Dell PERC 3 User Manual
Dell™ PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 3/QC, 3/DC, 3/DCL and
3/SC
PERC 3 User’s Guide
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____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2002 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Computer
Corporation is s tr ictly forbid den.
Trademar ks used in th is text : Dell, the DELL logo, PowerEdge, PowerVault, and Dell OpenManage
are trademarks and DellWare is a registered service mark of Dell Computer Corporation. MegaRAID
is a registered trademark of LSI Logic Corporation. Microsoft, Windows NT, MS-DOS and Windows
are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Intel and Pentium are registered tra demark s of
Intel Corporation. Novell and NetWare are regi s tered trademar ks of Novel l Co rporation. ASPI is a
registered trademark of Adaptec, I nc. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business
Machines.
Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming
the marks and names or their products. Dell Computer Corporation disclaims any proprietary interest
in trademarks and trade names oth er tha n its own.
July 2002 P/N 5C229 Rev. A04
Safety Instructions
CAUTION: Safety Instructions
Use the following safety guidelines to help ensure your own personal safety
and to help protect your computer and working environment from potential
damage.
General
• Do not attempt to service the computer yourself unless you are a
trained service technician. Always follow installation instructions
closely.
• To help prevent electric shock, plug the computer and device power
cables into properly grounded electrical outlets. These cables are
equipped with 3-prong plugs to help ensure proper grounding. Do not
use adapter plugs or remove the grounding prong from a cable. If you
must use an extension cable, use a 3-wire cable with properly grounded
plugs.
• To help avoid the potential hazard of electric shock, do not use your
computer during an electrical storm.
• To help avoid the potential hazard of electric shock, do not connect or
disconnect any cables or perform maintenance or reconfiguration of
this product during an electrical storm.
• If your computer includes a modem, the cable used with the modem
should be manufactured with a minimum wire size of 26 American
wire gauge (AWG) and an FCC-compliant RJ-11 modular plug.
• Before you clean your computer, disconnect the computer from the
electrical outlet. Clean your computer with a soft cloth dampened
with water. Do not use liquid or aerosol cleaners, which may contain
flammable substances.
• To help avoid possible damage to the system board, wait 5 seconds
after turning off the computer before disconnecting a device from the
computer.
• To avoid shorting out your computer when disconnecting a network
cable, first unplug the cable from the network adapter on the back of
your computer, and then from the network jack. When reconnecting a
network cable to your computer, first plug the cable into the network
jack, and then into the network adapter.
1
• To help protect your computer from sudden, transient increases and
decreases in electrical power, use a surge suppressor, line conditioner,
or uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
• Ensure that nothing rests on your computer’s cables and that the
cables are not located where they can be stepped on or tripped over.
• Do not push any objects into the openings of your computer. Doing so
can cause fire or electric shock by shorting out interior components.
• Keep your computer away from radiators and heat sources. Also, do not
block cooling vents. Avoid placing loose papers underneath your
computer; do not place your computer in a closed-in wall unit or on a
bed, sofa, or rug.
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When Using Your Computer
As you use your computer, observe the following safe-handling guidelines.
CAUTION: Do not operate your computer with any cover(s)
(including computer covers, bezels, filler brackets, front-panel
inserts, and so on) removed.
Your computer is equipped with one of the following:
• A fixed-voltage power supply — Computers with a fixed-voltage power
supply do not have a voltage selection switch on the back panel and
operate at only one voltage (see the regulatory label on the outside of
the computer for its operating voltage).
• An auto-sensing voltage circuit — Computers with an auto-sensing
voltage circuit do not have a voltage selection switch on the back panel
and automatically detect the correct operating voltage.
• A manual voltage selection switch — Computers with a voltage
selection switch on the back panel must be manually set to operate at
the correct operating voltage.
