RAIDXPERT USER MANUAL Version 2.
RAIDXpert User Manual Copyright © 2010 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Copyright by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD). No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed, written permission of AMD. Trademarks AMD and the AMD are registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Contents Chapter 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 RAIDXpert Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 RAIDXpert Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Java Runtime Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Operating System Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Browser Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
RAIDXpert User Manual Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing, cont. User Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Adding a User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Setting up Email Event Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Deleting a User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Changing a User’s Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contents Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing, cont. Spare Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 Viewing Spare Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 Creating a Spare Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 Deleting a Spare Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90 Chapter 6: Technology Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter includes the following topics: • RAIDXpert Components (page 2) • Operating System Support (page 3) • Browser Support (page 3) • About This Manual (page 3) The AMD RAIDXpert software offers local and remote management and monitoring of all logical drives on the AMD Chipset SATA Controller wherever they exist on the network. Figure 1.
RAIDXpert User Manual RAIDXpert Components The RAIDXpert installation software installs two major components: • RAIDXpert management and networking software • Java Runtime Environment (in a private folder) RAIDXpert Software The RAIDXpert software installs on the PC with the AMD Chipset SATA Controller (the “Host PC”). Figure 2.
Chapter 1: Introduction Operating System Support On the Host PC with the AMD Chipset SATA Controller, where you install RAIDXpert, AMD recommends 32-bit or 64-bit versions of: • Windows 7 • Red Hat Enterprise 4.8 • Windows Vista • Red Hat Enterprise 5.4 • Windows Server 2008 • SuSE Linux ES 10 SP3 • Windows XP • SuSE Linux ES 11 • Windows Server 2003 These operating systems support RAIDXpert. Choose one of them to take full advantage of RAIDXpert’s features and functions.
RAIDXpert User Manual Important Important calls attention to an essential step or point required to complete a task. Important items include things often missed. Caution A Caution informs you of possible equipment damage or loss of data and how to avoid them. Warning A Warning notifies you of probable equipment damage or loss of data, or the possibility of physical injury, and how to avoid them.
Chapter 2: Installation This chapter includes the following topic: • Windows (below) • Windows with RAID Ready Backup (below) • Linux (page 6) On Windows PCs and Servers, you can install the RAIDXpert software with or without the RAID Ready Backup feature. RAID Ready Backup enables you to create and maintain a mirror of your RAID Ready logical drive. For more information, see “Backing up a RAID Ready Logical Drive” on page 68 and “RAID Ready – Single Drive” on page 99.
RAIDXpert User Manual Linux Follow these steps to install RAIDXpert on your Linux-based PC or Server. 1. Boot the PC or server, log in as root, and launch the Linux GUI. If the computer is already running, exit all programs. If you are not logged in as root, log out, then log in again as root. 2. Insert the software CD into your CD-ROM drive. 3. In the CD window, double-click the RAIDXpert...bin icon to begin installation (right). 4.
Chapter 2: Installation 2. When the Welcome screen appears, click the Next button. 3. When the License Agreement screen appears, click the “I accept the terms of the license agreement” option to proceed with installation. Then click the Next button to continue. Note: If you leave the “I do not accept the terms of the license” option selected, the installation will quit when you click Next.
RAIDXpert User Manual 4. When the Choose Install Folder screen appears, make your selection of a folder for the RAIDXpert applications you are installing. For example, the Windows default folder is: C:\Program Files\AMD\RAIDXpert If you want a different folder, type its location or click the Browse... button and select a new location. Click the Next button when you are finished. 5.
Chapter 2: Installation Click the Next button when you have made your choice. 6. When the Ready to Install screen appears, click the Install button to continue.
RAIDXpert User Manual 7. When the Install Complete screen appears, click the Finish button. This completes the RAIDXpert installation.
Chapter 3: Setup This chapter includes the following topics: • Logging into RAIDXpert (below) • Choosing a Language (page 14) • Accessing the Host PC (page 14) • Making the Recommended Initial Settings (page 15) • Creating a New Logical Drive (page 18) • Logging out of RAIDXpert (page 22) • Connecting to RAIDXpert from the Internet (page 23) • Running RAIDXpert without Network Connection (page 23) After installation, the next step is to log into and configure RAIDXpert.
