ASUS PIKE 1078 User Manual

PIKE 1078

LSISAS1078
SAS RAID card

E3735

First Edition V1
June 2008

Copyright © 2008 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it, may be reproduced,
transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form or by any
means, except documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes, without the express written
permission of ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. (“ASUS”).

Product warranty or service will not be extended if: (1) the product is repaired, modied or altered, unless
such repair, modication of alteration is authorized in writing by ASUS; or (2) the serial number of the

product is defaced or missing.

ASUS PROVIDES THIS MANUAL “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL ASUS, ITS
DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL,
INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS,
LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF USE OR DATA, INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS AND THE LIKE),
EVEN IF ASUS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES ARISING FROM ANY
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SPECIFICATIONS AND INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MANUAL ARE FURNISHED FOR
INFORMATIONAL USE ONLY, AND ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE,
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Products and corporate names appearing in this manual may or may not be registered trademarks or

copyrights of their respective companies, and are used only for identication or explanation and to the
owners’ benet, without intent to infringe.

ii

Contents

Contents ...................................................................................................... iii

About this guide ......................................................................................... iv

PIKE 1078 specications summary .......................................................... vi

Chapter 1: Product introduction

1.1 Welcome! ...................................................................................... 1-2

1.2 Package contents ......................................................................... 1-2

1.3 Card layout ................................................................................... 1-3

1.4 System requirements ................................................................... 1-3

1.5 Card installation ........................................................................... 1-4

1.6 i Button installation ...................................................................... 1-8

Chapter 2: RAID conguration

2.1 Setting up RAID ............................................................................ 2-2

2.1.1 RAID denitions .............................................................. 2-2

2.1.2 Installing hard disk drives ................................................ 2-3

2.2 LSI WebBIOS Conguration Utility ............................................. 2-4

2.2.1 Starting the WebBIOS CU............................................... 2-4

2.2.2 WebBIOS CU main screen options ................................. 2-5

2.2.3 Creating a Storage Conguration ................................... 2-7

2.2.4 Viewing and Changing Device Properties ..................... 2-31

2.2.5 Viewing System Event Information ............................... 2-36

2.2.6 Managing Congurations .............................................. 2-37

2.3 MegaRAID Storage Manager ..................................................... 2-42

2.3.1 Hardware and Software Requirements ......................... 2-42

2.3.2 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager Sofware on

Microsoft Windows OS .................................................. 2-42

2.3.3 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager Sofware for

Linux ............................................................................. 2-46

2.3.4 Linux Error Messages ................................................... 2-47

2.3.5 Starting MegaRAID Storage Manager Software ........... 2-48

2.3.6 MegaRAID Storage Manager Window .......................... 2-50

Chapter 3: Driver installation

3.1 RAID driver installation ............................................................... 3-2

3.1.1 Creating a RAID driver disk ............................................ 3-2

3.1.2 Windows® OS .................................................................. 3-4

3.1.3 Red Hat® Enterprise Linux OS ........................................ 3-9

3.1.4 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server OS ................................3-11

iii

About this guide

This user guide contains the information you need when installing and conguring

the server management board.

How this guide is organized

This guide contains the following parts:

• Chapter 1: Product introduction

This chapter offers the PIKE 1078 SAS RAID card features and the new
technologies it supports.

• Chapter 2: RAID conguration

This chapter provides instructions on setting up, creating, and conguring

RAID sets using the available utilities.

• Chapter 3: Driver installation

This chapter provides instructions for installing the RAID drivers on different
operating systems.

Where to nd more information

Refer to the following sources for additional information and for product and
software updates.

1. ASUS websites

The ASUS website provides updated information on ASUS hardware and
software products. Refer to the ASUS contact information.

2. Optional documentation

Your product package may include optional documentation, such as warranty

yers, that may have been added by your dealer. These documents are not

part of the standard package.

iv

Conventions used in this guide

To make sure that you perform certain tasks properly, take note of the following
symbols used throughout this manual.

DANGER/WARNING: Information to prevent injury to yourself

when trying to complete a task.

CAUTION: Information to prevent damage to the components

when trying to complete a task.

IMPORTANT: Instructions that you MUST follow to complete a

task.

NOTE: Tips and additional information to help you complete a

task.

Typography

Bold text Indicates a menu or an item to select.

Italics

Used to emphasize a word or a phrase.

<Key> Keys enclosed in the less-than and greater-than sign means
that you must press the enclosed key.

Example: <Enter> means that you must press the Enter or
Return key.

<Key1+Key2+Key3> If you must press two or more keys simultaneously, the key
names are linked with a plus sign (+).

Example: <Ctrl+Alt+D>

Command Means that you must type the command exactly as shown,

then supply the required item or value enclosed in
brackets.

Example: At the DOS prompt, type the command line:
format a:

v

PIKE 1078 specications summary

Controller LSISAS1078

Interface ASUS PIKE interface

Ports 8 ports

Support device SAS and SATA II devices

Data transfer rate SATA II and SAS 3 Gb/s per PHY

RAID level RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 10 / RAID 5 / RAID 50 / RAID 6 /

OS support** Windows® Server 2003 / Server 2008 / XP / Vista

Form factor 6.44 in x 1.57 in (1U compatible)

* Install the i-Button for PIKE 1078 to work properly.
** The exact OS support would base on the OS support list of the motherboard.
*** Specications are subject to change without notice.

RAID 60*

Red Hat® Enterprise Linux 3 / 4 / 5
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 / 9 / 10
LSI MegaRAID Storage Manager (MSM) for Windows® /
Linux operating systems

vi

This chapter offers the PIKE 1078
SAS RAID card features and the new
technologies it supports.

Chapter 1: Product

1

introduction

1.1 Welcome!

Thank you for buying an ASUS® PIKE 1078 SAS RAID card!

The ASUS PIKE 1078 allows you to create RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5,
RAID 50, RAID 6, and RAID 60 set(s) from SAS hard disk drives connected to the
SAS connectors on the motherboard.

Before you start installing the RAID card, check the items in your package with the
list below.

1.2 Package contents

Check your package for the following items.

• ASUS PIKE 1078 SAS RAID card

• MEGARAID KEY i-BUTTON supporting 8 physical devices

• 4 port SATA to SAS cable x 2

• SGPIO cable x 2

• Support CD

• User guide

If any of the above items is damaged or missing, contact your retailer.

1-2 Chapter 1: Product introduction

1.3 Card layout

The images below show the major components of the RAID card.

3

122

1

3

122

(Outer heatsink removed, for 1U server)

1. ASUS PIKE interface-1: PCI-E x8

2. ASUS PIKE interface-2: 8-port SAS signal with SGPIO interface*

3. SAS RAID card status LED (lights up and blinks to indicate that the card is
working normally)

* The SGPIO interface is used for visibility into drive activity, failure and rebuild

status, so that users could build high-performatnce and reliable storage
systems. Refer to the motherboard manual for detailed information about
using the SGPIO connectors on the motherboard.

1

1.4 System requirements

Before you install the PIKE 1078 SAS RAID card, check if the system meets the
following requirements:

• Workstation or server motherboard with a PIKE RAID card slot

• SAS or SATA hard disk drives

• Supporting operating system:

Windows® and Linux operating systems (refer to website for details)

• Other requirement:

- Appropriate thermal solution

- Certied power supply module

ASUS PIKE 1078 1-3

1.5 Card installation

Follow the below instructions to install the RAID card on your motherboard.

Please do remember to install i-button and set IBTN RAID setting jumper
(usually named ITBN_SEL1) to [PIKE RAID5] after installing PIKE card. Refer

to the motherboard’s manual for details.

For 2U, 5U, or pedestal server

To install ASUS PIKE 1078 SAS RAID card on a 2U, 5U, or pedestal server

1. Locate the PIKE RAID card slot on
the motherboard.

2. Align the golden ngers of the RAID

card with the PIKE RAID card slot.

3. Insert the RAID card into the PIKE RAID card slot. Make sure the card is
completely inserted into the card slot, and the heatsink latch is completely
hooked to the edge of the card slot.

1-4 Chapter 1: Product introduction

4. Secure the heatsink to the nearest
screw hole on the motherboard.

DO NOT overtighten the screw,
or the motherboard component
can be damaged.

5. Connect the SAS hard disk drives
to the SAS connectors on the
motherboard.

To uninstall ASUS PIKE 1078 SAS RAID card from a 2U, 5U, or pedestal server

1. Disconnect all SAS hard disk
drives from the motherboard.

2. Remove the screw that secures the
RAID card to the motherboard.

3. Release the heatsink latch from

the card slot with a nger, and then

remove the RAID card from the
slot.

ASUS PIKE 1078 1-5

For 1U server

You have to remove the outer heatsink of ASUS PIKE 1078 SAS RAID card to
install the card in a 1U server.

To install ASUS PIKE 1078 SAS RAID card on a 1U server

1. Remove the two screws that secure
the heatsink bracket on the back of
the SAS RAID card.

Heatsink bracket

2. Remove the two screws that
secure the outer heatsink on the
front of the SAS RAID card.

DO NOT remove the inner
heatsink from the SAS RAID
card.

3. Locate the PIKE RAID card slot on
the motherboard.

1-6 Chapter 1: Product introduction

4. Align the golden ngers of the

RAID card with the PIKE RAID
card slot.

5. Insert the RAID card into the PIKE
RAID card slot. Make sure the card
is completely inserted into the card
slot.

6. Connect the SAS hard disk drives
to the SAS connectors on the
motherboard.

ASUS PIKE 1078 1-7

1.6 i Button installation

Follow the steps below to install an optional i Button on your motherboard.

1. Locate the I Button slot on the
motherboard.

2. Snap the I Button in place.

1-8 Chapter 1: Product introduction

This chapter provides instructions on setting

up, creating, and conguring RAID sets using

the available utilities.

Chapter 2: RAID

conguration

2

2.1 Setting up RAID

The RAID card supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5, RAID 50, RAID 6, and
RAID 60 set(s).

2.1.1 RAID denitions

RAID 0

(Data striping)

data in parallel, interleaved stacks. Two hard disks perform the same work as a
single drive but at a sustained data transfer rate, double that of a single disk alone,
thus improving data access and storage. Use of at least two new identical hard
disk drives is required for this setup.

RAID 1

(Data mirroring)

drive to a second drive. If one drive fails, the disk array management software
directs all applications to the surviving drive as it contains a complete copy of

the data in the other drive. This RAID conguration provides data protection and

increases fault tolerance to the entire system. Use two new drives or use an
existing drive and a new drive for this setup. The new drive must be of the same

size or larger than the existing drive.

RAID 10 is a striped conguration with RAID 1 segments whose segments are
RAID 1 arrays. This conguration has the same fault tolerance as RAID 1, and

has the same overhead for fault-tolerance as mirroring alone. RAID 10 achieves
high input/output rates by striping RAID 1 segments. In some instances, a RAID

10 conguration can sustain multiple simultaneous drive failure. A minimum of four

hard disk drives is required for this setup.

RAID 5 stripes both data and parity information across three or more hard

disk drives. Among the advantages of RAID 5 conguration include better

HDD performance, fault tolerance, and higher storage capacity. The RAID

5 conguration is best suited for transaction processing, relational database

applications, enterprise resource planning, and other business systems. Use a
minimum of three identical hard disk drives for this setup.

