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AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The information in this User’s Manual has been carefully reviewed and is believed to be accurate. The vendor assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies that may be contained in this document, makes no commitment to update or to keep current the information in this manual, or to notify any person or organization of the updates.
Please Note: For the most up-to-date version of this manual, please see our web site at www.supermicro.com
.
Super Micro Computer, Inc. (“Supermicro”) reserves the right to make changes to the product described in this manual at any time and without notice. This product, including software, if any, and documentation may not, in whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any medium or machine without prior written consent.
IN NO EVENT WILL SUPERMICRO BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL,
SPECULATIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE
THIS PRODUCT OR DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES. IN PARTICULAR, SUPERMICRO SHALL NOT HAVE LIABILITY FOR ANY HARDWARE,
SOFTWARE, OR DATA STORED OR USED WITH THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING THE COSTS OF
REPAIRING, REPLACING, INTEGRATING, INSTALLING OR RECOVERING SUCH HARDWARE,
SOFTWARE, OR DATA.
Any disputes arising between manufacturer and customer shall be governed by the laws of Santa Clara
County in the State of California, USA. The State of California, County of Santa Clara shall be the exclusive venue for the resolution of any such disputes. Super Micro's total liability for all claims will not exceed the price paid for the hardware product.
FCC Statement: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instruction manual, may cause harmful interference with radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference, in which case you will be required to correct the interference at your own expense.
California Best Management Practices Regulations for Perchlorate Materials: This Perchlorate warning applies only to products containing CR (Manganese Dioxide) Lithium coin cells. Perchlorate
Material-special handling may apply. See www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlorate for further details.
HANDLING OF LEAD SOLDER MATERIALS USED IN THIS
PRODUCT MAY EXPOSE YOU TO LEAD, A CHEMICAL KNOWN TO THE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA TO CAUSE BIRTH DEFECTS AND OTHER
REPRODUCTIVE HARM.
Manual Revison 1.0c
Release Date: June 24, 2009
Unless you request and receive written permission from Super Micro Computer, Inc., you may not copy any part of this document. Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
LSI, Integrated Mirroring, Integrated RAID, Integrated Striping, Fusion-MPT, and MegaRAID are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Corporation. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders.
Portions of this document © 2006-2007 LSI Corporation
Copyright © 2009 by Super Micro Computer, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
.......................................................... 1-1
..................................................................... 1-1
............................................................... 1-1
............................................................. 1-1
............................................ 2-1
Internal SAS Connectors ........................................................................ 2-2
................................. 2-3
................................................................................... 2-4
.............................................. 2-5
....................................................................................... 3-1
.......................................................... 3-2
............................................................................. 3-2
................................................... 3-2
..................................... 3-3
.................................................. 4-1
.......................................... 4-1
Starting the MegaRAID BIOS CU ........................................................... 4-2
Using Easy Configuration ....................................................................... 4-2
Using New Configuration and View/Add Configuration........................... 4-4
Creating a Global Hotspare Drive ........................................................... 4-6
Second Initialization Method ................................................................ 4-7
............................................................................. 4-9
............................................................................. 4-10
.......................................................... 4-11
................................... 4-12
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
Viewing and Changing Adapter Properties ........................................... 4-12
Viewing and Changing Virtual Drive Properties .................................... 4-13
Viewing Physical Drive Properties ........................................................ 4-13
.................................................... 4-13
............................................ 4-14
................................................................ 4-14
............................................... 4-14
............................................................................................. 5-1
Creating Storage Configurations............................................................. 5-1
.......................................... 5-2
....................................................................... 5-2
............................................................................. 5-5
............................ 6-1
........................... 6-1
........................................... 6-4
Physical/Logical View Panel ................................................................... 6-4
Properties/Operations/Graphical View Panel.......................................... 6-5
Group Operations Menu....................................................................... 6-6
.......................................... 6-6
Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters .................................................. 6-8
Using Guided Configuration.................................................................. 6-10
Using Manual Configuration: RAID 0 .................................................... 6-13
Using Manual Configuration: RAID 1 .................................................... 6-15
Using Manual Configuration: RAID 5 .................................................... 6-16
Using Manual Configuration: RAID 10 .................................................. 6-17
........................................... 6-18
.................................................. 6-19
.................................................. 6-20
Table of Contents
.................................................................... 6-20
....................................... 6-21
..................................... 6-22
......................................................................................... 7-1
........................................................................ 7-2
............................................................................ 7-2
............................................................... 7-4
Resynchronization with Concurrent Host I/O Operation ......................... 7-4
......................................................................... 7-6
...................................................... 7-6
........................................................ 7-6
Creating an IME Volume ....................................................................... 7-11
Creating a Second IM or IME Volume................................................... 7-11
..................................................................... 7-12
............................................................. 7-13
Viewing Volume Properties ................................................................... 7-13
Synchronizing an Array......................................................................... 7-13
Locating Drives in a Volume ................................................................. 7-15
........................................................ 8-1
......................................................................................... 8-1
......................................................................................... 8-1
..................................................................................... 8-2
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
........................................................... 8-3
......................................................................... 8-3
............................................................... 8-3
......................................................................... 8-4
......................................................... 8-7
............................................................... 8-7
Viewing IS Volume Properties................................................................. 8-7
Locating a Disk in a Volume.................................................................... 8-8
.......................................... 9-1
....................................................... 9-2
....................................................................... 9-2
Common Command Line Parameters .................................................... 9-3
CREATE Command ................................................................................ 9-3
DEFAULTS Command ............................................................................ 9-5
DISPLAY Command ............................................................................... 9-5
FORMAT Command ............................................................................... 9-8
HOTSPARE Command........................................................................... 9-9
STATUS Command................................................................................. 9-9
SETOFFLINE Command ...................................................................... 9-10
SETONLINE Command ........................................................................ 9-11
AUTO Command (EFI Version Only) .................................................... 9-11
DISABLEIR Command (EFI Version Only) ........................................... 9-13
ENABLEIR Command (EFI Version Only) ............................................ 9-13
LIST Command (EFI Version Only) ...................................................... 9-14
This manual is written for system integrators, PC technicians and knowledgeable PC users who intend to integrate SuperMicro's AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR add-on cards to their system.
The AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR add-on cards offer the following features:
•
•
•
UIO Form Factor
Internal and External "ipass" cable ports.
Multiple LED Activity/Failure indicators.
In addition, the AOC-USAS-L4iR add-on card offers:
•
•
IR Mode and SWR with iButton
RAID 5 with iButton
The AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR add-on cards supports the following Operating Systems (OS):
•
•
Windows 2000/Windows XP/Windows 2003
Red Hat Enterprise Linux/SUSE Linux
All images and layouts shown in this user's guide are based upon the latest PCB
Revision available at the time of publishing. The card you have received may or may not look exactly the same as the graphics shown in this manual.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
Address:
Tel:
Fax:
Email:
Web Site:
Super Micro Computer, Inc.
980 Rock Ave.
San Jose, CA 95131 U.S.A.
+1 (408) 503-8000
+1 (408) 503-8008 [email protected] (General Information) [email protected] (Technical Support) www.supermicro.com
Address:
Tel:
Fax:
Email:
Super Micro Computer B.V.
Het Sterrenbeeld 28, 5215 ML
‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
+31 (0) 73-6400390
+31 (0) 73-6416525 [email protected] (General Information) [email protected] (Technical Support) [email protected] (Customer Support)
9
Address:
Tel:
Fax:
Web Site:
Technical Support:
Email:
Tel:
Super Micro Computer, Inc.
4F, No. 232-1, Liancheng Rd.
Chung-Ho 235, Taipei County
Taiwan, R.O.C.
+886-(2) 8226-3990
+886-(2) 8226-3991 www.supermicro.com.tw
+886-2-8228-1366, ext. 132 or 139
To avoid personal injury and property damage, carefully follow all the safety steps listed below when accessing your system or handling the components.
•
•
•
•
Electric Static Discharge (ESD) can damage electronic components. To prevent damage to your system, it is important to handle it very carefully. The following measures are generally sufficient to protect your equipment from ESD.
•
Use a grounded wrist strap designed to prevent static discharge.
Touch a grounded metal object before removing a component from the antistatic bag.
Handle the add-on card by its edges only; do not touch its components, peripheral chips, memory modules or gold contacts.
When handling chips or modules, avoid touching their pins.
Put the card and peripherals back into their antistatic bags when not in use.
•
•
•
Always disconnect power cables before installing or removing any components from the computer.
Disconnect the power cable before installing or removing any cables from the system.
Make sure that the add-on card is securely and properly installed on the motherboard to prevent damage to the system due to power shortage.
All images and layouts shown in this user's guide are based upon the latest PCB
Revision available at the time of publishing. The card you have received may or may not look exactly the same as the graphics shown in this manual.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
Connectors are used to attach the AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR add-on card to the system’s mainboard.
1
2
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3
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Table 2-1 lists the add-on card’s front connectors.
3
4
1
2
Internal SAS Connector
I-Button
Front Panel LED Connector
External SAS Connector
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The Internal SAS port (J3) connects to the backplane allowing the motherboard to access the hard drives and RAID capabilities. This connector supports up to 4 HDD ports.
Use a single port SAS "ipass" cable (Super Micro order number CBL - 0108L-02) for connecting to the hard drives.
The I-Button is used to enable RAID 5 with the AOC-USAS-L4IR card only. To do this, you must install a SuperMicro I-button and enable the SWR5 jumper.
The LED connector allows the add-on card to display activity and status using a standard LED panel.
lists the pin definitions for this connector.
3
4
1
2
A - LED+
A - LED-
B - LED+
B - LED-
The External SAS port (J4) allows the motherboard to connect to an external backplane.
This connector supports up to 4 SAS drives.
Use a single port, external SAS cable (Super Micro order number CBL - 0166L) to connect to the backpane.
Chapter 2: Connectors, Jumpers and Indicators
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SWR5
To modify the operation of the backplane, jumpers can be used to choose between optional settings. Jumpers create shorts between two pins to change the function of the connector. Pin 1 is identified with a square solder pad on the printed circuit board.
shows jumper locations for the add-on card, while Table 2-3 lists the add-on
card’s pin definitions.
On two pin jumpers, "Closed" means the jumper is on and "Open" means the jumper is off the pins.
Connector
Pins
3 2 1
Jumper
Setting
3 2 1
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
SWR5
1-2: Enabled
3: Disabled
Enables or Disables Software Raid 5 on the AOC-USAS-L4iR add-on card only. Leave disabled for the AOC-USAS-L4i add-on card.
Power LEDS
LNP0 - LNP7
A0 - A7
LED2
LED1
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LED1
LED2
LNP0
LNP1
LNP2
LNP3
LNP4
Figure displays LED indicators on the add-on card, while table lists the individual LEDs, their state and their specification.
On
On
On
Flashing
Flashing
On
On
SAS Port Activity
Heartbeat and Fault
Fault in HDD #0
Fault in HDD #1
Fault in HDD #2
Fault in HDD #3
Fault in HDD #4
Chapter 2: Connectors, Jumpers and Indicators
A5
A6
A7
A1
A2
A3
A4
LNP5
LNP6
LNP7
A0
On
On
On
Flashing
Flashing
Flashing
Flashing
Flashing
Flashing
Flashing
Flashing
Fault in HDD #5
Fault in HDD #6
Fault in HDD #7
Normal Activity in HDD #0
Normal Activity in HDD #1
Normal Activity in HDD #2
Normal Activity in HDD #3
Normal Activity in HDD #4
Normal Activity in HDD #5
Normal Activity in HDD #6
Normal Activity in HDD #7
Use Table 2-5 to determine the minimum number of hard drives needed to set up a
RAID environment in SR mode for the AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card. Use
to determine the minimum number of hard drives needed to set up a RAID environment in IR mode for the AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card.
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10
2
2
3
4 (Two RAID 1 Arrays)
RAID 0 (Integrated Striping)
RAID 1 (Integrated
Mirroring)
RAID 1E (Integrated
Mirroring Enhanced)
2
2
3
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
To change RAID modes from the AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card’s default IT Mode, you need to flash your system’s BIOS with a Firmware download and install drivers for the RAID mode to your operating system.
There are three RAID modes that are supported by the AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on
Card:
•
This is the default mode for the
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card. The maximum support for this mode is up to 122 hard disk drives under expander topology. This mode does not support RAID.
•
This mode requires an IT mode firmware flash to the BIOS and an IT mode driver installation to the OS.
In Integrated Raid™ mode the integrated ARM chip on the AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card creates Integrated Mirroring™ (IM,
RAID 1), Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME, RAID 1E) and Integrated Striping (IS,
RAID 0) through the chipset’s BIOS and the system’s OS. The maximum support for this IR mode is up to 63 hard disk drives under an expander topology.
•
See
Chapter 7: "Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced" on page 7-1
and
Chapter 8: "Integrated Striping" on page 8-1
for details on Integrated
Mirroring Enhanced or Integrated Striping.
This RAID mode requires an IR mode firmware flash to the BIOS and an IT mode driver installation to the OS.
In this mode you must buy the I-Button feature from
SuperMicro to enable RAID level 5 use. First you must create RAID level 0, 1, 5 or
10 from the MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility in order for the OS to see the hard disk drives (this can be done via MSM too, so necessary need to be done in
MegaRAID Configuration Utility). The maximum support for this RAID mode is up to eight (8) hard disk drives under expander topology.
This RAID mode requires an SR mode firmware flash to the BIOS and an SR mode driver installation to the OS. This mode also requires that the SWR5 jumper on the
MegaRAID Storage Manager (MSM) software version 2.60 or later supports both SR and IR Mode in both Windows and Linux. MSM does not support IT Mode since IT is only an initiator and target mode, and therefore it does not required storage management utility.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
Firmware for RAID modes can only be obtained through contacting SuperMicro
Technical Support for instructions and assistance to obtain firmware downloads.
Each of the RAID modes requires a different firmware download. Make sure the firmware download corresponds to the RAID mode (IT, IR or SR) that you wish to use before installing it.
Follow the procedure below to flash firmware to the BIOS.
Flashing Firmware:
1. Before Flashing the Firmware and BIOS, please erase all the flash part first. Boot to
DOS and run the
Clear.BAT
file by entering the following command at the DOS prompt: a:\>Clear.BAT
This clears all the content from the flash memory.
2. Reboot the system before doing the Firmware and BIOS flash.
3. Flash the BIOS using the
***.BAT
file with the following command at the DOS prompt (where *** represents the name of the BAT file used): a:\>***.BAT
This automatically flashes the BIOS.
4. The BAT file will flash Firmware and BIOS on the screen. Manually enter the SAS address when prompted.
5. When the flashing is completed, reboot the system.
The new firmware is now flashed to your system’s BIOS.
To obtain drivers go to the SuperMicro FTP site and down the appropriate driver for the operating system you are using.
The drivers can be found at the following FTP site: ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/driver/SAS/LSI/1064_1068/
See the installation text file within each download for details on the installation of these drivers.
