Avago Technologies MegaRAID User Manual

MegaRAID®

SAS Software

User Guide

51530-00 Rev. B July 2011

Revision History

Version and Date		Description of Changes
51530-00, Rev B, July 2011	• Updated the guide with VMware 5.0 information.
	• Updated the guide with CacheCade Pro 2.0 SSD Read/Write Caching software content.
51530-00A, Rev A, May 2011	• Updated screen shots wherever required in the document.
	• Added around 53 events from 0x0189 to 0x01bd in Appendix A.
	• Updated the content in the Section 5.15.15, Download Firmware to the Physical Devices.
	• Modified content in Chapter 4, WebBIOS Configuration Utility.
	• Updated content in Chapter 5, MegaRAID Command Tool.
	• Updated content in Chapter 6, MegaRAID Storage Manager Overview and Installation.
	• Updated content in Chapter 7, MegaRAID Storage Manager Window and Menus.
	• Updated content in Chapter 8, Configuration.
	• Updated content in Chapter 9, Monitoring Controllers and Its Attached Devices.
	• Updated content in Chapter 10, Maintaining and Managing Storage Configurations.
	• Updated content in Chapter 11, Using MegaRAID Advanced Software.
	• Updated content in Appendix A, Events and Messages.
	• Created a new appendix - Appendix D, History of Technical Changes.
	• Updated the name of the CacheCade SSD Caching software.
		NOTE: For a history of all technical changes made to this guide for the previous releases, refer to
		Appendix D, History of Technical Changes.

LSI and the LSI logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other brand and product names may be trademarks of their respective companies.

LSI Corporation reserves the right to make changes to the product(s) or information disclosed herein at any time without notice. LSI Corporation does not assume any responsibility or liability arising out of the application or use of any product or service described herein, except as expressly agreed to in writing by LSI Corporation; nor does the purchase, lease, or use of a product or service from LSI Corporation convey a license under any patent rights, copyrights, trademark rights, or any other of the intellectual property rights of LSI Corporation or of third parties.

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

Corporate Headquarters	Email	Website
Milpitas, CA	[e-mail]	www.lsi.com
800-372-2447
Document Number: 51530-00, Rev. B
Copyright © 2011 LSI Corporation
All Rights Reserved

MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

1.1 SAS Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

1.2 Serial-Attached SCSI Device Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

1.3 Serial ATA III Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

1.4 Solid State Drive Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

1.4.1 SSD Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

1.5 Dimmer Switch Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

1.6 UEFI 2.0 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

1.7 Configuration Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 1.7.1 Valid Drive Mix Configurations with HDDs and SSDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

1.8 Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Chapter 2: Introduction to RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

2.1 RAID Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

2.2 RAID Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

2.3 RAID Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

2.4 Components and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

2.4.1 Drive Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

2.4.2 Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

2.4.3 Fault Tolerance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

2.4.4 Consistency Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

2.4.5 Copyback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

2.4.6 Background Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

2.4.7 Patrol Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

2.4.8 Disk Striping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

2.4.9 Disk Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

2.4.10 Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

2.4.11 Disk Spanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

2.4.12 Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

2.4.13 Disk Rebuilds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

2.4.14 Rebuild Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

2.4.15 Hot Swap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

2.4.16 Drive States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

2.4.17 Virtual Drive States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

2.4.18 Beep Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

2.4.19 Enclosure Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

2.5 RAID Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 2.5.1 Summary of RAID Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 2.5.2 Selecting a RAID Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 2.5.3 RAID 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 2.5.4 RAID 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 2.5.5 RAID 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 2.5.6 RAID 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 2.5.7 RAID 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 2.5.8 RAID 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 2.5.9 RAID 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 2.5.10 RAID 60 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

LSI Corporation Confidential | July 2011

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Table of Contents

MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide

2.6 RAID Configuration Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

2.6.1 Maximizing Fault Tolerance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

2.6.2 Maximizing Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

2.6.3 Maximizing Storage Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

2.7 RAID Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

2.7.1 RAID Availability Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

2.8 Configuration Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

2.9 Number of Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	45
2.9.1 Drive Group Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	45

Chapter 3: SafeStore Disk Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

3.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

3.2 Purpose and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

47

3.3 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

3.4 Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

3.4.1 Enable Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

3.4.2 Change Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

3.4.3 Create Secure Virtual Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

3.4.4 Import a Foreign Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

3.5 Instant Secure Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Chapter 4: WebBIOS Configuration Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

4.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

4.2 Starting the WebBIOS configuration utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

4.3 WebBIOS configuration utility Main Dialog Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

4.4 Managing Software Licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.56
4.4.1 Managing MegaRAID Advanced Software Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	56
4.4.2 Reusing the Activation Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	60
4.4.3 Managing Advanced Software Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	60
4.4.4 Activating an Unlimited Key Over a Trial Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	61
4.4.5 Activating a Trial Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	61
4.4.6 Activating an Unlimited Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	62
4.4.7 Securing MegaRAID Advanced Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	63
4.4.8 Confirm Re-hosting Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	63
4.4.9 Re-hosting Process Complete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	65

4.5 Creating a Storage Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

4.5.1 Using Automatic Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

4.5.2 Using Manual Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

4.6 CacheCade Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 4.6.1 Creating a CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 4.6.2 Creating a CacheCade Pro 2.0 SSD Read/Write Caching Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

4.7 Selecting SafeStore Encryption Services Security Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	126
4.7.1 Enabling the Security Key Identifier, Security Key, and Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	126
4.7.2 Enabling Drive Security using EKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	132
4.7.3 Changing the Security Key Identifier, Security Key, and Pass Phrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	133
4.7.4 Change Security from EKM to LKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	134
4.7.5 Changing Security from LKM to EKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	139
4.7.6 Disabling the Drive Security Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	140

4.8 Viewing and Changing Device Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 4.8.1 Viewing Controller Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 4.8.2 Viewing Virtual Drive Properties, Policies, and Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 4.8.3 Viewing Drive Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

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4.8.4 Shield State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	152
4.8.5 Viewing and Changing Battery Backup Unit Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	155
4.8.6 Managing Link Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	160
4.8.7 Viewing Enclosure Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	162
4.8.8 SSD Disk Cache Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	167
4.8.9 Emergency Hotspare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	167
4.8.10 Emergency Hotspare for Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	168
4.9 Viewing and Expanding a Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	172
4.10 Suspending and Resuming Virtual Drive Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	173

4.11 Using MegaRAID Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 4.11.1 Recovery Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 4.11.2 Enabling the Recovery Advanced Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 4.11.3 Creating Snapshots and Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 4.11.4 Creating Concurrent Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 4.11.5 Selecting the Snapshot Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 4.11.6 Viewing Snapshot Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 4.11.7 Restoring a Virtual Drive by Rolling Back to a Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 4.11.8 Cleaning Up a Snapshot Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

4.12 Non-SED Secure Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 4.12.1 Erasing a Non - SED Physical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 4.12.2 Virtual Drive Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

4.13 Viewing System Event Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

4.14 Managing Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 4.14.1 Running a Consistency Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 4.14.2 Deleting a Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 4.14.3 Importing or Clearing a Foreign Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 4.14.4 Importing Foreign Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 4.14.5 Import Foreign Drives in EKM/EKM Secured Locked Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 4.14.6 Importing Foreign Drives for LKM-Secured Locked Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 4.14.7 Importing Foreign Drives in LKM Mode EKM-Secured Locked Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 4.14.8 Migrating the RAID Level of a Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 4.14.9 New Drives Attached to a MegaRAID Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