RAID 50 is a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 5. It uses distributed parity and disk
striping and works best with data that requires high reliability, high request rates,
high data transfers, and medium-to-large capacity.

optimizes two identical hard disk drives to read and write

copies and maintains an identical image of data from one

Having RAID 0 and RAID 5 virtual disks in the same physical array is not
recommended. If a drive in the physical array has to be rebuilt, the RAID 0
virtual disk will cause a failure during the rebuild.

RAID 6 stripes dual parity to provide fault tolerance from two drive failures; array

continues to operate with up to two failed drives. This makes larger RAID groups
more practical, especially for high availability systems. With dual parity, RAID 6
gives time to rebuild the array without the data being volatile while the failed drive
is being recovered.

2-2 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

RAID 60 is a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 6. It uses distributed parity, with two
independent parity blocks per stripe in each RAID set, and disk striping. A RAID
60 virtual disk can survive the loss of two disks in each of the RAID 6 sets without
losing data. It works best with data that requires high reliability, high request rates,
high data transfers, and medium-to-large capacity.

If you want to boot the system from a hard disk drive included in a created RAID

set, copy rst the RAID driver from the support CD to a oppy disk before you

install an operating system to the selected hard disk drive.

2.1.2 Installing hard disk drives

The RAID card supports SAS for RAID set conguration. For optimal performance,

install identical drives of the same model and capacity when creating a disk array.

To install SAS hard disks for RAID conguration:

1. Install the SAS hard disks into the drive bays following the instructions in the
system user guide.

2. Connect the SAS port connectors to the SAS drives.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-3

2.2 LSI WebBIOS Conguration Utility

The LSI WebBIOS Conguration Utility (CU) is an integrated RAID solution that

allows you to create RAID 0, 1, 10, 5, 50, 6, and 60 set(s) from SAS hard disk
drives supported by the LSI SAS 1078 controller.

You can also use the WebBIOS CU to do the following tasks:

• Create physical arrays and virtual disks for storage congurations

• Delete virtual disks

• Migrate a storage conguration to a different RAID level

• Detect conguration mismatches

• Import a foreign conguration

• Display adapter, virtual disk, and physical drive properties.

• Scan devices connected to the controller

• Initialize virtual disks

• Check congurations for data consistency

• PIKE 1078 does not support the Battery Backup Unit (BBU) function.

• You may use disks of different sizes; however, the size of the smallest disk
determines the “logical” size of each member disk.

• DO NOT combine Serial ATA and SAS disk drives in one volume.

• The RAID setup screens shown in this section are for reference only and
may not exactly match the items on your screen due to the controller
version difference.

2.2.1 Starting the WebBIOS CU

Follow these steps to start the WebBIOS CU and access the main screen.

1. Turn on the system after installing all SAS hard disk drives.

2. During POST, press <Ctrl+H> when the following text appears on the screen:

The Adapter Selection screen appears.

Press <Ctrl+Y> for Preboot CLI: this option is for advanced debug only!

LSI MegaRAID SAS-MFI BIOS
Version NT16 (Build Nov 20, 2007)
Copyright(C) 2007 LSI Corporation
HA -0 (Bus 2 Dev 0) MegaRAID SAS PCI Express(TM) ROMB
FW package: 8.0.1-0029

Battery Status: Not present
SLOT ID LUN VENDOR PRODUCT REVISION CAPACITY

---- -- --- ------ ------- -------- -------­ 6 LSI MegaRAID SAS PCI Express(1.12.122-0393256MB
6 0 0 ATA Hitachi HDS72161 AB3A 157066MB
6 2 0 ATA Hitachi HDS72161 AB3A 157066MB
6 3 0 ATA Hitachi HDS72161 AB3A 157066MB
6 4 0 ATA Hitachi HDS72107 A70M 715404MB
6 5 0 ATA Hitachi HDS72107 A70M 715404MB
6 6 0 ATA Hitachi HDS72107 A70M 715404MB
0 Virtual Drive(s) found on the host adapter.
0 Virtual Drive(s) handled by BIOS
Press <Ctrl><H> for WebBIOS or press <Ctrl><Y> for Preboot CLI

2-4 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

3. If the system has multiple SAS adapters, select an adapter.

4. Click Start to continue. The main WebBIOS CU screen appears.

2.2.2 WebBIOS CU main screen options

This is the Logical View screen, which displays in the lower right panel all virtual

disks (virtual drives) that are congured on this controller. It also shows in the

upper right panel the physical drives that are connected to the controller. To toggle
between the physical view and logical view of the storage devices connected to the
controller, click Physical View or Logical View in the menu on the left. When the
Physical View screen is displayed, the lower right panel displays the arrays that

are congured on this controller.

WebBIOS CU Toolbar Icons

Icon Description

Click this icon to return to the main screen from any other WebBIOS CU screen.

Click this icon to return to the previous screen that you were viewing.

Click this icon to exit the WebBIOS CU program.

Click this icon to display the Adapter Selection screen. If the computer system
has multiple adapters, you use this screen to view the devices connected to a
different controller.

Click this icon to turn off the sound on the onboard controller alarm.

Click this icon to display information about the WebBIOS CU version, browser
version, and HTML interface engine.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-5

Here is a description of the options listed on the left of the main WebBIOS CU
screen:

• Adapter Properties: Select this to view the properties of the currently selected

SAS adapter.

• Scan Devices: Select this to have the WebBIOS CU re-scan the physical and

virtual disks for any changes in the drive status or the physical conguration.

The WebBIOS CU displays the results of the scan in the physical and virtual
disk descriptions.

• Virtual Disks: Select this to view the Virtual Disks screen, where you can

change and view virtual disk properties, delete virtual disks, initialize disks, and

perform other tasks.

• Physical Drives: Select this to view the Physical Drives screen, where you

can view physical drive properties, create hot spares, and perform other tasks.

• Conguration Wizard: Select this to start the Conguration Wizard and create

a new storage conguration, clear a conguration, or add a conguration.

• Adapter Selection: Select this to view the Adapter Selection screen, where

you can select a different SAS adapter. You can then view information about

the adapter and the devices connected to it, or create a new conguration on

the adapter.

• Physical View/Logical View: Select this to toggle between the Physical View

and Logical View screens.

• Events: Select this to view system events in the Event Information screen.

• Exit: Select this to exit the WebBIOS CU and continue with system boot.

2-6 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

2.2.3 Creating a Storage Conguration

This section explains how to use the WebBIOS CU Conguration Wizard to
congure RAID arrays and virtual disks.

Selecting the Conguration with the Conguration Wizard

Follow these steps to start the Conguration Wizard, and select a conguration

option and mode:

1. Click Conguration Wizard on

the WebBIOS main screen. The

rst Conguration Wizard screen

appears, as shown in the right

gure.

2. Select a conguration option.

If you choose the rst or second option, all existing data in the conguration will

be deleted. Make a backup of any data that you want to keep before choosing
these options.

• Clear Conguration: Clears the existing conguration.

• New Conguration: Clears the existing conguration and lets you

create a new conguration.

• Add Conguration: Retains the existing storage conguration and adds

new drives to it (this does not cause any data loss).

3. Click Next. A dialog box warns that you will lose data if you select Clear

Conguration or New Conguration.

4. On the next screen, select a conguration mode:

• Custom Conguration: Allows you to control all attributes of the new

storage conguration.

• Auto Conguration with Redundancy: Automatically creates an

optimal RAID 1 or RAID 5 conguration, providing data redundancy. We
recommends that you select this option.

• Auto Conguration without Redundancy: Automatically creates a

non-redundant RAID 0 conguration.

5. Click Next to continue.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-7

Using Auto Conguration

Follow these instructions to create a conguration with auto conguration, either

with or without redundancy:

1. When WebBIOS displays the proposed new conguration, review the

information on the screen, and click Accept to accept it. (Or click Back to go

back and change the conguration.)

• RAID 0: If you selected Auto Conguration without Redundancy,

WebBIOS creates a RAID 0 conguration.

• RAID 1: If you selected Auto Conguration with Redundancy,

WebBIOS creates a RAID 1 conguration if only two disk drives are
available.

• RAID 5: If you selected Auto Conguration with Redundancy,

WebBIOS creates a RAID 5 conguration if three or more disk drives are
available.

2. Click Yes when you are prompted to save the conguration.

3. Click Yes when you are prompted to initialize the new virtual disk(s).

WebBIOS CU begins a background initialization of the virtual disks.

Using Custom Conguration: RAID 0

RAID 0 provides disk striping across all drives in the RAID array. RAID 0 does not
provide any data redundancy but does offer the best performance of any RAID
level. RAID 0 is ideal for applications that require high bandwidth but do not require
fault tolerance. RAID 0 also denotes an independent or single drive.

RAID level 0 is not fault-tolerant. If a drive in a RAID 0 array fails, the whole
virtual disk (all physical drives associated with the virtual disk) fails.

When you select Custom Conguration and click Next, the Disk Group Denition
screen appears. You use this screen to select physical drives to create disk groups
(arrays).

1. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting two or
more ready drives in the Physical
Drives window on the left until you
have selected all desired physical
drives for the disk group.

2. Click Accept DG to move the
drives to a proposed disk group

conguration in the Disk Groups

window on the right, as shown in

the right gure.

If you need to undo the changes, click the Back button.

2-8 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

3. When you have nished selecting

physical disks for the disk groups,
click Next.

The span denition screen appears

Select one of the available disk
groups, and then click Add to
Span.

4. When nish, click Next. The Virtual

Disk Denition screen appears,
as shown in the right gure. You
use this screen to select the RAID level, strip size, read policy, and other

attributes for the new virtual disks.

5. Change the virtual disk options from the defaults listed on the screen as
needed.

Here are brief explanations of the virtual disk options:

• RAID Level: The drop-down menu lists the possible RAID levels for the

virtual disk. Select RAID 0.

• Strip Size: The strip size species the size of the segment written to

each disk in a RAID conguration. You can set the strip size to 8, 16, 32,
64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024 Kbytes. A larger strip size produces higher

read performance. If your computer regularly performs random read

requests, choose a smaller strip size. The default is 64 Kbytes.

• Access Policy: Select the type of data access that is allowed for this

virtual disk:

◊ RW: Allow read/write access. This is the default.

◊ Read Only: Allow read-only access.

◊ Blocked: Do not allow access.

• Read Policy: Specify the read policy for this virtual drive:

◊ Normal: This disables the read ahead capability. This is the default.

◊ Ahead: This enables read ahead capability, which allows the controller

to read sequentially ahead of requested data and to store the additional
data in cache memory, anticipating that the data will be needed soon.
This speeds up reads for sequential data, but there is little improvement
when accessing random data.

◊ Adaptive: When Adaptive read ahead is selected, the controller

begins using read ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred
in sequential sectors. If the read requests are random, the controller
reverts to Normal (no read ahead).

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-9

• Write Policy: Specify the write policy for this virtual drive:

◊ WBack: In Writeback mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the controller cache has received
all the data in a transaction. This setting is recommended in Standard
mode.

◊ WThru: In Writethrough mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the disk subsystem has received all
the data in a transaction. This is the default.

