Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Version 7.2 User Manual

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Server Administrator Storage

Management

User’s Guide

Notes, Cautions, and Warnings

NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of

your computer.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if

instructions are not followed.

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Contents

1Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

What’s New in this Release? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Before Installing Storage Management

. . . . . . . . . 22

Version Requirements for Controller Firmware and Drivers

Supported Controllers

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Supported Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Support for Disk and Volume Management

. . . . . . . 24

2 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Launching Storage Management . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Microsoft Windows

Linux and any Remote System

User Privileges

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Using the Graphical User Interface

Storage Object

Health Subtab

Information/Configuration Subtab

Drop-down Menus and Wizards

for Running Tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

. . . . . . . . . . . 26

. . . . . . . . . . . 27

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

. . . . . . . . . 27

Using the Storage Management Command Line Interface

Displaying the Online Help

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Contents 3

Common Storage Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

3 Understanding RAID Concepts . . . . . . . 31

What Is RAID? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Hardware and Software RAID

RAID Concepts

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

RAID Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Choosing RAID Levels and Concatenation . . . . . . . 34

Concatenation

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

RAID Level 0 (Striping) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

RAID Level 1 (Mirroring)

RAID Level 5 (Striping with distributed parity)

RAID Level 6 (Striping with additional

distributed parity) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

RAID Level 50 (Striping over RAID 5 sets) . . . . . 42

RAID Level 60 (Striping over RAID 6 sets)

RAID Level 10 (Striping over mirror sets)

RAID Level 1-Concatenated

(Concatenated mirror) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

. . . . . . . . . . . 31

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

. . . 39

. . . . . 44

. . . . . . 46

4 Quick Access to Storage Status

and Tasks

4 Contents

Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

No-RAID

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Storage Dashboard and Storage Health. . . . . . . . . 53

Storage Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Hot Spare Protection Policy

Select Report

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Storage Component Severity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Storage Properties and Current Activity

Alerts or Events

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

. . . . . . . . 55

Monitoring Disk Reliability on RAID Controllers . . . . 56

Using Alarms to Detect Failures

Using Enclosure Temperature Probes

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

. . . . . . . . . . 57

Rescan to Update Storage Configuration Changes . . . 57

Time Delay in Displaying Configuration Changes

5 PCI Express Solid-State Device

Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

What is PCIe SSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

. . . 58

PCIe SSD Features

PCIe Sub System Properties

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

PCIe Extender Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Physical Device Properties

Physical Device Tasks

Blink and Unblink

Full Initialization

Prepare to Remove

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Contents 5

Export Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

PCIe SSD Sub System Health

Backplanes

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Backplane Firmware Version

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

. . . . . . . . . . . . 64

6 Storage Information and

Global Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Storage Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Global Tasks

Storage Controllers

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Global Rescan

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Enable/Disable Smart Thermal Shutdown

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Storage Components

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

. . . . . 66

7 Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

What is a Controller?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

RAID Controller Technology: SCSI, SATA, ATA, and SAS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

6 Contents

RAID Controller Features

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Controller-supported RAID Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Controller-supported Stripe Sizes

. . . . . . . . . . . . 74

RAID Controller Read, Write, Cache, and Disk Cache Policy

Read Policy

Write Policy

Cache Policy

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Disk Cache Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Background Initialization on PERC Controllers

Non-RAID Controller Description

. . . . . . . . . . . . 79

. . . . . 78

Firmware/Driver Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Firmware/Driver Properties

Controller Health

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Controller Severity

Controller Information

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

. . . . . . . . . . . . 80

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Controller Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Controller Properties and Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Controller Properties

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Controller Tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Available Reports

Set Rebuild Rate

Reset Configuration

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Export Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Foreign Configuration Operations

Foreign Configuration Properties

. . . . . . . . . . . . 97

. . . . . . . . . . 98

Importing Foreign Configurations

. . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Importing/Recovering Foreign Configurations . . . . . 102

Clear Foreign Configuration

Physical Disks in Foreign Virtual Disks

Set Background Initialization Rate

Set Check Consistency Rate

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

. . . . . . . . . 104

. . . . . . . . . . . 109

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Contents 7

Set Reconstruct Rate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Redundant Path Configuration

Clearing the Redundant Path View

Overview

Server Administrator Storage Management provides enhanced features for configuring a system's locally-attached RAID and non-RAID disk storage. Storage Management enables you to perform controller and enclosure functions for all supported RAID and non-RAID controllers and enclosures from a single graphical or command-line interface without requiring use of the controller BIOS utilities. The graphical interface is wizard-driven with features for novice and advanced users. The command-line interface is fullyfeatured and scriptable. Using Storage Management, you can protect your data by configuring data-redundancy, assigning hot spares, or rebuilding failed physical disks. You can also perform data-destructive tasks. All users of Storage Management should be familiar with their storage environment and Storage Management.

Storage Management supports SCSI, SATA, ATA, and SAS but not fibre channel.

For more information, see the following:

• Getting Started

• Understanding RAID Concepts

• Quick Access to Storage Status and Tasks

For information on Storage Management alerts, see the Server Administrator Messages Reference Guide.

What’s New in this Release?

This release of Storage Management provides the following new features:

• Added support for the following operating systems:

– Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3

–Citrix Xen 6.1

• Added support for the following browsers:

– Internet Explorer 10

– Mozilla Firefox 13 and 14

Overview 21

• Added support for mapping Enhanced Error Message Initiative (EEMI) messages.

• Added support for debranding.

• Added support for enumerating the following Tape drives in SAS 6GB HBA controller:

– LTO3-080 for IBM ULTRIUM-HH3

– LTO4-120 for IBM ULTRIUM-HH4

– LTO5-140 for IBM ULTRIUM-HH5

– LTO6-200 for IBM ULTRIUM-HH6

• Added support for Physical Disk Firmware Version Reporting

• Improvement in create Virtual Disk workflow

Before Installing Storage Management

The following sections describe considerations for installing Storage Management.

Version Requirements for Controller Firmware and Drivers

In order for Storage Management to function properly, the controllers must have the minimum required version of the firmware and drivers installed. The firmware and drivers listed in the minimum supported version for these controllers. Later versions of the firmware and drivers are also supported. For the most recent driver and firmware requirements, contact your service provider.

Server Administrator Readme refer to the

NOTE: To download the latest storport driver, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base

article KB 943545 at support.microsoft.com.

If you install Storage Management without the minimum required firmware and drivers, Storage Management may not be able to display any of the controllers or perform other functions. Storage Management generates alerts 2131 and 2132 when it detects unsupported firmware or drivers on a controller.

For information on Alert Messages, see the Server Administrator Messages

Reference Guide.

22 Overview

Supported Controllers

This release of Storage Management supports the following controllers.

The firmware and drivers listed in the minimum supported version for these controllers. Later versions of the firmware and drivers are also supported. For the most recent driver and firmware requirements, contact your service provider.

Supported RAID Controllers

Storage Management supports the following RAID controllers. For information on the technology used by the supported RAID controllers, see

RAID Controller Technology: SCSI, SATA, ATA, and SAS

• PERC 5/E

• PERC 5/i Integrated and PERC 5/i Adapter

• SAS 5/iR Integrated and SAS 5/iR Adapter

• PERC 6/E

• PERC 6/I Integrated and PERC 6/I Adapter

•PERC 6/I Modular

• SAS 6/iR controller

• PERC S100, PERC S110, and S300

• PERC H200 Adapter, PERC H200 Integrated, and PERC H200 Modular

• PERC H800 Adapter, PERC H700 Adapter, PERC H700 Integrated, and PERC H700 Modular

• PERC H310 Adapter, PERC H310 Mini Monolithic, PERC H310 Mini Blades, PERC H710 Adapter, PERC H710 Monolithic, PERC H710 Mini Monolithic, PERC H710P Adapter, PERC H710P Monolithic, PERC H710P Mini Monolithic, and PERC H810 Adapter

Server Administrator Readme refer to the

NOTE: The PERC H200, PERC H7x0, and PERC H8x0 Controllers support 3 TB NL

SAS hard drives, 3 TB NL SATA hard drives, SATA SSDs, and SAS SSDs.

Supported Non-RAID Controllers

Storage Management supports the following non-RAID controllers.

• LSI PCI-e U320

Overview 23

• SAS 5/i Integrated

• SAS 5/E

• SAS 6Gbps Adapter

Supported Enclosures

This release of Storage Management supports the following enclosures:

• 20xS and 21xS storage systems

• 220S and 221S storage systems

• MD1000 and MD1120 storage system

• MD1200 and MD1220 storage system

Support for Disk and Volume Management

Storage Management does not provide disk and volume management. To implement disk and volume management, you need to use the native disk and volume management utilities provided by your operating system.

24 Overview

Getting Started

Server Administrator Storage Management is designed for system administrators who implement hardware RAID solutions and understand corporate and small business storage environments.

Storage Management enables you to configure the storage components attached to your system. These components include RAID and non-RAID controllers and the channels, ports, enclosures, and disks attached to them. Using Storage Management, you can configure and manage controller functions without accessing the BIOS. These functions include configuring virtual disks and applying RAID levels and hot spares for data protection. You can initiate many other controller functions like rebuilds, troubleshooting, setting thresholds, and so on. Most functions can be configured and managed while the system remains online and continues to process requests.

Storage Management reports the status of storage components. When the status for a component changes, Storage Management updates the display for that component and sends an alert to the Alert Log.

In addition to status changes, Storage Management generates alerts for user actions such as creating or deleting a virtual disk and for many other events. Most alerts also generate SNMP traps.

Other than monitoring and reporting status, Storage Management does not automatically initiate actions independent of user input. (Automatic shutdown of enclosures that have exceeded a critical temperature is the only exception. For more information, see Management actions are user-initiated using wizards and drop-down menus. Storage Management does, however, report the actions taken by the controllers, which include generating alerts, initiating tasks, such as a rebuild, and making state changes.

SMART Thermal Shutdown

.) Storage

NOTE: Storage Management reports the change in state of disks and other storage

components as viewed by the controller.

Getting Started 25

Launching Storage Management

Storage Management is installed as a Server Administrator service. All Storage Management features are accessible by selecting the Storage object in the Server Administrator tree view. For more information on starting Server Administrator, see the Server Administrator User’s Guide.

Microsoft Windows

To start a Server Administrator session on a local system running Microsoft Windows operating system, click the Server Administrator icon on your desktop and log in using an account with Administrator privileges.

NOTE: Administrative privileges are required for configuration purposes.

Linux and any Remote System

To start a Server Administrator session on a Linux or any remote system, click the Server Administrator icon on your desktop and log in using an account with Administrator privileges.

Or, open a Web browser and type one of the following in the address field and press <Enter>:

https://<localhost>:1311

where <localhost> is the assigned name for the managed system and 1311 is the default port

https://<IP address>:1311

where <IP address> is the IP address for the managed system and 1311 is the default port.

NOTE: You must type https:// (not http://) in the address field to receive a valid

response in your browser.