To help avoid damaging a computer with a manual voltage selection switch,
ensure that the voltage selection switch is set to match the AC power
available at your location:
• 115 V/60 Hz in most of North and South America and some Far
Eastern countries such as South Korea and Taiwan
2
• 100 V/50 Hz in eastern Japan and 100 V/60 Hz in western Japan
• 230 V/50 Hz in some regions in the Caribbean and South America and
most of Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East
Also, ensure that your monitor and attached devices are electrically rated to
operate with the AC power available in your location.
• Before working inside the computer, unplug the computer to help
prevent electric shock or system board damage. Certain system board
components continue to receive power any time the computer is
connected to AC power.
When Working Inside Your Computer
Before you open the computer cover, perform the following steps in the
sequence indicated.
CAUTION: Do not attempt to service the computer yourself,
except as explained in your online Dell™ documentation or in
instructions otherwise provided to you by Dell. Always follow
installation and service instructions closely.
NOTICE: To help avoid possible damage to the system board, wait 5 seconds
after turning off the computer before removing a component from the system
board or disconnecting a device from the computer.
1
Perform an orderly computer shutdown using the operating system
menu.
NOTE: The voltage
selection switch must be
set to the 115-V position
even though the AC power
available in Japan is
100 V.
2 Turn off your computer and any devices connected to the computer.
3 Ground yourself by touching an unpainted metal surface on the
chassis, such as the metal around the card-slot openings at the back of
the computer, before touching anything inside your computer.
While you work, periodically touch an unpainted metal surface on the
computer chassis to dissipate any static electricity that might harm
internal components.
4 Disconnect your computer and devices, including the monitor, from
their electrical outlets. Also, disconnect any telephone or
telecommunication lines from the computer.
Doing so reduces the potential for personal injury or shock.
In addition, take note of these safety guidelines when appropriate:
3
• When you disconnect a cable, pull on its connector or on its strainrelief loop, not on the cable itself. Some cables have a connector with
locking tabs; if you are disconnecting this type of cable, press in on the
locking tabs before disconnecting the cable. As you pull connectors
apart, keep them evenly aligned to avoid bending any connector pins.
Also, before you connect a cable, ensure that both connectors are
correctly oriented and aligned.
• Handle components and cards with care. Do not touch the
components or contacts on a card. Hold a card by its edges or by its
metal mounting bracket. Hold a component such as a microprocessor
chip by its edges, not by its pins.
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CAUTION: There is a danger of a new battery exploding if it is
incorrectly installed. Replace the battery only with the same or
equivalent type recommended by the manufacturer. Do not
dispose of the battery along with household waste. Contact your
local waste disposal agency for the address of the nearest battery
deposit site.
Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge
Static electricity can harm delicate components inside your computer. To
prevent static damage, discharge static electricity from your body before you
touch any of your computer’s electronic components, such as the
microprocessor. You can do so by touching an unpainted metal surface on
the computer chassis.
As you continue to work inside the computer, periodically touch an
unpainted metal surface to remove any static charge your body may have
accumulated.
You can also take the following steps to prevent damage from electrostatic
discharge (ESD):
• Do not remove components from their antistatic packing material
until you are ready to install the component in your computer. Just
before unwrapping the antistatic packaging, discharge static electricity
from your body.
• When transporting an electrostatic sensitive component, first place it
in an antistatic container or packaging.
• Handle all electrostatic sensitive components in a static-safe area. If
possible, use antistatic floor pads and workbench pads.
4
Ergonomic Computing Habits
CAUTION: Improper or prolonged keyboard use may result in
injury.
CAUTION: Viewing the monitor screen for extended periods of
time may result in eye strain.
Battery Disposal
Do not dispose of the battery along with household waste. Contact your
local waste disposal agency for the address of the nearest battery deposit
site.