◊ Wrthru for BAD BBU: Select WBack for Write Policy and unselect this

item if you want the controller to use Writeback mode but the controller
has no BBU or the BBU is bad. If you choose this option, the controller

rmware automatically switches to Writethrough mode if it detects a bad

or missing BBU.

• IO Policy: The IO Policy applies to reads on a specic virtual disk. It

does not affect the read ahead cache.

◊ Direct: In direct I/O mode, reads are not buffered in cache memory.

Data is transferred to the cache and the host concurrently. If the same
data block is read again, it comes from cache memory. This is the
default.

◊ Cached: In cached I/O mode, all reads are buffered in cache memory.

• Disk Cache Policy: Specify the disk cache policy:

◊ Enable: Enable the disk cache.

◊ Disable: Disable the disk cache. This is the default.

◊ NoChange: Leave the current disk cache policy unchanged.

• Disable BGI: Specify the background initialization status:

◊ No: Leave background initialization enabled. This means that a

new conguration can be initialized in the background while you use
WebBIOS to do other conguration tasks. This is the default.

◊ Yes: Select Yes if you do not want to allow background initializations

for congurations on this controller.

• Select Size: Specify the size of the virtual disk in megabytes. Normally,

this would be the full size for RAID 0 shown in the Conguration Panel
on the right. You may specify a smaller size if you want to create other

virtual disks on the same disk group.

6. Click Accept to accept the changes to the virtual disk denition, or click Back

to return to the previous settings.

7. Click Next when you are nished dening virtual disks. The conguration

preview screen appears, as shown in the following gure.

2-10 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

8. Check the information in the conguration preview.

9. If the virtual disk conguration is acceptable, click Accept to save the
conguration. Otherwise, click Cancel to end the operation and return to the

WebBIOS main menu, or click Back to return to the previous screens and

change the conguration.

10. If you accept the conguration, click Yes at the prompt to save the
conguration.

The WebBIOS main menu appears.

Using Custom Conguration: RAID 1

In RAID 1, the RAID controller duplicates all data from one drive to a second
drive. RAID 1 provides complete data redundancy, but at the cost of doubling the
required data storage capacity. It is appropriate for small databases or any other
environment that requires fault tolerance but small capacity.

When you select Custom Conguration and click Next, the Disk Group Denition
screen appears. You use this screen to select physical drives to create disk groups
(arrays).

1. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting two
ready physical drives in the Physical
Drives window on the left.

2. Click Accept DG to move the
drives to a proposed disk group

conguration in the Disk Groups

window on the right, as shown in

the right gure.

If you need to undo the changes,

click the Back button.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-11

3. When you have nished selecting

physical disks for the disk groups,
click Next.

The span denition screen appears

Select one of the available disk
groups, and then click Add to
Span.

4. When nish, click Next. The Virtual

Disk Denition screen appears,
as shown in the right gure. You
use this screen to select the RAID level, strip size, read policy, and other

attributes for the new virtual disks.

5. Change the virtual disk options from the defaults listed on the screen as
needed.

Here are brief explanations of the virtual disk options:

• RAID Level: The drop-down menu lists the possible RAID levels for the

virtual disk. Select RAID 1.

• Strip Size: The strip size species the size of the segment written to

each disk in a RAID conguration. You can set the strip size to 8, 16, 32,
64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024 Kbytes. A larger strip size produces higher

read performance. If your computer regularly performs random read

requests, choose a smaller strip size. The default is 64 Kbytes.

• Access Policy: Select the type of data access that is allowed for this

virtual disk:

◊ RW: Allow read/write access. This is the default.

◊ Read Only: Allow read-only access.

◊ Blocked: Do not allow access.

• Read Policy: Specify the read policy for this virtual drive:

◊ Normal: This disables the read ahead capability. This is the default.

◊ Ahead: This enables read ahead capability, which allows the controller

to read sequentially ahead of requested data and to store the additional
data in cache memory, anticipating that the data will be needed soon.
This speeds up reads for sequential data, but there is little improvement
when accessing random data.

◊ Adaptive: When Adaptive read ahead is selected, the controller

begins using read ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred
in sequential sectors. If the read requests are random, the controller
reverts to Normal (no read ahead).

• Write Policy: Specify the write policy for this virtual drive:

2-12 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

◊ WBack: In Writeback mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the controller cache has received
all the data in a transaction. This setting is recommended in Standard
mode.

◊ WThru: In Writethrough mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the disk subsystem has received all
the data in a transaction. This is the default.

◊ Wrthru for BAD BBU: Select WBack for Write Policy and unselect this

item if you want the controller to use Writeback mode but the controller
has no BBU or the BBU is bad. If you choose this option, the controller

rmware automatically switches to Writethrough mode if it detects a bad

or missing BBU.

• IO Policy: The IO Policy applies to reads on a specic virtual disk. It

does not affect the read ahead cache.

◊ Direct: In Direct I/O mode, reads are not buffered in cache memory.

Data is transferred to the cache and the host concurrently. If the same
data block is read again, it comes from cache memory. This is the
default.

◊ Cached: In Cached I/O mode, all reads are buffered in cache memory.

• Disk Cache Policy: Specify the disk cache policy:

◊ Enable: Enable the disk cache.

◊ Disable: Disable the disk cache. This is the default.

◊ NoChange: Leave the current disk cache policy unchanged.

• Disable BGI: Specify the background initialization status:

◊ No: Leave background initialization enabled. This means that a

new conguration can be initialized in the background while you use
WebBIOS to do other conguration tasks. This is the default.

◊ Yes: Select Yes if you do not want to allow background initializations

for congurations on this controller.

• Select Size: Specify the size of the virtual disk in megabytes. Normally,

this would be the full size for RAID 1 shown in the Conguration Panel
on the right. You may specify a smaller size if you want to create other

virtual disks on the same disk group.

6. Click Accept to accept the changes to the virtual disk denition, or click Back

to return to the previous settings.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-13

7. Click Next when you are nished
dening virtual disks. The
conguration preview screen

appears, as shown in the right

gure.

8. Check the information in the

conguration preview.

9. If the virtual disk conguration is

acceptable, click Accept to save

the conguration. Otherwise, click

Cancel to end the operation and return to the WebBIOS main menu, or click
Back to return to the previous screens and change the conguration.

10. If you accept the conguration, click Yes at the prompt to save the
conguration.

The WebBIOS main menu appears.

Using Custom Conguration: RAID 5

RAID 5 uses disk striping at the block level and parity. In RAID 5, the parity
information is written to all drives. It is best suited for networks that perform a
lot of small input/output (I/O) transactions simultaneously. RAID 5 provides data
redundancy, high read rates, and good performance in most environments. It also
provides redundancy with lowest loss of capacity.

RAID 5 provides high data throughput. RAID 5 is useful for transaction processing
applications because each drive can read and write independently. If a drive fails,
the RAID controller uses the parity drive to recreate all missing information. You

can use RAID 5 for ofce automation and online customer service that require

fault tolerance. In addition, RAID 5 is good for any application that has high read
request rates but low write request rates.

When you select Custom Conguration and click Next, the Disk Group Denition
screen appears. You use this screen to select physical drives to create disk groups
(arrays).

1. Hold <Ctrl> while you select at least
three ready physical drives in the
Physical Drives window on the left.

2. Click Accept DG to move the
drives to a proposed disk group

conguration in the Disk Groups

window on the right, as shown in

the right gure.

If you need to undo the changes,

click the Back button.

2-14 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

3. When you have nished selecting physical disks for disk groups, click Next.

The span denition screen appears Select one of the available disk groups,

and then click Add to Span.

4. When nish, click Next. The Virtual

Disk Denition screen appears, as
shown in the following gure. You

use this screen to select the RAID

level, strip size, read policy, and

other attributes for the new virtual
disks.

5. Change the virtual disk options from the defaults listed on the screen as
needed.

Here are brief explanations of the virtual disk options:

• RAID Level: The drop-down menu lists the possible RAID levels for the

virtual disk. Select RAID 5.

• Strip Size: The strip size species the size of the segment written to

each disk in a RAID conguration. You can set the strip size to 8, 16, 32,
64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024 Kbytes. A larger strip size produces higher

read performance. If your computer regularly performs random read

requests, choose a smaller strip size. The default is 64 Kbytes.

• Access Policy: Select the type of data access that is allowed for this

virtual disk:

◊ RW: Allow read/write access. This is the default.

◊ Read Only: Allow read-only access.

◊ Blocked: Do not allow access.

• Read Policy: Specify the read policy for this virtual drive:

◊ Normal: This disables the read ahead capability. This is the default.

◊ Ahead: This enables read ahead capability, which allows the controller

to read sequentially ahead of requested data and to store the additional
data in cache memory, anticipating that the data will be needed soon.
This speeds up reads for sequential data, but there is little improvement
when accessing random data.

◊ Adaptive: When Adaptive read ahead is selected, the controller

begins using read ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred
in sequential sectors. If the read requests are random, the controller
reverts to Normal (no read ahead).

• Write Policy: Specify the write policy for this virtual drive:

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-15

◊ WBack: In Writeback mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the controller cache has received
all the data in a transaction. This setting is recommended in Standard
mode.

◊ WThru: In Writethrough mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the disk subsystem has received all
the data in a transaction. This is the default.

◊ Wrthru for BAD BBU: Select WBack for Write Policy and unselect this

item if you want the controller to use Writeback mode but the controller
has no BBU or the BBU is bad. If you choose this option, the controller

rmware automatically switches to Writethrough mode if it detects a bad

or missing BBU.

• IO Policy: The IO Policy applies to reads on a specic virtual disk. It

does not affect the read ahead cache.

◊ Direct: In Direct I/O mode, reads are not buffered in cache memory.

Data is transferred to the cache and the host concurrently. If the same
data block is read again, it comes from cache memory. This is the
default.

◊ Cached: In Cached I/O mode, all reads are buffered in cache memory.

• Disk Cache Policy: Specify the disk cache policy:

◊ Enable: Enable the disk cache.

◊ Disable: Disable the disk cache. This is the default.

◊ NoChange: Leave the current disk cache policy unchanged.

• Disable BGI: Specify the background initialization status:

◊ No: Leave background initialization enabled. This means that a

new conguration can be initialized in the background while you use
WebBIOS to do other conguration tasks. This is the default.

◊ Yes: Select Yes if you do not want to allow background initializations

for congurations on this controller.

• Select Size: Specify the size of the virtual disk in megabytes. Normally,

this would be the full size for RAID 5 shown in the Conguration Panel
on the right. You may specify a smaller size if you want to create other

virtual disks on the same disk group.

6. Click Accept to accept the changes to the virtual disk denition, or click Back

to return to the previous settings.

7. Click Next when you are nished dening virtual disks.

The conguration preview screen appears, as shown in the following gure.

2-16 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

8. Check the information in the conguration preview.

9. If the virtual disk conguration is acceptable, click Accept to save the
conguration. Otherwise, click Cancel to end the operation and return to the

WebBIOS main menu, or click Back to return to the previous screens and

change the conguration.

10. If you accept the conguration, click Yes at the prompt to save the
conguration.

The WebBIOS main menu appears.