User Privileges

Server Administrator provides security through the User, Power User, and Administrator user groups. Each user group is assigned a different level of access to the Server Administrator features.

26 Getting Started

Administrator privileges are required to access all Storage Management features. Administrator privilege allows you to execute the drop-down menu tasks, launch wizards, and use the omconfig storage command line interface commands. Without Administrator privileges, you cannot manage and configure the storage component.

User and Power User privileges allow you to view storage status, but not manage or configure storage. With User and Power User privileges, you can use the omreport storage command and not the omconfig storage command.

For more information on user groups and other Server Administrator security features, see the Server Administrator User’s Guide.

Using the Graphical User Interface

The following sections describe how to access the Storage Management features using the Server Administrator graphical user interface (GUI).

Storage Object

The Server Administrator tree view displays a Storage object. The Storage Management features are accessible by selecting the Storage object or expanding the Storage object and selecting a lower-level object.

Health Subtab

The Health subtab displays status information for the storage components. For more information, see

Storage Health

Information/Configuration Subtab

The Information/Configuration subtab displays the property information for a storage object. The Information/Configuration subtabs also have drop down menus and buttons for executing storage tasks or launching wizards.

Drop-down Menus and Wizards for Running Tasks

Many of the storage objects displayed in the tree view have tasks. Examples of these tasks include creating virtual disks, assigning hot spares, reconditioning a battery, and so on. To access a storage object’s task, select the component in

Getting Started 27

the tree view and then select the Information/Configuration subtab. The Information/Configuration subtabs have task drop-down menus or buttons

for launching a task.

Using the Storage Management Command Line Interface

Storage Management has a fully-featured command line interface (CLI). For more information, see the Server Administrator Command Line Interface User’s Guide.

Displaying the Online Help

Storage Management provides extensive online help. This help is available from the Server Administrator graphical user interface when the Storage or lower-level tree view object is selected. For more information, see

Object

The online help is available as:

•

Context-sensitive Help.

button. Clicking the Help button displays context-sensitive online help that describes the contents of the displayed screen.

•

Table of Contents.

button) help contain links to the online help’s access the button to display a help screen. Next, click the

for Storage Management Online Help Contents

Use the

Table of Contents

. This link is displayed at the top and bottom of each help screen.

Table of Contents

Each Storage Management screen has a Help

The help screens for the context-sensitive (Help

Table of Contents

, first click a Storage Management Help

Go to Table of Contents

link to display the

to access all topics covered in the online help.

Storage

. To

Tab le o f

Common Storage Tasks

This section provides links to information describing commonly performed storage tasks.

• Create and configure virtual disks (RAID configuration) For more information, see:

28 Getting Started

– Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard—This sub-section describes using

the Express Wizard to create a virtual disk. Using the Express Wizard is the quickest method for creating a virtual disk. The Express Wizard is appropriate for novice users.

– Create Virtual Disk Advanced Wizard—This sub-section describes

using the Advanced Wizard to create a virtual disk. The Advanced Wizard requires a good knowledge of RAID levels and hardware and is appropriate for advanced users.

– Virtual Disks—This sub-section provides detailed information

regarding virtual disk management. This information includes controller-specific considerations that affect virtual disk creation and management.

• Assign a hot spare to the virtual disk—When a virtual disk uses a redundant RAID level, then you can assign a hot spare (backup physical disk) to rebuild data if a physical disk in the virtual disk fails. For more information, see:

– Protecting Your Virtual Disk with a Hot Spare—This section describes

hot spares and includes controller-specific information.

• Perform a Check Consistency—The Maintain Integrity of Redundant Virtual Disks task verifies the accuracy of a virtual disk’s redundant data.

• Reconfigure a Virtual Disk—You can add physical disks to a virtual disk to expand the virtual disk’s capacity. You can also change RAID levels. For more information, see Virtual Disk Task: Reconfigure (Step 1 of 3).

Getting Started 29

30 Getting Started

Understanding RAID Concepts

Storage Management uses Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology to provide Storage Management capability. Understanding Storage Management requires an understanding of RAID concepts, as well as some familiarity with how your system’s RAID controllers and operating system view disk space. including What Is RAID?, Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance, and Choosing RAID Levels and Concatenation.

What Is RAID?

RAID is a technology for managing how data is stored on the physical disks that reside in your system or are attached to it. A key aspect of RAID is the ability to span physical disks so that the combined storage capacity of multiple physical disks can be treated as single, extended disk space. Another key aspect of RAID is the ability to maintain redundant data which can be used to restore data in the event of a disk failure. RAID uses different techniques, such as striping, mirroring, and parity, to store and reconstruct data. There are different RAID levels that use different methods for storing and reconstructing data. The RAID levels have different characteristics in terms of read/write performance, data protection, and storage capacity. Not all RAID levels maintain redundant data, which means for some RAID levels lost data cannot be restored. The RAID level you choose depends on whether your priority is performance, protection, or storage capacity.

This sub-section describes basic storage concepts

NOTE: The RAID Advisory Board (RAB) defines the specifications used to

implement RAID. Although the RAB defines the RAID levels, commercial implementation of RAID levels by different vendors may vary from the actual RAID specifications. An implementation used by a particular vendor may affect the read and write performance and the degree of data redundancy.

Hardware and Software RAID

RAID can be implemented with either hardware or software. A system using hardware RAID has a RAID controller that implements the RAID levels and processes data reads and writes to the physical disks. When using software RAID provided by the operating system, the operating system implements

Understanding RAID Concepts 31

the RAID levels. For this reason, using software RAID by itself can slow system performance. You can, however, use software RAID on top of hardware RAID volumes to provide better performance and variety in the configuration of RAID volumes. For example, you can mirror a pair of hardware RAID 5 volumes across two RAID controllers to provide RAID controller redundancy.

RAID Concepts

RAID uses particular techniques for writing data to disks. These techniques enable RAID to provide data redundancy or better performance. These techniques include:

•

Mirroring

disk. Mirroring provides data redundancy by maintaining two copies of the same data on different physical disks. If one of the disks in the mirror fails, the system can continue to operate using the unaffected disk. Both sides of the mirror contain the same data at all times. Either side of the mirror can act as the operational side. A mirrored RAID disk group is comparable in performance to a RAID 5 disk group in read operations but faster in write operations.

•

Striping—

disk. Each stripe consists of consecutive virtual disk data addresses that are mapped in fixed-size units to each physical disk in the virtual disk using a sequential pattern. For example, if the virtual disk includes five physical disks, the stripe writes data to physical disks one through five without repeating any of the physical disks. The amount of space consumed by a stripe is the same on each physical disk. The portion of a stripe that resides on a physical disk is a stripe element. Striping by itself does not provide data redundancy. Striping in combination with parity does provide data redundancy.

•

Stripe size—

parity disk. For example, consider a stripe that contains 64KB of disk space and has 16KB of data residing on each disk in the stripe. In this case, the stripe size is 64KB and the stripe element size is 16KB.

•

Stripe element—

a single physical disk.

—Duplicating data from one physical disk to another physical

Disk striping writes data across all physical disks in a virtual

The total disk space consumed by a stripe not including a

A stripe element is the portion of a stripe that resides on

32 Understanding RAID Concepts

•

Stripe element size—

element. For example, consider a stripe that contains 64KB of disk space and has 16KB of data residing on each disk in the stripe. In this case, the stripe element size is 16KB and the stripe size is 64KB.

•

Parity

—Parity refers to redundant data that is maintained using an algorithm in combination with striping. When one of the striped disks fails, the data can be reconstructed from the parity information using the algorithm.

•

Span—

groups of physical disks into a RAID 10, 50, or 60 virtual disk.

A span is a RAID technique used to combine storage space from

The amount of disk space consumed by a stripe

RAID Levels

Each RAID level uses some combination of mirroring, striping, and parity to provide data redundancy or improved read and write performance. For specific information on each RAID level, see

Concatenation

Choosing RAID Levels and

Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

RAID provides different methods or RAID levels for organizing the disk storage. Some RAID levels maintain redundant data so that you can restore data after a disk failure. Different RAID levels also entail an increase or decrease in the system’s I/O (read and write) performance.

Maintaining redundant data requires the use of additional physical disks. As more disks become involved, the likelihood of a disk failure increases. Because of the differences in I/O performance and redundancy, one RAID level may be more appropriate than another based on the applications in the operating environment and the nature of the data being stored.

When choosing concatenation or a RAID level, the following performance and cost considerations apply:

•

Availability or fault-tolerance

system’s ability to maintain operations and provide access to data even when one of its components has failed. In RAID volumes, availability or

—Availability or fault-tolerance refers to a

Understanding RAID Concepts 33

fault-tolerance is achieved by maintaining redundant data. Redundant data includes mirrors (duplicate data) and parity information (reconstructing data using an algorithm).

•

Performance

depending on the RAID level you choose. Some RAID levels may be more appropriate for particular applications.

•

Cost efficiency

associated with RAID volumes requires additional disk space. In situations where the data is temporary, easily reproduced, or non-essential, the increased cost of data redundancy may not be justified.

•

Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)

maintain data redundancy also increases the chance of disk failure at any given moment. Although this cannot be avoided in situations where redundant data is a requirement, it does have implications for the workload of your organization’s system support staff.

•

Volume

create volumes using external utilities like the O-ROM <Ctrl+R>. Storage Management does not support the creation of volumes. However, you can view volumes and use drives from these volumes for creation of new virtual disks or Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) of existing virtual disks, provided free space is available. Storage Management allows Rename and Delete operations on such volumes.

For more information, see

—Read and write performance can be increased or decreased

—Maintaining the redundant data or parity information

—Using additional disks to

—Volume refers to a single disk non-RAID virtual disk. You can

Choosing RAID Levels and Concatenation

You can use RAID or concatenation to control data storage on multiple disks. Each RAID level or concatenation has different performance and data protection characteristics.

The following sub-sections provide specific information on how each RAID level or concatenation store data as well as their performance and protection characteristics:

• Concatenation

• RAID Level 0 (Striping)

• RAID Level 1 (Mirroring)

34 Understanding RAID Concepts

• RAID Level 5 (Striping with distributed parity)

• RAID Level 6 (Striping with additional distributed parity)

• RAID Level 50 (Striping over RAID 5 sets)

• RAID Level 60 (Striping over RAID 6 sets)

• RAID Level 10 (Striping over mirror sets)

• RAID Level 1-Concatenated (Concatenated mirror)

• Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

•No-RAID

Concatenation

In Storage Management, concatenation refers to storing data on either one physical disk or on disk space that spans multiple physical disks. When spanning more than one disk, concatenation enables the operating system to view multiple physical disks as a single disk.

Data stored on a single disk can be considered a simple volume. This disk could also be defined as a virtual disk that comprises only a single physical disk. Data that spans more than one physical disk can be considered a spanned volume. Multiple concatenated disks can also be defined as a virtual disk that comprises more than one physical disk.