5
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6
Contents
Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 Overview
PERC 3 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
PERC 3 Features
SCSI Channels
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Non-volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM) and Flash
Read-only Memory (ROM)
SCSI Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Single-Ended and LVD SCSI Buses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards
SCSI Bus Widths and Maximum Throughput . . . . . . . . . . 26
Operating System Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2 Introduction to RAID
RAID Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
PERC 3 Host-Based RAID Solution
Components and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Physical Array
Logical Drive
Fault Tolerance
Consistency Check
Disk Striping
Disk Mirroring
Disk Spanning
Spanning for RAID 10 or RAID 50
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
. . . . . . . . . . 26
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Contents 7
Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Disk Rebuilds
Hot Swap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
SCSI Drive States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Logical Drive States
Enclosure Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3 RAID Levels
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Selecting a RAID Level
RAID 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
RAID 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
RAID 5
RAID 10
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
RAID 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4 PERC 3/SC Features
Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Configuration Features
SMART Technology
Configuration on Disk Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Hardware Architecture Features
Array Performance Features
PERC 3/SC Fault Tolerance Features
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
8 Contents
Software Utilities
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Operating System Software Drivers
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
PERC 3/SC Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
PCI Bridge/CPU
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Cache Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
PERC 3/SC BIOS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Onboard Speaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Serial Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
SCSI Bus
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
SCSI Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
SCSI Firmware
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
RAID Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5 PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL Features
Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Configuration Features
SMART Technology
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Configuration on Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Hardware Architecture Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Array Performance Features
Fault Tolerance Features
Software Utilities
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Operating System Software Drivers
PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL Specifications
PCI Bridge/CPU
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
. . . . . . . . . . . 68
Cache Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL BIOS
Onboard Speaker
Serial Port
SCSI Bus
SCSI Connectors
SCSI Termination
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
9 Contents
SCSI Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
RAID Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6 PERC 3/QC Features
Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Configuration Features
SMART Technology
Configuration on Disk
Hardware Architecture Features
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Array Performance Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Fault Tolerance Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Software Utilities
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Operating System Software Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
PERC 3/QC Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
PCI Bridge/CPU
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Cache Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
PERC 3/QC BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Onboard Speaker
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Serial Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
SCSI Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
SCSI Connectors
SCSI Termination
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
SCSI Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
RAID Management
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7 Configuring PERC 3
Configuring SCSI Physical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Current Configuration
Logical Drive Configuration
10 Contents
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Physical Device Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Configuring Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Arranging Arrays
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Creating Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Creating Logical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Configuration Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Maximizing Capacity
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Maximizing Drive Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Maximizing Drive Performance
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Assigning RAID Levels