4.15 WebBIOS Dimmer Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

4.15.1 Power-Save Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

4.15.2 Power Save Settings-Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

4.15.3 Power-Save While Creating Virtual Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Chapter 5: MegaRAID Command Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

5.1 Product Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

5.2 Novell NetWare, SCO, Solaris, FreeBSD, and MS-DOS Operating System Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

5.3 Command Line Abbreviations and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 5.3.1 Abbreviations Used in the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 5.3.2 Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

5.4 Pre-boot MegaCLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

220

5.5 CacheCade Related Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 5.5.1 Create a Solid State Drive Cache Drive to Use as Secondary Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 5.5.2 Delete a Solid State Drive Cache Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 5.5.3 Associate/Disassociate Virtual Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 5.5.4 Display CacheCade Pro 2.0 Configurations on a Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 5.5.5 Create a RAID Drive Group for CacheCade Pro 2.0 from All Unconfigured Good Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

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Table of Contents

MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide

5.5.6 Remove Blocked Access on a Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 5.5.7 Create RAID 0 Configuration with SSD Caching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 5.5.8 Create a RAID Level 10, 50, 60 (spanned) Configuration with SSD Caching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 5.5.9 Delete Virtual Drives with SSD Caching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 5.5.10 Clear Configurations on CacheCade Pro 2.0 Virtual Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 5.5.11 Create a CacheCade Pro 2.0 Virtual Drive with RAID level and Write Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

5.6 Software License Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

5.7 SafeStore Security Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 5.7.1 Use Instant Secure Erase on a Physical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 5.7.2 Secure Data on a Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 5.7.3 Destroy the Security Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 5.7.4 Create a Security Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 5.7.5 Create a Drive Security Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 5.7.6 Change the Security Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 5.7.7 Get the Security Key ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 5.7.8 Set the Security Key ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 5.7.9 Verify the Security Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

5.8 Controller Property-Related Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	231
5.8.1 Display Controller Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	231
5.8.2 Display Number of Controllers Supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	231
5.8.3 Enable or Disable Automatic Rebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	231
5.8.4 Flush Controller Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	232
5.8.5 Set Controller Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	232
5.8.6 Display Specified Controller Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	234
5.8.7 Set Factory Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	234
5.8.8 Set SAS Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	234
5.8.9 Set Time and Date on Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	235
5.8.10 Display Time and Date on Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	235
5.8.11 Get Connector Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	235
5.8.12 Set Connector Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	235

5.9 Patrol Read-Related Controller Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 5.9.1 Set Patrol Read Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 5.9.2 Set Patrol Read Delay Interval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

5.10 BIOS-Related Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 5.10.1 Set or Display Bootable Virtual Drive ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 5.10.2 Select BIOS Status Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

5.11 Battery Backup Unit-Related Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	238
5.11.1 Display BBU Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	238
5.11.2 Display BBU Status Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	239
5.11.3 Display BBU Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	240
5.11.4 Display BBU Design Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	240
5.11.5 Display Current BBU Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	241
5.11.6 Start BBU Learning Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	241
5.11.7 Place Battery in Low-Power Storage Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	241
5.11.8 Set BBU Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	242

5.12 Options for Displaying Logs Kept at the Firmware Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 5.12.1 Event Log Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 5.12.2 Set BBU Terminal Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

5.13 Configuration-Related Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	243
5.13.1 Create a RAID Drive Group from All Unconfigured-Good Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	243
5.13.2 Add RAID 0, 1, 5, or 6 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	245
5.13.3 Add RAID 10, 50, or 60 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	246
5.13.4 Clear the Existing Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	246

Page 6

LSI Corporation Confidential | July 2011

MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide

Table of Contents

5.13.5 Save the Configuration on the Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 5.13.6 Restore the Configuration Data from File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 5.13.7 Manage Foreign Configuration Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 5.13.8 Delete Specified Virtual Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 5.13.9 Display the Free Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

5.14 Virtual Drive-Related Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	248
5.14.1 Display Virtual Drive Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	248
5.14.2 Change the Virtual Drive Cache and Access Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	248
5.14.3 Display the Virtual Drive Cache and Access Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	249
5.14.4 Manage Virtual Drives Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	249
5.14.5 Manage a Consistency Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	249
5.14.6 Schedule a Consistency Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	250
5.14.7 Manage a Background Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	250
5.14.8 Perform a Virtual Drive Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	251
5.14.9 Display Information about Virtual Drives and Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	252
5.14.10 Display the Bad Block Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	252
5.14.11 Display the Number of Virtual Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	252
5.14.12 Clear the LDBBM Table Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	253
5.14.13 Display the List of Virtual Drives with Preserved Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	253
5.14.14 Discard the Preserved Cache of a Virtual Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	253
5.14.15 Expand a Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	253

5.15 Drive-Related Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 5.15.1 Display Drive Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 5.15.2 Set the Drive State to Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 5.15.3 Set the Drive State to Offline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 5.15.4 Change the Drive State to Unconfigured-Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 5.15.5 Change the Drive State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 5.15.6 Manage a Drive Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 5.15.7 Rebuild a Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 5.15.8 Locate the Drives and Activate LED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 5.15.9 Mark the Configured Drive as Missing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 5.15.10 Display the Drives in Missing Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 5.15.11 Replace the Configured Drives and Start an Automatic Rebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 5.15.12 Prepare the Unconfigured Drive for Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 5.15.13 Display Total Number of Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 5.15.14 Display List of Physical Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 5.15.15 Download Firmware to the Physical Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 5.15.16 Configure All Free Drives into a RAID 0, 1, 5, or 6 Configuration for a Specific Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 5.15.17 Set the Mapping Mode of the Drives to the Selected Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 5.15.18 Secure Erase for Virtual Drives and Physical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 5.15.19 Perform the Copyback Operation on the Selected Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

5.16 Enclosure-Related Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	262
5.16.1 Display Enclosure Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	262
5.16.2 Display Enclosure Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	263
5.16.3 Upgrading the Firmware without Restarting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	263

5.17 Flashing the Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 5.17.1 Flash the Firmware with the ROM File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 5.17.2 Flash the Firmware in Mode 0 with the ROM File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

5.18 SAS Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

5.19 Diagnostic-Related Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	264
5.19.1 Start Controller Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	264
5.19.2 Perform a Full Stroke Seek Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	265

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5.19.3 Start Battery Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

5.20 Recovery (Snapshot)-Related Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	265
5.20.1 Enable the Snapshot Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	265
5.20.2 Disable the Snapshot Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	266
5.20.3 Take a Snapshot of a Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	266
5.20.4 Set the Snapshot Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	266
5.20.5 Delete a Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	267
5.20.6 Create a View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	267
5.20.7 Delete a View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	267
5.20.8 Roll back to an Older Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	268
5.20.9 Display Snapshot and View Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	268
5.20.10 Clean the Recoverable Free Space on the Drives in a Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	268
5.20.11 Display the Information for a Specific View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	269
5.20.12 Enable the Snapshot Scheduler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	269

5.21 FastPath-Related Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

5.22 Dimmer Switch-Related Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 5.22.1 Display Selected Adapter Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 5.22.2 Sets the Properties on the Selected Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 5.22.3 Displays the Power-Saving Level on the Virtual Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 5.22.4 Displays about Adding a RAID Level to a Specified Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 5.22.5 Create a RAID Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 5.22.6 Add the Unconfigured Drive to a Specified Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 5.22.7 Displays the Cache and Access Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

