Asus LSI SAS3442X-R User Manual

USER’S

GUIDE

Integrated RAID for SAS

April 2007

Version 1.1

DB15-000357-01

Proprietary Rights Notice

This document contains proprietary information of LSI Logic Corporation. The information contained herein is not to be used by or disclosed to third parties without the express written permission of an ofﬁcer of LSI Logic Corporation.

Document Description

Document DB15-000357-01, Version 1.1 (April 2007) This document describes LSI Logic Corporation’s Integrated RAID (IR) software product and will remain the ofﬁcial reference source for all revisions/releases of this product until rescinded by an update.

Disclaimer

It is the policy of LSI Logic Corporation to improve products as new technology, components, software, and ﬁrmware become available. LSI Logic reserves the right to make changes to any products herein at any time without notice. All features, functions, and operations described herein may not be marketed by LSI Logic in all parts of the world. In some instances, photographs and ﬁgures are of equipment prototypes. Therefore, before using this document, consult your LSI Logic representative for information that is applicable and current. LSI LOGIC DOES NOT ASSUME ANY RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR THE USE OF ANY PRODUCTS DESCRIBED HEREIN EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY AGREED TO IN WRITING BY LSI LOGIC.

LSI Logic products are not intended for use in life-support appliances, devices, or systems. Use of any LSI Logic product in such applications without written consent of the appropriate LSI Logic ofﬁcer is prohibited.

License Restriction

The purchase or use of an LSI Logic Corporation product does not convey a license under any patent, copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property right of LSI Logic or third parties.

Trademark Acknowledgments

LSI Logic, the LSI Logic logo design, Fusion-MPT, Integrated Mirroring, and Integrated Striping are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Logic Corporation. Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other brand and product names may be trademarks of their respective companies.

For a current list of our distributors, sales ofﬁces, and design resource centers, view our web page located at

http://www.lsi.com

iii

Audience

Preface

This user’s guide explains how to conﬁgure and use the components of the LSI Integrated RAID (IR) software product with LSI SAS controllers.

This user’s guide assumes that you have some familiarity with installing and conﬁguring software programs and that you are familiar with computer storage devices in general. The people who beneﬁt from this document are:

• VARs and OEMs who are evaluating the LSI IR software components

or who are using the IR software product in their computer systems

• End users who are using the IR software product to conﬁgure

mirrored or striped volumes on LSI SAS controllers.

Organization

This document has the following chapters and appendixes:

• Chapter 1, Introduction to Integrated RAID, provides an overview

of Integrated RAID for SAS controllers, its features, and its beneﬁts.

• Chapter 2, Overview of Integrated Mirroring and Integrated

Mirroring Enhanced, provides an overview of the LSI Integrated

Mirroring™(IM) and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME) features.

• Chapter 3, Creating IM and IME Volumes, describes how to

conﬁgure IM and IME volumes with the BIOS-based conﬁguration utility.

Integrated RAID for SAS User’s Guide v

• Chapter 4, Overview of Integrated Striping, provides an overview

of the LSI Integrated Striping

• Chapter 5, Creating Integrated Striping Volumes, describes how to

conﬁgure Integrated Striping (IS) volumes with the BIOS-based conﬁguration utility.

• Appendix A, Using the CFGGEN IR Conﬁguration Utility,

describes how to create IM, IME, and IS volumes using the CFGGEN IR conﬁguration utility (for manufacturing use only).

Conventions Used in This Manual

The ﬁrst time a word or phrase is deﬁned in this manual, it is italicized. Hexadecimal numbers are indicated by the preﬁx “0x” —for example,

0x32CF. Binary numbers are indicated by the preﬁx “0b” —for example, 0b0011.0010.1100.1111.

Revision History

™

(IS) feature.

Document Number Version/Date Remarks

DB15-000357-01 Version 1.1

April 2007

DB15-000357-00 Version 1.0

January 2006

vi Preface

Documented the following updated Integrated RAID support:

• Support for up to two volumes consisting of up to twelve drives per controller, plus one or two hot spare drives. In all, a maximum of 14 drives per controller.

• IM, IME, and IS volumes support up to ten drives.

• IM and IME arrays support one or two hot spares.

Deleted references to SCSI controllers from Appendix A. Made many low-level editing improvements.

Initial release of document.

Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction to Integrated RAID

1.1 Introduction 1-1

1.2 Integrated RAID Beneﬁts and Features 1-2

1.3 Using this Manual 1-3

Chapter 2 Overview of Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced

2.1 Introduction 2-1

2.2 IM and IME Features 2-2

2.3 IM/IME Description 2-3

2.4 Integrated RAID Firmware 2-5

2.4.1 Resynchronization with Concurrent Host I/O Operation 2-5

2.4.2 Metadata Support 2-5

2.4.3 Hot Swapping 2-6

2.4.4 SMART Support 2-6

2.4.5 Hot Spare Disk 2-6

2.4.6 Media Veriﬁcation 2-7

2.4.7 Disk Write Caching 2-7

2.4.8 NVSRAM Usage 2-7

2.5 Fusion-MPT Support 2-7

Chapter 3 Creating IM and IME Volumes

3.1 IM/IME Conﬁguration Overview 3-1

3.2 Creating IM and IME Volumes 3-2

3.2.1 Creating an IM Volume 3-3

3.2.2 Creating an IME Volume 3-5

Contents vii

3.3 Creating a Second IM or IME Volume 3-5

3.4 Managing Hot Spares 3-6

3.5 Other Conﬁguration Tasks 3-8

3.5.1 Viewing Volume Properties 3-8

3.5.2 Synchronizing an Array 3-8

3.5.3 Activating an Array 3-9

3.5.4 Deleting an Array 3-9

3.5.5 Locating a Disk Drive, or Multiple Disk Drives in a

3.5.6 Selecting a Boot Disk 3-10

Chapter 4 Overview of Integrated Striping

4.1 Introduction 4-1

4.2 IS Features 4-2

4.3 IS Description 4-2

4.4 Integrated Striping Firmware 4-4

4.4.1 Metadata Support 4-4

4.4.2 SMART Support 4-4

4.4.3 Disk Write Caching 4-4

4.5 Fusion-MPT Support 4-4

Volume 3-10

Chapter 5 Creating Integrated Striping Volumes

5.1 IS Conﬁguration Overview 5-1

5.2 Creating IS Volumes 5-2

5.3 Creating a Second IS Volume 5-4

5.4 Other Conﬁguration Tasks 5-5

5.4.1 Viewing IS Volume Properties 5-5

5.4.2 Activating an Array 5-5

5.4.3 Deleting an Array 5-6

5.4.4 Locating a Disk Drive, or Multiple Disk Drives in a Volume 5-6

5.4.5 Selecting a Boot Disk 5-7

viii Contents

Appendix A Using the CFGGEN IR Conﬁguration Utility

A.1 Hardware and Software Requirements A-2 A.2 CFGGEN Interface Description A-3 A.3 CFGGEN Commands A-3

A.3.1 Common Command Line Parameters A-4 A.3.2 CREATE Command A-5 A.3.3 DEFAULTS Command A-6 A.3.4 DISPLAY Command A-7 A.3.5 FORMAT Command A-10 A.3.6 HOTSPARE Command A-11 A.3.7 STATUS Command A-12 A.3.8 SETOFFLINE Command A-13 A.3.9 SETONLINE Command A-14 A.3.10 AUTO Command (EFI Version Only) A-15 A.3.11 DISABLEIR Command (EFI Version Only) A-16 A.3.12 ENABLEIR Command (EFI Version Only) A-17 A.3.13 LIST Command (EFI Version Only) A-18

Customer Feedback

Contents ix

x Contents

Figures

2.1 Typical Integrated Mirroring Implementation 2-4

2.2 Integrated Mirroring Volume 2-4

2.3 Integrated Mirroring Enhanced with Three Disks 2-5

3.1 Adapter Properties Screen 3-3

3.2 Create New Array Screen 3-4

3.3 Manage Array Screen 3-7

4.1 Integrated Striping Example 4-3

4.2 Integrated Striping - Logical and Physical Views 4-3

5.1 Adapter Properties Screen 5-3

5.2 Create New Array Screen 5-4

Contents xi

xii Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction to Integrated RAID

This chapter provides an overview of the LSI Integrated RAID solution for LSI SAS controllers, its features, and its beneﬁts. The chapter includes these sections:

• Section 1.1, “Introduction,” page 1-1

• Section 1.2, “Integrated RAID Beneﬁts and Features,” page 1-2

• Section 1.3, “Using this Manual,” page 1-3

You can use the LSI Integrated RAID solution with the following LSI SAS controllers:

• LSISAS1064/1064E

• LSISAS1068/1068E

• LSISAS1078

1.1 Introduction

The LSI Integrated RAID solution provides cost beneﬁts for the server or workstation market where the extra performance, storage capacity, and/or redundancy of a RAID conﬁguration are required. The components of Integrated RAID are:

• Integrated Mirroring (IM), which supports two-disk mirrored arrays

and hot spare disks.

• Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME), which supports mirrored

arrays with three to ten disks, plus hot spare disks.

• Integrated Striping (IS), which supports striped arrays with two to

ten disks.

Integrated RAID for SAS User’s Guide 1-1

By simplifying the conﬁguration options and by providing ﬁrmware support in its host adapters, LSI can offer the Integrated RAID solution at a lower cost than a hardware RAID implementation.

Fusion-MPT™ﬁrmware supports IM, IME, and IS volumes. You can create up to two Integrated RAID storage volumes on the same LSI SAS controller.

1.2 Integrated RAID Beneﬁts and Features

Integrated RAID has the following beneﬁts and features:

• Support for up to ten disks per IME or IS volume, with one or two

storage volumes per SAS controller. Each controller can support up to 12 volume disks, plus one or two hot spare disks, for a maximum of 14 disks per controller. (Support for this number of disks requires Integrated RAID ﬁrmware v1.20.00 or above.)

• Support for two-disk IM mirrored volumes

• Low cost RAID volume creation meets the needs of most internal

RAID installations

• Easy to use - installation and conﬁguration are not complex

• System can boot from an IM, IME, or IS volume

• No special OS-speciﬁc software required

• High reliability and data integrity

– Nonvolatile write journaling – Physical disks not visible to OS or to application software

• Low host CPU and PCI bus utilization

• Fusion-MPT architecture provides processing power

– Shared memory architecture minimizes external memory

requests

– Functionality is contained in device hardware and ﬁrmware

1-2 Introduction to Integrated RAID

1.3 Using this Manual

• Chapters 2 and 3 of this User’s Guide list IM/IME features and

explain how to create IM/IME volumes and optional hot spare disks.

• Chapters 4 and 5 list Integrated Striping features and explain how to

create Integrated Striping (IS) volumes.

• Appendix A explains how to use the CFGGEN IR conﬁguration utility

to create IM, IME, and IS volumes in the manufacturing environment.

Using this Manual 1-3

1-4 Introduction to Integrated RAID

Chapter 2 Overview of Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced

This chapter provides an overview of the LSI Integrated Mirroring (IM) and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME) features. It includes these sections:

• Section 2.1, “Introduction,” page 2-1

• Section 2.2, “IM and IME Features,” page 2-2

• Section 2.3, “IM/IME Description,” page 2-3

• Section 2.4, “Integrated RAID Firmware,” page 2-5

• Section 2.5, “Fusion-MPT Support,” page 2-7

2.1 Introduction

As a result of the shift towards Network Attached Storage (NAS), ISPs need a cost effective, fault-tolerant solution to protect the operating systems on small form factor, high-density, rack-mountable servers. The LSI Integrated Mirroring (IM) and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME) features provide data protection for the system boot volume to safeguard critical information such as the operating system on servers and high performance workstations. The IM and IME features provide a robust, high-performance, fault-tolerant solution to data storage needs, at a lower cost than a dedicated RAID controller.

The IM and IME features support one or two mirrored volumes per LSI SAS controller, to provide fault-tolerant protection for critical data. The two volumes can have up to twelve disk drives total, plus one or two hot spare disks.

If a disk in an Integrated Mirroring volume fails, the hot swap capability allows you to restore the volume by simply swapping disks. The ﬁrmware then automatically re-mirrors the swapped disk. Additionally, each SAS

Integrated RAID for SAS User’s Guide 2-1

controller can have one or two global hot spare disks available to automatically replace a failed disk in the IM or IME storage volumes on the controller. Hot spares make the IM/IME volume even more faulttolerant.

Note: You can also conﬁgure one IM or IME volume and one

Integrated Striping (IS) volume on the same LSI SAS controller.

The IM/IME feature uses the same device drivers as the standard LSI Fusion-MPT based controllers, providing seamless and transparent fault tolerance. This eliminates the need for complex backup software or expensive RAID hardware. The IM/IME feature operates independently from the operating system, in order to conserve system resources. The BIOS-based conﬁguration utility makes it easy to conﬁgure IM and IME volumes.

2.2 IM and IME Features

IM and IME support the following features:

• Conﬁgurations of one or two IM or IME volumes on the same LSI

SAS controller. IM volumes have two mirrored disks; IME volumes have three to ten mirrored disks. Two volumes can have up to 12 disks total. (Requires Integrated RAID ﬁrmware v1.20.00 or above.)

