Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller 5i User Manual

Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable

RAID Controller 5/i and 5/E

User’s Guide

Model UCP-50 and UCP-51

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable

RAID Controller 5/i and 5/E

User’s Guide

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

Notes, Notices, and Cautions

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

NOTICE: A NOTICE warns against either potential damage to hardware or of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.

NOTE: See the Product Information Guide that came with your system for complete information about U.S. Terms and

Conditions of Sale, Limited Warranties, and Returns, Export Regulations, Software License Agreement, Safety, Environmental and Ergonomic Instructions, Regulatory Notices, and Recycling Information.

____________________

Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, PowerEdge, PowerVault, Dell Precision, and OpenManage are trademarks of Dell Inc.

MegaRAID is a registered trademark of LSI Logic Corporation. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows Server, and Windows are registered trademarks, and W indows V ista is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. Novell and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Red Hat and Red Hat Enterprise Linux are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc.

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 Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.

Model UCP-50 and UCP-51

January 2007 P/N GD740 Rev. A03

CAUTION: Safety Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

SAFETY: General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

SAFETY: When Working Inside Your System

Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge

SAFETY: Battery Disposal

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Scope of the User’s Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

PERC 5 Controller Descriptions

PCI Architecture

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Operating System Support

RAID Description

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Summary of RAID Levels

RAID Terminology

Disk Striping Disk Mirroring Parity

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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2 PERC 5 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

PERC 5 Controller Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Compatibility With Virtual Disks Created

on Existing PERC 5 Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

SMART Technology Background Initialization LED Operation Disk Roaming Disk Migration Alarm Alert in Case of Physical Disk Failures

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Contents 3

Battery Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Introduction to Write Cache Policy Write-Back versus Write-Through How Firmware Manages Cache Conditions Under Which Write-Back is Employed Conditions Under Which Write-Through is Employed

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Conditions Under Which Forced Write-Back With No Battery is Employed

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RAID Configuration Information

Fault Tolerance Features

Physical Disk Hot Swapping

Patrol Read

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

Patrol Read Behavior Configuration

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

Patrol Read Modes Behavior Details

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

Blocked Operations

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

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3 Hardware Installation and Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Installing the PERC 5/E Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Installing the Transportable Battery Backup Unit (TBBU) for PERC 5/E

Installing the DIMM on a PERC 5/E Adapter

Transferring a TBBU Between Controllers

Removing the DIMM and Battery from a PERC 5/E Adapter

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

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Removing the PERC 5/E Adapter

Installing the PERC 5/i Adapter

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

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

4 Contents

Removing the PERC 5/i Adapter

Removing the DIMM from a PERC 5/i Card

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Disconnecting the BBU from a PERC 5/i Adapter or a PERC 5/i

. . . . . . . . . 38

4 Driver Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Creating a Driver Diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Installing the Driver During a Microsoft Operating System Installation

Installing a Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2000, or XP Driver for a New RAID Controller

Updating an Existing Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows Vista Driver

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Installing Windows Vista for a New RAID Controller

Installing the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Driver

Creating a Driver Diskette Installing the Driver

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Installing the Driver Using an Update RPM

Installing the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (Version 9 or 10) Driver

Installing the Driver Using an Update RPM

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

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Installing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Using the Driver Update Diskette

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

5 RAID Configuration and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Dell OpenManage Storage Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

SAS RAID Storage Manager

BIOS Configuration Utility

Entering the BIOS Configuration Utility

Starting the BIOS Configuration Utility

Exiting the Configuration Utility

Menu Navigation Controls

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RAID Configuration Functions

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Contents 5

BIOS Configuration Utility Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Virtual Disk Management (VD Mgmt) Physical Disk Management (PD Mgmt) Physical Disk Actions

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Controller Management (Ctrl Mgmt) Controller Management Disk Actions Foreign Configuration View

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Setting Up Virtual Disks

Creating Virtual Disks Initializing Virtual Disks

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Importing or Clearing Foreign Configurations Using the VD Mgmt Menu

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Importing or Clearing Foreign Configurations Using the Foreign Configuration View Screen

Setting LED Blinking

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Managing Dedicated Hot Spares Creating Global Hot Spares

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Removing Global or Dedicated Hot Spares

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

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

Enabling the Alarm to Alert in Case of Physical Disk Failures Checking Data Consistency Stopping Background Initialization

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

Performing a Manual Rebuild of an Individual Physical Disk Deleting Virtual Disks Deleting Disk Groups Upgrading Firmware Enabling Boot Support Enabling BIOS Stop on Error Restoring Factory Default Settings

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

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6 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

6 Contents

Virtual Disks Degraded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Memory Errors