A dynamic volume that spans to separate areas of the same disk is also considered concatenated.

When a physical disk in a concatenated or spanned volume fails, the entire volume becomes unavailable. Because the data is not redundant, it cannot be restored by rebuilding from a mirrored disk or parity information. Restoring from a backup is the only option.

Because concatenated volumes do not use disk space to maintain redundant data, they are more cost-efficient than volumes that use mirrors or parity information. A concatenated volume may be a good choice for data that is temporary, easily reproduced, or that does not justify the cost of data redundancy. In addition, a concatenated volume can easily be expanded by adding an additional physical disk.

Understanding RAID Concepts 35

Figure 3-1. Concatenating Disks

• Concatenates n disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of n disks.

• Data fills up the first disk before it is written to the second disk.

• No redundancy data is kept. When a disk fails, the large virtual disk fails.

• No performance gain.

• No redundancy.

Related Information:

• Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

• Controller-supported RAID Levels

• Number of Physical Disks per Virtual Disk

• Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Controller

RAID Level 0 (Striping)

RAID 0 uses data striping, which is writing data in equal-sized segments across the physical disks. RAID 0 does not provide data redundancy.

36 Understanding RAID Concepts

Figure 3-2. Striping Disks

RAID 0 Characteristics:

• Groups n disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of (smallest disk size)*

disks.

• Data is stored to the disks alternately.

• No redundancy data is kept. When a disk fails, the large virtual disk fails with no means of rebuilding the data.

• Better read and write performance.

Related Information:

• Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

• Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

• Controller-supported RAID Levels

• Number of Physical Disks per Virtual Disk

• Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Controller

Understanding RAID Concepts 37

RAID Level 1 (Mirroring)

RAID 1 is the simplest form of maintaining redundant data. In RAID 1, data is mirrored or duplicated on one or more physical disks. If a physical disk on one side of the mirror fails, then the data can be rebuilt using the physical disk on the other side of the mirror.

Figure 3-3. Mirroring Disks

RAID 1 Characteristics:

•Groups n + n disks as one virtual disk with the capacity of n disks. The controllers currently supported by Storage Management allow the selection of two disks when creating a RAID 1. Because these disks are mirrored, the total storage capacity is equal to one disk.

• Data is replicated on the two disks.

• When a disk fails, the virtual disk still works. The data is read from the failed disk’s mirror.

• Better read performance, but slightly slower write performance.

• Redundancy for protection of data.

• RAID 1 is more expensive in terms of disk space since twice the number of disks are used than required to store the data without redundancy.

38 Understanding RAID Concepts

Related Information:

• Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

• Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

• Controller-supported RAID Levels

• Number of Physical Disks per Virtual Disk

• Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Controller

RAID Level 5 (Striping with distributed parity)

RAID 5 provides data redundancy by using data striping in combination with parity information. Rather than dedicating a physical disk to parity, however, the parity information is striped across all physical disks in the disk group.

Figure 3-4. Striping Disks with Distributed Parity

RAID 5 Characteristics:

• Groups n disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of (n-1) disks.

• Redundant information (parity) is alternately stored on all disks.

Understanding RAID Concepts 39

• When a disk fails, the virtual disk still works, but it is operating in a degraded state. The data is reconstructed from the surviving disks.

• Better read performance, but slower write performance.

• Redundancy for protection of data.

Related Information:

• Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

• Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

• Controller-supported RAID Levels

• Number of Physical Disks per Virtual Disk

• Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Controller

RAID Level 6 (Striping with additional distributed parity)

RAID 6 provides data redundancy by using data striping in combination with parity information. Similar to RAID 5, the parity is distributed within each stripe. RAID 6, however, uses an additional physical disk to maintain parity, such that each stripe in the disk group maintains two disk blocks with parity information. The additional parity provides data protection in the event of two disk failures. In Figure 3-5, the two sets of parity information are identified as P and Q.

40 Understanding RAID Concepts

Figure 3-5. RAID 6

RAID 6 Characteristics:

• Groups n disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of (n-2) disks.

• Redundant information (parity) is alternately stored on all disks.

• The virtual disk remains functional with up to two disk failures. The data is reconstructed from the surviving disks.

• Better read performance, but slower write performance.

• Increased redundancy for protection of data.

• Two disks per span are required for parity. RAID 6 is more expensive in terms of disk space.

Related Information:

• Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

• Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

• Controller-supported RAID Levels

Understanding RAID Concepts 41

• Number of Physical Disks per Virtual Disk

• Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Controller

RAID Level 50 (Striping over RAID 5 sets)

RAID 50 is striping over more than one span of physical disks. For example, a RAID 5 disk group that is implemented with three physical disks and then continues on with a disk group of three more physical disks would be a RAID

50.

It is possible to implement RAID 50 even when the hardware does not directly support it. In this case, you can implement more than one RAID 5 virtual disks and then convert the RAID 5 disks to dynamic disks. You can then create a dynamic volume that is spanned across all RAID 5 virtual disks.

42 Understanding RAID Concepts

Figure 3-6. RAID 50

RAID 50 Characteristics:

• Groups n*s disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of s*(n-1) disks, where

is the number of spans and n is the number of disks within each

span.

• Redundant information (parity) is alternately stored on all disks of each RAID 5 span.

• Better read performance, but slower write performance.

• Requires as much parity information as standard RAID 5.

• Data is striped across all spans. RAID 50 is more expensive in terms of disk space.

Understanding RAID Concepts 43

Related Information:

• Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

• Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

• Controller-supported RAID Levels

• Number of Physical Disks per Virtual Disk

• Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Controller

RAID Level 60 (Striping over RAID 6 sets)

RAID 60 is striping over more than one span of physical disks that are configured as a RAID 6. For example, a RAID 6 disk group that is implemented with four physical disks and then continues on with a disk group of four more physical disks would be a RAID 60.

44 Understanding RAID Concepts

Figure 3-7. RAID 60

RAID 60 Characteristics:

• Groups n*s disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of s*(n-2) disks, where

is the number of spans and n is the number of disks within each

span.

• Redundant information (parity) is alternately stored on all disks of each RAID 6 span.

• Better read performance, but slower write performance.

• Increased redundancy provides greater data protection than a RAID 50.

• Requires proportionally as much parity information as RAID 6.

Understanding RAID Concepts 45

• Two disks per span are required for parity. RAID 60 is more expensive in terms of disk space.

Related Information:

• Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

• Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

• Controller-supported RAID Levels

• Number of Physical Disks per Virtual Disk

• Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Controller

RAID Level 10 (Striping over mirror sets)

The RAB considers RAID Level 10 to be an implementation of RAID level 1. RAID 10 combines mirrored physical disks (RAID 1) with data striping (RAID 0). With RAID 10, data is striped across multiple physical disks. The striped disk group is then mirrored onto another set of physical disks. RAID 10 can be considered a mirror of stripes.

46 Understanding RAID Concepts

Figure 3-8. Striping Over Mirrored Disk Groups

RAID 10 Characteristics:

• Groups n disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of (n/2) disks, where

is an even integer.

• Mirror images of the data are striped across sets of

physical disks

. This

level provides redundancy through mirroring.

• When a disk fails, the virtual disk still works. The data is read from the surviving mirrored disk.

• Improved read performance and write performance.

• Redundancy for protection of data.

Related Information:

• Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

Understanding RAID Concepts 47

• Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

• Controller-supported RAID Levels

• Number of Physical Disks per Virtual Disk

• Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Controller

RAID Level 1-Concatenated (Concatenated mirror)

RAID 1-concatenated is a RAID 1 disk group that spans across more than a single pair of physical disks. This combines the advantages of concatenation with the redundancy of RAID 1. No striping is involved in this RAID type.

NOTE: You cannot create a RAID 1-concatenated virtual disk or reconfigure to

RAID 1-concatenated with Storage Management. You can only monitor a RAID 1concatenated virtual disk with Storage Management.

Figure 3-9. RAID 1-Concatenated

Related Information:

• Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

• Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

• Controller-supported RAID Levels

48 Understanding RAID Concepts

• Number of Physical Disks per Virtual Disk

• Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Controller

Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

The following table compares the performance characteristics associated with the more common RAID levels. This table provides general guidelines for choosing a RAID level. Evaluate your specific environment requirements before choosing a RAID level.

NOTE: The following table does not show all RAID levels supported by Storage

Management. For information on all RAID levels supported by Storage Management, see

Choosing RAID Levels and Concatenation

Table 3-1. RAID Level and Concatenation Performance Comparison

RAID Level

Concatenation No gain No gain No gain N/A 1 or 2

RAID 0 None Very Good Very Good N/A N Noncritical

RAID 1 Excellent Very Good Good Good 2N

N = Number of physical disks X = Number of RAID sets

Data Availability

Read Performance

Write Performance

Rebuild Performance

Minimum Disks Required

depending on the controller.

(N = 1)

Suggested Uses

More cost efficient than redundant RAID levels. Use for noncritical data.

data

Small databases, database logs, critical information

Understanding RAID Concepts 49

Table 3-1. RAID Level and Concatenation Performance Comparison

(continued)

RAID Level

RAID 5 Good Sequential

RAID 10 Excellent Very Good Fair Good 2N x X Data-

RAID 50 Good Very Good Fair Fair N + 2

RAID 6 Excellent Sequential

RAID 60 Excellent Very Good Fair Poor X x (N +

N = Number of physical disks X = Number of RAID sets

Data Availability

Read Performance

reads: good. Tr an s a ct i on al reads: Very good

Write Performance

Fair, unless using writeback cache

Rebuild Performance

Fair N + 1

Poor N + 2

Minimum Disks Required

(N = at least two disks)

(N = at least 4)

(N = at least two disks)

2) (N = at least 2)

Suggested Uses

Databases and other readintensive transactional uses

intensive environment s (large records)

Mediumsized transactional or dataintensive uses

Critical information. Databases and other readintensive transactional uses.

Critical information. Mediumsized transactional or dataintensive uses.

50 Understanding RAID Concepts

No-RAID

In Storage Management, a virtual disk of unknown metadata is considered a No- RAID volume. Storage Management does not support this type of virtual disks. These must either be deleted or the physical disk must be removed. Storage Management allows Delete and Rename operation on No-RAID volumes.

Understanding RAID Concepts 51

52 Understanding RAID Concepts

Quick Access to Storage Status and Tasks

This section describes various methods to determine the status or health of your system’s storage components and how to quickly launch available controller tasks.

Storage Dashboard and Storage Health

For each controller, the Storage Health tab or Storage Dashboard displays a summary of the controller severity (health or status) and a task menu for launching the controller tasks. A link is provided to access virtual disk status and tasks.

