User guide
Table Of Contents
- Title Page
- Table of Contents
- About this User Guide
- Introducing the 3ware® SATA RAID Controller
- Getting Started with Your 3ware RAID Controller
- First-Time RAID Configuration Using 3BM
- Driver Installation
- Driver Installation Under Windows
- Driver Installation Under Linux
- Obtaining 3ware Linux Drivers
- Driver Installation Under Red Hat Linux or Fedora Core 5
- Materials required
- Creating a Red Hat Linux Driver Diskette
- Installing the 3ware Kernel Driver Module while Installing Red Hat Linux on a New Unit
- Installing the 3ware Kernel Driver Module on a Red Hat or Fedora Core Linux System that Boots From a Different Device
- About Variables In the Kernel Driver Module Installation Instructions
- Driver Installation Under SuSE Linux
- Compiling a 3ware Driver for Linux
- Driver Installation Under FreeBSD
- 3ware BIOS Manager 2 (3BM 2) Introduction
- 3DM 2 (3ware Disk Manager) Introduction
- Configuring Your Controller
- Configuring Units
- Configuring a New Unit
- Creating a Hot Spare
- Naming a Unit
- Setting Unit Policies
- Changing An Existing Configuration by Migrating
- Deleting a Unit
- Removing a Unit
- Moving a Unit from One Controller to Another
- Adding a Drive
- Removing a Drive
- Rescanning the Controller
- Maintaining Units
- Checking Unit and Drive Status through 3DM
- About Degraded Units
- About Inoperable Units
- Alarms, Errors, and Other Events
- Background Tasks
- Scheduling Background Tasks
- Locating a Drive by Blinking Its LED
- Maintaining Your Controller
- Determining the Current Version of Your 3ware Driver
- Updating the Firmware and Driver
- Downloading the Driver and Firmware
- Updating the Firmware Through 3DM 2
- Updating the 3ware Driver and Firmware Under Windows
- Using the Update Utility With Multiple Controllers
- Updating the 3ware Driver Under Windows XP
- Updating the 3ware Driver Under Red Hat or Fedora Core
- Updating the 3ware Driver Under SuSE
- Updating the 3ware Driver Under FreeBSD
- Updating the Firmware Under Linux and FreeBSD
- Viewing Battery Information
- Testing Battery Capacity
- 3DM 2 Reference
- Troubleshooting
- Appendices
- Index

20 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide
3
First-Time RAID Configuration
Using 3BM
If you will install the operating system on and boot from a unit managed
through the new 3ware RAID controller, follow the steps in this chapter to use
the 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) to configure the unit and install the driver.
If the operating system is already installed on another drive in your system,
you can use the steps below or you can configure units through 3DM or the
CLI.
You can create one or more units on a single controller, depending on the
number of drives that the specific 3ware RAID controller supports and the
number of drives attached. (For more information, see “Determining What
RAID Level to Use” on page 11.)
Basic Steps for Creating a Unit
The process of configuring your RAID units includes these main steps, which
are detailed in the step-by-step example:
• Launch 3BM (3ware BIOS Manager)
• Select the drives to be included and indicate that you want to create a unit
• Select the desired RAID configuration
• Set other parameters, depending on the type of RAID configuration
• Confirm the unit configuration
• Save your changes and finish up
Note: If the capacity of the unit you create will exceed 2TB and you are using
Windows 2000, Windows XP (32-bit), Linux 2.4, or FreeBSD 4.x, you will need to
enable auto-carving. Before creating your unit, follow the instructions under “Using
Auto-Carving for Multi LUN Support” on page 86.