General Problems

Physical Disk Related Issues

Physical Disk Failures and Rebuilds

SMART Error

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PERC 5 Post Error Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Operating System Errors

LED Behavior Patterns

Audible Alarm Warnings

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7 Appendix: Regulatory Notices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Regulatory Notices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

FCC Notices (U.S. Only)

FCC, Class A FCC, Class B

Industry Canada (Canada Only)

Industry Canada, Class A Industry Canada, Class B

CE Notice (European Union)

MIC Notice (Republic of Korea Only)

VCCI (Japan Only)

CNCA (China Only)

CNCA, Class A

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información NOM (únicamente para México)

Corporate Contact Details (Taiwan Only)

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

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

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

Index

Contents 7

8 Contents

CAUTION: Safety Instructions

Use the following safety guidelines to help ensure your own personal safety and to help protect your system and working environment from potential damage.

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. See "SAFETY: Battery Disposal" on page 10.

NOTE: See the safety regulations and warnings stated in the documentation that ships with your

PowerEdge™ system/Dell Precision™ workstation.

SAFETY: General

• Observe and follow service markings. Do not service any product except as explained in your user documentation. Opening or removing covers that are marked with the triangular symbol with a lightning bolt may expose you to electrical shock. Components inside these compartments should be serviced only by a trained service technician.

• If any of the following conditions occur, unplug the product from the electrical outlet and replace the part or contact your trained service provider:

– The power cable, extension cable, or plug is damaged.

– An object has fallen into the product.

– The product has been exposed to water.

– The product has been dropped or damaged.

– The product does not operate correctly when you follow the operating instructions.

• Use the product only with approved equipment.

• Operate the product only from the type of external power source indicated on the electrical ratings label. If you are not sure of the type of power source required, consult your service provider or local power company.

• Handle batteries carefully. Do not disassemble, crush, puncture, short external contacts, dispose of in fire or water, or expose batteries to temperatures higher than 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit). Do not attempt to open or service batteries; replace batteries only with batteries designated for the product.

SAFETY: When Working Inside Your System

Before you remove the system covers, perform the following steps in the sequence indicated.

CAUTION: Except as expressly otherwise instructed in Dell documentation, only trained service technicians are authorized

to remove the system cover and access any of the components inside the system.

NOTICE: To help avoid possible damage to the system board, wait 5 seconds after turning off the system before removing a

component from the system board or disconnecting a peripheral device.

Turn off the system and any devices.

Ground yourself by touching an unpainted metal surface on the chassis before touching anything inside the system.

While you work, periodically touch an unpainted metal surface on the chassis to dissipate any static electricity that might harm internal components.

Disconnect your system and devices from their power sources. To reduce the potential of personal injury or shock, disconnect any telecommunication lines from the system.

SAFETY: General 9

In addition, take note of these safety guidelines when appropriate:

• When you disconnect a cable, pull on its connector or on its strain-relief 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, make sure 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.

Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) events can harm electronic components inside your computer. Under certain conditions, ESD may build up on your body or an object, such as a peripheral, and then discharge into another object, such as your computer. To prevent ESD damage, you should discharge static electricity from your body before you interact with any of your computer’s internal electronic components, such as a memory module. You can protect against ESD by touching a metal grounded object (such as an unpainted metal surface on your computer’s I/O panel) before you interact with anything electronic. When connecting a peripheral (including handheld digital assistants) to your computer, you should always ground both yourself and the peripheral before connecting it to the computer. In addition, as you work inside the computer, periodically touch an I/O connector to remove any static charge your body may have accumulated.

You can also take the following steps to prevent damage from electrostatic discharge:

• When unpacking a static-sensitive component from its shipping carton, do not remove the component from the antistatic packing material until you are ready to install the component. Just before unwrapping the antistatic package, be sure to discharge static electricity from your body.

• When transporting a 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 work bench pads.

SAFETY: Battery Disposal

Your system may use a nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), lithium coin-cell, and/or a lithium-ion battery. The NiMH, lithium coin-cell, and lithium-ion batteries are long-life batteries, and it is very possible that you will never need to replace them. However, should you need to replace them, refer to the instructions included in the section

Configuration and Management

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.

" on page 49.

NOTE: Your system may also include circuit cards or other components that contain batteries. These batteries must also

be disposed of in a battery deposit site. For information about such batteries, refer to the documentation for the specific card or component.

"RAID

Taiwan Battery Recycling Mark

10 Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge

Overview

The Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) 5 family of controllers offers redundant array of independent disks (RAID) control capabilities. The PERC 5 Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS) RAID controllers support SAS devices and Dell-qualified SATA devices. The controllers provide reliability, high performance, and fault-tolerant disk subsystem management.