Using Custom Conguration: RAID 6

RAID 6 is similar to RAID 5 (disk striping and distributed parity), except that instead
of one parity block per stripe, there are two. With two independent parity blocks,
RAID 6 can survive the loss of two disks in a virtual disk without losing data. Use
RAID 6 for data that requires a very high level of protection from loss.

RAID 6 is best suited for networks that perform a lot of small input/output (I/O)
transactions simultaneously. It provides data redundancy, high read rates, and
good performance in most environments.

In the case of a failure of one drive or two drives in a virtual disk, the RAID
controller uses the parity blocks to recreate all the missing information. If two
drives in a RAID 6 virtual disk fail, two drive rebuilds are required, one for each
drive. These rebuilds do not occur at the same time. The controller rebuilds one
failed drive, and then the other failed drive.

When you select Custom Conguration and click Next, the Disk Group Denition
screen appears. You use this screen to select physical drives to create disk groups
(arrays).

1. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting at least three ready physical drives in the Physical
Drives window on the left.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-17

2. Click Accept DG to move the

drives to a proposed disk group

conguration in the Disk Groups

window on the right, as shown in

the right gure.

If you need to undo the changes,

click the Back button.

3. When you have nished selecting

physical disks for disk groups, click

Next. The span denition screen

appears Select one of the available
disk groups, and then click Add to
Span.

4. When nish, click Next. The Virtual

Disk Denition screen appears, as
shown in the following gure. You

use this screen to select the RAID

level, strip size, read policy, and other attributes for the new virtual disks.

5. Change the virtual disk options from the defaults listed on the screen as
needed.

Here are brief explanations of the virtual disk options:

• RAID Level: The drop-down menu lists the possible RAID levels for the

virtual disk. Select RAID 6.

• Strip Size: The strip size species the size of the segment written to

each disk in a RAID conguration. You can set the strip size to 8, 16, 32,
64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024 Kbytes. A larger strip size produces higher

read performance. If your computer regularly performs random read

requests, choose a smaller strip size. The default is 64 Kbytes.

• Access Policy: Select the type of data access that is allowed for this

virtual disk:

◊ RW: Allow read/write access. This is the default.

◊ Read Only: Allow read-only access.

◊ Blocked: Do not allow access.

• Read Policy: Specify the read policy for this virtual drive:

◊ Normal: This disables the read ahead capability. This is the default.

2-18 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

◊ Ahead: This enables read ahead capability, which allows the controller

to read sequentially ahead of requested data and to store the additional
data in cache memory, anticipating that the data will be needed soon.
This speeds up reads for sequential data, but there is little improvement
when accessing random data.

◊ Adaptive: When Adaptive read ahead is selected, the controller

begins using read ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred
in sequential sectors. If the read requests are random, the controller
reverts to Normal (no read ahead).

• Write Policy: Specify the write policy for this virtual drive:

◊ WBack: In Writeback mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the controller cache has received
all the data in a transaction. This setting is recommended in Standard
mode.

◊ WThru: In Writethrough mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the disk subsystem has received all
the data in a transaction. This is the default.

◊ Wrthru for BAD BBU: Select WBack for Write Policy and unselect this

item if you want the controller to use Writeback mode but the controller
has no BBU or the BBU is bad. If you choose this option, the controller

rmware automatically switches to Writethrough mode if it detects a bad

or missing BBU.

• IO Policy: The IO Policy applies to reads on a specic virtual disk. It

does not affect the read ahead cache.

◊ Direct: In Direct I/O mode, reads are not buffered in cache memory.

Data is transferred to the cache and the host concurrently. If the same
data block is read again, it comes from cache memory. This is the
default.

◊ Cached: In Cached I/O mode, all reads are buffered in cache memory.

• Disk Cache Policy: Specify the disk cache policy:

◊ Enable: Enable the disk cache.

◊ Disable: Disable the disk cache. This is the default.

◊ NoChange: Leave the current disk cache policy unchanged.

• Disable BGI: Specify the background initialization status:

◊ No: Leave background initialization enabled. This means that a

new conguration can be initialized in the background while you use
WebBIOS to do other conguration tasks. This is the default.

◊ Yes: Select Yes if you do not want to allow background initializations

for congurations on this controller.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-19

• Select Size: Specify the size of the virtual disk in megabytes. Normally,

this would be the full size for RAID 6 shown in the Conguration Panel
on the right. You may specify a smaller size if you want to create other

virtual disks on the same disk group.

6. Click Accept to accept the changes to the virtual disk denition, or click Back
to return to the previous settings.

7. Click Next when you are nished

dening virtual disks.

The conguration preview screen

appears, as shown in the right

gure.

8. Check the information in the

conguration preview.

9. If the virtual disk conguration is

acceptable, click Accept to save

the conguration. Otherwise, click

Cancel to end the operation and return to the WebBIOS main menu, or click
Back to return to the previous screens and change the conguration.

10. If you accept the conguration, click Yes at the prompt to save the
conguration.

The WebBIOS main menu appears.

Using Custom Conguration: RAID 10

RAID 10, a combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0, has mirrored drives. It breaks up
data into smaller blocks, then stripes the blocks of data to each RAID 1 disk group.

Each RAID 1 disk group then duplicates its data to its other drive. The size of each
block is determined by the strip size parameter. RAID 10 can sustain one drive

failure in each array while maintaining data integrity.

RAID 10 provides both high data transfer rates and complete data redundancy.
It works best for data storage that must have 100 percent redundancy of RAID 1
(mirrored arrays) and that also needs the enhanced I/O performance of RAID 0

(striped arrays); it works well for medium-sized databases or any environment that

requires a higher degree of fault tolerance and moderate to medium capacity.

When you select Custom Conguration and click Next, the Disk Group Denition
screen appears.

You use the Disk Group Denition screen to select physical drives to create disk

groups (arrays).

1. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting two ready physical drives in the Physical Drives
window on the left.

2-20 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

2. Click Accept DG to move the drives to a proposed two-drive disk group

conguration in the Disk Groups window on the right.

If you need to undo the changes, click the Back button.

3. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting two more ready physical drives in the Physical
Drives window to create a second two-drive disk group.

4. Click Accept DG to move the drives
to a second two-drive disk group

conguration in the Disk Groups
window, as shown in the right gure.

If you need to undo the changes,

click the Back button.

5. When you have nished selecting

physical disks for the disk groups,
click Next.

The span denition screen appears.

You should add both disk groups

you’ve created in the previous step

to Span section. Select the disk
group in Array With Free Space
section and then click Add to Span.

6. When nish, click Next. The Virtual
Disk Denition screen appears, as shown in the right gure.

You use this screen to select the RAID level, strip size, read policy, and other

attributes for the new virtual disks.

7. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting 2 two-drive disk groups in the Conguration

window on the right.

The WebBIOS Conguration Utility displays the maximum available capacity

while creating the RAID 10 disk group. In version 1.03 of the utility, the

maximum size of the RAID 10 disk group is the sum total of the two RAID 1 disk
groups. In version 1.1, the maximum size is the size of the smaller disk group

multiplied by two.

8. Change the virtual disk options from the defaults listed on the screen as
needed.

Here are brief explanations of the virtual disk options:

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-21

• RAID Level: The drop-down menu lists the possible RAID levels for the

virtual disk. Select RAID 10.

• Strip Size: The strip size species the size of the segment written to

each disk in a RAID conguration. You can set the strip size to 8, 16, 32,
64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024 Kbytes. A larger strip size produces higher

read performance. If your computer regularly performs random read

requests, choose a smaller strip size. The default is 64 Kbytes.

• Access Policy: Select the type of data access that is allowed for this

virtual disk:

◊ RW: Allow read/write access.

◊ Read Only: Allow read-only access. This is the default.

◊ Blocked: Do not allow access.

• Read Policy: Specify the read policy for this virtual drive:

◊ Normal: This disables the read ahead capability. This is the default.

◊ Ahead: This enables read ahead capability, which allows the controller

to read sequentially ahead of requested data and to store the additional
data in cache memory, anticipating that the data will be needed soon.
This speeds up reads for sequential data, but there is little improvement
when accessing random data.

◊ Adaptive: When Adaptive read ahead is selected, the controller

begins using read ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred
in sequential sectors. If the read requests are random, the controller
reverts to Normal (no read ahead).

• Write Policy: Specify the write policy for this virtual drive:

◊ WBack: In Writeback mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the controller cache has received
all the data in a transaction. This setting is recommended in Standard
mode.

◊ WThru: In Writethrough mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the disk subsystem has received all
the data in a transaction. This is the default.

◊ Wrthru for BAD BBU: Select WBack for Write Policy and unselect this

item if you want the controller to use Writeback mode but the controller
has no BBU or the BBU is bad. If you choose this option, the controller

rmware automatically switches to Writethrough mode if it detects a bad

or missing BBU.

• IO Policy: The IO Policy applies to reads on a specic virtual disk. It

does not affect the read ahead cache.

2-22 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

◊ Direct: In Direct I/O mode, reads are not buffered in cache memory.

Data is transferred to the cache and the host concurrently. If the same
data block is read again, it comes from cache memory. This is the
default.

◊ Cached: In Cached I/O mode, all reads are buffered in cache memory.

• Disk Cache Policy: Specify the disk cache policy:

◊ Enable: Enable the disk cache.

◊ Disable: Disable the disk cache. This is the default.

◊ NoChange: Leave the current disk cache policy unchanged.

• Disable BGI: Specify the background initialization status:

◊ No: Leave background initialization enabled. This means that a

new conguration can be initialized in the background while you use
WebBIOS to do other conguration tasks. This is the default.

◊ Yes: Select Yes if you do not want to allow background initializations

for congurations on this controller.

• Select Size: Specify the size of the virtual disk in megabytes. Normally,

this would be the full size for RAID 10 shown in the Conguration Panel
on the right. You may specify a smaller size if you want to create other

virtual disks on the same disk group.

9. Click Accept to accept the changes to the virtual disk denition, or click Back

to return to the previous settings.

10. When you are nished dening

virtual disks, click Next. The

conguration preview screen

appears, as shown in the right

gure.

11. Check the information in the

conguration preview.

12. If the virtual disk conguration is

acceptable, click Accept to save

the conguration. Otherwise, click

Cancel to end the operation and return to the WebBIOS main menu, or click
Back to return to the previous screens and change the conguration.

13. If you accept the conguration, click Yes at the prompt to save the
conguration.

The WebBIOS main menu appears.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-23

Using Custom Conguration: RAID 50

RAID 50 provides the features of both RAID 0 and RAID 5. RAID 50 uses both
distributed parity and disk striping across multiple arrays. It provides high data
throughput, data redundancy, and very good performance. It is best implemented
on two RAID 5 disk arrays with data striped across both disk arrays. Though
multiple drive failures can be tolerated, only one drive failure can be tolerated in
each RAID 5 level array.

RAID 50 is appropriate when used with data that requires high reliability, high
request rates, high data transfer, and medium to large capacity.

When you select Custom Conguration and click Next, the Disk Group Denition
screen appears. You use this screen to select physical drives to create disk groups
(arrays).

1. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting at least three ready physical drives in the Physical
Drives window on the left.

2. Click Accept DG to move the drives to a proposed disk group conguration
in the Disk Groups window on the right.

If you need to undo the changes, click the Back button.

3. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting at least three more ready physical drives in the
Physical Drives window to create a second disk group.

4. Click Accept DG to move the
drives to a proposed disk group

conguration in the Disk Groups

window on the right, as shown in

the right gure.

If you need to undo the changes,

click the Back button.

5. When you have nished selecting

physical disks for the disk groups,
click Next.

The span denition screen appears.

You should add both disk groups

you’ve created in the previous step

to Span section. Select the disk
group in Array With Free Space
section and then click Add to Span.

6. When nish, click Next. The Virtual
Disk Denition screen appears, as
shown in the right gure.

2-24 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

You use this screen to select the RAID level, strip size, read policy, and other

attributes for the new virtual disk(s).

7. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting 2 three-drive disk groups in the Conguration

window on the right.

8. Change the virtual disk options from the defaults listed on the screen as
needed.

Here are brief explanations of the virtual disk options:

• RAID Level: The drop-down menu lists the possible RAID levels for the

virtual disk. Select RAID 50.

• Strip Size: The strip size species the size of the segment written to

each disk in a RAID conguration. You can set the strip size to 8, 16, 32,
64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024 Kbytes. A larger strip size produces higher

read performance. If your computer regularly performs random read

requests, choose a smaller strip size. The default is 64 Kbytes.

• Access Policy: Select the type of data access that is allowed for this

virtual disk:

◊ RW: Allow read/write access.

◊ Read Only: Allow read-only access. This is the default.

◊ Blocked: Do not allow access.

• Read Policy: Specify the read policy for this virtual drive:

◊ Normal: This disables the read ahead capability. This is the default.

◊ Ahead: This enables read ahead capability, which allows the controller

to read sequentially ahead of requested data and to store the additional
data in cache memory, anticipating that the data will be needed soon.
This speeds up reads for sequential data, but there is little improvement
when accessing random data.

◊ Adaptive: When Adaptive read ahead is selected, the controller

begins using read ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred
in sequential sectors. If the read requests are random, the controller
reverts to Normal (no read ahead).

• Write Policy: Specify the write policy for this virtual drive:

◊ WBack: In Writeback mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the controller cache has received
all the data in a transaction. This setting is recommended in Standard
mode.

◊ WThru: In Writethrough mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the disk subsystem has received all
the data in a transaction. This is the default.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-25

◊ Wrthru for BAD BBU: Select WBack for Write Policy and unselect this

item if you want the controller to use Writeback mode but the controller
has no BBU or the BBU is bad. If you choose this option, the controller

rmware automatically switches to Writethrough mode if it detects a bad

or missing BBU.

• IO Policy: The IO Policy applies to reads on a specic virtual disk. It

does not affect the read ahead cache.

◊ Direct: In Direct I/O mode, reads are not buffered in cache memory.

Data is transferred to the cache and the host concurrently. If the same
data block is read again, it comes from cache memory. This is the
default.

◊ Cached: In Cached I/O mode, all reads are buffered in cache memory.

• Disk Cache Policy: Specify the disk cache policy:

◊ Enable: Enable the disk cache.

◊ Disable: Disable the disk cache. This is the default.

◊ NoChange: Leave the current disk cache policy unchanged.

• Disable BGI: Specify the background initialization status:

◊ No: Leave background initialization enabled. This means that a

new conguration can be initialized in the background while you use
WebBIOS to do other conguration tasks. This is the default.

◊ Yes: Select Yes if you do not want to allow background initializations

for congurations on this controller.

• Select Size: Specify the size of the virtual disk in megabytes. Normally,

this would be the full size for RAID 50 shown in the Conguration Panel
on the right. You may specify a smaller size if you want to create other

virtual disks on the same disk group.

9. Click Accept to accept the changes to the virtual disk denition, or click Back

to return to the previous settings.

10. Click Next when you are nished

dening virtual disks. The
conguration preview screen

appears, as shown in the right

gure.

11. Check the information in the

conguration preview.

12. If the virtual disk conguration is

acceptable, click Accept to save

the conguration. Otherwise, click

Cancel to end the operation and return to the WebBIOS main menu, or click
Back to return to the previous screens and change the conguration.

2-26 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

13. If you accept the conguration, click Yes at the prompt to save the
conguration.

The WebBIOS main menu appears.

Using Custom Conguration: RAID 60

RAID 60 provides the features of both RAID 0 and RAID 6, and includes both
parity and disk striping across multiple arrays. RAID 6 supports two independent
parity blocks per stripe. A RAID 60 virtual disk can survive the loss of two disks in
each of the RAID 6 sets without losing data. RAID 60 is best implemented on two
RAID 6 disk arrays with data striped across both disk arrays. Use RAID 60 for data
that requires a very high level of protection from loss.

RAID 60 can support up to eight spans and tolerate up to 16 drive failures, though
less than total disk drive capacity is available. Two drive failures can be tolerated in
each RAID 6 level array.

RAID 60 is appropriate when used with data that requires high reliability, high
request rates, high data transfer, and medium to large capacity.

When you select Custom Conguration and click Next, the Disk Group Denition
screen appears. You use this screen to select physical drives to create disk groups
(arrays).

1. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting at least three ready physical drives in the Physical
Drives window on the left.

2. Click Accept DG to move the drives to a proposed disk group conguration
in the Disk Groups window on the right.

If you need to undo the changes, click the Back button.

3. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting at least three more ready physical drives in the
Physical Drives window to create a second disk group.

4. Click Accept DG to move the
drives to a proposed disk group

conguration in the Disk Groups

window on the right, as shown in

the right gure.

If you need to undo the changes,

click the Back button.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-27

5. When you have nished selecting

physical disks for the disk groups,
click Next.

The span denition screen appears.

You should add both disk groups

you’ve created in the previous step

to Span section. Select the disk
group in Array With Free Space
section and then click Add to Span.

6. When nish, click Next. The Virtual

Disk Denition screen appears, as shown in the right gure. You use this
screen to select the RAID level, strip size, read policy, and other attributes for

the new virtual disk(s).

7. Hold <Ctrl> while selecting 2 three-drive disk groups in the Conguration

window on the right.

8. Change the virtual disk options from the defaults listed on the screen as
needed.

Here are brief explanations of the virtual disk options:

• RAID Level: The drop-down menu lists the possible RAID levels for the

virtual disk. Select RAID 60.

• Strip Size: The strip size species the size of the segment written to

each disk in a RAID conguration. You can set the strip size to 8, 16, 32,
64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024 Kbytes. A larger strip size produces higher

read performance. If your computer regularly performs random read

requests, choose a smaller strip size. The default is 64 Kbytes.

• Access Policy: Select the type of data access that is allowed for this

virtual disk:

◊ RW: Allow read/write access.

◊ Read Only: Allow read-only access. This is the default.

◊ Blocked: Do not allow access.

• Read Policy: Specify the read policy for this virtual drive:

◊ Normal: This disables the read ahead capability. This is the default.

◊ Ahead: This enables read ahead capability, which allows the controller

to read sequentially ahead of requested data and to store the additional
data in cache memory, anticipating that the data will be needed soon.
This speeds up reads for sequential data, but there is little improvement
when accessing random data.

2-28 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

◊ Adaptive: When Adaptive read ahead is selected, the controller

begins using read ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred
in sequential sectors. If the read requests are random, the controller
reverts to Normal (no read ahead).

• Write Policy: Specify the write policy for this virtual drive:

◊ WBack: In Writeback mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the controller cache has received
all the data in a transaction. This setting is recommended in Standard
mode.

◊ WThru: In Writethrough mode the controller sends a data transfer

completion signal to the host when the disk subsystem has received all
the data in a transaction. This is the default.

◊ Wrthru for BAD BBU: Select WBack for Write Policy and unselect this

item if you want the controller to use Writeback mode but the controller
has no BBU or the BBU is bad. If you choose this option, the controller

rmware automatically switches to Writethrough mode if it detects a bad

or missing BBU.

• IO Policy: The IO Policy applies to reads on a specic virtual disk. It

does not affect the read ahead cache.

◊ Direct: In Direct I/O mode, reads are not buffered in cache memory.

Data is transferred to the cache and the host concurrently. If the same
data block is read again, it comes from cache memory. This is the
default.

◊ Cached: In Cached I/O mode, all reads are buffered in cache memory.

• Disk Cache Policy: Specify the disk cache policy:

◊ Enable: Enable the disk cache.

◊ Disable: Disable the disk cache. This is the default.

◊ NoChange: Leave the current disk cache policy unchanged.

• Disable BGI: Specify the background initialization status:

◊ No: Leave background initialization enabled. This means that a

new conguration can be initialized in the background while you use
WebBIOS to do other conguration tasks. This is the default.

◊ Yes: Select Yes if you do not want to allow background initializations

for congurations on this controller.

• Select Size: Specify the size of the virtual disk in megabytes. Normally,

this would be the full size for RAID 60 shown in the Conguration Panel
on the right. You may specify a smaller size if you want to create other

virtual disks on the same disk group.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-29

9. Click Accept to accept the changes to the virtual disk denition, or click Back
to return to the previous settings.

10. Click Next when you are nished

dening virtual disks.

The conguration preview screen

appears, as shown in the right

gure.

11. Check the information in the

conguration preview.

12. If the virtual disk conguration is

acceptable, click Accept to save

the conguration. Otherwise, click

Cancel to end the operation and return to the WebBIOS main menu, or click
Back to return to the previous screens and change the conguration.

13. If you accept the conguration, click Yes at the prompt to save the
conguration.

The WebBIOS main menu appears.

2-30 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

2.2.4 Viewing and Changing Device Properties

This section explains how you can use the WebBIOS CU to view and change the
properties for adapters, virtual disks, physical drives, and BBUs.

WebBIOS allows you to view information for the LSI SAS adapter. To view the
properties for the adapter, click Adapter Properties on the main WebBIOS screen.

There are two Adapter Properties screens. The following gure shows the rst

screen.

The information on this screen is read-only and cannot be modied directly. Most of

this information is self-explanatory. The screen lists the number of virtual disks that

are already dened on this adapter, plus the number of physical disks connected to

the adapter.

If a background initialization is in progress, you can click Background Init

Progress to determine its state of completion. Click Next to view the second

Adapter Properties screen, as shown in the following gure.

The following table describes the entries/options listed on the second Adapter
Properties screen. We recommend that you leave these options at their default

settings to achieve the best performance, unless you have a specic reason for

changing them.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-31

Adapter Properties Menu Options

Option Description

Battery Backup This entry indicates whether the selected controller has a BBU. If

Set Factory
Defaults

Cluster Mode Use this option to enable or disable Cluster mode. The default is

Rebuild Rate Use this option to select the rebuild rate for physical drives connected

BGI Rate Use this option to select the amount of system resources dedicated

CC Rate Use this option to select the amount of system resources dedicated to

Reconstruction
Rate

Adapter BIOS Use this option to enable or disable the BIOS for the selected adapter.

Coercion Mode Disk coercion is a tool for forcing physical disks of varying capacities

present, you can click Present to view information about the BBU.

Use this option to load the default MegaRAID® WebBIOS CU settings.
The default is [No].