Chapter 3: RAID Modes, Firmware and Drivers
RAID modes can be activated by pressing keyboard keys in the OPROM BIOS setup.
Press
for IT or IR mode and
for SR mode to activate your system for one of these modes.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The LSI™ MegaRAID® BIOS Configuration Utility (CU) is used to configure disk arrays and virtual drives and to do other configuration tasks in a pre-boot environment. This utility is primarily used for SR Mode configurations for the AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on
Card.
The below procedure for quickly configuring arrays and logical drives with the
MegaRAID BIOS CU is intended for users that are already familiar with configuration utilities and tools. Refer to
Section 4-2 for detailed configuration instructions. To ensure
the best performance, select the optimal RAID level for the logical drive you create.
It is recommended that you do not use both SAS and SATA drives in the same array. Using different drive interfaces in this way could cause unpredictable behavior, decreased performance, an increased error count and decreased Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF).
Use the following procedure for quickly configuring arrays and logical drives using the
MegaRAID BIOS CU:
1. Boot the system.
2. Start the MegaRAID BIOS CU by pressing C
TRL
+M.
3. Select C
ONFIGURE
from the M
ANAGEMENT
menu.
4. Select a configuration method from the C
ONFIGURATION
menu. You may choose from either E
ASY
C
ONFIGURATION
, N
EW
C
ONFIGURATION
or V
IEW
/A
DD
C
ONFIGURATION
.
5. Create arrays using the available physical drives.
6. Define the logical drive(s) using the space in the arrays.
7. Initialize the new logical drive(s).
This section provides instructions for configuring arrays and logical drives with the
MegaRAID BIOS CU.
It is recommended that you use drives with the same capacity when you create a storage configurations. If you use drives with different capacities in one array, the CU limits each drive to the capacity of the smallest drive.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The number of physical drives in a specific array determines the possible RAID levels
that you can implement with the array. See Section 2-4: "RAID Minimum Drive
for further details.
Follow these steps to start the MegaRAID BIOS CU:
1. During boot-up, wait for the following message to appear on the screen:
Press Ctrl-M to run LSI Software RAID Setup Utility
2. When you see this message, hold down the C
TRL
key while pressing the M-
KEY
.
The RAID C
ONFIGURATION
U
TILITY
M
ANAGEMENT
M
ENU
screen appears, as shown in
When you select the Easy Configuration Option, the CU creates one or more arrays from the available physical drives and configures each array as a single virtual drive. If virtual drives have already been configured, the CU does not change their configuration.
Chapter 4: MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility
Follow the steps below to create a virtual drive using E
ASY
C
ONFIGURATION
:
1. Select C
ONFIGURATION
J E
ASY
C
ONFIGURATION
from the M
ANAGEMENT
menu.
A list of available (READY) physical drives appears.
2. Use the arrow keys to select the physical drives you want to include in the array.
a. Press the
SPACEBAR
to add each selected physical drive to the new array.
When you select a physical drive, its status changes from READY to ONLIN
A[
array number
]-[
drive number
]. For example,
ONLIN A00-01 means array 0, disk drive 1.
b. To create a global hotspare drive, highlight a READY disk drive and press F4.
Then select Y
ES
from the pop-up menu.
c. To define multiple arrays, select all the drives you want for the first array, then press E
NTER
to start selecting drives for the second array, and so on.
When you have selected drives for all desired arrays, press F10.
3. Press the
SPACEBAR
to select an array.
The V
IRTUAL
D
RIVES
C
ONFIGURED
screen appears, as shown in
. This screen shows the virtual drive number, RAID level, virtual drive size, number of stripes in the physical array, stripe size, and state of the virtual drive.
Press F10 again.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
4. Highlight RAID and press E
NTER
.
The available RAID levels for the current virtual drive are displayed.
5. Select a RAID level for the virtual drive and press E
NTER
.
6. (Optional) Change the drive’s default Write Cache and Read Ahead policies (see
Section 4-3: "Setting the Hard Disk Write Cache and Read Ahead Policies" on page 4-8
).
7. When you have finished defining the current virtual drive, select A
CCEPT
and press
E
NTER
.
8. Save the configuration when prompted, and press any key to return to the
M
ANAGEMENT
menu.
13. Initialize the new virtual drive(s) (see
"Initializing Virtual Drives" on page 4-6 for
detailed instructions.)
Chapter 4: MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility
When you select the N
EW
C
ONFIGURATION
menu option, the CU deletes the existing arrays and virtual drives and replaces them with the new configuration that you specify.
The V
IEW
/A
DD
C
ONFIGURATION
menu option lets you view the existing configuration or add to the existing configuration, if possible.
If you want to keep the existing data on the storage configuration, use V
IEW
/A
DD
C
ONFIGURATION
instead of N
EW
C
ONFIGURATION
.
Follow these steps to configure a disk array using the N
EW
C
ONFIGURATION
or V
IEW
/A
DD
C
ONFIGURATION
option:
1. S
ELECT
C
ONFIGURATION
J
N
EW
C
ONFIGURATION
or C
ONFIGURATION
→ V
IEW
/A
DD
C
ONFIGURATION
from the M
ANAGEMENT
menu.
If you selected N
EW
C
ONFIGURATION
, select Y
ES
to proceed and confirm that you are erasing the existing storage configuration.
The CU displays an array selection window.
The existing storage configuration will be erased only if you save the newly created configuration at the end of the process. It you do not save the new configuration, the CU will restore the previously existing configuration.
2. Use the arrow keys to select physical drives for the new array.
3. Press the
SPACEBAR
to add each selected physical drive to the new array.
When you select a drive, its status changes from
READY
to
ONLIN A[array number]
- [drive number]
. For example,
ONLIN A00-01
means array 0, disk drive 1.
4. To create a global hotspare drive, highlight a READY disk drive and press F4. Then select Y
ES
from the pop-up menu.
Make sure the capacity of the hotspare drive is equal to or larger than the capacity of the disks in the array and that it is the same type of drive (SAS or SATA).
The hotspare drive will rebuild a failed drive even if it is SAS and the failed drive is SATA, or vice versa. Once the rebuilt is completed, however, it is recommended that you replace the new array member with a drive of the same type.
5. To define multiple arrays, select all the drives you want for the first array, then press
E
NTER
to start selecting drives for the second array, and so on.
6. When you have selected drives for all desired arrays, press F10.
7. Press the
SPACEBAR
to select an array, if needed.
Press F10 to continue.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
8. Highlight
and press E
NTER
.
A list of the available RAID levels for the current virtual drive appears.
9. Select a RAID level for the virtual drive and press E
NTER
.
10. (Optional) You may also set the logical drive size by highlighting S
IZE
and then pressing E
NTER
.
The minimum valid virtual drive size is 64 Mbytes. An error will appear if you try to create a virtual drive that is smaller 64 Mbytes.
By default, all the available space in the array is to the current virtual drive. For
RAID 10 arrays, only one virtual can be defined for the entire array.
11. (Optional) You may change the disks’s default
Write Cache
and
Read Ahead
policies (see Section 4-3: "Setting the Hard Disk Write Cache and Read Ahead
12. When you have finished defining the current virtual drive, select A
CCEPT
and press
E
NTER
.
13. Configure additional virtual drives on the same array, if desired.
If you have created more than one array, configure a virtual drive on the second array.
14. Save the configuration when prompted, and press any key to return to the
M
ANAGEMENT
menu.
15. Initialize the new virtual drive(s). (See
"Initializing Virtual Drives" on page 4-6 for
detailed instructions.)
The MegaRAID BIOS CU enables you to create global hotspare drives (dedicated hotspare drives are not supported). A hotspare drive can automatically replace a failed drive in a redundant RAID 1 or RAID 10 array, to protect against data loss.
When you select disk drive for a global hotspare, be sure it is the same type of drive (either SAS or SATA) as the drives in the arrays that it will protect. It is recommended that you do not combine SAS and SATA drives in the same array.
You can create a hotspare when you are configuring a new storage configuration, as described in the previous sections.
Adding a Hotspare Drive
To add a hotspare drive to an existing redundant storage configuration, use the following steps:
1. Select O
BJECTS
from the M
ANAGEMENT
menu.
2. Select P
HYSICAL
D
RIVE
.
A list of physical drives appears.
Chapter 4: MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility
3. Select an un-configured drive or R
EADY
drive from the list, and press E
NTER
.
4. When the P
HYSICAL
D
RIVE
P
ROPERTY
menu appears, select M
AKE
H
OT
S
PARE
and press E
NTER
.
5. Select Y
ES
from the pop-up menu to create the hotspare drive.
Removing a Hotspare Drive
To remove a hotspare drive
1. Select O
BJECTS
from the M
ANAGEMENT
menu.
2. Select P
HYSICAL
D
RIVE
.
A list of physical drives appears.
3. Select the HOTSP disk and press E
NTER
4. Select F
ORCE
O
FFLINE
and press E
NTER
.
The status of the drive changes to READY, and it can then be used in another new array.
When you initialize a virtual drive all existing data on the virtual drive is erased.
This section explains the two methods of initializing a virtual drive with the MegaRAID
BIOS CU.
If the F
AST
I
NIT
property is enabled,
fast initialization
is used. In fast initialization, the
MegaRAID BIOS CU quickly writes zeroes to the first and last 8 Mbyte regions of the new virtual drive.
If the F
AST
I
NIT
property is
not
enabled, the MegaRAID BIOS CU performs a
complete initialization
on the virtual drive. This may take a long time if the physical disk drives are large.
Follow these steps to initialize a virtual drive using the I
NITIALIZE
menu.
1. On the M
ANAGEMENT
menu, select I
NITIALIZE
.
2. Use the
SPACEBAR
to highlight the virtual drive to initialize.
The virtual drive name is highlighted in yellow. To deselect it, highlight the virtual drive and press the
SPACEBAR
again.
3. Press F10.
4. Select Y
ES
at the prompt and press E
NTER
to begin the initialization.
A graph shows the progress of the initialization until it is complete.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
5. After the initialization is complete, press E
SC
to return to previous menus.
If you press E
SC
while initialization is in progress, the following options appear:
•
•
•
(Available only if
AutoResume
is enabled on the adapter: M
ANAGEMENT menu
J
O
BJECTS
J
A
DAPTER
J
A
UTO
R
ESUME
.) The initialization is stopped, and the CU stores the percentage of the initialization already completed. If
AutoResume
is enabled, and if Fast Init is not enabled, the initialization resumes where it left off when you restart it, instead of starting over from zero percent.
The initialization continues normally.
The initialization is completely aborted. If you restart initialization, it begins at zero percent.
Follow these steps to initialize a virtual drive using the O
BJECTS
menu.
1. From the M
ANAGEMENT
menu, select O
BJECTS
J
V
IRTUAL
D
RIVE
, as shown in
The V
IRTUAL
D
RIVES
L
IST
screen appears ( Figure 4-3 ).
2. Select a virtual drive, if there is more than one configured, and press E
NTER
.
Chapter 4: MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility
3. Select I
NITIALIZE
from the submenu and press E
NTER
.
4. Select Y
ES
at the prompt and press E
NTER
.
The CU displays a bar graph showing the initialization progress.
5. When initialization completes, press E
SC
to return to the previous menu.
If you press E
SC
while initialization is in progress, the S
TOP
, C
ONTINUE
, and A
BORT options are available, as explained earlier in
,
above.
You can use the MegaRAID BIOS CU to set the hard disk drive
Write Cache
and
Read
Ahead
settings. Any read or write cache policy changes apply to all virtual drives on an array. In other words, if two virtual drives are defined on a single array and you change the
Read Ahead
setting on one virtual drive, the change will also apply to the other virtual drive on the array.
The
Disk Write Cache
and
Read Ahead
policies can be set to O
N
or O
FF
.
•
•
When the disk
Write Cache
is O
N
, a write transaction is considered to be complete when all the data has been written to the disk cache. When disk
Write Cache
is O
FF
, the write transaction is complete only when the data has been written to the disk.
When disk
Read Ahead
is O
N
, extra data is read sequentially ahead of the data that is actually requested and is stored in a cache. If the additional read-ahead data is then requested, it can be read faster from the cache than from the disk directly.
When the disk
Write Cache
is O
N
, there is a danger that data could be lost if the power fails before the cached data is written to disk.
Follow these steps to view or change the virtual drive
Write Cache
or
Read Ahead
settings:
1. From the M
ANAGEMENT
menu, select O
BJECTS
J V
IRTUAL
D
RIVE
J V
IRTUAL
D
RIVE N
J V
IEW
/U
PDATE
P
ARAMETERS
.
2. Use the arrow key to move the cursor to D
ISK
WC or R
EAD
A
HEAD
and press E
NTER
.
3. Use the arrow key to select O
FF
or O
N
for D
ISK
WC (DWC) or R
EAD
A
HEAD
.
4. When you see the prompt, C
HANGE
DWC or C
HANGE
R
EAD
A
HEAD
, use the arrow key to select O
FF
or O
N
, then press E
NTER
to change the cache setting.
The settings are changed for all virtual drives defined on the array.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The MegaRAID BIOS CU enables you to rebuild a drive of a redundant array if the array has a failed drive. If the failed drive is still good (that is, if the drive is physically present and its size is greater than or equal to the defined size of the array) it will be rebuilt. If the drive is small, an error message will appear and the MegaRAID BIOS CU will not allow the drive to be rebuilt. A rebuild cannot be started on a failed drive if its size is even 1 byte smaller than the defined size of the array.
Rebuilding a Drive
Follow these steps to rebuild a drive:
1. Select R
EBUILD
from the M
ANAGEMENT
menu.
2. When the list of drives appears, highlight the FAIL drive that you want to rebuild and press the
SPACEBAR
to select it.
3. After selecting the physical drive, press F10 and select Y
ES
at the confirmation prompt.
The rebuild process begins, and a graph shows the progress of the rebuild until it is complete. Although the CU changes the disk drive state to R
EBUILD
at this point, the change does not appear on the screen while the rebuild is in progress.
When rebuild is complete, the CU displays the message:
Rebuilding of Drive X Completed Successfully. Press Esc. (X
= the ID of the rebuilt drive.)
4. Press E
SC
to display the M
ANAGEMENT
menu.
•
•
The state of the rebuilt disk drive changes from FAIL to ONLIN.
If the CU detects a media error on the source drive during rebuild, it initiates a sector read for that block.
If the sector read fails, the CU adds entries to the Soft Bad Block Management
(SBBM) table, writes this table to the target drive, and displays an error message.
Additional error messages are displayed if the SBBM table is 80% full or 100% full. If the SBBM table is completely full, the rebuild operation is aborted, and the drive is marked as FAIL.
If you press E
SC
while the rebuild is running, the following options display:
•
(Available only if AutoResume is enabled on the adapter: M
ANAGEMENT
M
ENU
J
O
BJECTS
J
A
DAPTER
J
A
UTO
R
ESUME
) The rebuild is stopped, and the
CU stores the percentage of the rebuild already completed. If A
UTO
R
ESUME
is enabled, and if F
AST
I
NIT
is not enabled, the rebuild resumes where it left off when you restart it instead of starting over from 0 percent.