Scope of the User’s Guide

This user’s guide for the PERC 5 controllers documents the following topics:

• Basic information about the PERC 5 controllers and RAID functionality

• Information about PERC 5 controller features

• Hardware installation and battery management

• Installation procedures for operating system drivers

• RAID configuration and management

• Troubleshooting information

• Regulatory information and notices

PERC 5 Controller Descriptions

The following list includes a description of each type of controller:

• The PERC 5/E Adapter with two external x4 SAS ports and a transportable battery backup unit (TBBU)

• The PERC 5/i Adapter with two internal x4 SAS ports with or without a battery backup unit, depending on the system

• The PERC 5/i Integrated controller with two internal x4 SAS ports and a battery backup unit

Each controller supports up to 64 virtual disks. In addition, PERC 5/E controllers provide two ports that can connect to up to three enclosures each, for a total of six enclosures per controller. Each enclosure can contain up to 15 physical disks, meaning a controller can support up to 90 physical disks total in the six enclosures.

NOTE: PERC 5/i is limited by the configuration supported on the platform.

Overview 11

PCI Architecture

PERC 5 controllers support a PCI-E x8 host interface. PCI-E is a high-performance I/O bus architecture designed to increase data transfers without slowing down the Central Processing Unit (CPU). PCI-E goes beyond the PCI specification and is intended as a unifying I/O architecture for various systems such as, desktops, workstations, mobiles, server, communications, and embedded devices.

Operating System Support

The PERC 5 controllers support the following operating systems:

• Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server family

• Windows Server

• Windows Server 2003 DataCenter

• Windows XP

• Windows Vista™

•Red Hat

•SUSE

NOTE: See driver release on www.dell.com for specific operating system service pack requirements.

NOTE: Microsoft Windows XP is supported with a PERC 5 controller only when the controller is installed in a

Dell Precision™ workstation.

NOTE: See the system documentation located at the Dell Support website at support.dell.com for the latest list of

supported operating systems and driver installation instructions.

Linux Enterprise Server 9 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10

2003 (includes Standard, Enterprise, and Small Business Servers)

Enterprise Linux® 3, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

RAID Description

RAID is a group of multiple independent physical disks that provide high performance by increasing the number of drives used for saving and accessing data. A RAID disk subsystem improves input/output (I/O) performance and data availability. The physical disk group appears to the host system as either a single storage unit or multiple logical units. Data throughput improves because several disks are accessed simultaneously. RAID systems also improve data storage availability and fault tolerance. Data loss caused by a physical disk failure can be recovered by rebuilding missing data from the remaining data or parity physical disks.

NOTICE: In the event of a physical disk failure, you cannot rebuild data on a RAID 0 virtual disk.

Summary of RAID Levels

RAID 0 uses disk striping to provide high data throughput, especially for large files in an environment that requires no data redundancy.

12 Overview

RAID 1 uses disk mirroring so that data written to one physical disk is simultaneously written to another physical disk. This is good for small databases or other applications that require small capacity, but complete data redundancy.

RAID 5 uses disk striping and parity data across all physical disks (distributed parity) to provide high data throughput and data redundancy, especially for small random access.

RAID 10, a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1, uses disk striping across mirrored spans. It provides high data throughput and complete data redundancy.

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

RAID Terminology

Disk Striping

Disk striping allows you to write data across multiple physical disks instead of just one physical disk. Disk striping involves partitioning each physical disk storage space into stripes that can vary in size ranging from 8 KB to 128 KB, often referred to as stripe size. These stripes are interleaved in a repeated sequential manner. The part of the stripe on a single physical disk is called a strip.

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

Figure 1-1 shows an example of disk striping.

Figure 1-1. Example of Disk Striping (RAID 0)

Stripe element 1 Stripe element 5 Stripe element 9

Stripe element 2 Stripe element 6

Stripe element 10

Stripe element 3 Stripe element 7

Stripe element 11

Stripe element 4 Stripe element 8

Stripe element 12

Disk Mirroring

With mirroring (used in RAID 1), data written to one disk is simultaneously written to another disk. If one disk fails, the contents of the other disk can be used to run the system and rebuild the failed physical disk. The primary advantage of disk mirroring is that it provides 100 percent data redundancy. Because the contents of the disk are completely written to a second disk, it does not matter if one of the disks fails. Both disks contain the same data at all times. Either of the physical disks can act as the operational physical disk.

Overview 13

Disk mirroring provides 100 percent redundancy, but is expensive because each physical disk in the system must be duplicated. Figure 1-2 shows an example of disk mirroring.

NOTE: Mirrored physical disks improve read performance by read load balance.