[Disabled]. A cluster is a grouping of independent servers that can
access the same data storage and provide services to a common set
of clients. When Cluster mode is disabled, the system operates in
Standard mode.

to the selected adapter. The default is 30 percent. The rebuild rate is
the percentage of system resources dedicated to rebuilding a failed
drive. The higher the number, the more system resources devoted to a
rebuild.

to background initialization of virtual disks connected to the selected

adapter. The default is 30 percent.

consistency checks of virtual disks connected to the selected adapter.
The default is 30 percent.

Use this option to select the amount of system resources dedicated to
reconstruction of physical disks connected to the selected adapter. The
default is 30 percent.

The default is [Enabled]. If the boot device is on the selected controller,

the BIOS must be enabled; otherwise, the BIOS should be disabled or

it might not be possible to use a boot device elsewhere.

to the same size so they can be used in an array. The coercion mode

options are [None], [128MB-way], and [1GB-way]. The default is
[None].

The number you choose depends on how much the

drives from various vendors vary in their actual size. We

recommend that you use the 1GB coercion mode option.

2-32 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

Adapter Properties Menu Options (Cont.)

Option Description

PDF Interval This option determines how frequently the controller polls for physical

Alarm Control Select this option to enable, disable, or silence the onboard alarm tone

Patrol Read
Rate

Cache Flush
Interval

Spinup Drive
Count

Spinup Delay Use this option to control the interval (in seconds) between spinup of

StopOnError Enable this option if you want the boot process to stop when the

drives reporting a Predictive Drive Failure (S.M.A.R.T. error). The
default is 300 seconds (5 minutes).

generator on the controller. The default is [Disabled].

Use this option to select the rate for patrol reads for physical drives
connected to the selected adapter. The default is 30 percent. The patrol
read rate is the percentage of system resources dedicated to running a
patrol read. See Section 3.5, “Patrol Read-Related Adapter Properties”
for additional information about patrol read.

Use this option to control the interval (in seconds) at which the contents

of the onboard data cache are ushed. The default is 4 seconds.

Use this option to control the number of drives that spin up
simultaneously. The default is 2 drives.

physical disks connected to this controller. The delay prevents a drain

on the system’s power supply that would occur if all disks spun up at

the same time. The default is 12 seconds.

controller BIOS encounters an error during boot-up. The default is
[Disabled].

Additional Adapter Properties Menu Options
(For WebBIOS Version 1.1-33d-Rel)

Option Description

Stop CC On
Error

Schedule CC “Supported” will be displayed if the controller supports consistency

Maintain PD
Fail History

Use this option to control if consistency check will stop when error
found. The default is No.

check schedule. Click the link to set consistency check schedule.

Use this option to control if controller will maintain physical disk fail
history.

If you make changes to the options on this screen, click Submit to register them. If
you change your mind, click Reset to return the options to their default values.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-33

Viewing and Changing Virtual Disk Properties

Access the Virtual Disk screen by selecting a virtual disk (virtual disk) from the
virtual disk list on the WebBIOS CU main screen and clicking Virtual Disk. The

following gure shows the Virtual Disk screen.

The Properties panel of this screen displays the virtual disk’s RAID level, state,
size, and strip size.

The Policies panel lists the virtual disk policies that were dened when the storage
conguration was created. To change any of these policies, make a selection from

the drop-down menu and click Change.

The Operations panel lists operations that can be performed on the virtual disk.
To perform an operation, select it and click Go. Then choose from the following
options:

• Select Del to delete this virtual disk.

• Select Locate to make the LEDs ash on the physical drives used by this

virtual disk. This works only if the drives are installed in a disk enclosure that
supports SAFTE.

• Select Fast or Slow to initialize this virtual disk. A fast initialization quickly

writes zeroes to the rst and last 10 Mbyte regions of the new virtual disk
and then completes the initialization in the background. A slow initialization
is not complete until the entire virtual disk has been initialized with zeroes. It

is seldom necessary to use this option, because the virtual disk was already

initialized when you created it.

Before you run an initialization, back up any data on the virtual disk that you
want to save. All data on the virtual disk is lost when you initialize it.

In WebBIOS Version 1.1-33d-Rel, the initialization items will be Fast Init and

Slow Init.

2-34 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

• Select CC to run a consistency check on this virtual disk.

In the right panel of the Virtual Disk screen you can change the virtual disk

conguration by adding or removing a physical drive or by changing the RAID

level.

Before you change a virtual disk conguration, back up any data on the virtual

disk that you want to save.

For more information about changing RAID level, please refer to Migrating the
RAID Level of a Virtual Disk in section 2.2.6 Managing Congurations.

To remove a physical drive from a virtual disk, select the drive in the small panel
beneath the Remove physical drive option. Then select Remove physical drive
and click Go at the bottom of the panel.

Viewing Physical Drive Properties

The Physical Drive screen displays
the properties of a selected physical
drive and also enables you to perform
operations on the physical drive. The right

gure shows the Physical Drive window.

The physical drive properties are view­only and are self-explanatory. Note
that the properties include the state of

the disk’s physical drive. The operations listed at the bottom of the screen vary

depending on the state of the drive. After you select an operation, click Go to start
the operation.

• Select MakeDriveOfine if you want to force the physical drive ofine.

If you force ofine a good physical drive that is part of a redundant array with

a hot spare, the drive will rebuild to the hot spare drive. The drive you forced

ofine will go into the Uncongured and Bad state. Access the BIOS utility to set
the drive to the Uncongured and Good state.

• Select Locate to make the LED ash on the physical drive. This works only if

the drive is installed in a disk enclosure.

• If the selected physical drive is not already part of a disk group, you have the
option of making it a Global hot spare or a Dedicated hot spare.

WebBIOS displays the global hot spare as Global and the dedicated hot

spare as Ded.

• A Prepare for removal option may also appear.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-35

2.2.5 Viewing System Event Information

The SAS controller rmware monitors the activity and performance of all storage
congurations and devices in the system. When an event occurs (such as the

creation of a new virtual disk or the removal of a physical drive) an event message
is generated and is stored in the controller NVRAM. You can use the WebBIOS CU
to view these event messages. To do this, click Events on the main WebBIOS CU

screen. The Event Information screen appears, as shown in the following gure.

The right side of the screen is blank until you select an event to view. The First

Sequence and Last Sequence elds in the upper left of the screen show you how

many event entries are currently stored.

To view event information, follow these steps:

1. Select an Event Locale from the menu. For example, select Enclosure to

view events relating to the disk enclosure.

2. Select an Event Class: [Informational], [Warning], [Critical], [Fatal], or [Dead].

3. Enter a Start Sequence number, between the First Sequence and Last
Sequence numbers. The higher the number, the more recent the event.

4. Enter the Number of events of this type that you want to view, and click Go.

The rst event in the sequence appears in the right panel.

5. Click Next or Prev to page forward or backward through the sequence of
events.

6. If you want, select different event criteria in the left panel, and click Go again
to view a different sequence of events.

Each event entry includes a timestamp and a description to help you

determine when the event occurred and what it was.

2-36 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

2.2.6 Managing Congurations

This section includes information about maintaining and managing storage

congurations.

Running a Consistency Check

You should periodically run a consistency check on fault-tolerant virtual disks. A

consistency check veries that the redundancy data is correct and available for

RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10, RAID 50, and RAID 60 arrays. To do this, follow
these steps:

1. On the main WebBIOS CU screen, select a virtual disk.

2. When the Virtual Disk screen appears, select CC in the lower left panel, and
click Go.

The consistency check begins.

If the WebBIOS CU nds a difference between the data and the parity value on the

redundant array, it assumes that the data is accurate and automatically corrects
the parity value. Be sure to back up the data before running a consistency check if
you think the consistency data may be corrupted.

Deleting a Virtual Disk

You can delete any virtual disk on the controller if you want to reuse that space for

a new virtual disk. The WebBIOS CU provides a list of congurable arrays where
there is a space to congure. If multiple virtual disks are dened on a single array,

you can delete a virtual disk without deleting the whole array.

To delete a virtual disk, follow these steps:

Back up any data that you want to keep before you delete the virtual disk.

1. On the main WebBIOS CU screen, select a virtual disk.

2. When the Virtual Disk screen appears, select Del in the lower left panel, and
click Go.

3. When the message appears, conrm that you want to delete the virtual disk.

Importing or Clearing a Foreign Conguration

A foreign conguration is a storage conguration that already exists on a
replacement set of physical disks that you install in a computer system. In addition,

if one or more physical disks are removed from a conguration, by a cable pull or
physical disk removal, for example, the conguration on those disks is considered
a foreign conguration by the RAID controller.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-37

The WebBIOS CU allows you to import the foreign conguration to the RAID
controller, or to clear the conguration so you can create a new conguration using

these physical disks.

If WebBIOS CU detects a foreign conguration, the screen appears, as shown in
the following gure.

The GUID (Global Unique Identier) entries on the drop-down list are OEM names

and will vary from one installation to another.

Click ClearForeignCfg if you want to clear the conguration and reuse the
physical disks.

Click GUIDPreview if you want to preview the foreign conguration. The screen,

as shown in the following gure, appears.

The right panel shows the virtual disk properties of the foreign conguration. In this

example, there is a RAID 1 virtual disk with 1,000 Mbytes. The left panel shows the

physical disks that comprise the foreign conguration.

Click Import to import this foreign conguration and use it on this controller.

Click Cancel to clear the conguration and reuse the physical disks for another
virtual disk.

2-38 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

Foreign Configurations in Cable Pull and Disk Removal Scenarios

If one or more physical disks are removed from a conguration, by a cable
pull or physical disk removal, for example, the conguration on those disks is
considered a foreign conguration by the RAID controller.

Use the Foreign Conguration Preview screen to import or clear the

foreign conguration in each case.

The following scenarios can occur with cable pulls or physical disk removals.

If you want to import the foreign conguration in any of the following scenarios,

you should have all the drives in the enclosure before you perform the import
operation.

1. Scenario #1: If all of the physical disks in a conguration are removed

and re-inserted, the controller considers the drives to have foreign

congurations.

Import or clear the foreign conguration. If you select Import, automatic

rebuilds will occur in redundant virtual disks.

Start a consistency check immediately after the rebuild is complete to ensure
data integrity for the virtual disks.

2. Scenario #2: If some of the physical disks in a conguration are removed

and re-inserted, the controller considers the drives to have foreign

congurations. Import or clear the foreign conguration. If you select

Import, automatic rebuilds will occur in redundant virtual disks.

Start a consistency check immediately after the rebuild is complete to ensure
data integrity for the virtual disks.

3. Scenario #3: If all the physical disks in a virtual disk are removed, but

at different times, and re-inserted, the controller considers the drives to

have foreign congurations.

Import or clear the foreign conguration. If you select Import, all drives

that were pulled before the virtual disk became ofine will be imported

and then automatically rebuilt. Automatic rebuilds will occur in redundant
virtual disks.

4. If the physical disks in a non-redundant virtual disk are removed, the

controller considers the drives to have foreign congurations. Import or
clear the foreign conguration. No rebuilds will occur after the import

operation because there is no redundant data to rebuild the drives with.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-39

Migrating the RAID Level of a Virtual Disk

As the amount of data and the number of disk drives in your system increase,
you can use RAID-level migration to change a virtual disk from one RAID level to
another. You do not have to power down or reboot the system. When you migrate
a virtual disk, you can keep the same number of drives, or you can add drives. You
can use the WebBIOS CU to migrate the RAID level of an existing virtual disk.