Storage Health

The Storage Dashboard displays the combined status for each controller and lower-level storage components. For example, if the health of the storage system has been compromised due to a degraded enclosure, both the enclosure Health subtab and the controller severity on the Storage Dashboard display a yellow exclamation mark to indicate a Warning severity. If a controller on the Storage Dashboard displays a Warning or Critical status, take the following actions to investigate the cause of the Warning or Critical status:

•Click

• Select the controller and investigate the status of the lower-level

Check Alert Log

displays the Alert Log. Examine the Alert Log for alerts relating to the status of the controller and its lower-level components. The

Log

link is only displayed when the controller displays a Warning or

Critical status.

components. For more information, see Storage Component Severity.

displayed to the right of the controller. This link

Check Alert

Quick Access to Storage Status and Tasks 53

• Click the virtual disk that is in degraded state to display the

Properties

For more information on how the status of lower-level components is rolled up into the status displayed for the controller, see

Status for Storage Components

page.

NOTE: The virtual disk link is displayed only if the physical disks that are part

of the virtual disk, are in a Warning or Critical state.

Determining the Health

Physical Disk

Hot Spare Protection Policy

The Set Hot Spare Protection Policy task allows you to set or modify the number of hot spares to be assigned to the virtual disks.

Once you set the number of assigned hot spares, any deviation from the protection policy threshold triggers an alert based on the severity level you set.

For more information, see

Setting Hot Spare Protection Policy

Select Report

The Select Report option provides the following reports:

Check Consistency Report, Slot Occupancy Report Firmware Version Report

, and

Patrol Read Report

Physical Disk

Storage Component Severity

Component status is indicated by the severity. A component with a Warning or Critical/Failure status requires immediate attention to avoid data loss, if possible. A component’s status may indicate the combined status of the component and its lower-level objects. For more information, see

Determining the Health Status for Storage Components

It may be useful to review the Alert Log for events indicating why a component has a Warning or Critical status. For additional troubleshooting information, see

54 Quick Access to Storage Status and Tasks

Troubleshooting

Table 4-1. Component Severity

Severity Component Status

Normal/OK—

Warning/Non-critical—A probe or other monitoring device

has detected a reading for the component that is above or below the acceptable level. The component may still be functioning, but it could fail. The component may also be functioning in an impaired state. Data loss is possible.

Critical/Failure/Error—The component has either failed or failure is imminent. The component requires immediate attention and may need to be replaced. Data loss may have occurred.

The component is working as expected.

Storage Properties and Current Activity

The Configuration/Information subtab displays information regarding a storage component. These properties include details such as the number of connectors (channels or ports) on a controller or the Enclosure Management Modules (EMM) firmware version.

The State and Progress properties indicate a component’s current activity. For example, an offline physical disk displays the Offline status while the Progress property displays how close to completion an operation (such as a rebuild) is.

The following sections describe the properties for each component:

• Storage Information and Global Tasks

• Controller Properties and Tasks

• Battery Properties and Tasks

• Connector Properties and Tasks

• Enclosure and Backplane Properties and Tasks

• Physical Disk or Physical Device Properties and Tasks

• EMM Properties

• Fan Properties

• Power Supply Properties

Quick Access to Storage Status and Tasks 55

• Temperature Probe Properties and Tasks

• Virtual Disk Properties and Tasks

Alerts or Events

Storage activity generates alerts or events that are displayed in the Alert Log. Some alerts indicate normal activity and are displayed for informational purposes only. Other alerts indicate abnormal activity which should be addressed immediately. For more information about alerts and their corrective actions, see the Server Administrator Messages Reference Guide.

Monitoring Disk Reliability on RAID Controllers

Storage Management supports Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) on physical disks that are SMART-enabled.

SMART performs predictive failure analysis on each disk and sends alerts if a disk failure is predicted. The RAID controllers check physical disks for failure predictions and, if found, pass this information to Storage Management. Storage Management immediately displays an alert icon on the disk. Storage Management also sends an alert to the Alert Log and the Microsoft Windows application log.

NOTE: When a controller’s I/O is paused, you do not receive SMART alerts.

Related Information:

• Replacing a Physical Disk Receiving SMART Alerts

Using Alarms to Detect Failures

Some storage components have alarms. When enabled, these alarms alert you when a component fails. For more information, see the following sections:

• Enable Alarm (Controller)

• Enable Alarm (Enclosure)

56 Quick Access to Storage Status and Tasks

Using Enclosure Temperature Probes

Physical disk enclosures have temperature probes that warn you when the enclosure has exceeded an acceptable temperature range. For more information on using temperature probes, see the following:

• SMART Thermal Shutdown

• Set Temperature Probe Values

Rescan to Update Storage Configuration Changes

The Rescan task scans the storage attached to the controller’s connectors (channels or ports) to verify the currently connected devices or to recognize devices that have been added to or removed from the connectors. When you do a rescan on a controller object, all storage attached to the controller is rescanned. Performing a rescan causes the controller to recognize changes in the storage configuration, such as adding or removing physical disks from a virtual disk or changing a RAID level.

You may want to rescan in the following situations:

• To see new disks attached to the controller.

• To make the operating system recognize a virtual disk.

• To make Storage Management display a new virtual disk.

• After expanding a virtual disk, you may need to rescan the controller so that the virtual disk can use the additional disk space.

• To update the status of an offline disk.

• To display updated information in a clustered configuration after a failover of cluster resources.

NOTE: For SCSI controller-based systems, if you want to rescan all controllers,

perform the procedure in Global Rescan. If you want to rescan only the components attached to a particular controller, perform the procedure in Rescan Controller.

NOTE: Clicking the Refresh button in the right pane refreshes only the right pane.

To view the new physical disk in the left pane tree view, click the system name displayed at the top of the left pane, or select ViewRefresh from the browser’s menu bar.

Quick Access to Storage Status and Tasks 57

Related Information:

• Time Delay in Displaying Configuration Changes

Time Delay in Displaying Configuration Changes

When you change the storage configuration, Storage Management quickly generates SNMP traps in response to the configuration changes. The Storage Management MIB (Management Information Base) is also updated to reflect storage configuration changes. However, it may take up to five minutes to update the MIB with the most recent storage configuration. For this reason, there is a time delay of up to five minutes between the receipt of an SNMP trap and the ability to identify the configuration changes by querying the Storage Management MIB. This time delay is particularly notable when creating a new virtual disk or performing an unmirror or split mirror on a RAID 1-concatenated virtual disk. You can minimize this time delay by performing a controller rescan. For more information, see

Rescan Controller

58 Quick Access to Storage Status and Tasks

PCI Express Solid-State Device Support

This section gives an overview of the Storage Management (OMSM) device management support for Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) Solid-State Drive (SSD) and its associated devices like the backplane and extender card.

In OMSS, PCIe SSD appears under the storage management. OMSM reports the PCIe SSD devices and its various properties.

NOTE: OMSM does not support RAID management or configuration on PCIe SSD

sub systems.

What is PCIe SSD

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) solid state device (SSD) is a high-performance storage device designed for solutions requiring low latency, high Input Output Operations per Second (IOPS), and enterprise class storage reliability and serviceability. The PCIe SSD is designed based on Single Level Cell (SLC) NAND flash technology with a high-speed PCIe 2.0 compliant interface. The high-speed PCIe 2.0 compliant interface helps improve performance for I/O bound solutions.

PCIe SSD Features

Following are the key features of PCIe SSD:

• Hot plug capability

• High-performance device

• Support for 2.5-inch HDD Form Factor

PCI Express Solid-State Device Support 59

PCIe Sub System Properties

The PCIe SSD sub system comprises of the following components:

•Backplane

•Extender Card

• PCIe Solid State Device

Table 5-1 lists the PCIe Sub System Properties.

Table 5-1. PCIe Sub System Properties

Properties Description

ID This property displays the Sub System ID assigned to the PCIe

sub system by Storage Management. Storage Management numbers the controllers and PCIe sub systems attached to the system starting with zero. This number is the same as the PCIe sub system ID number reported by the omreport Command. For information on Command Line Interface, see the Server Administrator Command Line Interface User's Guide.

NOTE: In CLI commands, the PCIe sub system ID is displayed as the

controller ID.

Name This property displays the name of the sub system.

State This property displays the current status of the sub system.

Possible values are:

Ready—The sub system is functioning normally.

Degraded—The sub system has encountered a failure and is operating in a degraded state.

Failed—The sub system has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning.

Number of Extender Cards

Available Reports Enables you to view the Slot Occupancy report. For more

This property displays the number of Extender Cards the sub system has. Each Extender Card can be attached to physical disks or an enclosure. The Extender Card should be a PCIe SSD port.

information, see

Available Reports

60 PCI Express Solid-State Device Support

PCIe Extender Cards

The PCIe Extender Card is attached to the backplane of the system and provides PCIe connectivity for upto four PCIe SSD devices at the front of the chassis.

NOTE: The PCIe Extender Card does not have any properties or tasks.

Table 5-2 lists the PCIe Extender Card Properties.

Table 5-2. PCIe Extender Card Properties

Properties Description

Name This property displays the name of the Extender Card.

State This property displays the current status of the Extender Card.

Possible values are:

Ready—The Extender Card is functioning normally.

Degraded—The Extender Card has encountered a failure and is operating in a degraded state.

Failed—The Extender Card has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning.

Physical Device Properties

You can view information about PCIe SSDs and run PCIe SSD tasks on the Physical Device Properties screen. To view the complete PCIe SSD properties, click the Full View link on the top of the screen.

Table 5-3 lists the physical device properties for PCIe SSD.

Table 5-3. Physical Device Properties

Properties Description

Name Displays the name of the PCIe SSD. The name is comprised

of the bay ID, and the slot in which the PCIe SSD is installed.

State Displays the health state of the PCIe SSD.

Bus Protocol Displays the technology that the PCIe SSD is using.

Media Displays the media type of the physical disk.

PCI Express Solid-State Device Support 61

Table 5-3. Physical Device Properties

Properties Description

Read Only Displays if the PCIe SSD is write-protected. Possible values

are: Yes and No.

Driver Version Displays the version of the driver that is currently installed on

the sub system.

NOTE: On some sub systems, Storage Management may not be

able to obtain the driver version. In this case, Storage Management displays Not Applicable.

Device Life Remaining

Failure Predicted Indicates whether the physical device has detected a condition

Revision Displays the current running firmware version on the PCIe

Model Number Displays the Piece Part Identification (PPID) of the PCIe

Capacity Displays the full capacity of the device.

Vendo r ID Displays the hardware vendor of the device.

Product ID Displays the product ID of the device.

Serial No. Displays the serial number of the device.

Negotiated Speed Displays the speed of data transfer that the device negotiated

Capable Speed Displays the highest possible speed at which the device can

Displays the warranted wearout level of the PCIe SSD (in percentage).

that may lead to a device failure.

SSD.

during initial communication. The negated speed depends on the speed of the device, the capable speed of the PCIe extender card, and the current speed of the PCIe extender card on that connector.

transfer data

Physical Device Tasks

The physical device tasks for PCIe SSD are as follows:

•Blink and Unblink

• Full Initialization

62 PCI Express Solid-State Device Support

• Prepare to Remove

•Export Log

To run a physical device task:

Expand the

Select the

Select a task from the

Click

Storage

tree object to display the storage component objects.