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Configuring Logical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Optimizing Data Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Data Access Requirements
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Array Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Planning the Array Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Using the Array Configuration Planner
Random Array Deletion
Overview
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Configuration Module
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
8 PERC 3/SC Hardware Installation
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Optional Equipment
PERC 3/SC Card Layout
Installation Steps
Step 1—Unpack
Step 2—Power Down
Step 3—Set Jumpers
Step 4—Set SCSI Termination
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
11 Contents
Step 5—Install PERC 3/SC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Step 6—Connect SCSI Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Step 7—Set Target IDs
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Step 8—Power On Host System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Step 9—Run PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility or WebBIOS
Utility
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Step 10—Install Operating System Software Drivers . . . . . . 116
9 PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL Hardware Installation
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Optional Equipment
PERC 3/DC Card Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
PERC 3/DCL Card Layout
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Installation Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Step 1—Unpack the PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL
Step 2—Power Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Step 3—Set Jumpers
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Step 4—Set SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Step 5—Install the PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL Controller . . 126
Step 6—Select and Set Target IDs for SCSI Devices
Step 7—Connect SCSI Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Step 8—Power On Host System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Step 9—Run the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility or WebBIOS
Configuration Utility
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Step 10—Install Operating System Software Driver . . . . . . 131
Replacing a PERC 3/DC Containing a BC Chip with a PERC 3/DC
Containing a BE Chip
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Using Driver 5.22.1 or 5.22.2 and Firmware 161J or 161N
Using Driver 5.30 and Firmware 1.70
10 PERC 3/QC Hardware Installation
. . . . . . . 121
. . . . . . 128
. . 131
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
12 Contents
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Optional Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
PERC 3/QC Card Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Installation Steps
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Step 1—Unpack the PERC 3/QC Controller
Step 2—Power Down
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Step 3—Set Jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Step 4—Set SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
SCSI Termination
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Step 5—Install PERC 3/QC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Step 6—Connect SCSI Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Step 7—Set Target IDs
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Step 8—Power on Host System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Step 9—Run the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility or WebBIOS
Configuration Utility
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Step 10—Install Operating System Driver . . . . . . . . . . . 147
11 PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility
Configuration On Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Starting the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility
BIOS Configuration Utility Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Configure Menu
Initialize Menu
Objects Menu
Format Menu
Rebuild Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Check Consistency Menu
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
. . . . . . . . . . 136
. . . . . . . . . 150
13 Contents
Configuring Arrays and Logical Drives
Choosing the Configuration Method
Easy Configuration
New Configuration
View/Add Configuration
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC Default Settings . . . . . . . . . 161
PERC 3/SC and PERC 3/DCL Default Settings . . . . . . . . . 161
Reserved Disk Space during Configuration
. . . . . . . . . . . 162
Designating Drives as Hot Spares
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Using Easy Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Using New Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Using View/Add Configuration
Initializing Logical Drives
Batch Initialization
Individual Initialization
Deleting Logical Drives (Random Array Deletion)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
. . . . . . . . . 179
Formatting Physical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Media Errors
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Formatting Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Rebuilding Failed Disk Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Manual Rebuild – Rebuilding an Individual Drive
. . . . . . . . 182
Manual Rebuild – Batch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Using a Pre-loaded SCSI Drive “As-is” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Exiting the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility . . . . . . . . . 184