Figure 1-2. Example of Disk Mirroring (RAID 1)

Stripe element 1 Stripe element 2 Stripe element 3 Stripe element 4 Stripe element 4 Duplicated

Stripe element 1 Duplicated Stripe element 2 Duplicated Stripe element 3 Duplicated

Parity

Parity creates a set of redundant data from two or more parent data sets. You can use the redundant data to rebuild one of the parent data sets. Parity data does not fully duplicate the parent data sets but that data can be used to reconstruct the data if lost. In RAID, this method is applied to entire physical disks or stripes across all the physical disks in a physical disk group.

The parity data is distributed across all the physical disks in the system. If a single physical disk fails, it can be rebuilt from the parity and the data on the remaining physical disks. RAID level 5 combines distributed parity with disk striping, as shown in Figure 1-3. Parity provides redundancy for one physical disk failure without duplicating the contents of entire physical disks. However, parity generation can slow the write process.

Figure 1-3. Example of Distributed Parity (RAID 5)

Segment 1 Segment 7

Segment 13 Segment 19 Segment 25

Parity (26–30)

Note: Parity is distributed across all drives in the array.

Segment 2 Segment 8

Segment 14

Segment 20

Parity (21–25)

Segment 26

Segment 3 Segment 9

Segment 15

Parity (16–20)

Segment 21 Segment 27 Segment 29

Segment 4

Segment 10

Parity (11–15)

Segment 16 Segment 22 Segment 28

Segment 5

Parity (6–10)

Segment 11

Segment 17

Segment 23

Parity (1–5)

Segment 6

Segment 12

Segment 18

Segment 24

Segment 30

NOTE: Parity is distributed across multiple physical disks in the disk group.

14 Overview

PERC 5 Features

This section describes the features of the The Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) 5 family of controllers, such as the configuration options, disk array performance, hardware specifications, redundant array of independent disks (RAID) management utilities, and operating system software drivers.

PERC 5 Controller Features

This section describes the hardware configuration features for the PERC 5 controllers. Table 2-1 compares the configurations for the controllers.

Table 2-1. PERC 5 Controller Comparisons

Specification PERC 5/E Adapter PERC 5/i Adapter PERC 5/i Integrated

RAID Levels 0, 1, 5, 10, 50 0, 1, 5, 10, 50 0, 1, 5, 10, 50

Enclosures per Port Up to 3 enclosures N/A N/A

Ports 2 x4 external wide port 2 x4 internal wide port 2 x4 internal wide port

Processor Intel

Battery Backup Unit Yes, Transportable Yes

Cache Memory 256 MB DDR2 cache

Cache Function Write-back, write-

Maximum Number of Drives per Array

Maximum Number of Arrays per Disk Group

IOP333 I/O processor with Intel XScale Technology

memory size

through, adaptive read ahead, non-read ahead, read ahead

Up to 32 drives per array Up to 32 drives per array Up to 32 drives per array

Up to 8 arrays (in a spanned configuration)

Intel IOP333 I/O processor with Intel XScale Technology

256 MB DDR2 cache memory size

Write-back, writethrough, adaptive read ahead, non-read ahead, read ahead

Up to 8 arrays (in a spanned configuration)

Intel IOP333 I/O processor with Intel XScale Technology

Ye s

256 MB DDR2 cache memory size

Write-back, writethrough, adaptive read ahead, non-read ahead, read ahead

Up to 8 arrays (in a spanned configuration)

PERC 5 Features 15

Table 2-1. PERC 5 Controller Comparisons (continued)

Specification PERC 5/E Adapter PERC 5/i Adapter PERC 5/i Integrated

Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Disk Group

Multiple Virtual Disks per Controller

Support for x8 PCI Express host interface

Online Capacity Expansion

Dedicated and Global Hot Spares

Hot Swap Devices Supported

Non-Disk Devices Supported

Mixed Capacity Physical Disks Supported

Hardware Exclusive-OR (XOR) Assistance

The PERC 5/i Adapter supports a battery backup unit (BBU) on selected systems only. See the documentation that shipped with the system for additional information.

Up to 16 virtual disks per disk group

RAID 0=16

RAID 1=16

RAID 5=16

RAID 10= 1

RAID 50=1

Up to 64 virtual disks per controller

Ye s Ye s Ye s

No No No

Ye s Ye s Ye s

Yes Yes Yes

Up to 16 virtual disks per disk group

RAID 0=16

RAID 1=16

RAID 5=16

RAID 10=1

RAID 50=1

Up to 64 virtual disks per controller

Up to 16 virtual disks per disk group

RAID 0=16

RAID 1=16

RAID 5=16

RAID 10=RAID 50=1

Up to 64 virtual disks per controller

NOTE: The maximum length of cable that you can use for Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is 4 meters (13 feet) from port

to port. This applies only to external cables.