PCIe-SSD SubSystem

Connector

Enclosure (Backplane)

Physical Devices

Execute

object.

Available Tasks

drop-down menu.

Blink and Unblink

The Blink task allows you to find a device within a system by blinking one of the LEDs on the device. You can use this task to locate a failed device. If you need to cancel the Blink task or if the physical device continues to blink Indefinitely, use the Unblink task.

Full Initialization

CAUTION: Performing a full initialization on a PCIe SSD overwrites all blocks and

will result in permanent loss of all data on the PCIe SSD.

NOTE: During full initialization, the host is unable to access the PCIe SSD.

NOTE: If the system reboots or experiences a power loss during full intialization,

the operation aborts. You must reboot the system and restart the process.

Prepare to Remove

PCIe SSDs support orderly hot swap allowing you to add or remove a device without halting or rebooting the system in which the devices are installed.

NOTE: Orderly hot swap is only supported when PCIe SSDs are installed in a

supported system running a supported operating system. To ensure that you have the correct configuration for your PCIe SSD, see the system specific Owner's Manual.

PCI Express Solid-State Device Support 63

CAUTION: The identify LED pattern (blink operation) is the same LED pattern as

safe to remove. When you initiate a prepare to remove operation, ensure that your PCIe SSD is no longer accessible by the system before you physically remove the PCIe SSD.

CAUTION: To prevent data loss, it is mandatory that you use the Prepare to

Remove task before physically removing a device.

Use the Prepare to Remove task to safely remove a PCIe SSD from the system. This task causes the status LEDs on the device to blink. You can safely remove the device from the system under the following conditions after you use the Prepare to Remove task:

• The PCIe SSD is blinking the safe to remove LED pattern.

• The PCIe SSD is no longer accessible by the system.

Export Log

The log contains debug information of the PCIe SSD and can be useful for troubleshooting. You can export the reliability log through the Physical Device Available Tasks drop-down list.

PCIe SSD Sub System Health

It indicates the roll-up health status of physical devices. The individual health status of the physical devices appears at the respective level.

Backplanes

PCIe SSDs are attached to the PCIe SSD backplane of the system. The number of supported PCIe SSDs depend on the system.

NOTE: PCIe SSDs must be used with PCIe SSD backplanes. Do not plug in

SAS/SATA devices to a PCIe SSD backplane or vice versa.

Backplane Firmware Version

The backplane firmware version is reported in the Information Configuration page of the PCIe SSD sub system.

NOTE: The firmware version is the only Backplane property supported for PCIe

SSD.

64 PCI Express Solid-State Device Support

Storage Information and Global Tasks

Use this window to view high-level information about your system’s storage. This window also enables you to launch global tasks that affect all controllers attached to the system.

Storage Properties

The Storage tree-view object has the following properties.

Table 6-1. Storage Properties

Property Definition

Status These icons represent the severity or health of the storage

component. For more information, see

Severity

Normal/OK

Storage Component

Warning/Non-critical

Critical/Fatal

Smart Thermal Shutdown

This property displays whether thermal shutdown is enabled or disabled.

Enable/Disable Smart Thermal Shutdown

For more information, see

Global Tasks

To execute a global task, select the task from the Global Tasks drop-down menu and click Execute.

Storage Information and Global Tasks 65

Global Tasks:

• Global Rescan

• Enable/Disable Smart Thermal Shutdown

• Setting Hot Spare Protection Policy

Global Rescan

A global rescan updates configuration changes (such as new or removed devices) for all SCSI controllers and their attached components. For information on when you may want to do a rescan, see

Storage Configuration Changes

NOTE: Global Rescan is not supported on non-RAID controllers. You must reboot

the system before Storage Management can see configuration changes on non-RAID SCSI controllers. Otherwise, configuration changes are not reflected in the Storage Management graphical user interface (GUI).

NOTE: The Global Rescan task updates the Information/Configuration subtab with

any configuration changes. To update the tree view, click the server name which is displayed above the tree view.

To do a global rescan:

Select the

Click the

Select

Click

Storage

tree view object.

Information/Configuration

Global Rescan

Execute

from the

subtab.

Global Tasks

Rescan to Update

drop-down menu.

Enable/Disable Smart Thermal Shutdown

By default, the operating system and server are turned off when the 220S and 221S enclosures reach a critical temperature of 0 or 50 degrees Celsius. Using the Enable Smart Thermal Shutdown task, however, you can specify that only the enclosure, and not the operating system and server be turned off when the enclosure reaches a critical temperature.

If the enclosure has virtual disks that are channel-redundant, then the enclosure can be turned off while redundant data continues to be available on another channel. For more information, see

Thermal Shutdown

NOTE: Only SCSI controllers support Smart Thermal Shutdown.

66 Storage Information and Global Tasks

Channel Redundancy and

To enable or disable thermal shut down:

Select the

Click the

From the

Shutdown

option that is currently selected, the displays only one of these tasks at a time.

Click

Storage

Information/Configuration

Global Tasks

Execute

tree view object.

drop-down menu, select

Disable Smart Thermal Shutdown

subtab.

Enable Smart Thermal

. Depending on the

Available Tasks

drop-down menu

Storage Controllers

The information displayed for each controller can vary depending on the controller characteristics.

Storage Information and Global Tasks 67

Table 6-2. Controller Properties

Property Definition

Status This property displays the controller status.

ID This property displays the controller ID as reported by the

omreport CLI command.

Name This property displays the name of the controller. For more

detailed information on a controller, click its name.

Slot ID This property displays the slot to which the controller is

attached. On some controllers, Storage Management is unable to display the slot ID. In this case, this property displays Slot Not Available. For embedded controllers, this property displays Embedded.

NOTE: If Slot Not Available is displayed, you can identify the

slot ID by selecting the SystemMain System Chassis Slots object in the tree view and displaying the Information tab. The Slot ID property on this tab may display the correct information.

State This property displays the current status of the controller.

Possible values are:

Ready—The controller is functioning normally.

Degraded—The controller has suffered a failure of a

component and is operating in a degraded state.

Failed—The controller has suffered a failure of one or more components and is no longer functioning.

Firmware Version This property displays the version of the controller’s

firmware.

The firmware and drivers listed in the Server Administrator Readme refer to the minimum supported version for these controllers. Later versions of the firmware and drivers are also supported. For the most recent driver and firmware requirements, contact your service provider.

68 Storage Information and Global Tasks

Property Definition

Minimum Required Firmware Version

Driver Version This property displays the version of the controller’s driver.

Minimum Required Driver Version

Number of Connector

Rebuild Rate The rebuild rate is the percentage of the system’s resources

Alarm State This property displays whether the controller’s alarm is

Cluster Mode This property indicates whether the controller is part of a

This property displays the minimum firmware version that is required by Storage Management. This property is only displayed if the controller firmware does not meet the minimum requirement.

This property displays the minimum driver version that is required by Storage Management. This property is only displayed if the controller driver does not meet the minimum requirement.

This property displays the number of connectors the controller has. Each connector can be attached to physical disks or an enclosure. Depending on the controller type, the connector can be either a SCSI channel or a SAS port.

dedicated to rebuilding a failed disk when a rebuild is necessary. For more information, see

enabled or disabled.

cluster configuration.

Set Rebuild Rate

Storage Information and Global Tasks 69

Property Definition

SCSI Initiator ID This property displays the SCSI ID of a SCSI controller.

The default value is 7. You can change the default value in the BIOS. Controllers in a cluster configuration should not have duplicate SCSI Initiator IDs. For a list of acceptable SCSI Initiator ID values, refer to SCSI documentation.

On some controllers, this property is not available. In this case, this property displays as Not Applicable.

Storage Components

For information on attached controllers, see the following topics:

• Controller Properties and Tasks

• Controllers

70 Storage Information and Global Tasks

Controllers

This section describes the controllers supported by Storage Management as well as the different controller features.

What is a Controller?

Most operating systems do not read and write data directly from the disks, but instead send read and write instructions to a controller. The controller is the hardware in your system that interacts directly with the disks to write and retrieve data. A controller has connectors (channels or ports) which are attached to one or more physical disks or an enclosure containing physical disks. RAID controllers can span the boundaries of the disks so as to create an extended amount of storage space – or a virtual disk – using the capacity of more than one disk.

Controllers also perform other tasks, such as initiating rebuilds, initializing disks, and so on. To complete their tasks, controllers require special software known as firmware and drivers. In order to function properly, the controller must have the minimum required version of the firmware and drivers installed.

Storage Management supports different types of controllers. If your system has a supported controller, the controller is displayed by expanding the Storage object in the tree view. You can select the controller to display tabs for executing controller tasks and viewing controller properties.

Different controllers have different characteristics in the way they read and write data and execute tasks. It is helpful to understand these features to most efficiently manage your storage. The following sections describe the supported controllers and their features.

Controllers 71

RAID Controller Technology: SCSI, SATA, ATA, and SAS

Storage Management supports RAID controllers using SCSI, SATA, ATA, and SAS technology. This section indicates which technology the supported RAID controllers use. For more information on these controllers, see

Feat ures

SAS RAID Controllers

The following RAID controllers use Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) technology.

and the controller hardware documentation.

• PERC 5/E

•PERC 5/i Integrated

•PERC 5/i Adapter

• SAS 5/iR Integrated

• SAS 5/iR Adapter

• PERC 6/E

• PERC 6/I controller family

• SAS 6/iR controller family

• PERC S100, S110, and S300 controllers

• PERC H200, H700, and H800 controllers

• PERC H310 Adapter, PERC H310 Mini Monolithic, PERC H310 Mini Blades, PERC H710 Adapter, PERC H710 Mini Blades, PERC H710 Mini Monolithic, PERC H710P Adapter, PERC H710P Mini Blades, PERC H710P Mini Monolithic, and PERC H810 Adapter controllers

Supported

RAID Controller Features

Different controllers have different features. If you have more than one controller attached to your system, you may notice that the tasks displayed on the controller’s Information/Configuration subtab are different for each controller.

Controllers may also have differences in their read, write, and cache policies as well as how they handle hot spares. You should be aware of these differences when creating virtual disks and assigning hot spares.

72 Controllers

The following describes some of the RAID controller features and provides links to a more detailed explanation. For information on which controllers support which features, see

•

Hot spares

—On RAID controllers, a hot spare is a backup for a disk that

Supported Features

fails. See the Protecting Your Virtual Disk with a Hot Spare.

•

Rebuilding data.

You can rebuild data from a failed physical disk if the disk is a member of a redundant virtual disk. See Rebuilding Redundant

Information.

•

Virtual disk expansion

—Virtual disk expansion enables you to expand the capacity of a virtual disk while it remains online by adding additional disks to the virtual disk. This feature is also known as online capacity expansion (OLCE). See Virtual Disk Tasks.

•

RAID migration

—After creating a virtual disk, you can change the RAID

level. See Reconfiguring/Migrating Virtual Disks.