The rebuild continues normally.
The rebuild is completely aborted. If you restart the rebuild, it begins at 0 percent.
Chapter 4: MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility
MegaRAID BIOS CU supports hot plugging of disk drives. When you insert or remove a disk drive, the following hot plug message appears:
A Drive Has Been Inserted/Removed. Configuration Updated.
Press ESC...
After you press E
SC
the inserted or removed drive will be reflected in the list of drives that appears in the configuration utility.
Obviously, you should not insert or remove a drive while you are defining a new virtual drive or while an initialization or other process is running. The following information describes how the CU handles hot plugging when various actions occur:
•
•
•
If the P
HYSICAL
D
RIVE
window or one of the C
ONFIGURATION
windows is open when you insert or remove a drive, the window will close when the hot plug message appears.
CU menus such as S
ELECT
B
OOT
D
RIVE
, S
ELECT
A
DAPTER
and V
IRTUAL
D
RIVE
will completely or partially close when a drive is inserted or removed.
If a
Rebuild
is in progress when you insert or remove a drive, the CU first displays the message:
•
•
Rebuilding Of Drive Not Complete! Press Esc.. followed by the hot plug message.
If the Rebuild was not affected by this hot plug event, it continues to rebuild from where it left off, provided that A
UTO
R
ESUME
is enabled; otherwise, the Rebuild starts over from the beginning. If the rebuilding array was affected by the hot plug event, the Rebuild aborts and the array status changes based on the hot plug operation.
If an Initialization is in progress when you insert or remove a drive, the CU displays the message:
Initialization of Array Not Complete! Press ESC.. followed by the hot plug message.
If a consistency check is in progress when you insert or remove a drive, the CU displays the message
CC Not Completed! Press ESC.. followed by the hot plug message.
The Check Consistency feature can be used on RAID 1 or RAID 10 virtual drives to verify the data consistency between the mirrored physical drives. MegaRAID BIOS CU automatically corrects any differences found in the data when a consistency check is run.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
Checking Data Consistency
1. On the M
ANAGEMENT
menu select C
HECK
C
ONSISTENCY
and press E
NTER
.
A list of configured virtual drives is displayed.
2. Highlight a virtual drive with the arrow keys.
3. Press the
SPACEBAR
to select the virtual drive to check for consistency.
If you select a RAID 0 virtual drive, a message appears stating that a
Check Consistency cannot be performed. To continue, deselect the virtual drive, highlight a redundant virtual drive, and press the
SPACEBAR
again.
4. Press F10.
5. At the prompt, select Y
ES
to start the Check Consistency process and press E
NTER
.
A graph shows the progress of the Check Consistency operation until it is complete.
If the MegaRAID BIOS CU finds any data inconsistencies while comparing the source and target drives, it fixes the inconsistency by writing the source data to the target drive.
When this happens, the following message appears at the bottom of the screen:
The Data on the Drives is inconsistent. Repair done!
If the MegaRAID BIOS CU finds a media error on the source drive, it pops up a dialog box with this message:
•
•
Error in Reading Sectors! Proceed Anyway (Y/N)?
If you press Y, the program skips the bad block and continues. If you press N, the program aborts the consistency check. The same message appears if the program finds a hard media error on the target drive.
If you press E
SC
while a Check Consistency is running, the following options are displayed:
•
(Available only if AutoResume is enabled on the adapter by selecting:
M
ANAGEMENT
M
ENU
?
J
O
BJECTS
?
J
A
DAPTER
?
J
A
UTO
R
ESUME
.) The Check
Consistency is stopped, and the CU stores the percentage of the task already completed. If A
UTO
R
ESUME
is enabled, the Check Consistency resumes where it left off when you restart it, instead of starting over from zero percent.
The Check Consistency continues normally.
The Check Consistency is completely aborted. If you restart it, it begins at zero percent.
The MegaRAID BIOS CU allows you to view properties for adapters, virtual drives, and physical drives. You can also change some properties for adapters and virtual drives.
Chapter 4: MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility
To view or change adapter properties, follow these steps:
1. On the M
ANAGEMENT
menu, select O
BJECTS
J A
DAPTER
.
2. Select an adapter from the list. The following list of adapter properties appears:
Rebuild Rate
Clk Const Rate
FGI Rate (Foregraound
Initialization rate)
BGI Rate (Background
Initialization rate)
Disk WC (Disk Write Cache)
Read Ahead
BIOS State
Stop on Error
Fast Init
Auto Rebuild
Auto Resume
0 to 100 (% of system resources) 30
0 to 100 (% of system resources) 30
0 to 100 (% of system resources) 30
0 to 100 (% of system resources) 30
Off, On
On, Off
Enable, Disable
No, Yes
Enable, Disable
On, Off
Enable, Disable
When enabled you can stop a consistency check, rebuild, or initialization and resume it later where it left off, instead of aborting it and starting over
None, 128MB, 1GB
Off (Write Through enabled)
On
Enable
No
Enable
On
Enable
Disk Coercion a
1GB a. The Disk Coercion property can be accessed only when no configuration is present for the adapter. Otherwise, an error message appears.
3. If you want to change the value of a property, highlight it and press E
NTER
.
4. Select or type a different value for the property and press E
NTER
.
5. When you are finished, press E
SC
until you return to the M
ANAGEMENT
menu.
To view or change virtual drive properties, follow these steps:
1. On the M
ANAGEMENT
menu, select O
BJECTS
J
V
IRTUAL
D
RIVE
.
2. Select V
IEW
/U
PDATE
P
ARAMETERS
.
The only virtual drive properties you can change are Disk WC (Disk Write Cache) and
Read Ahead (see Section 4-3: "Setting the Hard Disk Write Cache and Read Ahead
). The other properties are view-only.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
To view physical drive properties, follow these steps:
1. On the M
ANAGEMENT
menu, select O
BJECTS
J P
HYSICAL
D
RIVE
.
2. Highlight a physical drive on the list that appears and press E
NTER
.
3. Select D
RIVE
P
ROPERTIES
from the menu.
The drive properties are D
EVICE
T
YPE
(D
ISK
), C
APACITY
, P
RODUCT
ID, and R
EVISION
N
O
.
These properties are view-only.
The MegaRAID BIOS CU enables you to force drives online or offline. You may want to force a drive of a redundant array offline so that a hotspare drive will automatically replace it. An auto rebuild will begin immediately if the MegaRAID BIOS CU finds a valid hotspare drive to replace the offline drive.
You may need to force a drive online if it has gone offline due to a power failure. The
MegaRAID BIOS CU will not allow a drive to be forced online if its size is smaller than the defined size of the array.
To force a drive online or offline, follow these steps:
1. On the M
ANAGEMENT
menu, select O
BJECTS
J P
HYSICAL
D
RIVE
.
2. Highlight a physical drive that is a member of an array and press E
NTER
.
3. Select F
ORCE
O
FFLINE
or F
ORCE
O
NLINE
from the menu.
If the drive was online, its status changes to FAIL. If it was offline, its status changes to ONLIN.
The default boot virtual drive is
. If you change the boot drive to another virtual drive, the BIOS and the CU will preserve this change. However, if you delete the new boot virtual drive, you must be sure to configure another virtual drive for booting. The
MegaRAID BIOS CU will not automatically select a different boot virtual drive.
Follow these steps to configure a bootable virtual drive:
1. On the M
ANAGEMENT
menu, select C
ONFIGURE
J
S
ELECT
B
OOT
D
RIVE
.
2. Select a virtual drive from the list to be the designated boot drive.
The MegaRAID BIOS CU allows you to delete any single virtual drive defined in the configuration (sometimes referred to as random deletion).
Chapter 4: MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility
Before you delete a virtual drive, be sure to back up all the data you want to keep.
To delete a specified virtual drive, follow these steps:
1. Select O
BJECTS
J V
IRTUAL
D
RIVE
.
2. Highlight the virtual drive that you want to delete and press D
ELETE
.
3. Select Y
ES
when the confirmation message appears.
Before you clear a storage configuration, be sure to back up all the data you want to keep.
To clear a storage configuration, follow these steps:
1. On the M
ANAGEMENT
menu, select C
ONFIGURE
J
C
LEAR
C
ONFIGURATION
.
2. When the message appears, select Y
ES
to confirm.
All virtual drives are deleted from the configuration.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
This chapter explains provides and overview of MegaRAID Storage Manager software, and instructions on how to install (or reinstall) the software on your workstation or server for the supported operating systems, which include: Microsoft Windows, Red Hat Linux, and SUSE Linux. 5.3.1 Installing MegaRAID Storage Manager Software on Microsoft
Windows.
MegaRAID Storage Manager software enables you to configure, monitor, and maintain storage configurations created under Embedded MegaRAID Software. The MegaRAID
Storage Manager graphical user interface (GUI) makes it easy for you to create and manage storage configurations.
MegaRAID Storage Manager software can be used to manage a wide range of MegaRAID controllers. Some MegaRAID Storage Manager software features are not applicable for Embedded MegaRAID Software.
MegaRAID Storage Manager software enables you to easily configure the controllers, disk drives, and virtual disks on your workstation or server. The Configuration Wizard greatly simplifies the process of creating arrays and virtual disks.
You can use the Configuration Wizard’s
Auto Configuration mode
to automatically create the best possible configuration with the available hardware. You can use the
Guided Configuration mode
, which asks you a few brief questions about the configuration, and then creates it for you. Or you can use the
Manual Configuration mode
, which gives you complete control over all aspects of the storage configuration.
MegaRAID Storage Manager software displays the status of virtual disks, physical disks, and other storage devices on the workstation or server that you are monitoring. System errors and events are recorded in an event log file and are displayed on the screen.
Special device icons appear on the screen to notify you of disk failures and other events that require immediate attention.
You can use MegaRAID Storage Manager software to perform system maintenance tasks such as running consistency checks on arrays that support redundancy.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The hardware requirements for MegaRAID Storage Manager software are as follows:
•
•
PC-compatible computer with an IA-32 (32-bit) Intel Architecture processor or an
EM64T (64-bit) processor and at least 128 Mbytes of system memory (256 Mbytes recommended)
Hard disk drive with at least 50 Mbytes available free space
•
•
The supported operating systems for the MegaRAID Storage Manager software are as follows:
• Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows XP,
Microsoft Vista and Microsoft Windows Server 2008.
Red Hat Linux 3.0 or 4.0
SUSE SLES 9, with latest updates and service packs
Refer to your server documentation and to the operating system documentation for more information on hardware and operating system requirements.
Follow these steps if you need to install MegaRAID Storage Manager software on a system running Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, or Microsoft
Windows XP:
1. Insert the MegaRAID Storage Manager software installation CD in the CD-ROM drive.
If necessary, find and double-click the
setup.exe
file to start the installation program.
2. When the W
ELCOME
screen appears, click N
EXT
.
If MegaRAID Storage Manager software is already installed on this system, the
P
ROGRAM
M
AINTENANCE
screen appears. Read the screen text and select M
ODIFY
,
R
EPAIR
, or R
EMOVE
.
3. When the next screen appears, read and accept the user license, and click N
EXT
.
The C
USTOMER
I
NFORMATION
screen appears, as shown in Figure 5-1 .
Chapter 5: MegaRAID Overview and Installation
4. Enter your user name and organization name, and in the bottom part of the screen, select an installation option:
•
•
If you select A
LL USERS
, any user with administrative privileges can use this version of MegaRAID Storage Manager software to view or change storage configurations.
If you select O
NLY FOR CURRENT USER
, the MegaRAID Storage Manager shortcuts and associates icon availability to only the user with this screen’s user name.
Click N
EXT
to continue.
5. On the next screen, accept the default destination folder, or click C
HANGE
to select a different destination folder.
Click N
EXT
to continue.
The S
ETUP
T
YPE
screen appears, as shown in Figure 5-2 .
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
6. Select one of the Setup options. The options are fully explained in the screen text.
•
•
•
•
Select C
OMPLETE
if you are installing MegaRAID Storage Manager software on a server.
Select C
LIENT
if you are installing MegaRAID Storage Manager software on a
PC that is used to view and configure servers over a network.
Select S
ERVER
to install only those components required for remote server management.
Select S
TAND
A
LONE
if you are using MegaRAID Storage Manager software to create and manage storage configurations on a standalone workstation.
Click N
EXT
to proceed.
7. On the next screen, click I
NSTALL
to install the program.
8. Click F
INISH
when the final C
ONFIGURATION
W
IZARD
screen appears.
If you select C
LIENT
installation for a PC used to monitor servers, and if there are no available servers with a registered framework on the local subnet (that is, servers with a complete installation of MegaRAID Storage Manager software), you cannot connect to a remote server unless you first edit the
startupui.bat
file. Specifically, you must add the IP address of the remote server to the end of the
startupui.bat
file.
Chapter 5: MegaRAID Overview and Installation
For example, to connect to a remote framework on server 192.168.0.10, add the IP address to the end of
startupui.bat
as shown in this example: start JRE\bin\javaw -classpath .;GUI.jar
GUI.VivaldiStartupDialog ajsgyqkj=71244 192.168.0.10
Be sure to include a space in front of the IP address, as shown in the above example.
Follow these steps if you need to install MegaRAID Storage Manager software on a system running Red Hat Linux or SUSE Linux:
1. Copy the
MSM_linux_installer...tar.gz
file to a temporary folder.
2. Untar the
MSM_linux_installer...tar.gz
file using the following command: tar -zxvf MSM_linux_installer...tar.gz
A new disk directory is created.
3. Go to the new disk directory, and in that directory find and read the
readme.txt
file.
4. To start the installation, enter the following command:
./install.sh
If you select C
LIENT
installation for a PC used to monitor servers, and if there are no available servers with a registered framework on the local subnet (that is, servers with a complete installation of MegaRAID Storage Manager software), you cannot connect to a remote server unless you first edit the
startupui.sh
file. Specifically, you must add the IP address of the remote server to the end of the
startupui.sh
file.
For example, to connect to a remote framework on server 192.168.0.10, add the IP address to startupui.sh as shown in this example: start JRE\bin\javaw -classpath .;GUI.jar
GUI.VivaldiStartupDialog ajsgyqkj=71244 192.168.0.10
Be sure to include a space in front of the IP address, as shown in the above example.
One or more of the following messages may appear while you are installing MegaRAID
Storage Manager software on a Linux system:
• More than one copy of MegaRAID Storage Manager software has been installed.
This message indicates that the user has installed more than one copy of
MegaRAID Storage Manager software. (This can be done by using the rpm-force command to install the rpm file directly, which is not recommended, instead of using the
install.sh
file.) In such cases, the user must uninstall all the rpm files manually before installing MegaRAID Storage Manager software with the procedure listed previously.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
•
•
•
•
The version is already installed.
This message indicates that the version of MegaRAID Storage Manager software you are trying to install is already installed on the system.
The installed version is newer.
This message indicates that a version of MegaRAID Storage Manager software is already installed on the system, and it is a newer version than the version you are trying to install.