5.23 Performance Monitoring Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

5.23.1 Starting Performance Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

5.23.2 Stopping Performance Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

5.23.3 Saving Performance Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

5.24 Miscellaneous Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 5.24.1 Display the Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 5.24.2 Display the MegaCLI Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 5.24.3 Display Help for MegaCLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 5.24.4 Display Summary Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Chapter 6: MegaRAID Storage Manager Overview and Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

6.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

6.1.1 Creating Storage Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

6.1.2 Monitoring Storage Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

6.1.3 Maintaining Storage Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

6.2 Hardware and Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

6.3 Prerequisites to Running MegaRAID Storage Manager Remote Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

6.4 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 6.4.1 Prerequisite for MegaRAID Storage Manager Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 6.4.2 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager Software on Microsoft Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 6.4.3 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager for the Solaris SPARC Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 6.4.4 Uninstalling MegaRAID Storage Manager Software for Solaris SPARC Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 6.4.5 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager for Linux Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 6.4.6 Prerequisites for Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager on the RHEL6.0 x64 Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 6.4.7 Linux Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 6.4.8 Kernel Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 6.4.9 Uninstalling MegaRAID Storage Manager Software on Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 6.4.10 MegaRAID Storage Manager Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

6.5 MegaRAID Storage Manager Support and Installation on VMware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 6.5.1 Pre-requisites for Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager for VMware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

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Table of Contents

6.5.2 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager on VMware ESX (VMware Classic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 6.5.3 Uninstalling MegaRAID Storage Manager for VMware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 6.5.4 MegaRAID Storage Manager Support on the VMware ESXi Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 6.5.5 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

6.6 Installing and Configuring a CIM Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 6.6.1 Installing a CIM SAS Storage Provider on the Linux Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 6.6.2 Installing a CIM SAS Storage Provider on Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

6.7 Installing and Configuring an SNMP Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 6.7.1 Prerequisite for LSI SNMP Agent RPM Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 6.7.2 Prerequisite for Installing SNMP Agent on Linux Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 6.7.3 Installing and Configuring an SNMP Agent on a Linux Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 6.7.4 Installing and Configuring an SNMP Agent on the Solaris Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 6.7.5 Installing an SNMP Agent on the Windows Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

6.8 MegaRAID Storage Manager Support and Installation on the Solaris 10 Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 6.8.1 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager Software for the Solaris 10 Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 6.8.2 Uninstalling MegaRAID Storage Manager Software for the Solaris 10 Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

6.9 Installing MegaCLI for VMware 5.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

6.10 MegaRAID Storage Manager Remotely Connecting to VMware ESX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

6.11 Prerequisites to Running MegaRAID Storage Manager Remote Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

303

Chapter 7: MegaRAID Storage Manager Window and Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

7.1 Starting the MegaRAID Storage Manager Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

7.2 MegaRAID Storage Manager Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	309
7.2.1 Dashboard, Physical View, Logical View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	310
7.2.2 Shield State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	314
7.2.3 Shield State Physical View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	314
7.2.4 Logical View Shield State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	315
7.2.5 Viewing the Physical Drive Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	315
7.2.6 Viewing Server Profile of a Drive in Shield State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	316
7.2.7 Displaying the Virtual Drive Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	317
7.2.8 Emergency HotSpare Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	320
7.2.9 SSD Disk Cache Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	322
7.2.10 Non-SED Secure Erase Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	324
7.2.11 Rebuild Write Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	329
7.2.12 Background Suspend or Resume Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	330
7.2.13 Enclosure Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	331

7.3 Monitoring Battery Backup Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

7.3.1 Properties and Graphical View Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

7.3.2 Event Log Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

7.3.3 Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Chapter 8: Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

8.1 Creating a New Storage Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 8.1.1 Selecting Virtual Drive Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 8.1.2 Optimum Controller Settings for CacheCade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 8.1.3 Optimum Controller Settings for FastPath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 8.1.4 Creating a Virtual Drive Using Simple Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 8.1.5 Creating a Virtual Drive using Advanced Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

8.2 Converting JBOD Drives to Unconfigured Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 8.2.1 Converting JBOD to Unconfigured Good from the MegaRAID Storage Manager Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

LSI Corporation Confidential | July 2011

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Table of Contents

MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide

8.3 Adding Hot Spare Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

8.4 Changing Adjustable Task Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

8.5 Changing Power Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

8.5.1 Enhanced Dimmer Switch Power Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

8.5.2 Power Save Settings - Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

8.5.3 Automatically Spin Up Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

8.5.4 Power-Save Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

8.5.5 Power Save Mode - SSD Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

8.6 Changing Virtual Drive Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	361
8.7 Changing a Virtual Drive Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	363
8.7.1 Accessing the Modify Drive Group Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	363
8.7.2 Adding a Drive or Drives to a Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	365
8.7.3 Removing a Drive from a Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	367
8.7.4 Replacing a Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	367
8.7.5 Migrating the RAID Level of a Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	368
8.7.6 New Drives Attached to a MegaRAID Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	370
8.8 Deleting a Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	371
Chapter 9: Monitoring Controllers and Its Attached Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	373

9.1 Alert Delivery Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

9.1.1 Vivaldi Log / MegaRAID Storage Manager Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

9.1.2 System Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

9.1.3 Pop-up Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

9.1.4 E-mail Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

9.2 Configuring Alert Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

9.3 Editing Alert Delivery Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

9.4 Changing Alert Delivery Methods for Individual Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

9.5 Changing the Severity Level for Individual Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

9.6 Rollback to Default Individual Event Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

9.7 Entering or Editing the Sender Email Address and SMTP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

9.8 Authenticating the SMTP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

9.9 Adding Email Addresses of Recipients of Alert Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

9.10 Testing Email Addresses of Recipients of Alert Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

9.11 Removing Email Addresses of Recipients of Alert Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

9.12 Saving Backup Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

384

9.13 Loading Backup Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

9.14 Monitoring Server Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

9.15 Monitoring Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

9.16 Monitoring Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

9.17 Running a Patrol Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

9.18 Monitoring Virtual Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

9.19 Monitoring Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

9.19.1 Monitoring Battery Backup Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

9.20 Battery Learn Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

9.20.1 Setting Learn Cycle Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

9.20.2 Starting a Learn Cycle Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

9.21 Monitoring Rebuilds and Other Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

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Chapter 10: Maintaining and Managing Storage Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	397
10.1 Initializing a Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	397
10.1.1 Running a Group Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	398

10.2 Running a Consistency Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 10.2.1 Setting the Consistency Check Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 10.2.2 Scheduling a Consistency Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 10.2.3 Running a Group Consistency Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

10.3 Scanning for New Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

10.4 Rebuilding a Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 10.4.1 New Drives Attached to a MegaRAID Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

10.5 Making a Drive Offline or Missing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

405

10.6 Removing a Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

10.7 Upgrading the Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Chapter 11: Using MegaRAID Advanced Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