• One or two global hot spare disks per controller, to automatically

replace failed disks in IM/IME volumes. (Support for two hot spares requires Integrated RAID ﬁrmware v1.20.00 or above.) The hot spares are in addition to the 12-disk maximum for two volumes per SAS controller.

• Mirrored volumes run in optimal mode or in degraded mode (if one

mirrored disk fails).

• Hot swap capability.

• Presents a single virtual drive to the OS for each IM/IME volume.

• Supports both SAS and SATA disks. The two types of disks cannot

be combined in the same volume. However, an LSI SAS controller can support one volume with SATA disks and a second volume with SAS disks.

2-2 Overview of Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced

• Fusion-MPT architecture.

• Easy-to-use BIOS-based conﬁguration utility.

• Error notiﬁcation: the drivers update an OS-speciﬁc event log.

• SES status LED support.

• Write journaling, which allows automatic synchronization of

potentially inconsistent data after unexpected power-down situations.

• Metadata used to store volume conﬁguration on mirrored disks.

• Automatic background resynchronization while host I/Os continue.

• Background media veriﬁcation ensures that data on IM/IME volumes

is always accessible.

2.3 IM/IME Description

The LSI Integrated RAID solution supports one or two IM/IME volumes on each LSI SAS controller (or one IM/IME volume and one Integrated Striping volume). Typically, one of these volumes is the boot volume, as shown in Figure 2.1. Boot support is available through the ﬁrmware of the LSI SAS controller that supports the standard Fusion-MPT interface. The runtime mirroring of the boot disk is transparent to the BIOS, drivers, and operating system. Host-based status software monitors the state of the mirrored disks and reports any error conditions. Figure 2.1 shows an IM implementation with a second disk as a mirror of the ﬁrst (primary) disk.

IM/IME Description 2-3

Figure 2.1 Typical Integrated Mirroring Implementation

IM Volume

Primary Mirror

SAS

LSI

Fusion-MPT

Controller

Memory

Bus

NVSRAM

(For Write Journaling)

FLASH

(For Conﬁguration)

The advantage of an IM/IME volume is that there is always a second, mirrored copy of the data. The disadvantage is that writes take longer because data must be written twice. On the other hand, performance is actually improved during reads.

Figure 2.2 shows the logical view and physical view of an IM volume.

Figure 2.2 Integrated Mirroring Volume

Logical View Physical View

LBA 1 LBA 2 LBA 3

LBA 1’ LBA 2’

LBA 3’

LBA N

LBA N’

An IME volume can be conﬁgured with up to ten mirrored disks. (One or two global hot spares can be added also.) Figure 2.3 shows the logical view and physical view of an Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME) volume with three mirrored disks. Each mirrored stripe is written to a disk and mirrored to an adjacent disk. This type of conﬁguration is also called RAID 1E.

2-4 Overview of Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced

Figure 2.3 Integrated Mirroring Enhanced with Three Disks

Logical View Physical View

Mirrored Stripe 1

Mirrored Stripe 2

Mirrored Stripe 3 Mirrored Stripe 4

Mirrored Stripe 5

Mirrored Stripe 6

Mirrored Stripe n

Mirrored Stripe 1

Mirrored Stripe 3’

Mirrored Stripe 4

Mirrored Stripe 6’

Mirrored Stripe n-2

Mirrored Stripe n’

The LSI BIOS-based conﬁguration utility enables you to create IM and IME volumes during initial setup and to reconﬁgure them in response to hardware failures or changes in the environment.

2.4 Integrated RAID Firmware

This section describes features of the LSI Integrated RAID ﬁrmware.

Mirrored Stripe 2

Mirrored Stripe 1’

Mirrored Stripe 5

Mirrored Stripe 4’

Mirrored Stripe n-1

Mirrored Stripe (n-2)’

Mirrored Stripe 3

Mirrored Stripe 2’

Mirrored Stripe 6

Mirrored Stripe 5’

Mirrored Stripe n

Mirrored Stripe (n-1)’

2.4.1 Resynchronization with Concurrent Host I/O Operation

The Integrated RAID ﬁrmware allows host I/Os to continue on an IM or IME volume while the volume is being re-synchronized in the background. Resynchronization is attempted after a hot spare is activated due to a physical device failure, or after a hot swap has occurred to a physical disk in the volume.

2.4.2 Metadata Support

The ﬁrmware supports metadata, which describes the IM/IME logical drive conﬁguration stored on each member disk. When the ﬁrmware is initialized, each member disk is queried to read the stored metadata in

Integrated RAID Firmware 2-5

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