Exiting installation.
This is the message that appears when the installation is complete.
RPM installation failed.
This message indicates that the installation failed for some reason. Additional message text explains the cause of the failure.
The MegaRAID Storage Manager software is a configuration and monitoring utility used with the Embedded MegaRAID Software. This chapter provides instruction on its use and features.
Follow these steps to start MegaRAID Storage Manager software and view the main window:
1. Start the program using the method required for your operating system environment:
• To start MegaRAID Storage Manager software on a Microsoft Windows system, select S
TART
J
P
ROGRAMS
J
M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
J
S
TARTUP
UI, or double-click the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
shortcut on the desktop.
If a warning appears stating that Windows Firewall has blocked some features of the program, click U
NBLOCK
to allow MegaRAID Storage Manager software to start.
This is because Windows Firewall sometimes blocks the operation of programs that use Java.
•
•
To start MegaRAID Storage Manager software on a Red Hat Linux system, select A
PPLICATIONS
J
S
YSTEM
T
OOLS
J
M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
J
S
TARTUP
UI.
To start MegaRAID Storage Manager software on a SUSE SLES 9 system, select S
TART
J
S
YSTEM
J
M
ORE
P
ROGRAMS
J
M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
.
When the program starts, the S
ELECT
S
ERVER
window appears ( Figure 6-1 ).
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
If the circle in the server icon is yellow instead of green, it means that the server is running in a degraded state–for example, because a disk drive used in a virtual disk has failed. If the circle is red, the storage configuration in the server has failed.
To access servers on a different subnet, type in the box at the bottom of the screen the IP address of a server in the desired subnet where MegaRAID
Storage Manager software is running, and click U
PDATE
. If you check the
Connect to remote Framework box, you can also access a standalone installation of MegaRAID Storage Manager software, if it has a network connection.
2. Double-click the icon of the server that you want to access.
The S
ERVER
L
OGIN
window appears ( Figure 6-2 ).
Chapter 6: MegaRAID Window and Menus
3. Select an access mode from the drop-down menu.
•
•
Select F
ULL
A
CCESS
if you need to both view the current configuration and change the configuration.
Select V
IEW
O
NLY
if you need to only view and monitor the configuration.
4. Enter your user name and password, and click L
OGIN
.
If the computer is net worked, this is the login to the computer itself, not the network login.
You must enter the root/administrator user name and password to use Full Access mode. If your user name and password are correct for the Login mode you have chosen, the main M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window appears.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
This section describes the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
The following sections describe the panels and menu options that appear in this window.
The left panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window displays either the Physical view or the Logical view of the system and the devices in it, depending on which tab is selected.
•
•
The Physical view shows the hierarchy of physical devices in the system. At the top of the hierarchy is the system itself. One or more controllers are installed in the system. Each controller has one or more ports. Disk drives and other devices are attached to the ports.
The Logical view shows the hierarchy of controllers, virtual disks, and disk groups that are defined on the system. (Physical drives also appear in the Logical view, so you can see which physical drives are used by each virtual disk.)
Chapter 6: MegaRAID Window and Menus
•
•
•
•
•
•
The following icons in the left panel represent the controllers, disk drives, and other devices:
System
Controller
Port
Array
Virtual disk
Physical drive
A red circle to the right of an icon indicates that the device has failed.
A yellow circle to the right of an icon indicates that a device is running in a degraded state.
The right panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window has either two or three tabs, depending on what kind of device is selected in the left panel.
•
•
•
The P
ROPERTIES
tab displays information about the selected device. For example, if a controller icon is selected in the left panel, the P
ROPERTIES
tab lists information such as the controller name and the device port count.
The O
PERATIONS
tab lists the operations that can be performed on the device that is selected in the left panel. Some types of devices, such as arrays and ports, do not have operations associated with them.
The G
RAPHICAL
V
IEW
tab can be selected in the right panel if a physical drive or virtual disk is selected in the left panel. In graphical view, the device’s storage capacity is color coded according to the legend shown on the screen. For example, on a physical drive configured space is blue, available space is white, and reserved space is red.
The lower part of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window displays the system event log entries. New event log entries appear during the session. Each entry has a timestamp and date, an error level indicating the severity of the event, and a brief description of the event.
This section contains brief descriptions of the main selections from the M
EGA
RAID
S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
menu bar.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The F
ILE
menu has an E
XIT
option for exiting from the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER software. It also has a R
ESCAN
option for updating the display in the M
EGA
RAID
S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER window. (R
ESCAN
is seldom required; the display normally updates automatically.)
The O
PERATIONS
menu is available when a controller, physical drive, or logical drive is selected in the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window. The O
PERATIONS
menu options vary depending on what type of device is selected in the left panel of the M
EGA
RAID
S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window. The options also vary depending on the current state of the selected device. For example, if you select an offline physical drive, the M
AKE
D
RIVE
O
NLINE
option appears in the O
PERATIONS
menu.
You can also view the O
PERATIONS
selections on the main window on the O
PERATIONS tab in the right panel. If an operation requires user inputs before it can be executed, it appears in the O
PERATIONS
tab but not in the O
PERATIONS
menu. A device-specific
O
PERATIONS
menu pops up if you right-click a device icon in the left panel.
An A
DVANCED
O
PERATIONS
submenu is also available. This is where you access the
C
ONFIGURATION
W
IZARD
and other configuration-related commands. To access this menu, select O
PERATIONS
J A
DVANCED
O
PERATIONS
.
The G
ROUP
O
PERATIONS
menu options include C
HECK
C
ONSISTENCY
, I
NITIALIZE
, and
S
HOW
P
ROGRESS
.
The L
OG
menu includes options for saving and clearing the message log.
On the H
ELP
menu you can select H
ELP
J H
ELP
to view the MegaRAID Storage
Manager software online help file. You can select H
ELP
J A
BOUT
to view version information for the MegaRAID Storage Manager software.
When you use the MegaRAID Storage Manager software online help, you may see a warning message that Internet Explorer has restricted the file from showing active content. If this warning appears, click on the active content warning bar and enable the active content.
You may use MegaRAID Storage Manager software to also create and modify storage configurations. The RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 storage configurations are supported using this software.
Chapter 6: MegaRAID Window and Menus
It is recommended that you do not use both SAS and SATA drives in the same array. Using different drive interfaces in this way could cause unpredictable behavior, decreased performance, an increased error count, and decreased MTBF.
You cannot create or modify a storage configuration unless you are logged on with administrator privileges.
To open the MegaRAID Storage Manager Configuration Wizard, select a controller in the left panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window and then select O
PERATIONS
J A
DVANCED
O
PERATIONS
J C
ONFIGURATION
J C
ONFIGURATION
W
IZARD
.
This brings up the Configuration Wizard’s M
ODE
S
ELECTION
screen (
).
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The menu lists three configuration modes:
•
•
•
available disk drives.
automatically creates an optimal configuration from the
gives you the greatest level of control in creating a new virtual disk.
asks you a few simple questions about what kind of configuration you want and then automatically creates it from the available disk drives.
You can use A
UTO
, G
UIDED
, or M
ANUAL
C
ONFIGURATION
mode to create a RAID 0, or RAID 1 configuration. To create a RAID 10 configuration, you must use the M
ANUAL
C
ONFIGURATION
mode.
•
•
This section describes the Virtual Disk Parameters that you can set when you use the
Guided Configuration or Manual Configuration modes of the Configuration Wizard. You should change these parameters only if you have a specific reason for doing so. It is usually best to leave them at their default settings.
Disabled.
A stripe size of 64 Kbytes is supported.
Select a cache setting for this disk: Unchanged, Enabled, or
•
The new configuration is not initialized and the existing data on the disks is not overwritten.
•
•
MegaRAID Storage Manager software quickly writes zeroes to the first and last 8 Mbyte regions of the new virtual disk.
A complete initialization is done on the new configuration.
This may take a long time if the disks are large.
is the quickest and simplest way to create a new storage configuration. When you select A
UTO
C
ONFIGURATION
mode on the first C
ONFIGURATION
W
IZARD
screen, the Configuration Wizard creates the best configuration possible using the available physical disks and displays them in the A
UTO
C
ONFIGURATION
screen (see
).
Chapter 6: MegaRAID Window and Menus
Follow these steps to create a new storage configuration in Auto Configuration mode:
1. Select a redundancy option from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the A
UTO
C
ONFIGURATION
screen:
•
•
The new configuration will have no data redundancy (RAID
0). If a physical disk in the configuration fails, all data will be lost.
The new configuration will have data redundancy via mirrored data (RAID 1) or via parity data (RAID 5). If a physical disk fails, data is still protected.
2. Select an initialization option from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the screen:
•
•
•
Using this option, new configuration is not initialized and the existing data on the disks is not overwritten.
Using this option, MegaRAID Storage Manager software quickly writes zeroes to the first and last 8 Mbyte regions of the new virtual disk.
If you select this option, a complete initialization is done on the new configuration. This may take a long time if the disks are large.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
3. (Optional) Click M
ODIFY
if you want to switch to Manual Configuration mode so you can modify the suggested Auto Configuration.
When you click M
ODIFY
, the V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
C
REATION
screen appears. In this screen do the following: a. Select the new virtual disk, and click R
ECLAIM
. b. Select the new array from the A
RRAYS WITH
F
REE
S
PACE
list, and change the virtual disk parameters as needed.
4. Click F
INISH
.
The new storage configuration will be created and initialized (unless you selected
N
O
I
NITIALIZATION
).
provides an easy way to create a new storage configuration.
Based on the information that is provided, the Configuration Wizard uses the available
disk drives to create an optimal storage configuration (see Figure 6-6 ).
Chapter 6: MegaRAID Window and Menus
Follow these steps to create a new storage configuration in Guided Configuration mode:
1. Select a redundancy option at the top of the G
UIDED
C
ONFIGURATION
screen:
•
•
This option creates a configuration only if redundancy
(RAID 1 or RAID 5) is possible.
This option creates a redundant configuration if possible. Otherwise, this creates a non-redundant configuration.
This option creates a non-redundant configuration. •
2. Choose whether you want to use existing arrays in the new virtual disk. The options are:
The first and third options are disabled if there are no available existing arrays.
3. Select a maximum number of virtual disks to be created. The Configuration Wizard may not be able to create as many virtual disks as you want, depending on the current configuration and the number of virtual disks that have already been created.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
4. Click N
EXT
to continue to the next screen (see
).
5. Change the default volume parameters in this screen, if needed. In the top section of the window you can specify the number of virtual disks to create. You can also choose to use less than the full capacity of this array for the virtual disk(s).
You may choose to do this in order to leave capacity available for other virtual disks that you create later.
6. Click N
EXT
to continue to the next screen.
7. Check the configuration that you have just defined. If it is acceptable, click F
INISH
. If you want to change something, click B
ACK
to return to the previous screens.
Chapter 6: MegaRAID Window and Menus
Follow these steps to create a RAID 0 storage configuration using the Manual
Configuration mode of the Configuration Wizard.
shows the first screen that appears when you select M
ANUAL
C
ONFIGURATION
.
1. In this first screen, select two or more available drives in the left panel. Click the right A
DD
arrow button to move the selected drives to the right panel.
MegaRAID Storage Manager software will not allow you to select the disk drive on which the operating system is installed or any other drives that are already part of a configuration.
2. Click A
CCEPT
to accept these drives for the new RAID 0 array.
To remove a single drive from a proposed new array, select the drive icon in the right panel and click the left R
EMOVE
arrow button.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
3. Click N
EXT
.
The D
EFINING A
V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
screen of the Configuration Wizard appears, as shown in
The A
RRAYS
menu lists the new array that you just defined, plus any existing arrays with holes (free space) that could be used for a new configuration.
4. From the A
RRAYS
menu, select the array to use for the new virtual disk.
5. In the right V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
P
ROPERTIES
panel, select RAID 0 as the RAID level.
6. (Optional) Set Size (in MB) to a lower number if you do not want to use the entire available capacity for the new virtual disk.
7. (Optional) Change the other properties in the V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
P
ROPERTIES
panel, if necessary.
8. Click A
CCEPT
to accept the configuration of the new virtual disk.
Chapter 6: MegaRAID Window and Menus
Click the R
ECLAIM
button if you want to undo a virtual disk that you just defined.
9. Click N
EXT
to continue with the next configuration step. The V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
S
UMMARY screen appears.
10. Review the configuration shown in the V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
S
UMMARY
screen. If you want to change something, click B
ACK
and change the configuration parameters.
11. Click F
INISH
to accept the configuration and start the initialization process (unless you selected No Initialization earlier).
Follow these steps to create a RAID 1 storage configuration using the Manual
Configuration mode of the Configuration Wizard:
1. In the F
IRST
M
ANUAL
C
ONFIGURATION
screen, shown in Figure 6-8 , select two
available drives in the left panel. Click the right arrow button to move the selected drives to the right panel.
MegaRAID Storage Manager software will not allow you to select the disk drive on which the operating system is installed or any other drives that are already part of a configuration.
2. Click A
CCEPT
to accept these drives for the new RAID 1 array.
3. Click N
EXT
.
The next Configuration Wizard screen appears, as shown in
.
The A
RRAYS
menu lists the new array(s) that you just defined, plus any existing arrays with holes (free space) that could be used for a new configuration.
4. Select the array to use for the new virtual disk.
5. In the right panel, select RAID 1 as the RAID level.
6. (Optional) S
ET
S
IZE
(in MB) to a lower number if you do not want to use the entire available capacity for the new virtual disk.
7. (Optional) Change the other V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
P
ROPERTIES
, if necessary.
8. Click A
CCEPT
to accept the configuration of the new virtual disk.
Click the R
ECLAIM
button if you want to undo a virtual disk that you just defined.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
9. Click N
EXT
to continue with the next configuration step.
The V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
S
UMMARY
screen appears.
10. Review the configuration shown in the screen. If you want to change something, click B
ACK
and change the configuration parameters.
11. Click F
INISH
to accept the configuration and start the initialization process (unless you selected N
O
I
NITIALIZATION
earlier).
Follow these steps to create a RAID 5 storage configuration using the Manual
Configuration mode of the Configuration Wizard. You must buy the I-Button feature from
SuperMicro to enable RAID level 5 use.
1. In the first M
ANUAL
C
ONFIGURATION
screen ( Figure 6-8 ), select three available drives
in the left panel. Click the right arrow button to move the selected drives to the right panel.
MegaRAID Storage Manager software will not allow you to select the disk drive on which the operating system is installed or any other drives that are already part of a configuration.
2. Click A
CCEPT
to accept these drives for the new RAID 5 array.
To remove a single drive from a proposed new array, select the drive icon in the right panel and click the left arrow button.
3. Click N
EXT
.
The next C
ONFIGURATION
W
IZARD
screen appears ( Figure 6-9 ). The A
RRAYS
menu lists the new array that you just defined, plus any existing arrays with holes (free space) that could be used for a new configuration.
4. From the A
RRAYS
menu, select the array to use for the new virtual disk.