11.1 MegaRAID Advanced Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

11.2 Recovery Advanced Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	407
11.2.1 MegaRAID Software Licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	407
11.2.2 Managing MegaRAID Advanced Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	408
11.2.3 Activation Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	410
11.2.4 Advanced MegaRAID Software Status Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	411
11.2.5 Application Scenarios and Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	412
11.2.6 Activating an Unlimited Key Over a Trial Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	413
11.2.7 Configuring Key Vault (Re-hosting process) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	416
11.2.8 Re-hosting Complete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	418
11.2.9 Deactivate Trial Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	419
11.2.10 MegaRAID Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	420
11.2.11 Recovery Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	420
11.2.12 Enabling the Recovery Advanced Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	421
11.2.13 Snapshot Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	422
11.2.14 Selecting the Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	424
11.2.15 Scheduling Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	425
11.2.16 Editing Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	427
11.2.17 Snapshot Base Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	429
11.2.18 Manage Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	430
11.2.19 Editing Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	431
11.2.20 Advanced Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	432
11.2.21 Create View Using Manage Snapshots Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	433
11.2.22 Viewing Snapshot Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	434
11.2.23 No View Details for Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	435
11.2.24 No Snapshot Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	436
11.2.25 Graphical Representation of Repository Virtual Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	437
11.2.26 Deleting a Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	437
11.3 Disabling MegaRAID Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	438

11.4 CacheCade Advanced Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 11.4.1 Using the CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching Advanced Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 11.4.2 Using the CacheCade Pro 2.0 SSD Read/Write Caching Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

11.5 FastPath Advanced Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

11.5.1 Setting FastPath Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

11.6 LSI SafeStore Encryption Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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11.6.1 Enabling Drive Security using EKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	452
11.6.2 Supporting EKM Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	453
11.6.3 Change Security SettingsLKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	455
11.6.4 Change Security Settings - EKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	457
11.6.5 Importing Foreign Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	458
11.6.6 Importing Foreign Drives to LKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	459
11.6.7 Importing Foreign Drives to EKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	459
11.6.8 Importing Foreign Drives to EKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	460
11.6.9 Enabling Drive Security using LKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	461
11.6.10 Changing the Drive Security Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	465
11.6.11 Disabling Drive Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	466
11.6.12 Importing or Clearing a Foreign Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	468

11.7 Managing Link Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

Appendix A: Events and Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

A.1 Error Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

A.2 Event Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

473

Appendix B: MegaCLI Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

B.1 Error Messages and Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Appendix C: Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Appendix D: History of Technical Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

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Chapter 1: Overview | SAS Technology

Chapter 1

Overview

This chapter provides an overview of this guide, which documents the utilities used to configure, monitor, and maintain MegaRAID® Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) RAID controllers with RAID control capabilities and the storage-related devices connected to them.

			This guide describes how to use the MegaRAID Storage Manager™ software, the
			WebBIOS™ configuration utility, and the MegaRAID command line interface (CLI).
			This chapter documents the SAS technology, Serial ATA (SATA) technology, MegaRAID
			CacheCade™ 2.0 SSD Read Caching software, SSD Guard™, Dimmer Switch™, UEFI 2.0,
			configuration scenarios, and drive types. Other features such as FastPath and SafeStore
			are described in other chapters of this guide.
			NOTE: This guide does not include the latest CacheCade and Enterprise Key
			Management System (EKMS) features.
1.1	SAS Technology
			The MegaRAID 6Gb/s SAS RAID controllers are high-performance intelligent PCI
			Express-to-SAS/Serial ATA II controllers with RAID control capabilities. MegaRAID 6Gb/s
			SAS RAID controllers provide reliability, high performance, and fault-tolerant disk
			subsystem management. They are an ideal RAID solution for the internal storage of
			workgroup, departmental, and enterprise systems. MegaRAID 6Gb/s SAS RAID
			controllers offer a cost-effective way to implement RAID in a server.

SAS technology brings a wealth of options and flexibility with the use of SAS devices, Serial ATA (SATA) II devices, and CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software devices within the same storage infrastructure. These devices bring individual characteristics that make each of these more suitable choice depending on your storage needs. MegaRAID gives you the flexibility to combine these two similar technologies on the same controller, within the same enclosure, and in the same virtual drive.

NOTE: LSI® recommends that you carefully assess any decision to combine SAS drives and SATA drives within the same virtual drives. Although you can mix drives, LSI strongly discourages this practice; this applies to both HDDs and CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software.

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Chapter 1: Overview | Serial-Attached SCSI Device Interface

MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide

1.2 Serial-Attached SCSI

Device Interface

MegaRAID 6Gb/s SAS RAID controllers are based on the LSI first-to-market SAS IC technology and proven MegaRAID technology. As second-generation PCI Express RAID controllers, the MegaRAID SAS RAID controllers address the growing demand for increased data throughput and scalability requirements across midrange and enterprise-class server platforms. LSI offers a family of MegaRAID SAS RAID controllers addressing the needs for both internal and external solutions.

The SAS controllers support the ANSI Serial Attached SCSI standard, version 2.1. In addition, the controller supports the SATA II protocol defined by the Serial ATA specification, version 3.0. Supporting both the SAS and SATA II interfaces, the SAS controller is a versatile controller that provides the backbone of both server environments and high-end workstation environments.

Each port on the SAS RAID controller supports SAS devices or SATA III devices using the following protocols:

SAS Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP), which enables communication with other SAS devices

SATA III, which enables communication with other SATA III devices

Serial Management Protocol (SMP), which communicates topology management information directly with an attached SAS expander device

Serial Tunneling Protocol (STP), which enables communication with a SATA III device through an attached expander

SAS is a serial, point-to-point, enterprise-level device interface that leverages the proven SCSI protocol set. SAS is a convergence of the advantages of SATA II, SCSI, and Fibre Channel, and is the future mainstay of the enterprise and high-end workstation storage markets. SAS offers a higher bandwidth per pin than parallel SCSI, and it improves the signal and data integrity.

The SAS interface uses the proven SCSI command set to ensure reliable data transfers, while providing the connectivity and flexibility of point-to-point serial data transfers. The serial transmission of SCSI commands eliminates clock-skew challenges. The SAS interface provides improved performance, simplified cabling, smaller connectors, lower pin count, and lower power requirements when compared to parallel SCSI.

SAS controllers leverage a common electrical and physical connection interface that is compatible with Serial ATA technology. The SAS and SATA II protocols use a thin, 7-wire connector instead of the 68-wire SCSI cable or 26-wire ATA cable. The SAS/SATA II connector and cable are easier to manipulate, allow connections to smaller devices, and do not inhibit airflow. The point-to-point SATA II architecture eliminates inherent difficulties created by the legacy ATA master-slave architecture, while maintaining compatibility with existing ATA firmware.

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Chapter 1: Overview | Serial ATA III Features

1.3	Serial ATA III Features	The SATA bus is a high-speed, internal bus that provides a low pin count (LPC), low
		voltage level bus for device connections between a host controller and a SATA device.

The following list describes the SATA III features of the RAID controllers:

Supports SATA III data transfers of 6Gb/s

Supports STP data transfers of 6Gb/s

Provides a serial, point-to-point storage interface

Simplifies cabling between devices

Eliminates the master-slave construction used in parallel ATA

Allows addressing of multiple SATA II targets through an expander

Allows multiple initiators to address a single target (in a fail-over configuration) through an expander

1.4Solid State Drive Features The MegaRAID firmware supports the use of SSDs as standard drives and/or additional

controller cache, referred to as CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software. SSD drives are expected to behave like SATA or SAS HDDs except for the following:

High random read speed (because there is no read-write head to move)

High performance-to-power ratio, as these drives have very low power consumption compared to HDDs

Low latency

High mechanical reliability

Lower weight and size

NOTE: Support for SATA SSD drives applies only to those drives that support ATA-8 ACS compliance.