•

Moving physical and virtual disks to another controller

—This freature enables you to move physical and virtual disks from one controller to another. See Moving Physical and Virtual Disks from One System to

Another.

•

Read, write, and cache policies

—The manner in which a controller reads and writes data can vary. The read, write, and cache policies have implications for data encryption and system performance. See RAID

Controller Read, Write, Cache, and Disk Cache Policy.

•

Check consistency

—A check consistency determines the integrity of a virtual disk’s redundant data. When necessary, this feature rebuilds the redundant information. See Maintain Integrity of Redundant Virtual

Disks.

•

Patrol Read

—Patrol Read identifies disk errors in order to avoid disk failures and data loss or corruption. For more information, see Set Patrol

Read Mode.

•

Disk migration or foreign configurations

—Some controllers enable you to move physical disks that contain one or more virtual disks to another controller. The receiving controller is able to recognize and import the foreign configuration (virtual disks). For more information, see Fo reig n

Configuration Operations.

Controllers 73

Controller-supported RAID Levels

RAID controllers support different RAID levels. For information on which RAID levels a controller supports, see the supported RAID levels section for the controller in

Supported Features

Controller-supported Stripe Sizes

When creating a virtual disk, you must specify the stripe size for the virtual disk. Different controllers have different limitations on the stripe sizes they can support. For information on the stripe sizes a controller supports, see the virtual disk specifications section for the controller in

Supported Features

RAID Controller Read, Write, Cache, and Disk Cache Policy

When creating a virtual disk, you specify the read, write, and cache policies for the virtual disk. The following sub-section describes these policies.

Read Policy

Does my controller support this feature? See

The read policies indicate whether or not the controller should read sequential sectors of the virtual disk when seeking data.

•

Read-Ahead

sequential sectors of the virtual disk when seeking data. Read-ahead policy may improve system performance if the data is actually written to sequential sectors of the virtual disk.

•

No-Read-Ahead

controller should not use read-ahead policy.

•

Adaptive Read-Ahead

controller initiates read-ahead only if the two most recent read requests accessed sequential sectors of the disk. If subsequent read requests access random sectors of the disk, the controller reverts to no-read-ahead policy. The controller continues to evaluate whether read requests are accessing sequential sectors of the disk, and can initiate read-ahead if necessary.

—When using read-ahead policy, the controller reads

—Selecting no-read-ahead policy indicates that the

—When using adaptive read-ahead policy, the

Supported Features

74 Controllers

•

Read Cache Enabled

—When the read cache is enabled, the controller reads the cache information to see if the requested data is available in the cache before retrieving the data from the disk. Reading the cache information first can provide faster read performance because the data (if available in the cache) can more quickly be retrieved from the cache than from the disk.

•

Read Cache Disabled

—When the read cache is disabled, the controller

retrieves data directly from the disk and not from the cache.

Controllers 75

Write Policy

Does my controller support this feature? See

The write policies specify whether the controller sends a write-request completion signal as soon as the data is in the cache or after it has been written to disk.

•

Write-Back

—When using write-back caching, the controller sends a write-request completion signal as soon as the data is in the controller cache but has not yet been written to disk. Write-back caching may provide improved performance since subsequent read requests can more quickly retrieve data from the controller cache than they could from the disk. Write-back caching also entails a data security risk, however, since a system failure could prevent the data from being written to disk even though the controller has sent a write-request completion signal. In this case, data may be lost. Other applications may also experience problems when taking actions that assume the data is available on the disk.

NOTE: Storage Management does not allow you to select the Write-Back

policy for controllers that do not have a battery. The only exception are PERC S100 and S300. This restriction protects a controller without a battery from the loss of data that may occur in the event of a power failure. On some controllers, the Write-Back policy may be available in the controller BIOS even though it is not available in Storage Management.

•

Force Write Back

—When using force write-back caching, the write cache is enabled regardless of whether the controller has a battery. If the controller does not have a battery and force write-back caching is used, data loss may occur in the event of a power failure.

•

Write Back Enabled

—When using write-back enabled caching, the controller firmware disables the write cache if it does not detect the presence of a charged battery over a specified period of time. For example, on some controllers, the write cache is disabled if the firmware cannot detect a charged battery within 72 hours.

Supported Features

76 Controllers

•

Writ e-Thro ugh

—When using write-through caching, the controller sends a write-request completion signal only after the data is written to the disk. Write-through caching provides better data security than write-back caching, since the system assumes the data is available only after it has been safely written to the disk.

NOTE: Write-through is the default write policy setting when cluster mode is

enabled.

•

Write Cache Enabled Protected

—When the write cache is enabled, the controller writes data to the write cache before writing data to the physical disk. Because it takes less time to write data to the write cache than it does to a disk, enabling the write cache can improve system performance. After data is written to the write cache, the system is free to continue with other operations. The controller, in the meantime, completes the write operation by writing the data from the write cache to the physical disk. The

Cache Enabled Protected

option is only available if the controller has a functional battery. The presence of a functional battery ensures that data can be written from the write cache to the physical disk even in the case of a power outage.

NOTE: Storage Management does not allow you to select the Write Cache

Enabled Protected policy for controllers that do not have a battery. This restriction protects a controller without a battery from the data loss that may occur in the event of a power failure. When using the Create Virtual Disk Advanced Wizard on a controller without a battery, the wizard either displays Write Cache Disabled as the only available option or the wizard does not display any option for write policy.

•

Write Cache Disabled

—This is the only available option if the controller

does not have a functional battery.

Write

Cache Policy

Does my controller support this feature? See

The Direct I/O and Cache I/O cache policies apply to reads on a specific virtual disk. These settings do not affect the read-ahead policy. The cache policies are as follows:

•

Cache I/O

—Specifies that all reads are buffered in cache memory.

Supported Features

Controllers 77

•

Direct I/O

using direct I/O, data is transferred to the controller cache and the host system simultaneously during a read request. If a subsequent read request requires data from the same data block, it can be read directly from the controller cache. The direct I/O setting does not override the cache policy settings. Direct I/O is also the default setting.

NOTE: Cache policy is not supported on any controller that does not have a battery.

—Specifies that reads are not buffered in cache memory. When

Disk Cache Policy

Does my controller support this feature? See

Set the physical disk caching policy of all members of a Virtual Disk by enabling the Disk Cache Policy. When this feature is enabled, the physical disk writes data to the physical disk cache before writing it to the physical disk. Because it is faster to write data to the cache than to a disk, enabling this feature can improve system performance.

The cache policies are:

•

Enabled—

•

Disabled—

NOTE: For virtual disks based on SATA drives, the default Disk Cache Policy is

Enabled; and for virtual disks based on SAS drives, it is Disabled.

NOTE: For SAS 6i/R and PERC H200 family of controllers, disk cache policy setting

is available only after creating the virtual disk.

Specifies that the disk cache policy is enabled.

Specifies that the disk cache policy is disabled.

Supported Features

Background Initialization on PERC Controllers

On PERC controllers, background initialization of a redundant virtual disk begins automatically within 0 to 5 minutes after the virtual disk is created. The background initialization of a redundant virtual disk prepares the virtual disk to maintain redundant data and improves write performance. For example, after the background initialization of a RAID 5 virtual disk completes, the parity information has been initialized. After the background initialization of a RAID 1 virtual disk completes, the physical disks are mirrored.

78 Controllers

The background initialization process helps the controller identify and correct problems that may occur with the redundant data at a later time. In this regard, the background initialization process is similar to a check consistency.

The background initialization should be allowed to run to completion. If cancelled, the background initialization automatically restarts within 0 to 5 minutes. Some processes such as read and write operations are possible while the background initialization is running. Other processes, such as creating a virtual disk, cannot be run concurrently with a background initialization. These processes cause the background initialization to cancel.

Non-RAID Controller Description

The non-RAID SCSI and SAS controllers are non-RAID controllers that support SCSI and SAS devices. Because these controllers are non-RAID, they do not support virtual disks. You can manage these non-RAID controllers and their attached SCSI and SAS devices with Storage Management.

NOTE: Supported features may vary from controller to controller.

Non-RAID SCSI Controllers

The

LSI PCI-e U320 Interface (SCSI) technology. controllers is supported in this release.

non-RAID controllers use Small Computer System

The ITA for LSI PCI-e U320 SCSI non-RAID

Non-RAID SAS Controllers

The following non-RAID controllers use Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) technology.

• SAS 5/i Integrated

• SAS 5/E

• SAS 6Gbps Adapter

Firmware/Driver Versions

Use this window to view information about the controller firmware and drivers. For more information on firmware and drivers, see

Storage Management

Before Installing

Controllers 79

Firmware/Driver Properties

The firmware and driver properties can vary depending on the model of the controller. On some controllers, Storage Management may not be able to obtain the driver or firmware version. In this case, Storage Management displays Not Applicable. Firmware and driver properties may include:

80 Controllers

Table 7-1. Firmware and Driver Properties

Property Definition

Firmware Version This property displays the version of the firmware that is

currently installed on the controller.

NOTE: On some controllers, Storage Management may not be

able to obtain the firmware version. In this case, Storage Management displays Not Applicable.

Minimum Required Firmware Version

Driver Version This property displays the version of the driver that is currently

This property displays the minimum firmware version that is required by Storage Management. This property is only displayed if the controller firmware does not meet the minimum requirement.

installed on the controller.

NOTE: On some controllers, Storage Management may not be

able to obtain the driver version. In this case, Storage Management displays Not Applicable.

Minimum Required Driver Ve rs io n

Storport Driver Ve rs io n

This property displays the minimum driver version that is required by Storage Management. This property is only displayed if the controller driver does not meet the minimum requirement.

This property displays the version of the storport driver that is installed on the system.

Controllers 81

Property Definition

Minimum Required Storport Driver Version

This property displays the minimum storport driver version required by Storage Management. This property is displayed if the operating system storport driver does not meet the minimum requirement. This is applicable for Windows operating system only.

NOTE: To download the latest storport driver, see the Microsoft

Knowledge Base article 943545 at support.microsoft.com.

Controller Health

This screen displays the status of the controller and the components attached to the controller.

Controller Severity

Component status is indicated by the severity. A component with a Warning or Critical/Failure status requires immediate attention to avoid data loss if possible. A component’s status may indicate the combined status of the component and its lower-level objects. For more information, see

Determining the Health Status for Storage Components

It may be useful to review the Alert Log for events indicating why a component has a Warning or Critical status. For additional troubleshooting information, see

Troubleshooting

82 Controllers

Table 7-2. Component Severity

Severity Component Status

Normal/OK. The component is working as expected.

Warning/Non-critical. A probe or other monitoring device

Critical/Failure/Error. The component has either failed or failure is imminent. The component requires immediate attention and may need to be replaced. Data loss may have occurred.