5. In the right panel, select RAID 5 as the RAID level.
6. (Optional) Set S
IZE
(in MB) to a lower number if you do not want to use the entire available capacity for the new virtual disk.
7. (Optional) Change the other V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
P
ROPERTIES
, if necessary.
8. Click A
CCEPT
to accept the configuration of the new virtual disk.
Click the R
ECLAIM
button if you want to undo a virtual disk that you just defined.
Chapter 6: MegaRAID Window and Menus
9. Click N
EXT
to continue with the next configuration step. The V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
S
UMMARY screen appears.
10. Review the configuration shown in the V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
S
UMMARY
screen. If you want to change something, click B
ACK
and change the configuration parameters.
11. Click F
INISH
to accept the configuration and start the initialization process (unless you selected N
O
I
NITIALIZATION
earlier).
Follow these steps to create a RAID 10 storage configuration using the Manual
Configuration mode of the Configuration Wizard:
1. In the first M
ANUAL
C
ONFIGURATION
, select two available drives in the left panel. Click the right arrow button to move the selected drives to the right panel.
2. Click A
CCEPT
to accept these drives for a new RAID 1 array.
3. Select two more drives for a second RAID 1 array, and click A
CCEPT
.
4. Click N
EXT
.
The next C
ONFIGURATION
W
IZARD
screen appears, as shown in Figure 6-9 . The
A
RRAYS
menu lists the new arrays that you just defined, plus any existing arrays with holes (free space) that could be used for a new configuration.
5. In the left panel, select the two RAID 1 arrays from the menu.
6. In the right panel, select RAID 10 as the RAID level.
For a RAID 10 array, the entire capacity of the array is automatically used for the new virtual disk. You cannot define another virtual disk on this array.
7. (Optional) Change the other V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
P
ROPERTIES
, if necessary. For more information, see
"Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters"
.
8. Click A
CCEPT
to accept the configuration of the new virtual disk.
Click the R
ECLAIM
button if you want to undo a virtual disk that you just defined.
9. Click N
EXT
to continue with the next configuration step. The V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
S
UMMARY screen appears.
10. Review the configuration shown in the screen. If you want to change something, click B
ACK
and change the configuration parameters.
11. Click F
INISH
to accept the configuration and start the initialization process (unless you selected N
O
I
NITIALIZATION
earlier).
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
Hotspares are disk drives that are available to automatically replace failed drives in a
RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 virtual disk. Each virtual disk can have one dedicated hotspare.
For more information, see the software
Help
file for more information.
To add a global hotspare disk, follow these steps:
1. In the left panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window, right click the icon of any unused disk drive.
2. Click on the O
PERATIONS
tab of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window to display the tab (
).
3. In the left pane of the tab, select the M
AKE
G
LOBAL
H
OTSPARE
option.
4. In the right pane of the tab, select your preferred A
FFINITY
option (N
O
A
FFINITY
or
W
ITH
A
FFINITY
).
5. Press the Go button to create your hotspare disk.
Chapter 6: MegaRAID Window and Menus
Make sure the capacity of the hotspare drive is equal to or larger than the capacity of the disks in the array and that it is the same type of drive (SAS or SATA).
The hotspare drive will rebuild a failed drive even if it is SAS and the array drives are SATA, or vice versa. Once the rebuild is complete, it is recommended that you replace the new array member with a drive of the same type.
To remove a global hotspare disk, follow these steps:
1. In the left panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window, select a hotspare drive.
2. Click on the O
PERATIONS
tab of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window to display the tab (
).
3. In the left pane of the tab, select the R
EMOVE
G
LOBAL
H
OTSPARE
option.
4. Press the Go button.
This brings up a dialog box for you to confirm your deletion.
5. Check C
ONFIRM
in the dialog box and then press OK to confirm your deletion.
Follow these steps if you need to change the adjustable rates for rebuilds and other system tasks that run in the background:
It is recommended that you leave the adjustable task rates at their default settings to achieve the best system performance. If you raise the task rates above the defaults, foreground tasks will run more slowly and it may seem that the system is not responding. If you lower the task rates below the defaults, rebuilds and other background tasks may run very slowly and may not complete within a reasonable time. If you decide to change the values, record the original default value here so you can restore them later, if necessary:
Rebuild Rate: ____________
Background Initialization (BGI) Rate: ____________
Check Consistency Rate: ____________
1. Select the P
HYSICAL
V
IEW
tab in the left panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER window, and select a controller icon.
2. In the right panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER window, select the
O
PERATIONS
tab, and select S
ET
A
DJUSTABLE
T
ASK
R
ATES
.
The task rates appear in the right panel.
3. Enter changes, as needed, to the task rates for R
EBUILD
R
ATE
, B
ACKGROUND
I
NITIALIZATION
(BGI) Rate (for fast initialization), and C
HECK
C
ONSISTENCY
R
ATE
(for consistency checks).
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
Each task rate can be set from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the faster the activity will run in the background, possibly impacting other system tasks.
4. Click G
O
to accept the new task rates.
5. When the warning message appears, click OK to confirm that you want to change the task rates.
You can change a virtual disk’s R
EAD
P
OLICY
, W
RITE
P
OLICY
, and other properties at any time after the virtual disk is created. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Select a virtual disk icon in the left panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER window.
2. In the right panel, select the P
ROPERTIES
tab, and then select S
ET
V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
P
ROPERTIES
.
A list of Virtual Disk Properties appears in the right panel.
3. Change the virtual disk properties as needed in the right panel. For information on
these properties, see "Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters" .
Only the Disk Write Cache and Read Ahead functions are supported in
Embedded MegaRAID Software.
4. Click G
O
to accept the changes.
You can delete virtual disks to rearrange the storage space.
Be sure to back up the data on the virtual disk before you delete it.
Be sure that the operating system is not installed on this virtual disk.
To delete a virtual disk, follow these steps:
1. Back up all user data that is on the virtual disk you intend to delete.
2. In the left panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER
window, select the L
OGICAL tab, and click the icon of the virtual disk you want to delete.
3. In the right panel, select the O
PERATIONS
tab, and select D
ELETE
V
IRTUAL
D
ISK
.
4. Click G
O
.
5. When the warning message appears, click Y
ES
to confirm that you want to delete the virtual disk.
Chapter 6: MegaRAID Window and Menus
You can save an existing controller configuration to a file so you can apply it to another controller.
To save a configuration file, follow these steps:
1. Select a controller icon from the left panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER window.
2. On the menu bar, select O
PERATIONS
J A
DVANCED
O
PERATIONS
J C
ONFIGURATION
J S
AVE
C
ONFIGURATION
.
The S
AVE
dialog box appears.
3. In the S
AVE
dialog box, type a name for the configuration file or accept the default name (
hostname.cfg
).
4. Click S
AVE
to save the configuration file.
You can use the A
DD
N
EW
C
ONFIGURATION
option to add a new storage configuration while keeping the existing configuration. Alternatively, you can clear the existing storage configuration from a controller and then create a totally new configuration or load a previously saved configuration file.
Before you clear a configuration, be sure to save any data that you want to keep. Clearing a configuration deletes all data from the disks of the existing configuration. Be sure that the operating system is not installed on this configuration.
To clear a configuration from a controller, follow these steps:
1. Select a controller icon in the left panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER window.
2. On the menu bar, select O
PERATIONS
J A
DVANCED
O
PERATIONS
J C
ONFIGURATION
J C
LEAR
C
ONFIGURATION
.
A W
ARNING
message appears.
3. Click Y
ES
to clear the configuration or N
O
to cancel the operation.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
When you replace a controller, or when you want to duplicate an existing storage configuration on a new controller, you can add a saved configuration to the controller.
When you add a saved configuration to a replacement controller, be sure that the number and size of the physical disks connected to the controller are exactly the same as when the configuration was saved.
To add a saved configuration, follow these steps:
1. Select a controller icon in the left panel of the M
EGA
RAID S
TORAGE
M
ANAGER window.
2. On the menu bar, select O
PERATIONS
J A
DVANCED
O
PERATIONS
J C
ONFIGURATION
J A
DD
S
AVED
C
ONFIGURATION
.
A W
ARNING
message appears.
3. Click Y
ES
.
4. When the O
PEN
dialog box appears select the configuration file, and click O
PEN
.
5. View the configuration detail, then select A
PPLY
.
6. Confirm the new configuration when prompted.
This chapter provides an overview of the Integrated Mirroring (IM) and Integrated
Mirroring Enhanced (IME) features. The chapter also explains how to create Integrated
Mirroring (IM) and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME) volumes using the SAS BIOS
Configuration Utility (SAS BIOS CU), which is used to setup IR Mode.
As a result of the shift towards Network Attached Storage (NAS), ISPs need a cost effective, fault-tolerant solution to protect the operating systems on small form factor, high-density, rack-mountable servers. The Integrated Mirroring (IM) and Integrated
Mirroring Enhanced (IME) features provide data protection for the system boot volume to safeguard critical information such as the operating system on servers and high performance workstations. The IM and IME features provide a robust, high-performance, fault-tolerant solution to data storage needs, at a lower cost than a dedicated RAID controller.
To provide fault-tolerant protection for critical data, the IM and IME features support one or two mirrored volumes per SAS controller. The two volumes can contain up to twelve disk drives total, plus one or two hot spare disks.
If a disk in an Integrated Mirroring volume fails, the hot swap capability allows you to restore the volume by simply swapping disks. The firmware then automatically re-mirrors the swapped disk. Additionally, each SAS controller can have one or two global hot spare disks available to automatically replace a failed disk in the IM or IME storage volumes on the controller. Hot spares make the IM/IME volume even more fault tolerant.
You can also configure one IM or IME volume and one Integrated
Striping (IS) volume on the same SAS controller.
The IM/IME feature uses the same device drivers as the standard based controllers, providing seamless and transparent fault tolerance. This eliminates the need for complex backup software or expensive RAID hardware. The IM/IME feature operates independently from the operating system, in order to conserve system resources. The
BIOS-based configuration utility makes it easy to configure IM and IME volumes.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
IM and IME support the following features:
•
•
•
Configurations of one or two IM or IME volumes on the same SAS controller. IM volumes have two mirrored disks; IME volumes have three to ten mirrored disks.
Two volumes can have up to 12 disks total. (Requires Integrated RAID firmware v1.20.00 or above.)
One or two global hot spare disks per controller, to automatically replace failed disks in IM/IME volumes. (Support for two hot spares requires Integrated RAID firmware v1.20.00 or above.) The hot spares are in addition to the 12-disk maximum for two volumes per SAS controller.
Mirrored volumes run in optimal mode or in degraded mode (if one mirrored disk fails).
Hot swap capability.
Presents a single virtual drive to the OS for each IM/IME volume.
Supports both SAS and SATA disks. The two types of disks cannot be combined in the same volume. However, an SAS controller can support one volume with SATA disks and a second volume with SAS disks.
Fusion-MPT architecture.
Easy-to-use BIOS-based configuration utility.
Error notification: the drivers update an OS-specific event log.
SES status LED support.
Write journaling
, which allows automatic synchronization of potentially inconsistent data after unexpected power-down situations.
Metadata used to store volume configuration on mirrored disks.
Automatic background resynchronization while host I/Os continue.
Background media verification ensures that data on IM/IME volumes is always accessible.
The Integrated RAID solution supports one or two IM/IME volumes on each SAS controller (or one IM/IME volume and one Integrated Striping volume). Typically, one of these volumes is the boot volume, as shown in
Figure 7-1 . Boot support is available
through the firmware of the SAS controller that supports the standard Fusion-MPT interface. The runtime mirroring of the boot disk is transparent to the BIOS, drivers, and operating system. Host-based status software monitors the state of the mirrored disks and reports any error conditions.
Figure 7-1 shows an IM implementation with a second
disk as a mirror of the first (primary) disk.
Chapter 7: Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced
Primary
Mirror
SAS
Memory Bus
The advantage of an IM/IME volume is that there is always a second, mirrored copy of the data. The disadvantage is that writes take longer because data must be written twice. On the other hand, performance is actually improved during reads.
shows the logical view and physical view of an IM volume.
LBA 1
LBA 2
LBA 3
...
LBA N
LBA 1
LBA 2
LBA 3
...
LBA N
+
LBA 1
LBA 2
LBA 3
...
LBA N
An IME volume can be configured with up to ten mirrored disks. (One or two global hot
spares can be added also.) Figure 7-3
shows the logical view and physical view of an
Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME) volume with three mirrored disks. Each mirrored stripe is written to a disk and mirrored to an adjacent disk. This type of configuration is also called RAID 1E.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
Mirrored Stripe 1
Mirrored Stripe 2
Mirrored Stripe 3
Mirrored Stripe 4
Mirrored Stripe 5
Mirrored Stripe 6
. . .
Mirrored Stripe N
Mirrored Stripe 1
Mirrored Stripe 3
Mirrored Stripe 4
Mirrored Stripe 6
. . .
Mirrored Stripe n-2
Mirrored Stripe n
Mirrored Stripe 2
Mirrored Stripe 1
Mirrored Stripe 5
Mirrored Stripe 4
. . .
Mirrored Stripe n-1
Mirrored Stripe (n-2)
Mirrored Stripe 3
Mirrored Stripe 2
Mirrored Stripe 6
Mirrored Stripe 5
. . .
Mirrored Stripe n
Mirrored Stripe (n-1)
The BIOS-based configuration utility enables you to create IM and IME volumes during initial setup and to reconfigure them in response to hardware failures or changes in the environment.
This section describes features of the Integrated RAID firmware.
The Integrated RAID firmware allows host I/Os to continue on an IM or IME volume while the volume is being re-synchronized in the background. Resynchronization is attempted after a hot spare is activated due to a physical device failure, or after a hot swap has occurred to a physical disk in the volume.
The firmware supports metadata, which describes the IM/IME logical drive configuration stored on each member disk. When the firmware is initialized, each member disk is queried to read the stored metadata in order to verify the configuration. The usable disk space for each member disk is adjusted down when the configuration is created, in order to leave room for this data.
The firmware supports hot swapping. The hot-swapped disk is automatically resynchronized in the background, without any host or user intervention. The firmware detects hot swap removal and disk insertion.
Chapter 7: Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced
Following a hot swap event, the firmware readies the new physical disk by spinning it up and verifying that it has enough capacity for the mirrored volume. The firmware resynchronizes all hot-swapped disks that have been removed, even if the same disk is re-inserted. In a two-disk mirrored volume, the firmware marks the hot-swapped disk as the secondary disk and marks the other mirrored disk as the primary disk. The firmware resynchronizes all data from the primary disk onto the new secondary disk.
SMART is a technology that monitors hard disk drives for signs of future disk failure and generates an alert if such signs are detected. The firmware polls each physical disk in the volume at regular intervals. If the firmware detects a SMART ASC/ASCQ code on a physical disk in the IM/IME volume, it processes the SMART data and stores it in nonvolatile memory. The IM/IME volume does not support SMART directly, since it is just a logical representation of the physical disks in the volume.