You can choose whether to allow a virtual drive to consist of both CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software devices and HDDs. For a virtual drive that consists of CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software only, you can choose whether to allow SAS CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software drives and SATA CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software drives in that virtual drive. For virtual drives that have both CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software and HDDs, you can choose whether to mix SAS and SATA HDD drives with SAS and SATA CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software devices in various combinations.l

NOTE: Support for SATA SDD drives applies only to those drives that support ATA-8 ACS compliance.

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Chapter 1: Overview | Dimmer Switch Features

MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide

1.4.1	SSD Guard	SSD Guard, a feature that is unique to MegaRAID, increases the reliability of SSDs by
		automatically copying data from a drive with potential to fail to a designated hot spare
		or newly inserted drive. Because SSDs are more reliable than hard disk drives (HDDs),

non-redundant RAID 0 configurations are much more common than in the past. SSD Guard offers added data protection for RAID 0 configurations.

SSD Guard works by looking for a predictive failure while monitoring the SDD Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) error log. If errors indicate that a SSD failure is imminent, the MegaRAID software starts a rebuild to preserve the data on the SSD and sends appropriate warning event notifications.

1.5Dimmer Switch Features Powering drives and cooling drives represent a major cost for data centers. The

		MegaRAID Dimmer Switch feature set reduces the power consumption of the devices
		connected to a MegaRAID controller. This helps to share resources more efficiently and
		lowers the cost.
		Dimmer Switch I - Spin down unconfigured disks. This feature is configurable and can
		be disabled.
		Dimmer Switch II - Spin down Hot Spares. This feature is configurable and can be
		disabled.
		Dimmer Switch III - This new feature spins down any Logical Disk after 30 minutes of
		inactivity, by default, if the array can be spun up within 60 seconds. This feature is
		configurable and can be disabled.
1.6	UEFI 2.0 Support	UEFI 2.0 provides MegaRAID customers with expanded platform support. The
		MegaRAID UEFI 2.0 driver, a boot service device driver, handles block IO requests and
		SCSI pass-through (SPT) commands, and offers the ability to launch pre-boot

MegaRAID management applications through a driver configuration protocol (DCP). The UEFI driver also supports driver diagnostic protocol, which allows administrators to access pre-boot diagnostics.

1.7Configuration Scenarios You can use the SAS RAID controllers in three scenarios:

Low-end, Internal SATA II Configurations

In these configurations, use the RAID controller as a high-end SATA II-compatible controller that connects up to 8 disks either directly or through a port expander. These configurations are mostly for low-end or entry servers. Enclosure management is provided through out-of-band Inter-IC (I2C) bus. Side bands of both types of internal SAS connectors support the SFF-8485 (SGPIO) interface.

Midrange Internal SAS Configurations

These configurations are like the internal SATA II configurations, but with high-end disks. These configurations are more suitable for low-range to midrange servers.

High-end External SAS/SATA II Configurations

These configurations are for both internal connectivity and external connectivity, using SATA II drives, SAS drives, or both. External enclosure management is supported through in-band, SCSI-enclosed storage. The configuration must support STP and SMP.

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Chapter 1: Overview | Configuration Scenarios

Figure 1 shows a direct-connect configuration. The Inter-IC (I2C) interface communicates with peripherals. The external memory bus provides a 32-bit memory bus, parity checking, and chip select signals for pipelined synchronous burst static random access memory (PSBRAM), nonvolatile static random access memory (NVSRAM), and Flash ROM.

NOTE: The external memory bus is 32-bit for the SAS 8704ELP and the SAS 8708ELP, and 64-bit for the SAS 8708EM2, the SAS 8880EM2, and the SAS 8888ELP.

SAS/SATA II Device					32-Bit Memory
						Address/Data
				SAS				Flash ROM/
SAS/SATA II Device						Bus
				PCI Express				PSBRAM/
				RAID Controller		I2C		NVSRAM
SAS/SATA II Device
						Interface
								I2C
SAS/SATA II Device

PCI Express Interface

Figure 1: Example of an LSI SAS Direct-Connect Application

Figure 2 shows an example of a SAS RAID controller configured with an LSISASx12 expander that is connected to SAS disks, SATA II disks, or both.

PCI Express Interface
		8		Peripheral
SAS RAID Controller				Bus				Flash ROM/
								NVSRAM/
LSISAS1078			72-bit DDR/DDR2					I2C/UART
PCI Express to SAS ROC				with ECC
				Interface				SRAM
								SDRAMSRAM

LSISASx12

SAS/SATA

Drives

LSISASx12

Expander

Expander

SAS/SATA II

SAS/SATA II

SAS/SATA II

SAS/SATA II

Drives

Drives

Drives

Drives

Figure 2: Example of an LSI SAS RAID Controller Configured with an LSISASx12

Expander

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Chapter 1: Overview | Configuration Scenarios

MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide

1.7.1Valid Drive Mix Configurations You can allow a virtual drive to consist of both SSDs and HDDs. For virtual drives that

with HDDs and SSDs		have both SSDs and HDDs, you can choose whether to mix SAS drives and SATA drives
		on the CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software devices.
		You can choose whether to allow a virtual drive to consist of both CacheCade 2.0 SSD
		Read Caching software devices and HDDs. For a virtual drive that consists of CacheCade
		2.0 SSD Read Caching software only, you can choose whether to allow SAS CacheCade
		2.0 SSD Read Caching software drives and SATA CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching
		software drives in that virtual drive. For virtual drives that have both CacheCade 2.0 SSD
		Read Caching software and HDDs, you can choose whether to mix SAS and SATA HDD
		drives with SAS and SATA CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software devices in various
		combinations.
		Table 1 lists the valid drive mix configurations you can use when you create virtual
		drives and allow HDD and CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software mixing. The valid
		drive mix configurations are based on manufacturer settings.
		Table 1: Valid Drive Mix Configurations
		#	Valid Drive Mix Configurations
		1.	SAS HDD with SAS SDD (SAS-only configuration)
		2.	SATA HDD with SATA CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software (SATA-only configuration)
		3.	SAS HDD with a mix of SAS and SATA CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software (a SATA
			HDD cannot be added)
		4.	SATA HDD with a mix of SAS and SATA CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software (a SAS
			HDD cannot be added)
		5.	SAS CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software with a mix of SAS and SATA HDD (a SATA
			CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software cannot be added)
		6.	SATA CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software with a mix of SAS and SATA HDD (a SAS
			CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software cannot be added)
		7.	A mix of SAS and SATA HDD with a mix of SAS and SATA CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching
			software
		8.	A CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software cannot be added to a HDD, but a SAS/SATA
			mix is allowed.
		NOTE: Only one of the valid configurations listed in Table 1 is allowed based on your
		controller card manufacturing settings.
		NOTE: The valid drive mix also applies to hot spares. For hot spare information, see
		Section 2.4.12, Hot Spares, on page 28.

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Chapter 1: Overview | Technical Support

1.8	Technical Support	For assistance with installing, configuring, or running your MegaRAID 6Gb/s SAS RAID
		controllers, contact an LSI Technical Support representative.

Click the following link to access the LSI Technical Support page for storage and board support:

http://www.lsi.com/support/storage/tech_support/index.html

From this page, you can send an e-mail or call a Technical Support representative, or submit a new service request and view its status.