RAIDXpert User Manual Secure Connection: • RAIDXpert uses a secure HTTP connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . .https:// • Enter the Host PC’s IP address . . . . . . . . . . . . 127.0.0.1 or localhost • Enter the Port number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :8443 • Add to launch RAIDXpert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /amd Together, your entry looks like this: https://127.0.0.
Chapter 3: Setup Note Make a Bookmark (Netscape Navigator) or set a Favorite (Internet Explorer) of the Login Screen so you can access it easily next time. After sign-in, the RAIDXpert opening screen appears.
RAIDXpert User Manual Choosing a Language RAIDXpert can display in multiple languages. To choose your language: 1. Click the currently displayed language in the RAIDXpert banner. A list of available languages displays. 2. Click the language you prefer. The RAIDXpert GUI displays in the language selected. Notes • You can also choose the language at the Login Screen. • To display some of the supported languages, you might have to install additional fonts or other files to your operating system.
Chapter 3: Setup Making the Recommended Initial Settings These settings are recommended and now is the best time to make them. You can change them later as necessary. Administrator’s Settings To make the Administrator’s password and notification settings: 1. In Tree View, under Administrative Tools, click User Management. 2. In the Management Window, click the admin link. 3. Click the Settings tab.
RAIDXpert User Manual 4. If you want to change the default password, type the new password into the New Password field. Use up to 8 letters and numbers but no spaces or other characters. 5. Type the same password into the Retype Password field. 6. If you plan to set up Event Notification, type the Administrator’s email address in the Email field. 7. Click the Submit button. If the action was successful, the Management Window will display the message “Update Success.” 8.
Chapter 3: Setup Utility Configuration If you plan to set up Event Notification, you must make these settings. 1. 2. In Tree View, under Administrative Tools, click Utility Configuration. Enter the Sender’s address in the Email Sender field. Be sure the sender has an account in your email system. See your IT administrator. 3. Enter your email server in the Email Server field. 4. Optional. Change the Email Subject line as needed. 5. Click the Submit button when you are done.
RAIDXpert User Manual Creating a New Logical Drive A logical drive is a collection of physical drives in a RAID. To create a new logical drive: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Create tab in Management View. The Select RAID Level screen appears. 3. Select the option beside the RAID level you want for your logical drive. RAIDXpert displays the RAID levels you can use with the available physical drives. See page 101 for information about the available RAID levels. 4.
Chapter 3: Setup The Select Drives screen appears. 6. If you want to split the capacity of your physical drives between two logical drives, enter the capacity for the first logical drive in the Logical Drive Size field. Or, to use the maximum capacity of the physical drives, check the Use Maximum Capacity box. For RAID Ready and JBOD, the system will check the Use Maximum Capacity Box automatically. 7. Click the physical drives to select them. Available drives have a white frame.
RAIDXpert User Manual The Assign a Name screen appears. 9. Accept the default name or enter a new name for the logical drive in the field provided. 10. Click the Next button. The Final Settings screen appears. 11. RAID 0, 5, and 10. Choose a Stripe Block Size from the dropdown menu. The choices are 64 and 128 KB. For more information, see “Choosing Stripe Block Size” on page 103. The Write Cache policy is Write Through. You cannot change this setting. 12. RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10.
Chapter 3: Setup 14. Click the Finish button. If there are physical drives available, the Select RAID Level screen appears again, where you can create an additional logical drive. Click the Logical Drive in Tree View to see all of the information about your new logical drive.
RAIDXpert User Manual Before you can use your new logical drive, you must partition and format the logical drive using your PC’s operating system. See “Appendix B: Partition and Format” on page 111 for more information. Logging out of RAIDXpert There are two ways to log out of RAIDXpert: • Close your browser window • Click Logout on the RAIDXpert Banner After logging out, you must enter your username and password to log in again. Clicking Logout brings you back to the Login Screen.
Chapter 3: Setup Connecting to RAIDXpert from the Internet The above instructions cover connections between the Host PC and other PCs using RAIDXpert over your company network. It is also possible to connect to a Host PC from the Internet. Your MIS Administrator can tell you how to access your network from outside the firewall. Once you are logged onto the network, you can access the Host PC using its IP address. See “Logging into RAIDXpert” on page 11 for more information.
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Chapter 4: RAIDXpert User Interface • Banner (page 26) • Tree View (page 26) • Management Window (page 28) • Event Frame (page 29) This chapter describes RAIDXpert’s Graphic User Interface (GUI). You should understand that RAIDXpert is software running on your Internet Browser. RAIDXpert adds a graphic user interface to make RAID management functions easier to understand and perform. Figure 1.