12 Dell Manager
14 Contents
Setting Hardware Termination
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Clustering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Cluster Mode
Enabling and Disabling the Cluster Mode
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
. . . . . . . . . . . 185
Starting Dell Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Management Menu Options
Using Dell Manager in Red Hat Linux GUI Mode
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
. . . . . . . 189
Dell Manager Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Initialize Menu
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Objects Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Format Menu
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Rebuild Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Check Consistency Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Reconstruct Menu
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Designating Drives as Hot Spares
Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Initializing Logical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Batch Initialization
Individual Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Deleting Logical Drives (Random Array Deletion) . . . . . . . . 198
Formatting Physical Drives
Media Errors
Formatting Drives
Rebuilding Failed Disk Drives
Manual Rebuild – Rebuilding an Individual Drive
Manual Rebuild – Batch Mode
Exiting Dell Manager
13 Troubleshooting
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
. . . . . . . 201
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
BIOS Boot Error Messages
Other BIOS Error Messages
Other Potential Problems
Audible Warnings
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Contents 15
14 Appendix A: SCSI Cables and Connectors
15 Appendix B: Warranties and Return Policy
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
16 Contents
Figures
Figure 2-1. Example of Disk Striping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 2-2. Example of Disk Mirroring
Figure 2-3. Example of Disk Spanning
Figure 2-4. Example of Parity
Figure 3-1. RAID 0 Array
Figure 3-2. RAID 1 Array
Figure 3-3. RAID 5 Array
Figure 3-4. RAID 10 Array
Figure 3-5. RAID 50 Array
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 8-1. PERC 3/SC Card Layout
Figure 8-2. Example of SCSI Termination
Figure 8-3. Termination of Internal SCSI Disk Arrays
Figure 8-4. PCI Slots on Motherboard
Figure 8-5. Installation of PERC 3/SC Card into Motherboard
Figure 8-6. Connecting SCSI Cables
Figure 9-1. PERC 3/DC Card Layout
Figure 9-2. PERC 3/DCL Card Layout
Figure 9-3. J11 Serial Port Pinout
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
. . . . . . . 110
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
. . . 112
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Figure 9-4. Termination of Internal SCSI Disk Arrays for PERC 3/DC and
3/DCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Figure 9-5. Installation of the PERC 3/DC and 3/DCL
Figure 9-6. Connecting SCSI Cables to PERC 3/DC and 3/DCL
Figure 10-1. PERC 3/QC Card Layout
Figure 10-2. J14 Serial Port Diagram
Figure 10-3. Example of Termination
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Figure 10-4. Termination of Internal SCSI Disk Arrays
Figure 10-5. PCI Slots on Motherboard
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Figure 10-6. Installation of the PERC 3/QC Card
Figure 10-7. Connecting SCSI Cables
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
. . . . . . . 127
. . 129
. . . . . . 142
. . . . . . . . . 144
Figures 17
18 Figures
Tables
Table 1-1. Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards . . . . . . 26
Table 1-2. SCSI Bus Widths and Maximum Throughput
Table 2-1. Spanning for RAID 10 and RAID 50
Table 2-2. Types of Parity
Table 2-3. SCSI Drive States
Table 2-4. Logical Drive States
Table 3-1. RAID Levels
Table 3-2. RAID 0 Overview
Table 3-3. RAID 1 Overview
Table 3-4. RAID 5 Overview
Table 3-5. RAID 10 Overview
Table 3-6. RAID 50 Overview
Table 4-1. Configuration Features
Table 4-2. Configuration on Disk Features
Table 4-3. Hardware Architecture Features
Table 4-4. Array Performance Features
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
. . . . . . . . . . . . 56
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Table 4-5. PERC 3/SC Fault Tolerance Features
Table 4-6. Software Utilities Features
Table 4-7. PERC 3/SC Specifications
Table 4-8. SCSI Firmware Support
Table 5-1. Configuration Features
Table 5-2. Configuration on Disk Features
Table 5-3. Hardware Architecture Features
Table 5-4. Array Performance Features
Table 5-5. Fault Tolerance Features
Table 5-6. Software Utilities
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
. . . . . . . . . . . . 66
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Table 5-7. PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL Specifications
Table 5-8. SCSI Firmware
Table 6-1. Configuration Features
Table 6-2. Configuration on Disk Features
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
. . . . . . 27
. . . . . . . . . . 36
. . . . . . . . . . 57
. . . . . . 68
Tables 19
Table 6-3. Hardware Architecture Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Table 6-4. Array Performance Features
Table 6-5. Fault Tolerance Features
Table 6-6. Software Utilities
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Table 6-7. PERC 3/QC Specifications
Table 6-8. SCSI Firmware
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Table 7-1. Current Configuration for SCSI Channel 0
Table 7-2. Current Configuration for SCSI Channel 1
Table 7-3. Current Configuration for SCSI Channel 2
Table 7-4. Current Configuration for SCSI Channel 3