E-mail:

http://www.lsi.com/support/support_form.html

Phone Support: http://www.lsi.com/support/storage/phone_tech_support/index.html 1-800-633-4545 (North America)

00-800-5745-6442 (International)

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Chapter 1: Overview | Technical Support

MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide

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Chapter 2: Introduction to RAID | RAID Description

Chapter 2

Introduction to RAID

This chapter describes Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), RAID functions and benefits, RAID components, RAID levels, and configuration strategies. In addition, it defines the RAID availability concept, and offers tips for configuration planning.

2.1RAID Description

2.2RAID Benefits

2.3RAID Functions

RAID is an array, or group, of multiple independent physical drives that provide high performance and fault tolerance. A RAID drive group improves I/O (input/output) performance and reliability. The RAID drive group appears to the host computer as a single storage unit or as multiple virtual units. I/O is expedited because several drives can be accessed simultaneously.

RAID drive groups improve data storage reliability and fault tolerance compared to single-drive storage systems. Data loss resulting from a drive failure can be prevented by reconstructing missing data from the remaining drives. RAID has gained popularity because it improves I/O performance and increases storage subsystem reliability.

Virtual drives are drive groups or spanned drive groups that are available to the operating system. The storage space in a virtual drive is spread across all of the drives in the drive group.

Your drives must be organized into virtual drives in a drive group, and they must be able to support the RAID level that you select. Some common RAID functions follow:

Creating hot spare drives

Configuring drive groups and virtual drives

Initializing one or more virtual drives

Accessing controllers, virtual drives, and drives individually

Rebuilding failed drives

Verifying that the redundancy data in virtual drives using RAID level 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, or 60 is correct

Reconstructing virtual drives after changing RAID levels or adding a drive to a drive group

Selecting a host controller on which to work

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Chapter 2: Introduction to RAID | Components and Features

2.4 Components and

Features

MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide

RAID levels describe a system for ensuring the availability and redundancy of data stored on large disk subsystems. See Section 2.5, RAID Levels for detailed information about RAID levels. The following subsections describes the components of RAID drive groups and RAID levels.

2.4.1Drive Group

2.4.2Virtual Drive

2.4.3Fault Tolerance

A drive group is a group of physical drives. These drives are managed in partitions known as virtual drives.

A virtual drive is a partition in a drive group that is made up of contiguous data segments on the drives. A virtual drive can consist of an entire drive group, more than one entire drive group, a part of a drive group, parts of more than one drive group, or a combination of any two of these conditions.

Fault tolerance is the capability of the subsystem to undergo a drive failure or failures without compromising data integrity, and processing capability. The RAID controller provides this support through redundant drive groups in RAID levels 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60. The system can still work properly even with drive failure in a drive group, though performance can be degraded to some extent.

In a span of RAID 1 drive groups, each RAID 1 drive group has two drives and can tolerate one drive failure. The span of RAID 1 drive groups can contain up to 32 drives, and tolerate up to 16 drive failures - one in each drive group. A RAID 5 drive group can tolerate one drive failure in each RAID 5 drive group. A RAID 6 drive group can tolerate up to two drive failures.

Each spanned RAID 10 virtual drive can tolerate multiple drive failures, as long as each failure is in a separate drive group. A RAID 50 virtual drive can tolerate two drive failures, as long as each failure is in a separate drive group. RAID 60 drive groups can tolerate up to two drive failures in each drive group.

NOTE: RAID level 0 is not fault tolerant. If a drive in a RAID 0 drive group fails, the entire virtual drive (all drives associated with the virtual drive) fails.

Fault tolerance is often associated with system availability because it allows the system to be available during the failures. However, fault tolerance means that it is also important for the system to be available during the repair of the problem.

A hot spare is an unused drive that, in case of a disk failure in a redundant RAID drive group, can be used to rebuild the data and re-establish redundancy. After the hot spare is automatically moved into the RAID drive group, the data is automatically rebuilt on the hot spare drive. The RAID drive group continues to handle requests while the rebuild occurs.

Auto-rebuild allows a failed drive to be replaced and the data automatically rebuilt by “hot-swapping” the drive in the same drive bay. The RAID drive group continues to handle requests while the rebuild occurs.

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Chapter 2: Introduction to RAID | Components and Features

	2.4.3.1 Multipathing		The firmware provides support for detecting and using multiple paths from the RAID
			controllers to the SAS devices that are in enclosures. Devices connected to enclosures
			have multiple paths to them. With redundant paths to the same port of a device, if one
			path fails, another path can be used to communicate between the controller and the
			device. Using multiple paths with load balancing, instead of a single path, can increase
			reliability through redundancy.
			Applications show the enclosures and the drives connected to the enclosures. The
			firmware dynamically recognizes new enclosures added to a configuration along with
			their contents (new drives). In addition, the firmware dynamically adds the enclosure
			and its contents to the management entity currently in use.
			Multipathing provides the following features:
			 Support for failover, in the event of path failure
			 Auto-discovery of new or restored paths while the system is online, and reversion to
			system load-balancing policy
			 Measurable bandwidth improvement to the multi-path device
			 Support for changing the load-balancing path while the system is online
			The firmware determines whether enclosure modules (ESMs) are part of the same
			enclosure. When a new enclosure module is added (allowing multi-path) or removed
			(going single path), an Asynchronous Event Notification (AEN) is generated. AENs
			about drives contain correct information about the enclosure, when the drives are
			connected by multiple paths. The enclosure module detects partner ESMs and issues
			events appropriately.
			In a system with two ESMs, you can replace one of the ESMs without affecting the
			virtual drive availability. For example, the controller can run heavy I/Os, and when you
			replace one of the ESMs, I/Os should not stop. The controller uses different paths to
			balance the load on the entire system.
			In the MegaRAID Storage Manager utility, when multiple paths are available to a drive,
			the drive information shows only one enclosure. The utility shows that a redundant
			path is available to a drive. All drives with a redundant path display this information.
			The firmware supports online replacement of enclosure modules.
2.4.4	Consistency Check		The consistency check operation verifies correctness of the data in virtual drives that
			use RAID levels 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60. (RAID 0 does not provide data redundancy.) For
			example, in a system with parity, checking consistency means computing the data on
			one drive and comparing the results to the contents of the parity drive.
			NOTE: It is recommended that you perform a consistency check at least once a month.
2.4.5	Copyback		The copyback feature allows you to copy data from a source drive of a virtual drive to a
			destination drive that is not a part of the virtual drive. Copyback is often used to create

or restore a specific physical configuration for a drive group (for example, a specific arrangement of drive group members on the device I/O buses). Copyback can be run automatically or manually.

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Typically, when a drive fails or is expected to fail, the data is rebuilt on a hot spare. The failed drive is replaced with a new disk. Then the data is copied from the hot spare to the new drive, and the hot spare reverts from a rebuild drive to its original hot spare status. The copyback operation runs as a background activity, and the virtual drive is still available online to the host.

Copyback is also initiated when the first Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) error occurs on a drive that is part of a virtual drive. The destination drive is a hot spare that qualifies as a rebuild drive. The drive with the SMART error is marked as “failed” only after the successful completion of the copyback. This situation avoids putting the drive group in Degraded status.

NOTE: During a copyback operation, if the drive group involved in the copyback is deleted because of a virtual drive deletion, the destination drive reverts to an Unconfigured Good state or hot spare state.