RAIDXpert User Manual Banner The RAIDXpert banner appears at the top of your browser window when you are running RAIDXpert. Figure 2. The RAIDXpert Banner The RAIDXpert banner enables you to do the following actions: • Select the language in which RAIDXpert displays from the dropdown menu. • Show or Hide the Event Frame.
Chapter 4: RAIDXpert User Interface A Host PC’s RAID system is made up of: • • Administrative Tools – User and Host Management, and Utility Configuration • User Management – Create and Delete Users, Passwords, and Permissions • Host Management – Information on Host PCs • Utility Configuration – Email settings and Event Frame refresh interval AMD RAIDXpert – Controller, Physical Drives, Logical Drives, and Spare Drives Controller – Priority settings, Status settings, Scheduled activities, Lock Physi
RAIDXpert User Manual Management Window The purpose of the Management Window is to monitor and manage your RAID system. The Management Window appears in the right frame of the browser window. What appears in the Management Window depends on which item you click in Tree View. Figure 4. Management Window as it appears when you click a logical drive in Tree View In the example above, the Management Window shows the information about a logical drive because you clicked a Logical Drive in Tree View.
Chapter 4: RAIDXpert User Interface A full discussion of these and other RAID monitoring and management functions is included in “Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing” on page 31. Event Frame The purpose of the Event Frame is to maintain a log of all events related to your RAID system. The information is especially helpful for RAID management and troubleshooting. To see the Event Frame, click Show Event from the RAIDXpert banner. Figure 5. Event Frame appears below the Management Window.
RAIDXpert User Manual On the Event Frame, you can also: • Clear the events • Save the events an text file • Display events by severity • Display events by date and time • Filter the events Current Event You can view the current event in the top right corner RAIDXpert window above the Banner. Click the Open Events icon to display the current events. Figure 6. Viewing the current event Open Events icon Close Events icon The most recent event displays until another one happens.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing • Logging into RAIDXpert (below) • Choosing a Language (page 34) • User Management (page 35) • Host Management (page 44) • Utility Configuration (page 45) • Controller (page 48) • Physical Drives (page 53) • Logical Drives (page 62) • Spare Drives (page 89) Logging into RAIDXpert Windows PCs: In the Windows Start menu, choose Programs > AMD > RAIDXpert > RAIDXpert. Linux PCs: Choose RAIDXpert in the Applications menu.
RAIDXpert User Manual Together, your entry looks like this: https://127.0.0.1:8443/amd or https://localhost:8443/amd Note that the IP address shown above applies to a log-in at the Host PC. When you log in over a network, enter the Host PC’s actual IP address or hostname. 3. Press the Enter key. 4. When the login screen appears, type admin in the Login ID field. Type admin again in the Password field. The RAIDXpert login and password are case sensitive. 5. Click the Sign in button.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing After sign-in, the RAIDXpert opening screen appears.
RAIDXpert User Manual Choosing a Language RAIDXpert can display in multiple languages. To choose your language: 1. Click the currently displayed language in the RAIDXpert banner. A list of available languages displays. 2. Click the language you prefer. The RAIDXpert GUI displays in the language selected. Notes • You can also choose the language at the Login Screen. • To display some of the supported languages, you might have to install additional fonts or other files to your operating system.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing User Management • Adding a User (below) • Setting up Email Event Notification (page 36) • Deleting a User (page 39) • Changing a User’s Password (page 40) • Changing a User’s Email Address (page 41) • Changing a User’s Access Rights (page 42) Adding a User 1. Log into RAIDXpert as the Administrator. 2. Click User Management in Tree View. 3. Click the Create tab in Management View. 4. Type a User ID into the User ID field.
RAIDXpert User Manual 8. If you plan to set up Event Notification, type the user’s email address in the Email field. 9. Under Host User Rights, check the boxes to select rights for this user.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing The image above was shortened to fit on the page. 4. Check the boxes of the notification events that you want to have reported to you via email and popup messages. To select events by their severity, check one of the four Select Events boxes at the top of the window. See the table on the next page. 5. Click the Submit button.