Table 7-5. Logical Drive Configuration
Table 7-6. Physical Device Layout
Table 7-7. Drives and Capacities for Each RAID Level
Table 7-8. Fault Tolerance Features for RAID Levels 0, 1 and 5
Table 7-9. Performance Characteristics for Each RAID Level
Table 7-10. Physical Drives Required for Each RAID Level
Table 7-11. Factors to Consider for Array Configuration
Table 7-12. Array Configuration Planner
Table 8-1. PERC 3/SC Jumpers
Table 8-2. J1 Termination Enable Settings
Table 8-3. J9 I2C Interface Connector Pinout
Table 8-4. J5 Serial Port Pinout
Table 8-5. J8 Hard Disk LED
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Table 8-6. J15 RUBI Slot Interrupt Steering
Table 8-7. J16, J17 RUBI Slot Interrupt Steering
Table 8-8. Target IDs
Table 9-1. Jumper Settings
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Table 9-2. J2 and J3 Termination Enable Settings
Table 9-3. J9 Onboard BIOS Enable Settings
Table 9-4. J10 NVRAM Clear Pinout
Table 9-5. J11 Serial Port Pinout
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
. . . . . . . . 84
. . . . . . . . 85
. . . . . . . . 86
. . . . . . . . 87
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
. . . . . . . 94
. . 94
. . . . 95
. . . . . 95
. . . . . . 97
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
. . . . . . . . . . . . 105
. . . . . . . . . . 106
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
. . . . . . . . . . . 107
. . . . . . . . 108
. . . . . . . . 122
. . . . . . . . . . . 122
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
20 Tables
Table 9-6. J13 Dirty Cache LED Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Table 9-7. J14 SCSI Activity Pinout
Table 9-8. J16 and J18 TERMPWR Enable Settings
Table 9-9. J17 I2C Connector Pinout
Table 9-10. Target IDs for SCSI Devices
Table 10-1. PERC 3/QC Jumper Settings
Table 10-2. J2, J3, J5 and J7 Termination Enable Pinout
Table 10-3. J9, J10, J11 and J12 TERMPWR Enable Pinout
Table 10-4. J14 Serial Port Pinout
Table 10-5. J17 Dirty Cache LED Pinout
Table 10-6. J19 Onboard BIOS Enable Settings
Table 10-7. J23 External Battery Pinout
Table 10-8. Target IDs
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Table 11-1. BIOS Configuration Utility Menu Options
Table 11-2. Configuration Menu Options
Table 11-3. Adapter Menu Options
Table 11-4. Logical Drive Menu Options
Table 11-5. Physical Drive Menu Options
Table 11-6. SCSI Channel Menu Options
Table 11-7. Battery Information Menu Options
Table 11-8. PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC Default Settings
Table 11-9. PERC 3/SC and PERC 3/DCL Default Settings
Table 11-10. Rebuild Types
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Table 12-1. Command Used to Start Dell Manager
Table 12-2. Management Menu Options
Table 12-3. Adapter Menu Options
Table 12-4. Logical Drive Menu Options
Table 12-5. Logical Drive Default Settings
Table 12-6. Physical Drive Menu Options
Table 12-7. SCSI Channel Options
Table 12-8. Battery Backup Menu Items
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
. . . . . . . 124
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
. . . . . 138
. . . 138
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
. . . . . . . . . . 140
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
. . . . . . . 151
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
. . . . . . . . . . 157
. . . . . 161
. . . . 161
. . . . . . . . 188
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Tables 21
Table 12-9. Rebuild Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Table 13-1. General Problems and Suggested Solutions
Table 13-2. BIOS Boot Error Messages
Table 13-3. Other BIOS Error Messages
Table 13-4. Other Potential Problems
Table 13-5. Audible Warnings
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
. . . . . . 204
22 Tables
SECTION 1
Overview
PERC 3 Overview
PERC 3 Features
PERC 3 Overview
The Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable RAID Controller 3 (PERC 3) PCI
card is a high-performance, intelligent peripheral component interconnect
(PCI)-to-SCSI host adapter with RAID control capabilities. PERC 3
provides system availability, high performance, and fault-tolerant disk
subsystem management. PERC 3 is an ideal RAID solution for the internal
storage of Dell’s workgroup, departmental, and enterprise systems. PERC 3
offers a cost-effective way to implement RAID in a server.
The PERC 3/QC low voltage differential (LVD) PCI RAID card provides
four SCSI channels. The PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL LVD PCI RAID
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card provides two SCSI channels. The PERC 3/SC LVD PCI RAID card
provides one SCSI channel.
NOTE: The information
in this document applies
to PERC 3/QC, PERC
3/DC, PERC 3/DCL and
PERC 3/SC.
With LVD, you can use cables up to 25 meters long. Throughput on each
SCSI channel can be as high as 160 MB/s. PERC 3 supports both an LVD
SCSI bus and a single-ended SCSI bus.
PERC 3 64-bit LVD is a high-performance, intelligent PCI-to-SCSI host
adapter with RAID control capabilities. PERC 3 64-bit LVD requires no
special motherboard PCI expansion slot.
PERC 3 Features
The PERC 3 features include:
• Wide Ultra3 LVD SCSI performance of up to 160 MB/s
• PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC support 128 MB of synchronous
dynamic random access memory (SDRAM.)
• The PERC 3/DCL supports 64 MB of SDRAM.
• The PERC 3/SC supports 32 MB of SDRAM.
• 64-bit PCI host interface (only on PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC)
• The PERC 3/QC, PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL have an on-board
i960RN processor to improve controller performance and offload host
Central Processing Unit (CPU.)
24 Overview
• The PERC 3/SC has a on-board i960RM processor to improve
controller performance and offload host CPU.