One or two disk drives per controller can be configured as global hot spare disks, to protect data on the IM/IME volumes configured on the controller. If the firmware fails one of the mirrored disks, it automatically replaces the failed disk with a hot spare disk and then resynchronizes the mirrored data. The firmware is automatically notified when the failed disk has been replaced, and it then designates the failed disk as the new hot spare.
The firmware supports a background media verification feature that runs at regular intervals when the IM/IME volume is in optimal state. If the verification command fails for any reason, the other disk’s data for this segment is read and written to the failing disk in an attempt to refresh the data. The current Media Verification Logical Block Address is written to nonvolatile memory occasionally to allow media verification to continue approximately where it left off prior to a power-cycle.
The firmware disables disk write caching by default for IM/IME volumes. This is done to increase data integrity, so that the disk write log stored in NVSRAM is always valid. If disk write caching were enabled (not recommended), the disk write log could be invalid.
The Integrated RAID firmware requires at least a 32K NVSRAM in order to perform write journaling. Write journaling is used to verify that the disks in the IM/IME volume are synchronized with each other.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The BIOS uses the LSI Fusion-MPT® interface to communicate to the SAS controller and firmware to enable IM and IME volumes. This includes reading the Fusion-MPT configuration to access the parameters that are used to define behavior between the
SAS controller and the devices connected to it. The Fusion-MPT drivers for all supported operating systems implement the Fusion-MPT interface to communicate with the controller and firmware.
You can use the SAS BIOS CU to create one or two IM/IME volumes on each SAS controller, with one or two optional global hot spare disks. All disks in an IM/IME volume must be connected to the same SAS controller.
Although you can use disks of different size in IM and IME volumes, the smallest disk in the volume will determine the logical size of all disks in the volume. In other words, the excess space of the larger member disk(s) will not be used. For example, if you create an IME volume with two 100-GB disks and two 120-GB disks, only 100-GB of the larger disks will be used for the volume.
Refer to
below for more information about Integrated Mirroring volumes.
The SAS BIOS CU is part of the Fusion-MPT BIOS. When the BIOS loads during boot and you see the message about the Configuration Utility, press C
TRL
-C to start the CU.
After you do this, the message changes to:
Please wait, invoking SAS Configuration Utility...
After a brief pause, the main menu of the SAS BIOS CU appears. On some systems, however, the following message appears next:
LSI Configuration Utility will load following initialization!
In this case, the SAS BIOS CU will load after the system has completed its power-on self test.
You can configure one or two IM or IME volumes per Fusion-MPT controller. You can also configure one IM/IME and one Integrated Striping (IS) volume on the same controller, up to a maximum of twelve physical disk drives for the two volumes. In addition, you can create one or two hot spares for the IM/IME array(s).
The following guidelines also apply when creating an IM or IME volume:
•
•
All physical disks in a volume must be either SATA (with extended command set support) or SAS (with SMART support). SAS and SATA disks cannot be combined in the same volume. However, you can create one volume with SAS disks and a second volume with SATA disks on the same controller.
Disks must have 512-byte blocks and must not have removable media.
Chapter 7: Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced
• An IM volume must have two drives. An IME volume can have three to ten drives. In addition, one or two hot spares can be created for the IM/IME volume(s).
If a disk in an IM/IME volume fails, it is rebuilt on the global hot spare if one is available. It is recommended that you always use hot spares with IM/IME volumes.
Follow these steps to create an IM volume with the SAS BIOS CU:
1. On the A
DAPTER
L
IST
screen (
Figure 7-4 ), use the arrow keys to select an SAS
adapter.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
2. Press E
NTER
to go to the A
DAPTER
P
ROPERTIES
screen, as shown in Figure 7-5
below:
Chapter 7: Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced
3. On the A
DAPTER
P
ROPERTIES
screen, use the arrow keys to select RAID P
ROPERTIES on the screen and press E
NTER
.
The S
ELECT
N
EW
A
RRAY
T
YPE
screen appears ( Figure 7-6 ).
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
4. In the S
ELECT
N
EW
A
RRAY
T
YPE
screen (
), select C
REATE
IM V
OLUME
.
The C
REATE
N
EW
A
RRAY
screen appears (
). This screen shows a list of disks available to be added to a volume.
5. In the C
REATE
N
EW
A
RRAY
screen move the cursor to the RAID Disk column and select a disk. To add the disk to the volume, change the N
O
to Y
ES
by pressing the
key,
key, or
SPACE
bar.
When the first disk is added, the SAS BIOS CU prompts you to either keep existing data or overwrite existing data.
6. Press
to keep the existing data on the first disk or press
to overwrite it.
If you keep the existing data, this is called a data migration. The first disk will be mirrored onto the second disk, so any data you want to keep must be on the first disk selected for the volume. Data on the second disk is overwritten. The first disk must have 512KB available for metadata after the last partition.
As disks are added the A
RRAY
S
IZE
field changes to reflect the size of the new volume.
7. [Optional] Add one or two global hot spares by moving the cursor to the hot spare column and pressing the
key,
key, or
SPACE
bar.
Figure 7-7 shows an IM volume configured with one global hot spare disk.
Chapter 7: Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced
8. When the volume has been fully configured, press
and then S
AVE
C
HANGES
. Then exit this menu to commit the changes.
The SAS BIOS CU pauses while the array is being created.
Follow these steps to create an IME volume with the SAS BIOS CU:
1. On the A
DAPTER
L
IST
screen, use the arrow keys to select an SAS adapter.
2. Press E
NTER
to go to the A
DAPTER
P
ROPERTIES
).
3. On the A
DAPTER
P
ROPERTIES
screen, use the arrow keys to select RAID P
ROPERTIES on the screen and press E
NTER
.
4. When you are prompted to select a volume type, select C
REATE
IME V
OLUME
.
The C
REATE
N
EW
A
RRAY
) shows a list of disks that can be added to a volume.
5. Move the cursor to the RAID D
ISK
column and select a disk. To add the disk to the volume, change the N
O
to Y
ES
by pressing the
key,
key, or
SPACE
bar.
6. Repeat this step to select a total of three to ten disks for the volume.
All existing data on all the disks you select will be overwritten. As you add disks, the
A
RRAY
S
IZE
field changes to reflect the size of the new volume.
7. [Optional] Add one or two global hot spares to the volume by moving the cursor to the hot spare column and pressing the
key,
key, or
SPACE
bar.
8. 8. When the volume has been fully configured, press
and then select S
AVE
C
HANGES
. Then exit this menu to commit the changes.
The SAS BIOS CU pauses while the array is being created.
The SAS controllers allow you to configure two IM or IME volumes per controller. If one volume is already configured, and if there are available disk drives, there are two ways to add a second volume. The first is as follows:
1. In the configuration utility, select an adapter from the A
DAPTER
L
IST
.
2. Select the RAID P
ROPERTIES
option to display the current volume.
3. Press
to create a new volume.
4. Continue with either
of
"Creating an IM Volume" on page 7-7 or
"Creating an IME Volume" on page 7-11 to create a second volume.
The other way to add a second volume is as follows:
1. On the A
DAPTER
L
IST
screen, use the arrow keys to select an SAS adapter.
2. Press E
NTER
to go to the A
DAPTER
P
ROPERTIES
).
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
3. On the A
DAPTER
P
ROPERTIES
screen, use the arrow keys to select RAID P
ROPERTIES and press E
NTER
.
"Creating an IM Volume" on page 7-7
or
step 4 of "Creating an IME Volume" on page 7-11 to create a second volume.
You can create one or two global hot spare disks to protect the IM or IME volumes on a SAS controller. Usually, you create global hot spares at the same time you create the IM/IME volume. Follow these steps to add global hot spare disks later:
1. On the V
IEW
A
RRAY
screen, select M
ANAGE
A
RRAY
.
2. Select M
ANAGE
H
OT
S
PARE
on the M
ANAGE
A
RRAY
screen (
).
3. Select a disk from the list by pressing the
key,
key, or
SPACE
bar.
4. After you select the global hot spare disk, press
.
An error message appears if the selected disk is not at least as large as the smallest disk used in the IM/IME volume(s). The global hot spare disk must have 512-byte blocks, it cannot have removable media, and the disk type must be either SATA with extended command set support or SAS with SMART support.
Chapter 7: Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced
If SATA disks are used for the IM/IME volume(s), the hot spare disk must also be a
SATA disk. If SAS disks are used, the hot spare disk must also be a SAS disk. An error message appears if the selected disk is not the same type as the disks used in the IM/IME volumes.
5. [Optional] Select a second hot spare disk.
6. Select S
AVE
C
HANGES
then exit this menu to commit the changes.
The configuration utility pauses while the global hot spares are being added.
Follow these steps to delete a global hot spare:
1. Select M
ANAGE
H
OT
S
PARE
on the M
ANAGE
A
RRAY
screen (
).
2. Select D
ELETE
H
OT
S
PARE
and then press
.
If there are two hot spares, select which one you want to delete.
3. Select S
AVE
C
HANGES
then exit this menu to commit the changes.
The configuration utility pauses while the global hot spare is being removed.
This section explains how to perform other configuration and maintenance tasks for
IM and IME volumes.
Follow these steps to view the properties of volumes:
1. In the SAS BIOS CU, select an adapter from the A
DAPTER
L
IST
. Select the RAID
P
ROPERTIES
option.
The properties of the current volume are displayed. If global hot spares are defined, they are also listed.
If you create one volume using SAS disks, another volume using SATA disks, and global hot spare disks, the hot spare disks will only appear when you view the volume that has the same type of disks as the hot spare disks.
2. If two volumes are configured, press A
LT
+N to view the other array.
3. To manage the current array, select M
ANAGE
A
RRAY
and press E
NTER
.
The Synchronize Array command forces the firmware to resynchronize the mirrored disks data in the array. It is seldom necessary to use this command, because the firmware automatically keeps the mirrored data synchronized during normal operation. When you use this command, one disk of the array is placed in the
Degraded
state until the data on the mirrored disks has been resynchronized.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
Follow these steps to force the synchronization of a selected array:
1. Select S
YNCHRONIZE
A
RRAY
on the M
ANAGE
A
RRAY
).
2. Press
to start the synchronization, or
to cancel it.
An array can become inactive if, for example, it is removed from one controller or computer and moved to another one. The Activate Array option allows you to reactivate an inactive array that has been added to a system. This option is only available when the selected array is currently inactive.
Follow these steps to activate a selected array
1. Select A
CTIVATE
A
RRAY
on the M
ANAGE
A
RRAY
screen (
).
2. Press
to proceed with the activation, or press
to abandon it.
After a pause, the array will become active.
If there is a global hot spare disk on the controller to which you have moved the array, the BIOS checks when you activate the array to determine if the hot spare is compatible with the new array. An error message appears if the disks in the activated array are larger than the hot spare disk or if the disks in the activated array are not the same type as the hot spare disk (SATA versus
SAS).
Before deleting an array, be sure to back up all data on the array that you want to keep.
Follow these steps to delete a selected array:
1. Select D
ELETE
A
RRAY
on the M
ANAGE
A
RRAY
2. Press
to delete the array.
After a pause, the array is deleted. If there is another remaining array and one or two hot spare disks, the BIOS checks the hot spare disks to determine if they are compatible with the remaining array. If they are not compatible (too small or wrong disk type) the firmware deletes them also.
After a volume has been deleted, it cannot be recovered. When an IM volume is deleted, the data is preserved on the primary disk. When an IME volume is deleted, the master boot records of all disks are deleted.
Chapter 7: Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced
•
•
•
You can use the SAS BIOS CU to locate and identify a specific physical disk drive by flashing the drive’s LED. You can also use the SAS BIOS CU to flash the LEDs of all the disk drives in a RAID volume. There are several ways to do this:
When you are creating an IM or IME volume, and a disk drive is set to Yes as part of the volume, the LED on the disk drive is flashing. The LED is turned off when you have finished creating the volume.
You can locate individual disk drives from the SAS Topology screen. To do this, move the cursor to the name of the disk in the Device Identifier column and press
Enter. The LED on the disk flashes until the next key is pressed.
You can locate all the disk drives in a volume by selecting the volume on the SAS
Topology screen. The LEDs flash on all disk drives in the volume.
The LEDs on the disk drives will flash as described above if the firmware is correctly configured and the drives or the disk enclosure supports disk location.
You can select a boot disk in the SAS Topology screen. This disk is then moved to scan
ID 0 on the next boot, and remains at this position. This makes it easier to set BIOS boot device options and to keep the boot device constant during device additions and removals. There can be only one boot disk.
Follow these steps to select a boot disk:
1. In the SAS BIOS CU, select an adapter from the A
DAPTER
L
IST
.
2. Select the SAS T
OPOLOGY
option.
The current topology is displayed. If the selection of a boot device is supported, the bottom of the screen lists the A
LT
+B option. This is the key for toggling the boot device. If a device is currently configured as the boot device, the D
EVICE
I
NFO column on the SAS T
OPOLOGY
screen will show the word
.
3. To select a boot disk, move the cursor to the disk and press A
LT
+B.
4. To remove the boot designator, move the cursor down to the current boot disk and press A
LT
+B. This controller will no longer have a disk designated as boot.
5. To change the boot disk, move the cursor to the new boot disk and press A
LT
+B.
The boot designator will move to this disk.
The firmware must be configured correctly in order for the A
LT
+B feature to work.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
This chapter provides an overview of the LSI Integrated Striping™ (IS) feature and explains how to create Integrated Striping (IS) volumes using the SAS BIOS
Configuration Utility (SAS BIOS CU), which is used to setup IR Mode.
The Integrated Striping (IS) feature is used for applications that require the faster performance and increased storage capacity of striping. The low-cost IS feature has many of the advantages of a more expensive RAID striping solution. A single IS logical drive may be configured as the boot disk or as a data disk.
The IS feature is implemented with controller firmware that supports the Fusion-MPT
Interface. IS provides better performance and more capacity than individual disks, without burdening the host CPU. The firmware splits host I/Os over multiple disks and presents the disks as a single logical drive. In general, striping is transparent to the
BIOS, the drivers, and the operating system.
The SAS BIOS CU is used to configure IS volumes, which can consist of two to ten disks.
Integrated Striping supports the following features:
•
•
Support for volumes with two to ten disks
Support for two IS volumes (or one IS volume and one IM/IME volume) on a controller, with up to 12 disks total. (Requires Integrated RAID firmware v1.20.00 or above.)
All physical disks in a volume must be connected to the same SAS controller.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Presents a single virtual drive to the OS for each configured volume
Support for both SAS and SATA drives, although the two types of drives cannot be combined in one volume
Fusion-MPT architecture
Easy-to-use SAS BIOS configuration utility
Error notification
Use of metadata to store volume configuration on disks
OS-specific event log
Error display inside the Fusion-MPT BIOS
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
• SES status LED support for drives used in IS volumes
The IS feature writes data across multiple disks instead of onto one disk. This is accomplished by partitioning each disk’s storage space into 64-KB stripes. These stripes are interleaved round-robin, so that the combined storage space is composed alternately of stripes from each disk.