RAIDXpert User Manual Event Notification Severity Levels Warning Events Disk Unplugged Disk Timeout Task Error Disk Media Patrol Aborted with Error Bad Block Remapped Disk Pre Fail Array Critical Array Degrade Synchronization Requested Redundancy Check Rejected Error Events Disk Setdown Disk Non-ECC Error Disk S.M.A.R.T.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Event Notification Severity Levels, continued Information Events Disk Plugged In Disk BSL Update Disk BSL Cleared Disk Error Fixed Disk BSL Accessed Disk Patrol Progress Disk Media Patrol Started Disk Media Patrol Completed Disk Media Patrol Paused Disk Media Patrol Resumed Disk Media Patrol Aborted Array Online Array Created Array Deleted Array Cache Mode Changed Array Auto Cache Mode Change Synchronization Started Synchronization Completed Synchronization Paused Synchro
RAIDXpert User Manual 4. Check the box to the left of the user you want to delete. 5. Click the Delete button. 6. In the Confirmation box, click the OK button. Changing a User’s Password In RAIDXpert, each user can change his or her own password. To change a user’s password: 1. Log into RAIDXpert under your User name. 2. Click User Management in Tree View. 3. Click your User ID link in Management View. 4. Click the Settings tab. 5. Type the current password in the Old Password field.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing 6. Type a new password in the New Password field. 7. Retype the new password in the Retype Password field. 8. Click the Submit button. Important If a user forgets his or her password, the Administrator must delete that User account and create a new one, as described above. Changing a User’s Email Address In RAIDXpert, each user can change his or her own email address or the Administrator can do it. To change your email address: 1.
RAIDXpert User Manual 4. Click the Settings tab. 5. Type a new email address in the Email field. 6. Click the Submit button. Changing a User’s Access Rights In RAIDXpert, the Administrator can change a user’s access rights. To change a user’s access rights: 1. Log in as the Administrator. 2. Click User Management in Tree View. The user list displays in Management View. 3. Click the User ID link for the user whose access rights will change.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing 4. Under Host User Rights, check the boxes to select rights for this user. Uncheck the boxes of rights to be deleted. Right 5.
RAIDXpert User Manual Host Management This function provides information only. There are no user settings. To access Host Management: 1. Click Host Management in Tree View. Host information displays in Management View. 2. Under Host List, click the IP Address link to the host you want to see. The Information tab displays with information about the Host PC. • RAIDXpert Version – The version number of the RAIDXpert software. • Display Name – The display name of the Host PC. “localhost” is the default.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Utility Configuration • Making Utility Configuration Settings (page 45) • Choosing Utility Configuration Options (page 46) Making Utility Configuration Settings Use this function to make email settings for RAIDXpert and also to set the refresh interval for the Event Frame. To make Utility Configuration settings: 1. Click Utility Configuration in Tree View. The Utility Configuration Settings appear in Management View. 2.
RAIDXpert User Manual Choosing Utility Configuration Options Backup Prompt This feature makes a copy of your RAID Ready logical drive onto a separate disk drive. Because a RAID Ready consists of only one physical drive, there is no redundancy to protect against drive failure. The Backup feature provides that protection. The backup drive is monitored as a logical drive in the RAIDXpert interface.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing System Event Notification An example of a System Event Notification message. These messages display on the top right corner of the Host PC’s desktop, whether or not RAIDXpert is running at the time. This feature makes it easy to monitor your RAID system without having to keep a browser window open and dedicated to the RAID. Click OK to delete the message from your desktop.
RAIDXpert User Manual Controller • Viewing Controller Information (below) • Making Controller Settings (page 49) • Viewing Controller Scheduled Activities (page 50) • Locking the Controller (page 51) The term Controller refers to the device that controls your RAID. Viewing Controller Information To view controller information, click Controller in Tree View. The Information tab displays with information about the controller. • Product Name – The AMD product name for this controller.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Making Controller Settings To make controller settings: 1. Click 2. Click the Settings tab in Management View. 3. Click the Enable or Disable options for each feature. • Controller in Tree View. Rates – Allocates system resources between the background activity such as Rebuild, Media Patrol, Migration/Expansion, Initialization, and Synchronization, and the data read/write activity. A High setting assigns most of the system resources to background processes.