NOTE: The maximum array size is limited by the maximum number of drives per array (32) and the maximum

number of spans per disk group (8), along with the size of the physical drives. This limits the number of spans in RAID 10 to eight, giving a total of 16 drives per virtual disk.

Compatibility With Virtual Disks Created on Existing PERC 5 Controllers

The PERC 5 controllers recognize and use virtual disks created on existing PERC 5 controllers without risking data loss, corruption, redundancy, or configuration loss. Similarly, the virtual disks created on the controllers can be transferred to other PERC 5 controllers.

NOTE: For more information about compatibility, contact your Dell Technical Support Representative.

16 PERC 5 Features

SMART Technology

The Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) feature monitors the internal performance of all motors, heads, and physical disk electronics to detect predictable physical disk failures. This feature helps monitor physical disk performance and reliability, and protects the data on the physical disk. When problems are detected on a physical disk, you can replace or repair the physical disk without losing any data.

SMART-compliant physical disks have attributes for which data (values) can be monitored to identify changes in values and determine whether the values are within threshold limits. Many mechanical and electrical failures display some degradation in performance before failure.

There are numerous factors that relate to predictable physical disk failures, such as a bearing failure, a broken read/write head, and changes in spin-up rate. In addition, there are factors related to read/write surface failure, such as seek error rate and excessive bad sectors.

NOTE: See www.t10.org for detailed information about Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) interface

specifications and www.t13.org for Serial Attached ATA (SATA) interface specifications.

Background Initialization

Background Initialization (BGI) is a process to correct parity on the virtual disks. BGI is an automated check for media errors in which parity is created and written in the process. BGI does not run on RAID 0 virtual disks.

NOTE: You cannot permanently disable BGI. If you cancel BGI, it automatically restarts within five minutes.

See "Stopping Background Initialization" on page 67 for information on stopping BGI.

The background initialization rate is controlled by the storage management software. You must stop an ongoing background initialization before you change the rate, or the rate change will not take effect. After you stop background initialization and change the rate, the rate change will take effect when the background initialization restarts automatically.

NOTE: Unlike initialization of virtual disks, background initialization does not clear data from the physical disks.

NOTE: Consistency Check and Background Initialization perform the same function. The difference between them

is that Background Initialization cannot be started manually, while Consistency Check can.

LED Operation

The LED on the physical disk carrier indicates the state of each physical disk. For internal storage, see your system documentation for more information about the blink patterns.

For blink patterns on the Dell PowerVault™ MD1000, see the Dell PowerVault MD1000 Hardware

Owner’s Manual. For blink patterns on the Dell PowerVault MD3000, see the Dell PowerVault MD3000 Hardware Owner’s Manual.

PERC 5 Features 17

Disk Roaming

The PERC 5 controllers support moving physical disks from one cable connection or backplane slot to another on the same controller. The controllers automatically recognize the relocated physical disks and logically place them in the proper virtual disks that are part of the disk group. You can perform disk roaming only when the system is shut down.

Perform the following steps to use disk roaming.

For proper shutdown, turn off the power to the system, physical disks, enclosures, and system components, and then disconnect the power cords from the system.

Move the physical disks to different positions on the backplane or enclosure.

Perform a safety check. Make sure the physical disks are inserted properly and perform correctly.

Turn on the system.

The controller detects the RAID configuration from the configuration data on the physical disks.

Disk Migration

The PERC 5 controllers support migration of virtual disks from one controller to another without taking the target controller offline. However, the source controller must be offline prior to performing the disk migration. The controller can import a virtual disk that is in optimal or degraded state. A virtual disk in offline state cannot be imported.

NOTE: The PERC 5 controllers are not backward compatible with previous SCSI PERC RAID controllers.

When a controller detects a physical disk with a pre-existing configuration, it flags the physical disk as foreign and generates an alert indicating that a foreign disk was detected.

Dedicated hot spares are imported as global hot spares. The firmware generates an alert to indicate a change in hot spare configuration.

Perform the following steps to use disk migration.

Turn off the system that contains the source controller.

Move the appropriate physical disks from the source controller to the target controller.

The system with the target controller can be running while inserting the physical disks.

The storage management application will flag the inserted disks as foreign disks.

Use the storage management application to import the detected foreign configuration.

NOTE: Ensure the complete set of physical disks that form the virtual disk are migrated.