For example, as shown in Figure 8-1 , segment 1 is written to disk 1, segment 2 is written
to disk 2, segment 3 is written to disk 3, and so on. When the system reaches the end of the disk list, it continues writing data at the next available segment of disk 1.
SAS
Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3 Disk 4
Segment 1
Segment 5
Segment 9
Segment 2
Segment 6
Segment 10
Segment 3
Segment 7
Segment 11
Segment 4
Segment 8
Segment 12
shows a logical view and a physical view of Integrated Striping configuration.
Logical View Physical View
Stripe 1
Stripe 2
Stripe 3
...
Stripe N
Stripe 1
Stripe 2
Stripe 3
...
Stripe N
Stripe 1
Stripe 2
Stripe 3
...
Stripe N
Stripe 1
Stripe 2
Stripe 3
...
Stripe N
The primary advantage of IS is speed, because it transfers data to or from multiple disks at once. However, there is no data redundancy; therefore, if one disk fails, that data is lost.
Chapter 8: Integrated Striping
This section describes features of the Integrated RAID firmware.
The firmware supports metadata, which describes the IS logical drive configuration stored on each member disk. When the firmware is initialized, each member disk is queried to read the stored metadata to verify the configuration. The usable disk space for each IS member disk is adjusted down when the configuration is created, in order to leave room for this data.
SMART is a technology that monitors hard disk drives for signs of future disk failure and generates an alert if such signs are detected. The firmware polls each physical disk in the volume at regular intervals. If the firmware detects a SMART ASC/ASCQ code on a physical disk in the IS volume, it processes the SMART data and stores it in nonvolatile memory. The IS volume does not support SMART directly, since it is just a logical representation of the physical disks in the volume.
Disk write caching is enabled by default on all IS volumes.
The BIOS uses the LSI Fusion-MPT interface to communicate to the SAS controller and firmware to enable IS. This includes reading the Fusion-MPT configuration to gain access to the parameters that are used to define behavior between the SAS controller and the devices connected to it. The Fusion-MPT drivers for all supported operating systems implement the Fusion-MPT interface to communicate with the controller and firmware.
You can use the SAS BIOS CU to create one or two IS volumes, with up to twelve drives total, on an SAS controller. Each volume can have from two to ten drives. Disks in an IS volume must be connected to the same SAS controller, and the controller must be in the
BIOS boot order.
Although you can use disks of different size in IS volumes, the smallest disk determines the “logical” size of each disk in the volume. In other words, the excess space of the larger member disk(s) is not used.
Usable disk space for each disk in an IS volume is adjusted down to leave room for metadata. Usable disk space may be further reduced to maximize the ability to interchange disks in the same size classification.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The supported stripe size is 64 kilobytes. Refer to
Section 8-2: "IS Features" on page 8-1 for more information about Integrated Striping volumes.
The SAS BIOS CU is part of the Fusion-MPT BIOS. When the BIOS loads during boot and you see the message about the Configuration Utility, press Ctrl-C to start it. After you do this, the message changes to:
Please wait, invoking SAS Configuration Utility...
After a brief pause, the main menu of the SAS BIOS CU appears. On some systems, however, the following message appears next:
LSI Configuration Utility will load following initialization!
In this case, the SAS BIOS CU will load after the system has completed its power-on self test.
Follow the steps below to configure an Integrated Striping (IS) volume with the SAS
BIOS CU. The procedure assumes that the required controller(s) and disks are already installed in the computer system. You can configure an IM/IME volume and an IS volume on the same SAS controller.
Chapter 8: Integrated Striping
Creating IS Volumes
1. On the A
DAPTER
L
IST
screen of the SAS BIOS CU, use the arrow keys to select a
SAS adapter.
2. Press E
NTER
to go to the A
DAPTER
P
ROPERTIES
).
3. On the A
DAPTER
P
ROPERTIES
screen, use the arrow keys to select RAID P
ROPERTIES and press E
NTER
.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
4. When you are prompted to select a volume type, select C
REATE
IS V
OLUME
.
The C
REATE
N
EW
A
RRAY
screen (
Figure 8-4 ) that appears shows a list of disks that
can be added to a volume.
5. Move the cursor to the RAID D
ISK
column. To add a disk to the volume, change the
N
O
to Y
ES
by pressing the
key,
key, or
SPACE
bar.
As disks are added, the A
RRAY
S
IZE
field changes to reflect the size of the new volume.
6. When you have added the desired number of disks to the array, press
and then select S
AVE
C
HANGES
. Then exit this menu to commit the changes.
The configuration utility pauses while the array is being created.
•
•
Be aware that there are several limitations when creating an IS (RAID 0) volume:
• All disks must be either SATA (with extended command set support) or SAS (with
SMART support).
Disks must have 512-byte blocks and must not have removable media.
There must be at least two and no more than ten drives in a valid IS volume. Hot spare drives are not allowed.
Chapter 8: Integrated Striping
SAS controllers allow you to configure two IS volumes, or an IS volume and an IM/IME volume. If one volume is already configured, and if there are available disk drives, there are two ways to add a second volume.
The first way to add a second volume is as follows:
1. In the configuration utility, select an adapter from the A
DAPTER
L
IST
screen and then select the RAID P
ROPERTIES
option.
This displays the current volume.
2. Press
to create a new volume.
Section 8-7: "Creating IS Volumes" on page 8-4 to create a
second IS volume.
The other way in which to add a second volume is as follows:
1. On the A
DAPTER
L
IST
screen, use the arrow keys to select an SAS adapter.
2. Press E
NTER
to go to the A
DAPTER
P
ROPERTIES
).
3. On the A
DAPTER
P
ROPERTIES
screen, use the arrow keys to select RAID P
ROPERTIES and press E
NTER
.
Section 8-7: "Creating IS Volumes" on page 8-4 to create a
second IS volume.
This section explains how to perform other configuration and maintenance tasks for IS volumes.
Follow these steps to view the properties of IS volumes:
1. In the configuration utility, select an adapter from the A
DAPTER
L
IST
screen. Select the RAID P
ROPERTIES
option.
The properties of the current volume are displayed.
2. If more than one volume is configured, press A
LT
+N to view the next array.
3. To manage the current array, press E
NTER
when the M
ANAGE
A
RRAY
item is selected.
An array can become inactive if, for example, it is removed from one controller or computer and moved to another one. The A
CTIVATE
A
RRAY
option allows you to reactivate an inactive array that has been added to a system. This option is only available when the selected array is currently inactive.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
Follow these steps to activate a selected array.
1. Select A
CTIVATE
A
RRAY
on the M
ANAGE
A
RRAY
screen.
2. Press
to proceed with the activation, or press
to abandon it.
After a pause, the array will become active.
Before deleting an array, be sure to back up all data on the array that you want to keep.
Follow these steps to delete a selected array:
1. Select D
ELETE
A
RRAY
on the M
ANAGE
A
RRAY
screen.
2. Press
to delete the array, or press
to abandon the deletion.
After a pause, the firmware deletes the array.
Once a volume has been deleted, it cannot be recovered. The master boot records of all disks are deleted.
You can use the SAS BIOS CU to locate and identify a specific physical disk drive by flashing the drive’s LED. You can also use the SAS BIOS CU to flash the LEDs of all the disk drives in a RAID volume. There are several ways to do this:
•
•
•
When you are creating an IS volume, and a disk drive is set to Yes as part of the volume, the LED on the disk drive is flashing. The LED is turned off when you have finished creating the volume.
You can locate individual disk drives from the SAS T
OPOLOGY
screen. To do this, move the cursor to the name of the disk in the D
EVICE
I
DENTIFIER
column and press
E
NTER
. The LED on the disk flashes until the next key is pressed.
You can locate all the disk drives in a volume by selecting the volume on the SAS
T
OPOLOGY
screen. The LEDs flash on all disk drives in the volume.
The LEDs on the disk drives will flash as described above if the firmware is correctly configured and the drives or the disk enclosure supports disk location.
Chapter 8: Integrated Striping
You can select a boot disk in the SAS T
OPOLOGY
screen. This disk is then moved to scan
on the next boot, and remains at this position. This makes it easier to set BIOS boot device options and to keep the boot device constant during device additions and removals. There can be only one boot disk.
Follow these steps to select a boot disk:
1. In the SAS BIOS CU, select an adapter from the A
DAPTER
L
IST
.
2. Select the SAS T
OPOLOGY
option.
The current topology is displayed. If the selection of a boot device is supported, the bottom of the screen lists the A
LT
+B option. This is the key for toggling the boot device. If a device is currently configured as the boot device, the D
EVICE
I
NFO column on the SAS T
OPOLOGY
screen will show the word
.
3. To select a boot disk, move the cursor to the disk and press A
LT
+B.
4. To remove the boot designator, move the cursor down to the current boot disk and press A
LT
+B. This controller will no longer have a disk designated as boot.
5. To change the boot disk, move the cursor to the new boot disk and press A
LT
+B.
The boot designator will move to this disk.
The firmware must be configured correctly in order for the A
LT
+B feature to work.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
This Chapter describes how to use the CFGGEN IR Configuration Utility to create
Integrated Mirroring (IM), Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME), and Integrated Striping
(IS) volumes on SAS controllers. CFGGEN is a command line utility that runs in the
DOS, Linux, EFI, and Windows Pre-Installation (WinPE) environments. CFGGEN is a minimally interactive program that can be executed from a command line prompt or a shell script.
CFGGEN is intended for use
only in the manufacturing environment
.
End users can use the BIOS-based configuration utility to create IM, IME, and
IS volumes. (See
Section 7-7: "Creating IM and IME Volumes" on page 7-6 and
Section 8-7: "Creating IS Volumes" on page 8-4
)
The CFGGEN IR Configuration Utility runs on any Intel IA-32 or IA64 compatible platform. It works with storage devices that are compliant with existing SCSI standards.
CFGGEN supports the LSISAS1064/1064E, LSISAS1068/1068E, and LSISAS1078 LSI
SAS controller chips.
CFGGEN runs in the following operating environments:
•
CFGGEN runs in any environment that is fully DOS compatible and has at least 640-KB of memory. The system BIOS must support 32-bit BIOS services, including the PCI BIOS services. CFGGEN uses these services to locate the controller and its interface registers. CFGGEN must be able to directly access the controller chip’s interface registers.
You cannot run CFGGEN in a virtual DOS window from within Windows.
•
•
CFGGEN runs in any environment that is fully EFI compatible.
CFGGEN is a statically linked Linux application. Static linking prevents any library version compatibility problems that might stop CFGGEN from working with a specific release or distribution of Linux. Version 3.02.04 or newer of the LSI
mptlinux
driver must be installed on the system. The required modules include
mptbase.o
,
mptscsih.o
, and
mptctl.o
.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
•
The modules mptbase.o, mptscsih.o and mptctl.o must be loaded into the Linux kernel before CFGGEN will function correctly. They can be loaded using the Linux
modprobe
command.
CFGGEN runs in Windows Pre-Installation Environment (WinPE) and is statically compiled with the LSI
MptLib
Library (
MptLib.lib
). The WinPE environment must have the appropriate LSI MPT Windows driver (
Miniport
or
Storport
) installed and loaded in order to recognize and communicate with the I/O controller.
CFGGEN uses a command line interface. Commands are formatted as follows: cfggen <controller #> <command> <parameters>
The program name, controller number, command, and parameters fields must be separated by the ASCII space character. The parameter format is command specific, as described in
below.
Information is passed between the user environment and CFGGEN via the command line, the standard output and standard error interfaces, and the program return value.
The user can redirect the output streams. The return value is generated when the program exits. A value of 0 is returned if the command is successful. Otherwise, a value of
is returned.
CFGGEN has the following commands:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
CREATE
DEFAULTS (called DELETE in the EFI version)
DISPLAY
FORMAT
HOTSPARE
STATUS
SETOFFLINE (DOS, Linux, and WinPE versions only)
SETONLINE (DOS, Linux, and WinPE versions only)
AUTO (EFI version only)
DISABLEIR (EFI version only)
ENABLEIR (EFI version only)
LIST (EFI version only)
CFGGEN is not case sensitive. You can type CFGGEN commands and parameters in uppercase, lowercase, or a mixture of the two.
The following conventions are used in the command descriptions:
• Text in
italics
must be entered exactly as shown on the command line.
Chapter 9: Using the CFGGEN IR Configuration Utility
•
•
•
•
Text surrounded by
must be replaced with a required parameter.
Text surrounded by
may be replaced by an optional parameter.
Parameters surrounded by
must be entered one or more times, as is appropriate for the command being executed.
The command line definition characters
,
, and
must not be entered on the command line.
This section describes CFGGEN command line parameters that are common to more than one command.
•
The unique controller number of a PCI function found in the system, starting with controller # 0. For example, in a system containing two
SAS1068 controllers, controller # 0 references the first controller and controller # 1 references the other controller.
•
Valid controller number values are 0 to 255 (decimal).
The SCSI bus address of a peripheral device attached to an SAS controller. The valid SCSI ID values for supported SAS controllers are 0 to 127
(decimal) per controller.
With PBSRAM, the SAS1068/1068E controllers can support more than
128 devices.
•
The Enclosure and bay/slot of a peripheral device attached to the bus. The argument must use a colon (:) as a separator and must follow the enclosure:bay format. This argument is only valid when used with the bay command line argument. Valid numbers are 0 to 127 (decimal).
The CREATE command creates IM, IME, and IS volumes on supported SAS controllers.
When a disk drive is added to an IM, IME, or IS volume, its entire storage capacity may or may not be used, depending on drive capacity and volume capacity. For example, if you add a 36-GB disk drive to a volume that only uses 9-GB of capacity on each disk drive, the remaining 27-GB of capacity on the disk drive is unusable.
The disk identified by the first SCSI ID on the command line is assigned as the primary disk drive when an IM volume is created. If the controller is allowed to resync the disk drives, the data on the primary disk drive will be available when you access the newly created volume.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The following rules must be observed when creating IM, IME, and IS volumes and hot spare disks:
1. All disks that are part of a volume, including global hot spares, must be on the same
SAS controller.
2. A maximum of two IM, IME, or IS volumes per controller can be created.
3. The total number of disks in a volume cannot exceed ten, and the total number of disks combined for two volumes cannot exceed twelve. In addition, one or two hot spare disks can be created per controller to support IM and IME volumes, for a maximum of 14 supported disks per SAS controller. (Support for this number of disks requires Integrated RAID firmware v1.20.00 or above.)
4. An IM volume must have exactly two disks.
5. An IME volume can have a minimum of three disks and a maximum of ten disks, as long as rule 3 is not violated.
cfggen <controller #> create <volume type> <size>
{<SCSI ID>} [qsync] [noprompt] cfggen <controller #> create <volume type> <size> bay
{<enclosure:bay>} [qsync] [noprompt]
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
<controller
IM or IME or IS.
#>
– Number of the SAS controller targeted by this command.