RAIDXpert User Manual When enabled, and a hot spare drive is not available, a critical or degraded logical drive will rebuild itself automatically when you replace the failed physical drive with a new one. See page 84. • Automatic Rebuild Policy – Selects which physical drive to use as a hot spare: • A spare drive only. See page 89. • The free portion of a physical drive whose other portion is assigned to a logical drive. Or a spare drive.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing The Schedule tab displays all scheduled background activity, such as Media Patrol, Migration, Rebuild, Synchronization, Redundancy Check, and Initialization.
RAIDXpert User Manual To lock the Controller on the Host PC: 1. Click 2. Click the Lock tab in Management View. 3. Controller in Tree View. From the dropdown menu, select a period of time to hold the lock. The lock time range is 1 to 30 minutes. 4. Click the Lock button to set the lock. The lock will release itself automatically at the end of the period you specified. 5. To release the lock before the scheduled time, click the Unlock button.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Physical Drives • Viewing Physical Drives (below) • Merging a Physical Drive (page 54) • Scheduling Media Patrol – All Physical Drives (page 54) • Viewing Physical Drive Information (page 55) • Making Physical Drive Settings (page 57) • Running Media Patrol – One Physical Drive (page 58) • Viewing the Physical Drive Bad Sector Log (page 59) • Deleting Physical Drive Backup Information (page 60) Viewing Physical Drives To access Physical Drive View, click P
RAIDXpert User Manual Merging a Physical Drive A physical drive is logically split when its capacity is divided between two assignments, such as two different logical drives. When the logical drives are deleted, the split remains. The action of merging a physical drive reunites the two portions of a split drive back into a single physical drive. The Merge function is not available when either or both portions of the physical drive are assigned to a logical drive.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing 3. Click the Enable option. 4. Click the by Day, by Week or by Month option. 5. From the dropdown menus, select a start time and a day of the Week or Month, if applicable. Start time is based on a 24-hour clock. 6. Click the Schedule button. Canceling a Schedule To cancel the scheduled Media Patrol operation: 1. Click Physical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Media Patrol Schedule tab in Management View. 3. Click the Disable option.
RAIDXpert User Manual The Information tab displays the following information: • Drive Model – The physical drive manufacturer’s model name or number. • Serial Number – The serial number of this physical drive. • Firmware Version – The version number of the firmware on this physical drive. • Port Number – The number of the motherboard SATA port to which a physical drive is attached. Drives attached to a SATA port multiplier show the port number to which the port multiplier is connected.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing • S.M.A.R.T. Status – SMART, an acronym for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a feature of the physical drive software. When this feature is supported, the drive will pass SMART information to the SATA controller when it polls the physical drives. • Write Cache Status – Indicates whether the physical drive’s write cache is Enabled or Disabled. You can change this status under the Settings tab (see below).
RAIDXpert User Manual Running Media Patrol – One Physical Drive The Physical Drive–Media Patrol tab allows you to start Media Patrol on an individual physical drive. You can also run Media Patrol on all physical drives at the same time, see page 54. For more information, see “Media Patrol” on page 107. On Demand To start Media Patrol immediately: 1. Click Physical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Physical Drive on which you want to run Media Patrol. 3.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Canceling a Schedule To cancel the scheduled Media Patrol operation: 1. Click Physical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Physical Drive whose schedule you want to cancel. 3. Click the Media Patrol tab in Management View. 4. Click the Disable option. Viewing the Physical Drive Bad Sector Log On occasion, an error can arise with the media on a physical drive.
RAIDXpert User Manual If any bad sectors are found, they are listed here. RAIDXpert informs you by popup and email messages when a bad sector error is logged (see page 36). After 10 bad sectors have been discovered on a physical drive, RAIDXpert issues a warning to replace the drive. After 20 bad sectors have been discovered: • On fault-tolerant (RAID 1, 5, or 10) logical drives, the RAID controller will set down the physical drive (take it offline) and the logical drive will go critical.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Note If your backup drive is present in your RAIDXpert system when you delete the corresponding RAID Ready logical drive, the backup drive is deleted at the same time. In that situation, you do not need to delete backup information separately. To delete backup information from a physical drive: 1. Click Physical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Physical Drive marked as a backup drive. 3. Click the Backup Information tab in Management View. 4.