Controller Information

For information on the controller, see the following topics:

• Controllers

• Controller Properties and Tasks

Controller Components

For information on attached components, see the following topics:

• RAID Controller Batteries

• Firmware/Driver Versions

• Connectors

NOTE: If you have connected the enclosure in Redundant path mode, the

connectors are represented as Logical Connector.

• Virtual Disks

Controllers 83

Controller Properties and Tasks

Use this window to view information about the controller and execute controller tasks.

Controller Properties

The controller properties can vary depending on the model of the controller. Controller properties may include:

Table 7-3. Controller Properties

Property Definition

Status These icons represent the severity or health of the storage

component.

For more information, see

Normal/OK

Warning/Non-critical

Critical/Fatal

ID This property displays the controller ID assigned to the

controller by Storage Management. Storage Management numbers the controllers attached to the system starting with zero. This number is the same as the controller ID number reported by the Command Line Interface, see the Server Administrator

Command Line Interface User’s Guide.

Name This property displays the name of the controller.

State This property displays the current status of the controller.

Possible values are:

Ready—The controller is functioning normally.

Degraded—The controller has encountered a failure and is

operating in a degraded state.

Failed—The controller has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning.

omreport Command. For information on

Storage Component Severity

84 Controllers

Property Definition

Firmware Version This property displays the version of the firmware that is

currently installed on the controller.

NOTE: On some controllers, Storage Management may not be

able to obtain the firmware version. In this case, Storage Management displays Not Applicable.

Minimum Required Firmware Version

Driver Version This property displays the version of the driver that is

This property displays the minimum firmware version that is required by Storage Management. This property is only displayed if the controller firmware does not meet the minimum requirement.

currently installed on the controller.

NOTE: On some controllers, Storage Management may not be

able to obtain the driver version. In this case, Storage Management displays Not Applicable.

Minimum Required Driver Version

Number of Connectors

This property displays the minimum driver version that is required by Storage Management. This property is only displayed if the controller driver does not meet the minimum requirement.

Controllers 85

Property Definition

Rebuild Rate The rebuild rate is the percentage of the system’s resources

dedicated to rebuilding a failed disk when a rebuild is necessary. For more information, see

Set Rebuild Rate

NOTE: Revertible Hot Spare operation has the same rebuild

rate that you set here.

BGI Rate The background initialization (BGI) rate is the percentage of

the system’s resources dedicated to performing the background initialization of a virtual disk after it is created. For more information, see

Check Consistency Rate

Reconstruct Rate The reconstruct rate is the percentage of the system’s

Alarm State This property displays whether the controller’s alarm is

The check consistency rate is the percentage of the system’s resources dedicated to performing a check consistency on a redundant virtual disk. For more information, see

Consistency

resources dedicated to reconstructing a disk group after adding a physical disk or changing the RAID level of a virtual disk residing on the disk group. For more information, see

Reconstruct Rate

enabled or disabled.

Set Background Initialization Rate

Check

Set

NOTE: This property is displayed only for SCSI storage

controllers.

Abort check consistency on error

Allow Revertible Hot Spare and Replace Member

Loadbalance This property provides the ability to automatically use both

This property enables you to stop the Check Consistency operation on error rather than continuing. This property is available only on controllers that have controller firmware version 6.1 and later.

This property enables the automatic copying of data from a physical disk to a hot spare (in case of predictive failure) or from a hot spare to a physical disk (in case of replacement of a degraded disk). For more information, see

Spare

controller ports or connectors connected to the same enclosure to route I/O requests. This property is available only on SAS controllers that have controller firmware version 6.1 and later. For more information, see

Revertible Hot

Redundant path view

86 Controllers

Property Definition

Auto replace member on predictive failure

Redundant path view Indicates whether Storage Management has detected a

Encryption Capable Indicates whether the controller has the capability to support

Encryption Key Present

Encryption Mode Indicates whether the controller is using Local Key

Cache Memory Size This property displays the size of the controller’s cache

Patrol Read Mode This property displays the Patrol Read mode setting for the

In case of predictive failure, this property enables the automatic copying of data from a physical disk to a hot spare. Use this property in conjunction with the Allow Revertible Hot Spare and Replace Member property.

redundant path configuration. Storage Management detects a redundant path configuration when both controller ports are connected to the same enclosure that is in a unified mode. For more information, see

encryption. Possible values are Yes and No.

Indicates whether the controller has an Encryption Key established. Possible values are Yes and No.

Management (LKM) or None. For more information, see

Manage Encryption Key

memory.

controller. Possible values are:

Auto—When set to Auto, a Patrol Read runs continuously on the system. When one iteration of the Patrol Read is complete, the next Patrol Read is scheduled to start within a period of time specified by the controller. You do not have the option of manually starting or stopping the Patrol Read in Auto mode.

Manual—When set to Manual, you can start or stop the Patrol Read process.

Disabled—This property indicates that the Patrol Read process is disabled.

For more information about Patrol Read, see

Mode

and

Start and Stop Patrol Read

Redundant Path Configuration

Set Patrol Read

Controllers 87

Property Definition

Patrol Read State This property displays the current state of the Patrol Read

process. Possible values are:

Ready—The Patrol Read process is enabled and runs when next scheduled or when manually initiated.

Active—The Patrol Read process is currently running.

Stopped—The Patrol Read has been stopped.

For more information about Patrol Read, see

Mode

Patrol Read Rate This property represents the percentage of the system

resources dedicated for running the Patrol Read operation. It changes the amount of system resources assigned for the Patrol Read task. The patrol read rate can be configured between 0% and 100%, where:

• 0% — indicates the lowest priority for controllers and has the least impact on the system performance.

• 100% — indicates the highest priority for controllers and has a greater impact on the system performance.

Patrol Read Iterations

Cluster Mode This property indicates whether the controller is part of a

Persistent Hot Spare The possible values are:

This property displays the number of Patrol Read iterations.

For more information about Patrol Read, see

Mode

cluster configuration.

Enabled: The slot corresponding to the hot spare drive is persistent. Any drive in the slot functions as a hot spare if the drive is qualified to be a hot spare.

Set Patrol Read

NOTE: Any drive in the slot functions as a hot spare. If the drive

contains foreign data, it is overwritten.

Disabled: The slot corresponding to the hot spare drive is not persistent. If the drive is removed from the slot and any drive is inserted, the slot stops function as a hot spare. You need to manually assign the drive as a hot spare again.

Controller Tasks Enables you to configure and manage the controller. For more

information, see

Controller Tasks

88 Controllers

Property Definition

Available Reports Enables you to view Patrol Read report, Check Consistency

report, Slot Occupancy report, and Physical Disk Firmware Version Report. For more information, see

Available Reports

Controller Tasks

To execute a controller task:

Expand the

Select a controller object.

Select the

Select a task from the

Click

NOTE: Different controllers support different features. For this reason, the tasks

displayed on the Tasks drop-down menu can vary depending on which controller is selected in the tree view. If no tasks can be performed because of controller or system configuration limitations, then the Tasks drop-down menu displays No Task Available.

Controller Tasks

• Rescan Controller

•Create Virtual Disk

• Enable Alarm (Controller)

• Disable Alarm (Controller)

• Quiet Alarm (Controller)

• Test Alarm (Controller)

•Set Rebuild Rate

• Reset Configuration

•Export Log

• Foreign Configuration Operations

• Importing Foreign Configurations

• Importing/Recovering Foreign Configurations

• Clear Foreign Configuration

Storage

tree object to display the controller objects.

Information/Configuration

Available Tasks

Execute

subtab.

drop-down menu.

Controllers 89

• Set Background Initialization Rate

• Set Check Consistency Rate

• Set Reconstruct Rate

•Set Patrol Read Mode

• Start and Stop Patrol Read

• Manage Preserved Cache

• Change Controller Properties

• Manage Physical Disk Power

•Manage Encryption Key

• Convert to RAID Capable Disks

• Convert to Non-RAID Disks

Available Reports

To view a report:

Expand the

Select a controller object.

Select the

Select a report from the

Click

Storage

Information/Configuration

Execute

tree object to display the controller objects.

Select Report

subtab.

drop-down menu.

Available Reports

• Patrol Read Report

• Check Consistency Report

• Slot Occupancy Report

• Physical Disk Firmware Version Report

Rescan Controller

Does my controller support this feature? See

90 Controllers

Supported Features

On SCSI controllers, a rescan updates configuration changes (such as new or removed devices) for all components attached to the controller. For information on when you may want to do a rescan, see

Storage Configuration Changes

NOTE: Rescan Controller is not supported on non-RAID SCSI controllers. You must

reboot the system before Storage Management can see configuration changes on non-RAID SCSI controllers. Otherwise, configuration changes are not reflected in the Storage Management graphical user interface (GUI).

To rescan a controller:

Expand the tree view to display the controller object.

Select the

Click the

Select

Click

Controller

Configuration/Information

Rescan

from the

Execute

object.

Controller Tasks

subtab.

drop-down menu.

Rescan to Update

You can also locate this task from the Change Controller Properties drop down menu. For more information, see

Create Virtual Disk

Does my controller support this feature? See

Change Controller Properties

Supported Features

Use the Create Virtual Disk task to launch the Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard. For more information, see

Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard

Enable Alarm (Controller)

Does my controller support this feature? See

Supported Features

Use the Enable Alarm task to enable the controller’s alarm. When enabled, the alarm sounds in the event of a device failure.

Disable Alarm (Controller)

Does my controller support this feature? See

Supported Features

Use the Disable Alarm task to disable the controller’s alarm. When disabled, the alarm does not sound in the event of a device failure.

Controllers 91

Quiet Alarm (Controller)

Does my controller support this feature? See

Supported Features

Use the Quiet Alarm task to quiet the controller’s alarm when it is sounding. After it is quieted, the alarm is still enabled in the event of a future device failure.

Test Alarm (Controller)

Does my controller support this feature? See

Supported Features

Use the Test Alarm task to test whether the controller alarm is functional. The alarm sounds for about 2 seconds.

Set Rebuild Rate

Does my controller support this feature? See

Supported Features

Use the Set Rebuild Rate task to change the rebuild rate. For more information, see

Export Log File

Does my controller support this feature? See

Set Rebuild Rate

Supported Features

Use this task to export the controller log to a text file. For more information, see

Export Log

Controller Components

For information on attached components, see the following topics:

• Battery Properties and Tasks

• Connector Properties and Tasks

• Enclosure and Backplane Properties and Tasks

• Firmware/Driver Properties

• Virtual Disk Properties and Tasks

Foreign Configuration Operations

Does my controller support this feature? See

92 Controllers

Supported Features

The Foreign Configuration Operations task provides a preview of the foreign configurations that you can import. This task is available on PERC 6 controllers with firmware version 6.1 and later. For more information, see

Foreign Configuration Operations

Manage Physical Disk Power

Does my controller support this feature? See

Supported Features

The Manage Physical Disk Power task allows to manage the power consumed by the physical disks by spinning down the hotspares and unconfigured drives if there is no I/O activity for a specified amount of time. This option is supported with PERC H700, H800, and H310 cards. Additionally, PERC H810, H710, and H710P cards support power saving configurations on unconfigured, Hot Spare, and configured disks.