While you can apply RAID-level migration at any time, LSI that recommends you
do so when there are no reboots. Many operating systems issues I/O operations
serially (one at a time) during boot. With a RAID-level migration running, a boot
can often take more than 15 minutes.

Migrations are allowed for the following RAID levels:

• RAID 0 to RAID 1

• RAID 0 to RAID 5

• RAID 1 to RAID 5

• RAID 1 to RAID 6

The following table lists the number of additional disk drives required when you
change the RAID level of a virtual disk.

Additional disk Drives Required for RAID-Level Migration

From RAID Level to RAID

Level

RAID 0 to RAID 1 RAID 0: 1 drive 1

RAID 0 to RAID 5 RAID 0: 1 drive 2

RAID 1 to RAID 5 RAID 1: 2 drives 1

RAID 1 to RAID 6 RAID 1: 2 drives 1

Original Number of Disk
Drives in Array

Additional Disk Drives
Required

Follow these steps to migrate the RAID level:

Back up any data that you want to keep before you change the RAID level of
the virtual disk.

1. On the main WebBIOS CU screen, select a virtual disk.

2. When the Virtual Disk screen appears, select Migration only (and skip to
step 5) or Migration with addition in the right panel.

3. If you selected Migration with addition, select one or more physical disks
from the small window in the lower right of the screen.

4. Select a new RAID level from the drop-down menu on the right. The available
RAID levels are limited, based on the current RAID level of the virtual disk
plus the number of physical disks available.

2-40 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

5. When you have made your selections, click Go at the bottom of the right

panel.

6. When the message appears, conrm that you want to migrate the RAID level

of the virtual disk.

A reconstruction operation begins on the virtual disk. You must wait until the
reconstruction is completed before performing any other tasks in the WebBIOS
CU.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-41

2.3 MegaRAID Storage Manager

MegaRAID Storage Manager software enables you to congure, monitor, and
maintain storage congurations on LSI SAS controllers. The MegaRAID Storage

Manager graphical user interface (GUI) makes it easy for you to create and

manage storage congurations.

2.3.1 Hardware and Software Requirements

The hardware requirements for MegaRAID Storage Manager software are as
follows:

• PC-compatible computer with an IA-32 (32-bit) Intel Architecture processor or

an EM64T (64-bit) processor and at least 128 Mbytes of system memory (256
Mbytes recommended)

• Disk drive with at least 50 Mbytes available free space

The supported operating systems for the MegaRAID Storage Manager software
are as follows:

• Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows

XP, and Microsoft Windows Vista

• Red Hat Linux 3.0, 4.0, or 5.0

• SUSE SLES 9 and 10, with latest updates and service packs

Refer to your server documentation and to the operating system documentation for
more information on hardware and operating system requirements.

2.3.2 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager Sofware on

Microsoft Windows OS

Follow these steps if you need to install MegaRAID Storage Manager software on
a system running Microsoft Windows OS:

1. Insert the MegaRAID Storage Manager software installation CD in the CD­ROM drive.

If necessary, nd and double-click the setup.exe le to start the installation

program.

2. When the Welcome screen appears, click Next.

If MegaRAID Storage Manager software is already installed on this system,

the Program Maintenance screen appears. Read the screen text and select
Modify, Repair, or Remove.

3. When the next screen appears, read and accept the user license, and click
Next.

The Customer Information screen appears, as shown in the following gure.

2-42 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

4. Enter your user name and organization name. In the bottom part of the

screen, select an installation option:

– If you select All users, any user with administrative privileges can use

this version of MegaRAID Storage Manager software to view or change

storage congurations.

– If you select Only for current user, the MegaRAID Storage Manager

shortcuts and associated icons will be available only to the user with this
user name.

5. Click Next to continue.

6. On the next screen, accept the default Destination Folder, or click Change to
select a different destination folder. Click Next to continue.

The Setup Type screen appears, as shown in the following gure.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-43

7. Select one of the Setup options. The options are fully explained in the screen
text.

– Normally, you would select Complete if you are installing MegaRAID

Storage Manager software on a server.

– Select Custom Installation if you want to select individual program

components.

8. Click Next to continue.

If you selected Custom Installation as your setup option, the second Setup

Type screen appears, as shown in the following gure.

If you select Complete as your setup option, the Installation Wizard is ready

to install MSM. To begin installation, click on Install on the next screen that
appears.

9. Select one of the custom setup options. The options are fully explained in the
screen text.

– Select Client if you are installing MegaRAID Storage Manager software

on a PC that will be used to view and congure servers over a network.

To begin installation, click on Install on the next screen that appears.

– Select Server to install only those components required for remote

server management. To begin installation, click on Install on the next
screen that appears.

– Select StandAlone if you will use MegaRAID Storage Manager

software to create and manage storage congurations on a standalone

workstation. To begin installation, click on Install on the next screen that
appears.

– Select Custom if you want to specify individual program features to

install.

If you select Custom, a window listing the installation features appears, as

shown in the following gure. Select the features you want on this screen.

2-44 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

10. Click Next to proceed.

11. Click Install to install the program.

12. When the nal Conguration Wizard screen appears, click Finish.

If you select Client installation for a PC used to monitor servers, and if there

are no available servers with a registered framework on the local subnet
(that is, servers with a complete installation of MegaRAID Storage Manager

software), the server screen will appear, as shown in the following gure. The

server screen will not list any servers. You can use this screen to manage
systems remotely.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-45

2.3.3 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager Sofware for

Linux

Follow these steps if you need to install MegaRAID Storage Manager software on
a system running Red Hat Linux or SUSE Linux:

1. Copy the MSM_linux_installer...tar.gz le to a temporary folder.

2. Untar the MSM_linux_installer...tar.gz le using the following command:

tar -zxvf MSM_linux_installer...tar.gz

A new disk directory is created.

3. Go to the new disk directory.

4. In the disk directory, nd and read the readme.txt le.

5. To start the installation, enter the following command:

csh install.sh -a

If you select Client installation for a PC used to monitor servers, and if there are no
available servers with a registered framework on the local subnet (that is, servers
with a complete installation of MegaRAID Storage Manager software), the server
screen appears. The server screen does not list any servers. You can use this
screen to manage systems remotely.

2-46 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

2.3.4 Linux Error Messages

The following messages may appear while you are installing MegaRAID Storage
Manager software on a Linux system:

• More than one copy of MegaRAID Storage Manager software has been

installed.

This message indicates that the user has installed more than one copy of

MegaRAID Storage Manager software. (This can be done by using the rpm-

force command to install the rpm le directly, which is not recommended,
instead of using the install.sh le.) In such cases, the user must uninstall all the
rpm les manually before installing MegaRAID Storage Manager software with

the procedure listed previously.

• The version is already installed.

This message indicates that the version of MegaRAID Storage Manager

software you are trying to install is already installed on the system.

• The installed version is newer.

This message indicates that a version of MegaRAID Storage Manager

software is already installed on the system, and it is a newer version than the
version you are trying to install.

• Exiting installation.

This is the message that appears when the installation is complete.

• RPM installation failed.

This message indicates that the installation failed for some reason. Additional

message text explains the cause of the failure.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-47

2.3.5 Starting MegaRAID Storage Manager Software

Follow these steps to start MegaRAID Storage Manager software and view the
main window:

1. Start the program using the method required for your operating system
environment:

– To start MegaRAID Storage Manager software on a Microsoft Windows

system, select Start > Programs > MegaRAID Storage Manager >
StartupUI, or double-click the MegaRAID Storage Manager shortcut on
the desktop.

If a warning appears stating that Windows Firewall has blocked some features
of the program, click Unblock to allow MegaRAID Storage Manager software to
start. (The Windows Firewall sometimes blocks the operation of programs that
use Java.)

– To start MegaRAID Storage Manager software on a Red Hat Linux

system, select Applications > System Tools > MegaRAID Storage
Manager StartupUI.

– To start MegaRAID Storage Manager software on a SUSE SLES 9

system, select Start > System > More Programs > MegaRAID Storage
Manager.

2. When the program starts, the Select Server window appears, as shown in the

following gure.

If the circle in the server icon is yellow instead of green, it means that the

server is running in a degraded state—for example, because a disk drive

used in a virtual disk has failed. If the circle is red, the storage conguration

in the server has failed.

2-48 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

To access servers on a different subnet, type in the box at the bottom of the
screen the IP address of a server in the desired subnet where the MegaRAID
Storage Manager software is running, and click Update. If you check the
Connect to remote server at: IP address box, you can also access a
standalone (remote) installation of MegaRAID Storage Manager software, if it
has a network connection.

3. Double-click the icon of the server that you want to access. The Server Login

window appears, as shown in the following gure.

4. Select an access mode from the drop-down menu.

– Select Full Access if you need to both view the current conguration

and change the conguration.

– Select View Only if you need to only view and monitor the conguration.

5. Enter your user name and password, and click Login.

If the computer is networked, this is the login to the computer itself, not the
network login.

You must enter the root/administrator user name and password to use Full

Access mode. If your user name and password are correct for the Login
mode you have chosen, the main MegaRAID Storage Manager window
appears.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-49

2.3.6 MegaRAID Storage Manager Window

This section describes the MegaRAID Storage Manager window, which is shown in

the following gure.

Physical/Logical View Panel

The left panel of the MegaRAID Storage Manager window displays either the
Physical view or the Logical view of the system and the devices in it, depending on
which tab is selected.

• The Physical view shows the hierarchy of physical devices in the system.

At the top of the hierarchy is the system itself. One or more controllers are

installed in the system. The controller label identies the MegaRAID controller,

such as the ASUS PIKE 1078 controller, so that you can easily differentiate
between multiple controllers. Each controller has one or more ports. Disk
drives and other devices are attached to the ports.

• The Logical view shows the hierarchy of controllers, virtual disks, and disk

groups that are dened on the system. (Physical drives also appear in the

Logical view, so you can see which physical drives are used by each virtual
disk.)

The following icons in the left panel represent the controllers, disk drives, and other
devices:

• System

• Controller

• Port

2-50 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

• Array

• Virtual disk

• Physical drive

• Enclosure

• Battery backup unit (BBU)

A red circle to the right of an icon indicates that the device has failed. For example,

this icon indicates that a physical drive has failed: .

A yellow circle to the right of an icon indicates that a device is running in a
degraded state. For example, this icon indicates that a virtual disk is running in a

degraded state because a disk drive has failed: .

Properties/Operations/Graphical View Panel

The right panel of the MegaRAID Storage Manager window has either two or three
tabs, depending on what kind of device is selected in the left panel.

• The Properties tab displays information about the selected device. For

example, if a controller icon is selected in the left panel, the Properties tab lists

information such as the controller name, NVRAM size, and device port count.