<volume type>
– Volume type for the new volume to be created. Valid values are
<size>
– Size of the RAID volume in megabytes, or MAX for the maximum size available.
Bay
– This option indicates that enclosure:bay values are specified instead of SCSI
ID values.
<SCSI ID>
– SCSI ID of a hard disk drive to be included in the RAID volume.
<enclosure:bay>
– The enclosure:bay value for the disk drive to be included in the RAID volume. These values can be obtained from the output of the DISPLAY command.
qsync
– If this optional parameter is specified, a quick synchronization of new volume will be performed. If the volume type is IME or IS, a quick synchronization is always performed even if qsync is not specified. A quick synchronization means that the first 32-KB of the drives in the volume are cleared to 0.
noprompt
– Suppresses display of warnings and prompts.
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: bad command line arguments or operational failure.
Chapter 9: Using the CFGGEN IR Configuration Utility
This command is called DELETE in the EFI version of CFGGEN.
The DEFAULTS (DELETE) command deletes any IM, IME, and IS volumes and hot spare drives created by the CREATE and HOTSPARE commands. No other controller configuration parameters are changed.
cfggen <controller #> defaults [noprompt]
cfggen <controller #> delete [noprompt]
•
•
<controller noprompt
#>
– Number of the SAS controller targeted by this command.
– Suppresses display of warnings and prompts.
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: bad command line arguments or operational failure.
The DISPLAY command displays configuration information for the supported SAS controllers. The information includes controller type, firmware version, BIOS version, volume information, and physical drive information. An example of the information that will be output by this command is provided in Sample Output below.
1 megabyte = 1,048,576 bytes. All sizes displayed in megabytes are rounded down to the nearest megabyte.
•
• cfggen <controller #> display [filename]
<controller #>
– Number of the SAS controller targeted by this command.
[filename]
– Optional valid filename to store the output of the command to a file.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: bad command line arguments or operational failure.
The following example shows a sample output of the CREATE command when used to create an IM configuration.
Read configuration has been initiated for controller 0
------------------------------------------------------------
Controller information
------------------------------------------------------------
Controller type
BIOS version
: LSI1064/1068
: 6.05.05.00
Firmware version
SCSI channel description
Initiator IDs (SCSI ID)
Maximum physical devices
Concurrent commands supported
: 0.07.01.00
: 1 Serial Attached SCSI
: 63
: 62
: 511
------------------------------------------------------------
IR Volume information
------------------------------------------------------------
IR volume 1
Status of volume
RAID level
Size (in MB)
Physical hard disks (SCSI ID)
: Okay (OKY)
: 1
: 34332
: 10 7
------------------------------------------------------------
Enclosure information
------------------------------------------------------------
Enclosure #
Enclosure WWN
Start Slot
Num Slots
: 1
: 12345678:ABCDABCD
: 1
: 4
Start SCSI ID : 0
------------------------------------------------------------
Physical device information
------------------------------------------------------------
Initiator at SCSI ID 63
Target on SCSI ID 7
Enclosure #
Slot #
Device is a Hard disk
SCSI ID
State
Size (in MB)/(in sectors)
: 1
: 1
: 7
: Online (ONL)
: 34732/71132958
Chapter 9: Using the CFGGEN IR Configuration Utility
Model Number
Firmware Revision
Serial No
Drive Type
Target on SCSI ID 8
Enclosure #
Slot #
Device is a Hard disk
SCSI ID
State
Size (in MB)/(in sectors)
Model Number
Firmware Revision
Serial No
Drive Type
Target on SCSI ID 9
Enclosure #
Slot #
Device is a Hard disk
SCSI ID
State
Size (in MB)/(in sectors)
: ATLAS15K2_036SAS
: BG31
: E204EY1K
: SAS
: 1
: 2
: 8
: Hot Spare (HSP)
: 35074/71833095
: ATLAS15K2_36SAS
: BG34
: E207AY6K
: SAS
: 1
: 3
Model Number
Firmware Revision
Serial No
Drive Type
Target on SCSI ID 10
Enclosure #
Slot #
Device is a Hard disk
SCSI ID
State
Size (in MB)/(in sectors)
: 9
: Ready (RDY)
: 34732/71132959
: ATLAS15K2_036SAS
: BG31
: E204ERCK
: SAS
: 1
: 4
: 10
: Online (ONL)
: 140299/287332383
Model Number
Firmware Revision
Serial No
Drive Type
Logical drive status values are as follows:
•
•
•
: ATLAS15K2_147SAS
: BG34
: E803YMCK
: SAS
Okay (OKY)
– Volume is Active and drives are functioning properly. User data is protected if the volume is IM or IME.
Degraded (DGD)
– Volume is Active. User data is not fully protected due to a configuration change or drive failure.
Rebuilding (RBLD)
– Data resync or rebuild may be in progress.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
•
•
•
•
Inactive, Okay (OKY)
– Volume is inactive and drives are functioning properly.
User data is protected if the current RAID level is RAID 1 (IM) or RAID 1E (IME).
Inactive, Degraded (DGD)
– Volume is inactive and the user’s data is not fully protected due to a configuration change or drive failure; a data resync or rebuild may be in progress.
Physical drive status values are as follows:
•
•
•
•
Online (ONL)
– Drive is operational and is part of a logical drive.
Hot Spare (HSP)
– Drive is a hot spare that is available to replace a failed drive in an array.
Ready (RDY)
– Drive is ready for use as a normal disk drive; or it is available to be assigned to a disk array or used as a hot spare.
Available (AVL)
– Drive may or may not be ready, and it is not suitable for use in an array or as a hot spare. Possible reasons for this are: it is not spun up, its block size is incorrect, or its media is removable.
Failed (FLD)
– Drive was part of a logical drive or was a hot spare drive, and it failed. It has been taken offline.
Standby (SBY)
– This status is used to tag all non-hard disk drive devices.
The FORMAT command is used to perform a low-level format of a disk drive. The drive cannot be a hot spare drive or a member of an IM, IME, or IS volume.
A low-level format erases all data on the hard disk drive. The
FORMAT command cannot and should not be interrupted; doing so may result in irreparable damage to the hard disk drive.
Warning messages are displayed during the formatting, unless the
noprompt
option is included on the command line. If the user does not quickly respond to a series of prompts, the command is aborted. The answers are case sensitive and must be entered in upper case.
The FORMAT command does not complete and return to a shell prompt until the format operation is complete. This may take a long time for a large disk drive.
•
•
•
• cfggen <controller #> format <SCSI ID> [noprompt] cfggen <controller #> format bay <enclosure:bay> [noprompt]
<controller #>
– Number of the controller targeted by this command.
Bay – This option indicates that enclosure:bay values are specified instead of SCSI
ID values.
<SCSI ID>
– SCSI ID of the hard disk drive to be formatted.
<enclosure:bay>
– The enclosure:bay value for the disk drive to be formatted.
These values can be obtained from the output of the DISPLAY command.
Chapter 9: Using the CFGGEN IR Configuration Utility
• noprompt
– Suppresses display of warnings and prompts.
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: command failed.
The HOTSPARE command creates a hot spare disk drive. One or two hot spare disk can be created per controller. The capacity of a hot spare disk must be greater than or equal to the capacity of the smallest disk in the logical drive. An easy way to verify this is to use the DISPLAY command.
The following rules must be observed when creating hot spare disks:
1. A hot spare disk cannot be created unless at least one IM or IME volume is already created.
2. CFGGEN does not allow adding a hot spare disk of a type (SAS/SATA) that is different from the disk types in any of the volumes.
cfggen <controller #> hotspare <SCSI ID> cfggen <controller #> hotspare bay <enclosure:bay>
•
•
•
•
<controller
ID values.
#>
– Number of the SAS controller targeted by this command.
Bay
– This option indicates that enclosure:bay values are specified instead of SCSI
<SCSI ID>
– SCSI ID of the drive targeted by this command.
<enclosure:bay>
– The enclosure:bay value for the disk drive to use for the new hot spare disk. These values can be obtained via the output of the DISPLAY command.
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: bad command line arguments or operational failure.
The STATUS command displays the status of any volume synchronization operation that is currently in progress on the controller. If no such operation is in progress,
CFGGEN displays a message indicating this before it exits. The STATUS command adds the flag Inactive to the Volume State field, if the controller firmware marks the volume as Inactive.
cfggen <controller #> status
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
•
<controller #>
– Number of the SAS controller targeted by this command.
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: command failed.
Here is an example of the status information returned when a volume resynchronization is in progress:
Background command progress status for controller 0...
IR Volume 1
Current operation
Volume ID
: Synchronize
: 6
Volume status
Volume state
Physical disk I/Os
Volume size (in sectors)
Number of remaining sectors
Percentage complete
: Enabled
: Degraded
: Not quiesced
: 70311936
: 68250624
: 2.93%
Here is an example of the status information returned when no background volume operation is in progress:
Background command progress status for controller 0...
IR Volume 1
Current operation
Volume ID
: None
: 6
Volume status
Volume state
Physical disk I/Os
: Enabled
: Optimal
: Not quiesced
The status fields in the data displayed can have the following values:
Current operation –
Synchronize
or
None
Volume status –
Enabled
or
Disabled
Volume state –
[Inactive] Optimal, Degraded,
or
Failed
Physical disk I/Os –
Quiesced
or
Not quiesced
The SETOFFLINE command is supported by the DOS, Linux, and
WinPE versions of CFGGEN only.
Chapter 9: Using the CFGGEN IR Configuration Utility
The SETOFFLINE command makes a physical disk in a volume offline. A physical disk that is taken offline changes its state to Failed (FLD), but the disk is still associated with the volume and therefore cannot be addressed by normal I/O requests. If a new disk replaces an offline disk, the new disk is automatically brought online. Otherwise, the disk remains offline until explicitly brought online by SETONLINE command.
•
• cfggen <controller #> setoffline <SCSI ID>
<controller #>
– Number of the SAS controller targeted by this command.
<SCSI ID>
– SCSI target ID of the drive targeted by this command.
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: command failed.
The SETONLINE command is supported by the DOS, Linux, and
WinPE versions of CFGGEN only.
The SETONLINE command brings a physical disk in a volume online. This is required only after the physical disk has been taken offline by the SETOFFLINE command. When a physical disk is brought online, the IOC synchronizes the volume.
•
• cfggen <controller #> setonline <SCSI ID>
<controller #>
– Number of the controller targeted by this command.
<SCSI ID>
– SCSI target ID of the drive targeted by this command.
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: command failed
The AUTO command, which is currently supported only in the EFI version of CFGGEN, automatically creates an IM, IME, or IS volume. The volume is created with the maximum number of disks available for use in the specified volume type. The main difference from the CREATE command is that with the AUTO command you do not specify SCSI ID values for disks to use in the volume. CFGGEN automatically creates the volume with the first usable disks it finds. Firmware and hardware limitations for the family of controllers limit the number of configurations that are possible.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
When a disk drive is added to an IM, IME, or IS volume, its entire storage capacity may or may not be used, depending on drive capacity and volume capacity. For example, if you add a 36-GB disk drive to a volume that only uses 9-GB of capacity on each disk drive, the remaining 27-GB of capacity on the disk drive are unusable.
When AUTO creates an IM volume, the first disk found is assigned as the primary disk drive. If the controller is allowed to resync the disk drives, the data on the primary disk drive will be available by accessing the newly created volume.
CFGGEN follows these rules when creating IM, IME, and IS volumes and hot spare disks with the AUTO command:
1. All disks that are part of a volume and the hot spares for a volume must be connected to the same controller.
2. IM, IME, and IS volumes are supported.
3. One or two volumes can be created on a single SAS controller.
4. SAS and SATA drives cannot be mixed in a volume. With the AUTO command, all drives used must be the same type as the first available disk found.
5. An IM volume must have exactly two disks.
6. An IME volume can have three to ten disks, as long as rules 4 and 5 are not violated. An IS volume can have two to ten disks.
7. The the total number of disks combined for two volumes cannot exceed twelve. In addition, one or two hot spare disks can be created per controller, making a maximum of 14 disks supported per controller. (Support for this number of disks requires Integrated RAID firmware v1.20.00 or above.)
cfggen <controller #> auto <volume type> <size>
[qsync] [noprompt]
•
•
•
•
•
<controller
IME, and IS.
#>
– Number of the SAS controller targeted by this command.
<volume type>
– Volume type for the volume to be created. Valid values are IM,
<size>
– Size of the RAID volume in megabytes, or MAX for the maximum size available.
[ qsync]
– If this optional parameter is specified, a quick synchronization of new volume will be performed. If the volume type is IME or IS, a quick synchronization is always performed even if this option is not specified. A quick synchronization means that the first 32-KB of the drives in the volume are cleared to 0.
noprompt
– Suppresses display of warnings and prompts.
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: bad command line arguments or operational failure.
Chapter 9: Using the CFGGEN IR Configuration Utility
The DISABLEIR command, which is currently supported only in the EFI version of
CFGGEN, disables Integrated RAID functionality on the supported SAS controller chips.
This is done by setting the MPI_IOUNITPAGE1_DISABLE_IR bit in the IO Unit 1 MPT
Configuration Page.
If there are any existing IM, IME, or IS volumes when this command is run, the user is notified via an output message, no action is taken, and CFGGEN returns FAILURE. If
Integrated RAID is already disabled when this command is run, CFGGEN returns
SUCCESS.
cfggen <controller #> disableir
•
<controller #>
– Number of the SAS controller targeted by this command.
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: bad command line arguments or operational failure.
The ENABLEIR command, which is currently supported only in the EFI version of
CFGGEN, enables Integrated RAID functionality on the supported SAS controller chips.
This is done by clearing the MPI_IOUNITPAGE1_DISABLE_IR bit in the IO Unit 1 MPT
Configuration Page.
If there are any existing IM, IME, or IS volumes when this command is run, the user is notified via an output message, no action is taken, and CFGGEN returns SUCCESS. If
Integrated RAID is already enabled when this command is run, CFGGEN returns
SUCCESS.
cfggen <controller #> enableir
•
<controller #>
– Number of the SAS controller targeted by this command.
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: bad command line arguments or operational failure.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
The LIST command, which is currently supported only in the EFI version of CFGGEN, displays a list of all controllers present in the system, along with their corresponding controller #.
cfggen list
None
0x00 SUCCESS: command completed successfully.
0x01 FAILURE: bad command line arguments or operational failure.
The products sold by Supermicro are not intended for and will not be used in life support systems, medical equipment, nuclear facilities or systems, aircraft, aircraft devices, aircraft/emergency communication devices or other critical systems whose failure to perform be reasonably expected to result in significant injury or loss of life or catastrophic property damage. Accordingly, Supermicro disclaims any and all liability, and should buyer use or sell such products for use in such ultra-hazardous applications, it does so entirely at its own risk. Furthermore, buyer agrees to fully indemnify, defend and hold Supermicro harmless for and against any and all claims, demands, actions, litigation, and proceedings of any kind arising out of or related to such ultra-hazardous use or sale.
AOC-USAS-L4i/L4IR Add-on Card User’s Manual
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