Controllers 93

Set Rebuild Rate

Does my controller support this feature? See

The Set Rebuild Rate task changes the controller’s rebuild rate.

During a rebuild, the complete contents of a physical disk are reconstructed. The rebuild rate, configurable between 0% and 100%, represents the percentage of the system resources dedicated to rebuilding failed physical disks. At 0%, the rebuild has the lowest priority for the controller, takes the most time to complete, and is the setting with the least impact to system performance. A rebuild rate of 0% does not mean that the rebuild is stopped or paused.

At 100%, the rebuild is the highest priority for the controller, minimizes the rebuild time, and is the setting with the most impact to system performance.

On the PERC controllers, the controller firmware also uses the rebuild rate setting to control the system resource allocation for the following tasks. For these controllers, the rebuild rate setting applies to these tasks in the same manner that it applies to the Rebuild task.

• Check Consistency

• Background Initialization (see Cancel Background Initialization)

• Full Initialization (A BIOS setting determines whether a full or fast initialization occurs. See Slow and Fast Initialize.)

• Reconfigure (see Virtual Disk Task: Reconfigure (Step 1 of 3))

To change the controller’s rebuild rate:

Type a numerical value in the be within the 0 – 100 range.

Click

Apply Changes

. To exit and cancel your changes, click

New Rebuild Rate

Supported Features

text box. The value must

Go Back to

To locate this task in Storage Management:

Expand the

Select a controller object.

Select the

Select

94 Controllers

Storage

Information/Configuration

Set Rebuild Rate

tree object to display the controller objects.

from the

subtab.

Available Tasks

drop-down menu.

Click

Execute

You can also locate this task from the Change Controller Properties drop down menu. For more information, see

Change Controller Properties

Reset Configuration

Does my controller support this feature? See

Supported Features

Use the Reset Configuration task to erase all information on the controller so that you can perform a fresh configuration. This operation destroys all data and virtual disks on the controller and unassigns any hot spares.

You must completely reconfigure your storage after performing this operation.

CAUTION: Resetting a configuration permanently destroys all data on all virtual

disks attached to the controller. If the system or boot partition resides on these virtual disks, it is destroyed.

NOTE: Resetting the controller configuration does not remove a foreign

configuration. To remove a foreign configuration, use the Clear Foreign Configuration task.

To reset the controller configuration:

Review the virtual disks that is destroyed by resetting the controller configuration. Make backups as necessary. Click

Blink

at the bottom of

the screen to blink the physical disks included in the virtual disks.

Click

Reset Configuration

when you are ready to erase all information on

the controller. To exit without resetting the controller configuration, click

Go Back to Previous Page

Controllers 95

To locate this task in Storage Management:

Expand the

Select a controller object.

Select the

Select

Click

You can also locate this task from the Change Controller Properties drop down menu. For more information, see

Storage

Information/Configuration

Reset Configuration

Execute

tree object to display the controller objects.

subtab.

from the

Available Tasks

Change Controller Properties

drop-down menu.

Export Log

Does my controller support this feature? See

The Export Log task exports the controller log to a text file. The log gives detailed information on the controller activities and can be useful for troubleshooting.

On a system running windows or winnt directory. On a system running Linux operating systems, the log file is exported to the /var/log directory.

Depending on the controller, the log file name is either afa_< lsi_<

mmdd

>.log where <

NOTE: In the VMware ESXi environment, only one log file is created (lsiexport.log).

If the file already exists, exporting the log file overwrites the existing log file.

NOTE: Controllers without cache cannot store logs and export log files.

To export the controller log file:

Click Export Log File when ready. To exit without exporting the controller log file, click Go Back to Previous Page.

To locate this task in Storage Management:

Expand the

Select a controller object.

Select the

Select

Export Log

Microsoft Windows, the log file is exported to the

mmdd

> is the month and date.

Storage

Information/Configuration

tree object to display the controller objects.

from the

Available Tasks

Supported Features

subtab.

drop-down menu.

mmdd

>.log or

96 Controllers

Click

Execute

You can also locate this task from the Change Controller Properties drop down menu. For more information, see

Change Controller Properties

Foreign Configuration Operations

NOTE: Foreign Configuration Operations is available only on SAS controllers with

firmware versions 6.1 and later.

A foreign configuration is data residing on physical disks that has been moved from one controller to another. Virtual disks residing on physical disks that have been moved are considered to be a foreign configuration.

NOTE: It is not recommend to remove an external enclosure cable while the

operating system is running on the system. Removing the cable could result in a foreign configuration when the connection is re-established.

The Foreign Configuration Operations option is displayed only when a controller detects a foreign configuration. Select this option and click Execute to display the Foreign Configuration Preview page.

The Foreign Configuration Preview screen provides a preview of the foreign disks and enables you to perform operations such as, importing, recovering, or clearing the foreign disks. You can also import or clear a locked foreign configuration.

• If any foreign configurations locked using detected, the associated

Encryption Key Identifier

you to enter the corresponding Passphrase to unlock the drives.

To avoid unlocking foreign configurations and to proceed to preview/import/clear a foreign configuration that has not been locked, click Skip or Continue.

If you do not want to import/clear the foreign configurations, or in case of loss of the associated Passphrase of the corresponding Encryption Key Identifier, execute the Instant Encrypt Erase task for the physical disks.

Local Key manager (LKM)

is displayed prompting

are

CAUTION: Executing the Instant Encrypt Erase task erases all data on the

physical disk.

Some conditions, such as an unsupported RAID level or an incomplete disk group, can prevent the import or recovery of foreign virtual disks.

Controllers 97

Foreign Configuration Properties

The following table describes the properties that are displayed for the Foreign Disks and Global Hot Spares.

Table 7-4. Foreign Configuration Properties

Property Definition

Status These icons represent the severity or health of the storage

component.

Normal/OK

Warning/Non-critical

Critical/Fatal

For more information, see

Name This property displays the name of the foreign configuration and is

available as a link. The link enables you to access the physical disks that constitute the foreign disk.

Storage Component Severity

98 Controllers

Property Definition

State This property displays the current state of the foreign configuration.

Ready—The foreign disk can be imported and functions normally

after import.

Degraded—The foreign disk is in degraded state and rebuilds after import.

Failed—The foreign disk has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning. You cannot import the foreign configuration.

The foreign configuration may be in degraded or failed state due to any of the following reasons:

• Missing physical disk—One of the physical disks in the potential virtual disk is missing or not available.

• Missing Span—One or more span of a hybrid virtual disk is missing

• Stale physical disks—One or more physical disk in the configuration may contain out-of-date data with respect to other disks of that virtual disk. Hence, the data integrity of the imported virtual disk is not intact.

• Unsupported configuration of the virtual disk—The virtual disk has an unsupported RAID level.

• The virtual disks available for import exceed the number of virtual disk available for export.

• Incompatible physical disks—Configuration on the physical disks is not recognized by the RAID firmware.

• Orphan drive—A physical disk in the foreign configuration has configuration information that matches another physical disk that is already a part of an array (either a foreign or a native array).

NOTE: For other applicable physical disk tasks and properties, see

Physical Disk or Physical Device Properties and Tasks

Layout This property displays the RAID level of the foreign configuration.

Controllers 99

Property Definition

Remarks This property gives more information about the foreign virtual disk.

If the virtual disk cannot be imported, the reason for failure is displayed.

• Exceeded Maximum—The number of virtual disks selected for import has exceeded the maximum number of supported disks.

• Missing physical disk or missing span—One or more physical disks or spans in the virtual disk to be imported is missing.

• Unsupported—The selected RAID level is not supported on this controller.

• Orphan Drive—The physical disk was once part of a RAID volume but was replaced. The configuration should be cleared.

• Stale Physical Disk—The physical disk in the virtual disk to be imported has outdated data.

• Partially Foreign—The virtual disk is part of an already existing configuration. Some physical disks in this virtual disk are foreign.

Dedicated Hot Spare

This property displays whether the foreign disk is a dedicated hot spare.

Based on this information, you can decide whether you want to import, recover, or clear the foreign configuration.

To preview the import of foreign configuration

Click Foreign Configuration Operations from the Controller Tasks drop down menu. Click Execute to display the Foreign Configuration Preview screen.

To locate this task in Storage Management

For SAS controllers with firmware version 6.1:

Expand the

Select a controller object.

Select the

Select

Ta s ks

Click

Storage

tree object to display the controller objects.

Information/Configuration

Foreign Configuration Operations

drop-down menu.

Execute

100 Controllers

subtab.

from the

Controller Available

Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Version 7.2 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Overview

What’s New in this Release?

Before Installing Storage Management

Version Requirements for Controller Firmware and Drivers

Supported Controllers

Supported Enclosures

Support for Disk and Volume Management

Getting Started

Launching Storage Management

Microsoft Windows

Linux and any Remote System

User Privileges

Using the Graphical User Interface

Storage Object

Health Subtab

Information/Configuration Subtab

Drop-down Menus and Wizards for Running Tasks

Using the Storage Management Command Line Interface

Displaying the Online Help

Common Storage Tasks

Understanding RAID Concepts

What Is RAID?

Hardware and Software RAID

RAID Concepts

RAID Levels

Organizing Data Storage for Availability and Performance

Choosing RAID Levels and Concatenation

Concatenation

RAID Level 0 (Striping)

RAID Level 1 (Mirroring)

RAID Level 5 (Striping with distributed parity)

RAID Level 6 (Striping with additional distributed parity)

RAID Level 50 (Striping over RAID 5 sets)

RAID Level 60 (Striping over RAID 6 sets)

RAID Level 10 (Striping over mirror sets)

RAID Level 1-Concatenated (Concatenated mirror)

Comparing RAID Level and Concatenation Performance

No-RAID

Quick Access to Storage Status and Tasks

Storage Dashboard and Storage Health

Storage Health

Hot Spare Protection Policy

Select Report

Storage Component Severity

Storage Properties and Current Activity

Alerts or Events

Monitoring Disk Reliability on RAID Controllers

Using Alarms to Detect Failures

Using Enclosure Temperature Probes

Rescan to Update Storage Configuration Changes

Time Delay in Displaying Configuration Changes

PCI Express Solid-State Device Support

What is PCIe SSD

PCIe SSD Features

PCIe Sub System Properties

PCIe Extender Cards

Physical Device Properties

Physical Device Tasks

Blink and Unblink

Full Initialization

Prepare to Remove

Export Log

PCIe SSD Sub System Health

Backplanes

Backplane Firmware Version

Storage Information and Global Tasks

Storage Properties

Global Tasks

Global Rescan

Enable/Disable Smart Thermal Shutdown

Storage Controllers

Storage Components

Controllers

What is a Controller?

RAID Controller Technology: SCSI, SATA, ATA, and SAS

RAID Controller Features