed through the new 3ware RAID controller, use the 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) to define the configuration. You will find step-by-step instructions for initial

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Chapter 2. Getting Started with Your 3ware RAID Controller

installation in. Chapter 3, “First-Time RAID Configuration Using 3BM.” Additional information about configuration is also included in the later chapters of this user guide.

If the operating system is already installed on another drive in your system, you can configure units through 3BM, through 3ware Disk Manager (3DM), or through the Command Line Interface (CLI). If you want to use 3DM or the CLI for configuration, go ahead and boot to the operating system, install the driver and the 3DM 2 software, and then configure your units. You may want to refer to the following information:

• Chapter 6, “3DM 2 (3ware Disk Manager) Introduction”

• Chapter 8, “Configuring Units”

• 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Controller CLI Guide, available from the CD-

ROM, the 3ware HTML Bookshelf and from the website http://

www.3ware.com/support/userdocs.asp

Install the Driver and Make the Operating System Aware of the New Drives

Instructions for installing drivers are available in “Driver Installation” on page 31.

You will also find instructions for updating the driver under “Downloading the Driver and Firmware” on page 158.

Set Up Management and Maintenance Features

3ware RAID controllers include a number of features to help you manage and maintain the controller and your configured units. The default settings for these features allow you to begin using your newly configured units right away. You can review and change these features as a final step in your initial setup, or you can make changes to them later, at your convenience. These features include:

• Controller and unit policies, such as Auto Rebuild, Auto Verify, use of

write cache, use of queuing mode, and selection of a StorSave profile.

• Email notification of alarms and other events

• Schedules for when background tasks will be performed, to minimize the

impact on day-to-day performance during peak usage times. (Background tasks include rebuild, verify, initialize, migrate, and self-test.)

Details about these features are described in this documentation. When you first set up your controller, you may want to review these sections in particular:

• “Configuring Your Controller” on page 72

• “Setting Unit Policies” on page 100

• “Setting Background Task Rate” on page 149

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Initial Settings for Policies and Background Tasks

The table below lists the default settings for policies and background tasks. These settings are used if you do not explicitly change the policy settings.

Table 5: Default Settings for Policies and Background Tasks

Policy Default Value Where to Change

Controller-Level Settings (For details, see “Configuring Your Controller” on page 72

Auto-Rebuild Enabled 3BM, 3DM, CLI Auto-Carving Disabled 3BM, 3DM, CLI Auto-Detect Enabled CLI Carve Size or Factor 2048 GB 3BM, 3DM, CLI Drives Per Spinup 1 3BM, CLI Delay Between Spinup 6 seconds 3BM, CLI Export Unconfigured (JBOD)

Disks Staggered Method ATA-6 3BM Staggered Spinup Enabled 3BM

Unit-Level Settings (For details, see “Setting Unit Policies” on page 100)

Auto Verify Disabled 3DM, CLI Continue on Source Error

During Rebuild Boot Volume Size Blank 3BM Queuing (NCQ) Enabled 3BM, 3DM, CLI StorSave Profile Protection 3BM, 3DM, CLI Write Cache Enabled 3BM, 3DM, CLI

Background Task Settings (For details, see “Scheduling Background Tasks” on page 150 and “Setting Background Task Rate” on page 149)

Verify Task Schedules

Disabled 3BM, CLI

Disabled 3BM, 3DM, CLI

Daily,

starting at 12:00 am

3DM, CLI

and running for 24 hours

Follow Verify Task Schedule No 3DM, CLI Rebuild Task Schedules

starting at 12:00 am

Daily,

3DM, CLI

and running for 24 hours

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Table 5: Default Settings for Policies and Background Tasks

Policy Default Value Where to Change

Follow Rebuild T ask Schedule

Self-test Task Schedules

No 3DM, CLI

Daily, starting at 12:00 am

3DM, CLI

and running for 24 hours

Follow Self-test Task Schedule

Yes 3DM, CLI

a. Although the default Self-test Task Schedule is for 24 hours, self-test

tasks are run only at the beginning of that time period and take just a few minutes. For more information about task schedules, see “Scheduling Background Tasks” on page 150.

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