Alarm Alert in Case of Physical Disk Failures

An audible alarm is available on the PERC 5/E Adapter to alert you of key critical and warning events involving the virtual disk or physical disk problems. You can use the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) Configuration Utility and management application to enable, disable, or silence the on-board alarm tone.

NOTE: See "Audible Alarm Warnings" on page 79 for information about audible alarm codes.

18 PERC 5 Features

Battery Management

The Transportable Battery Backup Unit (TBBU) is a cache memory module with an integrated battery pack that enables you to transport the cache module with the battery into a new controller. The TBBU protects the integrity of the cached data on the PERC 5/E Adapter by providing backup power during a power outage.

The Battery Backup Unit (BBU) is a battery pack that protects the integrity of the cached data on the PERC 5/i Adapter and PERC 5/i Integrated controllers by providing backup power during a power outage. Unlike the TBBU, the BBU is not directly attached to the cache memory module and is therefore not transportable with the controller.

The TBBU and BBU offer an inexpensive way to protect the data on the memory module. The lithium battery provides a way to store more power in a smaller form factor than previous batteries.

See "Transferring a TBBU Between Controllers" on page 30 for detailed procedures about handling controller cache in case of a controller failure.

Introduction to Write Cache Policy

The cache controller writes a block of data to cache memory, which is much faster than writing to the physical disk. The cache controller sends an acknowledgement of data transfer completion to the host system.

Write-Back versus Write-Through

In write-through caching, the controller sends a data transfer completion signal to the host system when the disk subsystem has received all the data in a transaction. The controller then writes the cached data to the storage device when system activity is low or when the write buffer approaches capacity.

In write-back caching, the controller sends a data transfer completion signal to the host when the controller cache has received all the data in a transaction. The cached data is not written to the storage device.

The risk of using write-back cache is that the cached data can be lost if there is a power failure before it is written to the storage device. This risk is eliminated by using a battery backup unit on selected PERC 5 controllers. Refer to Table 2-1 for information on which controllers support a battery backup unit.

Write-back caching has a performance advantage over write-through caching.

NOTE: The default cache setting is write-back caching.

NOTE: Certain data patterns and configurations perform better in a write-through cache policy.

How Firmware Manages Cache

Firmware manages cache based on the condition of the battery. Learn Cycle is a battery calibration operation performed by the controller periodically (approximately every 3 months) to determine the condition of the battery.

PERC 5 Features 19

Conditions Under Which Write-Back is Employed

Write-back caching is used under all conditions in which the battery is present and in good condition.

Conditions Under Which Write-Through is Employed

Write-through caching is used under all conditions in which the battery is missing or in a low-charge state. Low-charge state is when the battery is not capable of maintaining data for at least 24 hours in the case of a power loss.

Conditions Under Which Forced Write-Back With No Battery is Employed

Write-Back mode is available when the user selects Force WB with no battery. When Forced Write-Back mode is selected, the virtual disk is in Write-Back mode even if the battery is present and in good condition (healthy), or if a learn cycle is in process. Dell recommends that you use a power backup system when forcing Write-Back to ensure that there is no loss of data if the system suddenly loses power.

Learn Cycle Completion Time Frame

The time frame for completion of a learn cycle is a function of the battery charge capacity and the discharge/charge currents used. For PERC 5, the expected time frame for completion of a learn cycle is approximately seven hours and consists of the following parts:

• Learn cycle discharge cycle: approximately three hours

• Learn cycle charge cycle: approximately four hours

Learn cycles shorten as the battery capacity derates over time.

NOTE: See the storage management application for additional information.

During the discharge phase of a learn cycle, the PERC 5 battery charger is disabled. In this phase, the battery voltage is monitored through the smart battery bus (SMBus) using the battery gas-gauge. When the battery reaches the discharge capacity threshold (DCT), the dummy load is disabled and the battery charger is re-enabled. At this point, the battery charger detects that the battery is below the fast charge trigger voltage (FCTV) and initiates a fast-charge of the battery. The learn cycle completes once the battery fast charge is completed.

20 PERC 5 Features

RAID Configuration Information

Table 2-2 lists the configuration features for the PERC 5 controllers.

Table 2-2. Features for RAID Configuration

Specification PERC 5/E Adapter PERC 5/i Adapter and 5/i Integrated

Number of virtual disks supported

Online RAID level migration Yes Yes

Disk roaming Yes Yes

No reboot necessary after capacity expansion

User-specified rebuild rate Yes Yes

Up to 64 virtual disks per controller Up to 64 virtual disks per controller

NOTE: The number of physical disks on a

controller is limited by the backplane on which the card is attached.

Ye s Ye s

Fault Tolerance Features

Table 2-3 lists the features that provide fault tolerance to prevent data loss in case of a failed physical disk.