		Order of Precedence.
		In the following scenarios, rebuild takes precedence over the copyback operation:
		 If a copyback operation is already taking place to a hot spare drive, and any virtual
		drive on the controller degrades, the copyback operation aborts, and a rebuild
		starts. The rebuild changes the virtual drive to the Optimal state.
		 The rebuild operation takes precedence over the copyback operation when the
		conditions exist to start both operations. For example:
		— The hot spare is not configured (or unavailable) in the system.
		— Two drives (both members of virtual drives) exist, with one drive exceeding the
		SMART error threshold, and the other failed.
		— If you add a hot spare (assume a global hot spare) during a copyback operation,
		the copyback is aborted, and the rebuild operation starts on the hot spare.
2.4.6	Background Initialization	Background initialization is a check for media errors on the drives when you create a
		virtual drive. It is an automatic operation that starts five minutes after you create the
		virtual drive. This check ensures that striped data segments are the same on all of the
		drives in the drive group.

Background initialization is similar to a consistency check. The difference between the two is that a background initialization is forced on new virtual drives and a consistency check is not.

New RAID 5 virtual drives and new RAID 6 virtual drives require a minimum number of drives for a background initialization to start. If there are fewer drives, the background initialization does not start. The background initialization needs to be started manually. The following number of drives are required:

— New RAID 5 virtual drives must have at least five drives for background initialization to start.

— New RAID 6 virtual drives must have at least seven drives for background initialization to start.

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Chapter 2: Introduction to RAID | Components and Features

		The default and recommended background initialization rate is 30 percent. Before you
		change the rebuild rate, you must stop the background initialization or the rate change
		will not affect the background initialization rate. After you stop background
		initialization and change the rebuild rate, the rate change takes effect when you restart
		background initialization.
2.4.7	Patrol Read	Patrol read involves the review of your system for possible drive errors that could lead
		to drive failure and then action to correct errors. The goal is to protect data integrity by
		detecting drive failure before the failure can damage data. The corrective actions
		depend on the drive group configuration and the type of errors.
		Patrol read starts only when the controller is idle for a defined period of time and no
		other background tasks are active, though it can continue to run during heavy I/O
		processes.
		You can use the MegaRAID Command Tool or the MegaRAID Storage Manager software
		to select the patrol read options, which you can use to set automatic or manual
		operation, or disable patrol read. See Section 5.8, Controller Property-Related Options
		and Section 9.17, Running a Patrol Read.
2.4.8	Disk Striping	Disk striping allows you to write data across multiple drives instead of just one drive.
		Disk striping involves partitioning each drive storage space into stripes that can vary in

size from 8 KB to 1024 KB. These stripes are interleaved in a repeated sequential manner. The combined storage space is composed of stripes from each drive. It is recommended that you keep stripe sizes the same across RAID drive groups.

For example, in a four-disk system using only disk striping (used in RAID level 0), segment 1 is written to disk 1, segment 2 is written to disk 2, and so on. Disk striping enhances performance because multiple drives are accessed simultaneously, but disk striping does not provide data redundancy.

Segment 1	Segment 2	Segment 3	Segment 4
Segment 5	Segment 6	Segment 7	Segment 8
Segment 9	Segment 10	Segment 11	Segment 12

		Figure 3:	Example of Disk Striping (RAID 0)
2.4.8.1	Stripe Width	Stripe width is the number of drives involved in a drive group where striping is
		implemented. For example, a four-disk drive group with disk striping has a stripe width
		of four.
2.4.8.2	Stripe Size	The stripe size is the length of the interleaved data segments that the RAID controller
		writes across multiple drives, not including parity drives. For example, consider a stripe
		that contains 64 KB of disk space and has 16 KB of data residing on each disk in the
		stripe. In this case, the stripe size is 64 KB, and the strip size is 16 KB.
2.4.8.3	Strip Size	The strip size is the portion of a stripe that resides on a single drive.

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2.4.9	Disk Mirroring	With mirroring (used in RAID 1 and RAID 10), data written to one drive is simultaneously
		written to another drive. The primary advantage of disk mirroring is that it provides 100
		percent data redundancy. Because the contents of the disk are completely written to a

second disk, data is not lost if one disk fails. In addition, both drives contain the same data at all times, so either disk can act as the operational disk. If one disk fails, the contents of the other disk can be used to run the system and reconstruct the failed disk.

Disk mirroring provides 100 percent redundancy, but it is expensive because each drive in the system must be duplicated. Figure 4 shows an example of disk mirroring.

Segment 1	Segment 1 Duplicated
Segment 2	Segment 2	Duplicated
Segment 3	Segment 3	Duplicated
Segment 4	Segment 4 Duplicated

		Figure 4:	Example of Disk Mirroring (RAID 1)
2.4.10 Parity		Parity generates a set of redundancy data from two or more parent data sets. The
		redundancy data can be used to reconstruct one of the parent data sets in the event of
		a drive failure. Parity data does not fully duplicate the parent data sets, but parity
		generation can slow the write process. In RAID, this method is applied to entire drives
		or stripes across all of the drives in a drive group. The types of parity are described in
		Table 2.
		Table 2:	Types of Parity
		Parity Type		Description
		Dedicated		The parity data on two or more drives is stored on an additional disk.
		Distributed		The parity data is distributed across more than one drive in the system.

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RAID 5 combines distributed parity with disk striping. If a single drive fails, it can be rebuilt from the parity and the data on the remaining drives. An example of a RAID 5 drive group is shown in Figure 5. RAID 5 uses parity to provide redundancy for one drive failure without duplicating the contents of entire drives. RAID 6 uses distributed parity and disk striping, also, but adds a second set of parity data so that it can survive up to two drive failures.

Segment 1	Segment 2	Segment 3
Segment 7	Segment 8	Segment 9
Segment 13	Segment 14	Segment 15
Segment 19	Segment 20	Parity (16-20)
Segment 25	Parity (21-25)	Segment 21
Parity (26–30)	Segment 26	Segment 27

Note: Parity is distributed across all drives in the drive group.

Segment 4	Segment 5	Parity (1-5)
Segment 10	Parity (6-10)	Segment 6
Parity (11–15)	Segment 11	Segment 12
Segment 16	Segment 17	Segment 18
Segment 22	Segment 23	Segment 24
Segment 28	Segment 29	Segment 30

Figure 5: Example of Distributed Parity (RAID 5)

2.4.11 Disk Spanning		Disk spanning allows multiple drives to function like one big drive. Spanning
		overcomes lack of disk space and simplifies storage management by combining
		existing resources or adding relatively inexpensive resources. For example, four 20-GB
		drives can be combined to appear to the operating system as a single 80-GB drive.
		Spanning alone does not provide reliability or performance enhancements. Spanned
		virtual drives must have the same stripe size and must be contiguous. In Figure 6, RAID
		1 drive groups are turned into a RAID 10 drive group.
		NOTE: Make sure that the spans are in different backplanes, so that if one span fails, you
		do not lose the whole drive group.

60 GB

60 GB

60 GB

60 GB

Can Be Accessed as

Can Be Accessed as

One 120-GB Drive

One 120-GB Drive

Figure 6: Example of Disk Spanning

Spanning two contiguous RAID 0 virtual drives does not produce a new RAID level or add fault tolerance. It does increase the capacity of the virtual drive and improves performance by doubling the number of spindles.