• The Operations tab lists the operations that can be performed on the device

that is selected in the left panel. For example, the following gure shows the

options that are available when a controller is selected. These include enabling
or silencing the alarm and running a Patrol Read. Some types of devices, such
as arrays and ports, do not have operations associated with them.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-51

• The Graphical View tab can be selected in the right panel if a physical drive,

virtual disk, or disk enclosure is selected in the left panel. In graphical view, the

device’s storage capacity is color coded according to the legend shown on the
screen. For example, on a physical drive congured space is blue, available
space is white, and reserved space is red, as shown in the following gure.

Event Log Panel

The lower part of the MegaRAID Storage Manager window displays the system
event log entries. New event log entries appear during the session. Each entry has
an ID, a timestamp and date, an error level indicating the severity of the event, and
a brief description of the event.

Menu Bar

Here are brief descriptions of the main selections on the MegaRAID Storage
Manager menu bar.

File Menu

The File menu has an Exit option for exiting from the MegaRAID Storage
Manager software. It also has a Rescan option for updating the display in

the MegaRAID Storage Manager window. (Rescan is seldom required; the

display normally updates automatically.)

2-52 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

Operations Menu

The Operations menu is available when a controller, physical drive, or virtual
disk is selected in the MegaRAID Storage Manager window. The Operations
menu options vary depending on what type of device is selected in the left
panel of the MegaRAID Storage Manager window. For example, the Scan

for Foreign Cong option is available only when a controller is selected. The

options also vary depending on the current state of the selected device. For

example, if you select an ofine physical drive, the Make Drive Online option

appears in the Operations menu.

You can also view the Operations selections on the main window on the
Operations tab in the right panel. If an operation requires user inputs before
it can be executed, it appears in the Operations tab but not in the Operations

menu. A device-specic Operations menu pops up if you right-click a device

icon in the left panel.

Conguration options are also available. This is where you access the
Conguration Wizard and other conguration-related commands. To access
the other conguration commands, select Operations > Conguration.

Group Operations Menu

The Group Operations menu options include Check Consistency, Initialize,

and Show Progress.

Tools Menu

On the Tools menu you can select Congure > Monitor Congurator to

access the Event Conguration Notication screen, which you can use to set

the alert delivery rules, event severity levels, exceptions, and email settings.

Log Menu

The Log menu includes options for saving and clearing the message log.

Help Menu

On the Help menu you can select Help > Help to view the MegaRAID
Storage Manager online help le. You can select Help > About to view
version information for the MegaRAID Storage Manager software.

• When you use the MegaRAID Storage Manager online help, you may see a

warning message that Internet Explorer has restricted the le from showing

active content. If this warning appears, click on the active content warning
bar and enable the active content.

• If you are using the Linux operating system, you must install Firefox

Mozilla® for the MegaRAID Storage Manager online help to display.

ASUS PIKE 1078 2-53

®

or

2-54 Chapter 2: RAID conguration

This chapter provides instructions for
installing the RAID drivers on different
operating systems.

Chapter 3: Driver

3

installation

3.1 RAID driver installation

After creating the RAID sets for your server system, you are now ready to install
an operating system to the independent hard disk drive or bootable array. This part
provides instructions on how to install or update the RAID card drivers.

The RAID card driver might be included in the Linux OS installation CD, and
could be loaded automatically during OS installation. However, we recommend
using the RAID driver packaged in the RAID card support CD for better
reliability.

3.1.1 Creating a RAID driver disk

You may have to use another system to create the RAID driver disk from the
RAID card support CD or from the Internet.

A oppy disk with the RAID driver is required when installing Windows

operating system on a hard disk drive that is included in a RAID set. You can
create a RAID driver disk in DOS (using the Makedisk application in the support
CD).

To create a RAID driver disk in DOS environment:

1. Place the RAID card support CD in the optical drive.

2. Restart the computer, then enter the BIOS Setup.

3. Select the optical drive as the rst boot priority to boot from the support CD.

Save your changes, then exit the BIOS Setup.

4. Restart the computer.

5. Press any key when prompted to boot from CD.

Loading FreeDOS FAT KERNEL GO!
Press any key to boot from CDROM...

®

or Linux

6. The Makedisk menu appears. Select LSI 1078 SAS Driver, and press
<Enter> to enter the sub-menu.

Create Driver Diskette Menu
PIKE 1078 SAS Driver

FreeDOS command prompt

3-2 Chapter 3: Driver installation

7. Use the arrow keys to select the type of RAID driver disk you want to create.

LSI 1078 SAS card Driver

Windows 2000 Server SP4

Windows XP 32 bit
Windows XP 64 bit
Windows Server 2003 32 bit
Windows Server 2003 64 bit
Windows Vista 32 bit
Windows Vista 64 bit
Windows Server 2008 32 bit
Windows Server 2008 64 bit
RHEL 3 UP4 32/64 bit
RHEL 3 UP5/UP6 32/64 bit
RHEL 3 UP7/UP8 32/64 bit
RHEL 4 32/64 bit
RHEL 4 UP5 32/64 bit
RHEL 5 32/64 bit
SLES 9 SP1 32/64 bit
SLES 9 SP2 32/64 bit
SLES 9 SP3 32/64 bit
SLES 10 32/64 bit
Back
Exit

8. Place a blank, high-density oppy disk to the oppy disk drive.

9. Press <Enter>.

10. Follow screen instructions to create the driver disk.

ASUS PIKE 1078 3-3

3.1.2 Windows® OS

During Windows® OS installation

To install the RAID card driver when installing Windows® OS:

1. Boot the computer using the Windows® OS installation CD. The Window®
Setup starts.

2. Press <F6> when the message “Press F6 if you need to install a third party
SCSI or RAID driver...” appears at the bottom of the screen.

Windows Setup

Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver...

3. The next screen appears. Press <S> to specify an additional device.

Windows Setup

Setup could not determine the type of one or more mass storage devices
installed in your system, or you have chosen to manually specify an adapter.
Currently, Setup will load support for the following mass storage

devices(s):

<none>

* To specify additional SCSI adapters, CD-ROM drives, or special
disk controllers for use with Windows, including those for
which you have a device support disk from a mass storage device
manufacturer, press S.

* If you do not have any device support disks from a mass storage
device manufacturer, or do not want to specify additional
mass storage devices for use with Windows, press ENTER.

S=Specify Additional Device ENTER=Continue F3=Exit

3-4 Chapter 3: Driver installation

4. Insert the RAID driver disk you created earlier to the oppy disk drive, then

press <Enter>.

Windows Setup

Please insert the disk labeled

Manufacturer-supplied hardware support disk

into Drive A:

* Press ENTER when ready.

ENTER=Continue ESC=Cancel F3=Exit

5. Select LSI MegaRAID SAS RAID Controller Driver complying with your

Windows® OS version, and then press <Enter>.

Windows Setup

You have chosen to congure a SCSI Adapter for use with Windows,

using a device support disk provided by an adapter manufacturer.

Select the SCSI Adapter you want from the following list, or press ESC
to return to the previous screen.

LSI MegaRAID SAS RAID Controller Driver (Windows 2003)

LSI MegaRAID SAS RAID Controller Driver (Server 2003 32-bit)

ENTER=Select F3=Exit

6. The Windows® Setup loads the RAID card drivers from the RAID driver disk.
When next screen appears, press <Enter> to continue installation.

7. Setup then proceeds with the OS installation. Follow screen instructions to
continue.

ASUS PIKE 1078 3-5

After Windows® OS installation

To update the RAID card driver after installing Windows® OS:

1. Right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop and select Properties from

the menu.

2. Click the Hardware tab on the top, then click the Device Manager button.

3. Double-click the LSI Logic MegaRAID SAS PCI Express ROMB item.

4. Click the Driver tab on the top, then click Update Driver.

3-6 Chapter 3: Driver installation

5. Toggle Install from a list or specic location (Advanced), then click Next
to continue.

6. Toggle Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install, then click Next to
continue.

7. Insert the RAID driver disk you created earlier to the oppy disk drive.

8. Highlight LSI Logic MegaRAID SAS PCI Express ROMB, then click Have
Disk.

ASUS PIKE 1078 3-7

9. Select from the drop-down menu and locate the driver.

10. Click Next to start updating the driver.

11. After completing driver update, click Finish to close the wizard.

3-8 Chapter 3: Driver installation

3.1.3 Red Hat® Enterprise Linux OS

To install the RAID card driver when installing Red Hat Red Hat® Enterprise OS:

1. Boot the system from the Red Hat® OS installation CD.

2. At the boot:, type linux dd, then press <Enter>.

- To install or upgrade in graphical mode, press the <ENTER> key.

- To install or upgrade in text mode, type: linux text <ENTER>.

- Use the function keys listed below for more information.

[F1-Main] [F2-Options] [F3-General] [F4-Kernel] [F5-Rescue]

boot: linux dd

3. Select Yes using the <Tab> key when asked if you have the driver disk, then
press <Enter>.

Main Menu

Do you have a driver disk?

Yes No

4. Select fd0 using the <Tab> key when asked to select the driver disk source.
Press <Tab> to move the cursor to OK, then press <Enter>.

Driver Disk Source

You have multiple devices which could
serve as sources for a driver disk.
Which would you like to use?

fd0

scd0

OK

ASUS PIKE 1078 3-9

Cancel

5. Insert the Red Hat® Enterprise RAID driver disk to the oppy disk drive, select

OK, then press <Enter>.

Insert Driver Disk

Insert your driver disk into /dev/fd0
and press “OK” to continue.

OK

Back

The drivers for the RAID card are installed to the system.

6. When asked if you will load additional RAID controller drivers, select No, then

press <Enter>.

More Driver Disks?

Do you wish to load any more
driver disks?

Yes No

7. Follow the screen instructions to continue the OS installation.

3-10 Chapter 3: Driver installation

3.1.4 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server OS

To install the RAID card driver when installing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server OS: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server OS:

1. Boot the system from the SUSE OS installation CD.

2. Use the arrow keys to select Installation from the Boot Options menu.

Boot from Hard Disk

Installation

Installation--ACPI Disabled
Installation--Local APIC Disabled
Installation--Safe Settings
Rescue System
Memory Test

Boot Options |

F1 Help F2 Language F3 1280 x 1024 F4 DVD F5 Driver

3. Press <F5>, then select Yes from the menu. Press <Enter>.

Boot from Hard Disk

Installation

Installation--ACPI Disabled
Installation--Local APIC Disabled
Installation--Safe Settings
Rescue System
Memory Test

Boot Options |

F1 Help F2 Language F3 1280 x 1024 F4 DVD F5 Driver

ASUS PIKE 1078 3-11

Yes

No
File

4. Insert the RAID driver disk to the oppy disk drive. Make sure that Installation

from the Boot Options menu is selected, then press <Enter>.

Boot from Hard Disk

Installation

Installation--ACPI Disabled
Installation--Local APIC Disabled
Installation--Safe Settings
Rescue System
Memory Test

Boot Options |

F1 Help F2 Language F3 1280 x 1024 F4 DVD F5 Driver

5. When below screen appears, select the oppy disk drive (fd0) as the driver

update medium. Select OK, then press <Enter>.

Please choose the Driver Update medium.

fd0: Floppy

sr0: CD-ROM, TEAC DV-516E
sda: Disk, SEAGATE ST336754SS
sdb: Disk, SEAGATE ST336754SS
Other device

OK Back

The drivers for the RAID controller are installed to the system.

3-12 Chapter 3: Driver installation