Table 2-3. Fault Tolerance Features

Specification Feature

Support for SMART Yes

Support for Patrol Read Yes

Physical disk failure detection Automatic

Physical disk rebuild using hot spares Automatic

Parity generation and checking (RAID 5 only) Yes

Battery backup for controller cache to protect configuration data Yes

Hot-swap manual replacement of a physical disk unit without bringing the system down Yes

The PERC 5/i Adapter supports a battery backup unit (BBU) on selected systems only. For additional information, see documentation that was shipped with the system.

PERC 5 Features 21

Physical Disk Hot Swapping

Hot swapping is the manual substitution of a replacement unit in a disk subsystem for a defective one, where the substitution can be performed while the subsystem is running (performing its normal functions).

NOTE: The backplane or enclosure must support hot swapping in order for the PERC 5 controllers to support

hot swapping.

NOTE: Ensure that SAS drives are replaced with SAS drives and SATA drives are replaced with SATA drives.

NOTE: While swapping a disk, ensure that the new disk is of equal or greater capacity than the disk that is

being replaced.

Failed Physical Disk Detection

The firmware automatically detects and rebuilds failed physical disks. Automatic rebuilds can be performed transparently with hot spares. If you have configured hot spares, the controllers automatically try to use them to rebuild failed physical disks.

Patrol Read

The Patrol Read function is designed as a preventive measure that includes review of your system for possible physical disk errors that could lead to physical disk failure and damage data integrity. The Patrol Read operation can find and possibly resolve any potential problem with physical disks prior to host access. This can enhance overall system performance because error recovery during a normal I/O operation may not be necessary. You can use the storage management application to perform Patrol Read functions.

Patrol Read Behavior

The following is an overview of Patrol Read behavior:

Patrol Read runs on all disks on the controller that are configured as part of a virtual disk including hot spares. Patrol Read does not run on unconfigured physical disks. Unconfigured disks are those that are not part of a virtual disk or are in a ready state.

Patrol Read adjusts the amount of controller resources dedicated to Patrol Read operations based on outstanding disk I/O. For example, if the system is busy processing I/O operation, then Patrol Read will use fewer resources to allow the I/O to take a higher priority.

Patrol Read operates on all configured physical disks on the controller and there is no method to deselect disks.

In a Patrol Read iteration, Patrol Read will restart from zero percent if in Patrol Read does not restart on a reboot. Use dedicated to running Patrol Read.

Manual

mode if you have selected a window of time

Auto

mode. In

Manual

mode,

22 PERC 5 Features

Configuration

You can use the storage management application to select the Patrol Read options. Use Patrol Read options to set automatic or manual operation, or disable Patrol Read.

functions and operations available in the

NOTE: See the storage management application’s documentation for more information about the Patrol Read

configuration features available.

Storage Management application

The following sections describe Patrol Read

Patrol Read Modes

The following describes the scheduling details for Patrol Read:

By default the controller sets the Patrol Read to

Manual

Auto

within seven days after the last iteration is completed.

When

will start at:

mode.

mode, Patrol Read runs continuously on the system and is scheduled to start a new Patrol Read

Patrol Read Mode

field will be set to

is changed from

N/A

Auto

mode. You can set the Patrol Read to either

Manual

, or

Auto

Disabled

, the

Next execution

Auto

Behavior Details

The behavior details of Patrol Read are as follows:

Setting Patrol Read in

Start

select mode until you change it.

Setting the mode to set itself to run within seven days of the last iteration.

whenever you want to run Patrol Read. When the mode is set to

Manual

Automatic

mode does not start Patrol Read. It only sets the mode so that you can

Manual

starts Patrol Read. When the Patrol Read operation is complete, it will

, it remains in that

Blocked Operations

If any of the following conditions exist, then Patrol Read will not run on any of the affected disks:

• An unconfigured disk (the disk is in the

• Disks that are members of a virtual disk undergoing a reconstruction

• Disks that are members of a virtual disk undergoing a Background Initialization or Consistency Check

READY

state)

PERC 5 Features 23

24 PERC 5 Features

Hardware Installation and Configuration

This chapter describes how to install the Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) 5 cards.

Installing the PERC 5/E Adapter

CAUTION: Only trained service technicians are authorized to remove the system cover and access any of

the components inside the system. Before performing any procedure, see your Product Information Guide for complete information about safety precautions, working inside the computer, and protecting against electrostatic discharge.

Unpack the PERC 5/E Adapter and check for damage.

NOTE: Contact Dell Technical support if the controller is damaged.