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2.4.11.1 Spanning for RAID 00, RAID 10, RAID 50, and RAID 60

2.4.12Hot Spares

Table 3 describes how to configure RAID 00, RAID 10, RAID 50, and RAID 60 by spanning. The virtual drives must have the same stripe size and the maximum number of spans is 8. The full drive capacity is used when you span virtual drives; you cannot specify a smaller drive capacity.

See Chapter 8, Configuration for detailed procedures for configuring drive groups and virtual drives, and spanning the drives.

Table 3: Spanning for RAID 10, RAID 50, and RAID 60

Level	Description
00	Configure RAID 00 by spanning two contiguous RAID 0 virtual drives, up to
	the maximum number of supported devices for the controller.
10	Configure RAID 10 by spanning two contiguous RAID 1 virtual drives, up to
	the maximum number of supported devices for the controller. RAID 10
	supports a maximum of 8 spans. You must use an even number of drives in
	each RAID virtual drive in the span. The RAID 1 virtual drives must have the
	same stripe size.
50	Configure RAID 50 by spanning two contiguous RAID 5 virtual drives. The
	RAID 5 virtual drives must have the same stripe size.
60	Configure RAID 60 by spanning two contiguous RAID 6 virtual drives. The
	RAID 6 virtual drives must have the same stripe size.

NOTE: In a spanned virtual drive (R10, R50, R60) the span numbering starts from Span 0, Span 1, Span 2, and so on.

A hot spare is an extra, unused drive that is part of the disk subsystem. It is usually in Standby mode, ready for service if a drive fails. Hot spares permit you to replace failed drives without system shutdown or user intervention. MegaRAID SAS RAID controllers can implement automatic and transparent rebuilds of failed drives using hot spare drives, providing a high degree of fault tolerance and zero downtime.

The RAID management software allows you to specify drives as hot spares. When a hot spare is needed, the RAID controller assigns the hot spare that has a capacity closest to and at least as great as that of the failed drive to take the place of the failed drive. The failed drive is removed from the virtual drive and marked ready awaiting removal after the rebuild to a hot spare begins. You can make hot spares of the drives that are not in a RAID virtual drive.

You can use the RAID management software to designate the hot spare to have enclosure affinity, meaning that if drive failures are present on a split backplane configuration, the hot spare will be used first on the backplane side in which it resides.

If the hot spare is designated as having enclosure affinity, it attempts to rebuild any failed drives on the backplane in which it resides before rebuilding any other drives on other backplanes.

NOTE: If a rebuild to a hot spare fails for any reason, the hot spare drive is marked as failed. If the source drive fails, both the source drive and the hot spare drive are marked as failed.

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		The hot spare can be of two types:
			Global hot spare
			Dedicated hot spare
2.4.12.1	Global Hot Spare	Use a global hot spare drive to replace any failed drive in a redundant drive group as
		long as its capacity is equal to or larger than the coerced capacity of the failed drive. A
		global hot spare defined on any channel should be available to replace a failed drive on
		both channels.
2.4.12.2	Dedicated Hot Spare	Use a dedicated hot spare to replace a failed drive only in a selected drive group. One or
		more drives can be designated as a member of a spare drive pool. The most suitable
		drive from the pool is selected for failover. A dedicated hot spare is used before one
		from the global hot spare pool.
		Hot spare drives can be located on any RAID channel. Standby hot spares (not being
		used in RAID drive group) are polled every 60 seconds at a minimum, and their status
		made available in the drive group management software. RAID controllers offer the
		ability to rebuild with a disk that is in a system but not initially set to be a hot spare.
		Observe the following parameters when using hot spares:
		 Hot spares are used only in drive groups with redundancy: RAID levels 1, 5, 6, 10, 50,
			and 60.
		 A hot spare connected to a specific RAID controller can be used to rebuild a drive
			that is connected only to the same controller.
		 You must assign the hot spare to one or more drives through the controller BIOS or
			use drive group management software to place it in the hot spare pool.
		 A hot spare must have free space equal to or greater than the drive it replaces. For
			example, to replace an 500-GB drive, the hot spare must be 500-GB or larger.
2.4.13 Disk Rebuilds		When a drive in a RAID drive group fails, you can rebuild the drive by re-creating the
		data that was stored on the drive before it failed. The RAID controller re-creates the

data using the data stored on the other drives in the drive group. Rebuilding can be done only in drive groups with data redundancy, which includes RAID 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60 drive groups.

The RAID controller uses hot spares to rebuild failed drives automatically and transparently, at user-defined rebuild rates. If a hot spare is available, the rebuild can start automatically when a drive fails. If a hot spare is not available, the failed drive must be replaced with a new drive so that the data on the failed drive can be rebuilt.

The failed drive is removed from the virtual drive and marked ready awaiting removal when the rebuild to a hot spare begins. If the system goes down during a rebuild, the RAID controller automatically resumes the rebuild after the system reboots.

NOTE: When the rebuild to a hot spare begins, the failed drive is often removed from the virtual drive before management applications detect the failed drive. When this occurs, the events logs show the drive rebuilding to the hot spare without showing the failed drive. The formerly failed drive will be marked as “ready” after a rebuild begins to a hot spare.

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2.4.14Rebuild Rate

2.4.15Hot Swap

2.4.16Drive States

NOTE: If a source drive fails during a rebuild to a hot spare, the rebuild fails, and the failed source drive is marked as offline. In addition, the rebuilding hot spare drive is changed back to a hot spare. After a rebuild fails because of a source drive failure, the dedicated hot spare is still dedicated and assigned to the correct drive group, and the global hot spare is still global.

An automatic drive rebuild will not start if you replace a drive during a RAID-level migration. The rebuild must be started manually after the expansion or migration procedure is complete. (RAID-level migration changes a virtual drive from one RAID level to another.)

The rebuild rate is the percentage of the compute cycles dedicated to rebuilding failed drives. A rebuild rate of 100 percent means that the system gives priority to rebuilding the failed drives.

The rebuild rate can be configured between 0 percent and 100 percent. At 0 percent, the rebuild is done only if the system is not doing anything else. At 100 percent, the rebuild has a higher priority than any other system activity. Using 0 percent or 100 percent is not recommended. The default rebuild rate is 30 percent.

A hot swap is the manual replacement of a defective drive unit while the computer is still running. When a new drive has been installed, a rebuild occurs automatically if these situation occurs:

The newly inserted drive is the same capacity as or larger than the failed drive.

The newly inserted drive is placed in the same drive bay as the failed drive it is replacing.

The RAID controller can be configured to detect the new drives and rebuild the contents of the drive automatically.

A drive state is a property indicating the status of the drive. The drive states are described in Table 4.

Table 4: Drive States

State	Description
Online	A drive that can be accessed by the RAID controller and is part of the virtual
	drive.
Unconfigured	A drive that is functioning normally but is not configured as a part of a
Good	virtual drive or as a hot spare.
Hot Spare	A drive that is powered up and ready for use as a spare in case an online
	drive fails.
Failed	A drive that was originally configured as Online or Hot Spare, but on which
	the firmware detects an unrecoverable error.
Rebuild	A drive to which data is being written to restore full redundancy for a virtual
	drive.

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