• Two internal and four external connectors for the PERC 3/QC, two
internal and two external connectors for the PERC 3/DC and PERC
3/DCL, and one internal and one external connector for the PERC
3/SC
• RAID levels 0 (striping), 1 (mirroring), 5 (distributed parity), 10
(combination of striping and mirroring), and 50 (combination of
striping and distributed parity)
• Advanced array configuration and management utilities
• Battery backup for up to 72 hours for the PERC 3/QC and PERC
3/DC
• Up to 12 SCSI drives per channel using the Dell PowerVault 21xS
storage system or 14 SCSI drives using the Dell PowerVault 22xS
SCSI Channels
The PERC 3/QC controller card includes four SCSI channels. There are two
QLogic
The PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL controller cards include two SCSI
channels. There is one QLogic 12160 chip, which controls two SCSI
channels.
The PERC 3/SC controller card has one SCSI channel. There is one QLogic
10160 chip.
®
12160 chips; each chip controls two SCSI channels.
Non-volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM) and Flash Readonly Memory (ROM)
A 32 KB x 8 NVRAM stores RAID system configuration information. The
PERC 3 firmware is stored in flash ROM for easy upgrade.
SCSI Connectors
PERC 3/QC has four ultra-high-density 68-pin external connectors for the
external storage subsystem and two high-density 68-pin internal connectors.
NOTE: Clustering is not
supported by PERC 3/QC
or PERC 3/DCL.
PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL have two ultra-high-density 68-pin external
connectors for the external storage subsystem and two high-density 68-pin
internal connectors.
Overview 25
PERC 3/SC has one ultra-high-density 68-pin external connector for the
external storage subsystem and one high-density 68-pin internal connector.
Single-Ended and LVD SCSI Buses
The SCSI standard defines two electrical buses: a single-ended bus and an
LVD bus. PERC 3 supports both standards.
Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards
Table 1-1 displays the maximum length of cable that you can use for various
SCSI standards.
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Table 1-1. Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards
SCSI Standard Single-ended LVD Maximum # of
Drives
SCSI I 6 m 12 m 7
Fast SCSI 6 m 12 m 7
Fast Wide SCSI 6 m 12 m 15
Ultra SCSI 1.5 m 12 m 7
Ultra SCSI 3 m 12 m 3
Wide Ultra SCSI N/A 12 m 15
Wide Ultra SCSI 1.5 m 12 m 7
Wide Ultra SCSI 3 m 12 m 3
Ultra 2 SCSI N/A 25 m 1
Ultra 2 SCSI N/A 12 m 7
Wide Ultra 2 SCSI N/A 25 m 1
Wide Ultra 2 SCSI N/A 12 m 15
SCSI Bus Widths and Maximum Throughput
Table 1-2 displays the SCSI bus widths and maximum throughput for each
of the SCSI standards.
26 Overview
Table 1-2. SCSI Bus Widths and Maximum Throughput
SCSI Standard SCSI Bus Width SCSI Throughput
SCSI I 8 bits 5 MB/s
Fast SCSI 8 bits 10 MB/s
Fast Wide SCSI 16 bits 20 MB/s
Ultra SCSI 8 bits 20 MB/s
Wide Ultra SCSI 16 bits 40 MB/s
Ultra 2 SCSI 8 bits 40 MB/s
Wide Ultra 2 SCSI 16 bits 80 MB/s
160M SCSI 8 bits 80 MB/s
Wide 160M SCSI 16 bits 160 MB/s
Operating System Support
PERC 3 supports the following operating systems:
•Microsoft
®
Windows® 2000: Server, Advanced Server, Small Business
Server
•Microsoft Windows NT
®
4: Server, Terminal Server, Enterprise Server,
Small Business Server
• Microsoft NET: Server, Advanced Server
• Microsoft SBS 2000
•Novell
®
NetWare® 5.x, 6.x
• Red Hat Linux 7.x
• DOS, including ASPI
®
support
Overview 27
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28 Overview
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