Turn off the system and attached peripherals, and disconnect the system from the electrical outlet. See your system’s

Disconnect the system from the network and remove the cover of the system. See your system’s

Hardware Owner’s Manual

Select an empty PCI Express (

system aligned with the PCI-E slot you have selected.

Align the PERC 5/E Adapter to the PCI-E slot you have selected.

Insert the controller gently, but firmly, until the controller is firmly seated in the PCI-E slot. See Figure 3-1.

Hardware Owner’s Manual

for more information on opening the system.

PCI-E) slot. Remove the blank filler bracket on the back of the

for more information on power supplies.

CAUTION: Never apply pressure to the memory module while inserting the controller into the

PCI-E slot. Applying pressure could break the module.

CAUTION: Electrostatic discharge can damage sensitive components. Always use proper antistatic

protection when handling components. Touching components without using a proper ground can damage the equipment.

NOTE: See your system documentation for a list of compatible controllers.

Hardware Installation and Configuration 25

Figure 3-1. Installing a PERC 5/E Adapter

bracket screw

filler bracket

PERC 5/E Adapter

PCI-E slot

Tighten the bracket screw, if any, or use the system’s retention clips to secure the controller to the system’s chassis.

Replace the cover of the system. See your system’s

Hardware Owner’s Manual

for more information on

closing the system.

Connect the cable from the external enclosure to the controller. See Figure 3-2.

Figure 3-2. Connecting the Cable From the External Enclosure

cable from the external enclosure

Reconnect the power cable(s) and network cables, and then turn on the system.

26 Hardware Installation and Configuration

connector on the controller

system

Installing the Transportable Battery Backup Unit (TBBU) for PERC 5/E

This section describes the installation of the transportable battery backup unit (TBBU) on the PERC 5/E.

CAUTION: Only trained service technicians are authorized to remove the system cover and access any of the

components inside the system. Before performing any procedure, see your Product Information Guide for complete information about safety precautions, working inside the computer, and protecting against electrostatic discharge.

NOTE: All work must be performed at an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)-safe workstation to meet the requirements

of EIA-625 - "Requirements For Handling Electrostatic Discharge Sensitive Devices." All actions must be performed following the IPC-A-610 latest revision ESD recommended practices.

NOTE: Charge the PERC 5 battery before initial use to attain full functionality.

Unpack the TBBU and follow all antistatic procedures.

CAUTION: When unpacking static sensitive component from its shipping carton, do not remove the

component from the antistatic packing material until you are ready to install the component. Just before unwrapping the antistatic package, ensure that you discharge static electricity from your body.

NOTICE: When transporting a sensitive component, first place it in an antistatic container or packaging.

NOTE: Handle all sensitive components in a static-safe area. If possible, use antistatic floor pads and work

bench pads.

With the DIMM removed from the controller, insert one end of the battery pack harness (the red, white, yellow, and green wires) into the connector on the memory module and the other end into the connector on the battery.

Place the top edge of the battery over the top edge of the memory module so that the arms on the side of the battery fit into their sockets on the memory module. See Figure 3-3.

CAUTION: Electrostatic discharge can damage sensitive components. Always use proper antistatic

protection when handling components. Touching components without using a proper ground can damage the equipment.

Hardware Installation and Configuration 27

Figure 3-3. Installing a TBBU

memory module

connector on the memory module

battery pack harness

Place the PERC 5/E on a flat, clean, static–free surface.

Mount the memory module in the controller memory socket like a standard DIMM. See "Installing the

connector on the battery

battery

DIMM on a PERC 5/E Adapter" on page 28 for more information.

The memory module is mounted flush with the board so that the memory module is parallel to the board when installed.

Press the memory module firmly into the memory socket.

As you press the memory module into the socket, the TBBU clicks into place, indicating that the controller is firmly seated in the socket, and the arms on the socket fit into the notches to hold the memory module securely.

Installing the DIMM on a PERC 5/E Adapter

This section describes how to install the memory module on a PERC 5/E Adapter.

CAUTION: Only trained service technicians are authorized to remove the system cover and access any of the

NOTICE: PERC 5 cards support DELL-qualified 256-MB DDRII 400MHz ECC-registered DIMMs with x16 DRAM

components. Installing unsupported memory causes the system to hang at POST.

Remove the memory module in an antistatic environment.

NOTE: When unpacking a static sensitive component from its shipping carton, do not remove the component

from the antistatic packing material until you are ready to install the component. Just before unwrapping the antistatic package, ensure to discharge static electricity from your body.

NOTE: Handle all sensitive components in a static-safe area. If possible, use antistatic floor pads and work

bench pads.

NOTE: Do not touch the gold leads and do not bend the memory module.

28 Hardware Installation and Configuration

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