RAIDXpert User Manual Logical Drives • Viewing Logical Drives (below) • Creating a Logical Drive (page 62) • Deleting a Logical Drive (page 67) • Viewing Logical Drive Information (page 68) • Making Logical Drive Settings (page 68) • Backing up a RAID Ready Logical Drive (page 68) • Migrating a Logical Drive (page 71) • Rebuilding a Logical Drive (page 74) • Synchronizing All Logical Drives (page 78) • Synchronizing One Logical Drive (page 79) • Initializing a Logical Drive (page 82)
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing 3. Select the option beside the RAID level you want for your logical drive. RAIDXpert displays the RAID levels you can use with the available physical drives. See page 101 for information about the available RAID levels. 4.
RAIDXpert User Manual 6. If you want to split the capacity of your physical drives between two logical drives, enter the capacity for the first logical drive in the Logical Drive Size field. Or, to use the maximum capacity of the physical drives, check the Use Maximum Capacity box. For RAID Ready and JBOD, the system will check the Use Maximum Capacity Box automatically. 7. Click the physical drives to select them. Available drives have a white frame. Selected drives have a red frame.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing The Assign a Name screen appears. 9. Accept the default name or enter a new name for the logical drive in the field provided. 10. Click the Next button. The Final Settings screen appears. 11. RAID 0, 5, and 10. Choose a Stripe Block Size from the dropdown menu. The choices are 64 and 128 KB. For more information, see “Choosing Stripe Block Size” on page 103. The Write Cache policy is Write Through. You cannot change this setting. 12. RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10.
RAIDXpert User Manual 14. Click the Finish button. If there are physical drives available, the Select RAID Level screen appears again, where you can create an additional logical drive. Click the Logical Drive in Tree View to see all of the information about your new logical drive.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Before you can use your new logical drive, you must partition and format the logical drive using your PC’s operating system. See “Appendix B: Partition and Format” on page 111 for more information. Deleting a Logical Drive Warning When you delete a logical drive, you delete all data on the logical drive.
RAIDXpert User Manual Viewing Logical Drive Information Logical Drive View provides a list of all logical drives currently on the Host PC. To access Logical Drive View: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Logical Drive you want to view. From this screen, you can click the links to access the Settings, Migration, Rebuild, Synchronization, Initialization, and Activation features. The features that apply to this logical drive have green tabs.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing If you write data to your RAID Ready drive without the backup drive in your system, RAIDXpert will automatically update the data on the backup drive when you insert it the next time.
RAIDXpert User Manual Click the Backup tab to monitor the progress of the backup operation. Backup Drive Features There is no pause or resume button for the backup. However, if you reboot your system with the backup drive still attached, the backup function will continue automatically after the reboot is completed. When the backup is finished, the backup drive is an exact duplicate of your RAID Ready logical drive. If your RAID Ready was a bootable drive, your backup drive will be bootable also.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Migrating a Logical Drive The Logical Drive–Migration tab enables you to: • Change the RAID level of an existing logical drive • Add physical drives to a logical drive while keeping the same RAID level. This action is also called Expansion You can change the RAID level of a logical drive with certain combinations of RAID level and number of physical drives, as described in the table below.
RAIDXpert User Manual You can add physical drives to an existing logical drive while keeping the same RAID level for: • RAID 0 • RAID 5 • JBOD RAIDXpert supports up to six physical drives for these logical drives. For more information, see “Migration” on page 105. You can set up a Migration to begin immediately (on demand) or schedule a Migration for a time when there is less demand on the RAID system. On Demand To migrate a logical drive: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing You can monitor Migration progress on the Logical Drive Migration tab. Click the respective buttons to pause and resume the Migration. Scheduled To schedule a Migration: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Logical Drive you want to migrate. 3. Click the Migration tab in Management View. 4. From the Migrate RAID Level to dropdown menu, choose the target RAID level for your logical drive. 5.
RAIDXpert User Manual Canceling a Schedule If you want to cancel the scheduled Migration, do the following: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Logical Drive whose schedule you want to cancel. 3. Click the Migration tab in Management View. 4. Click the Disable option. Rebuilding a Logical Drive Rebuild refers to the process of repairing a logical drive by reconstructing the data on one of its physical drives.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing You can set up a Rebuild to: • Begin immediately (on demand) • Schedule a Rebuild for a time when there is less demand on the RAID system • Begin automatically when a logical drive goes critical. See page 77. On Demand To rebuild a logical drive: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Logical Drive you want to rebuild. 3. Click the Rebuild tab in Management View. 4. Click a Single Disk (unassigned physical drive) to use as a replacement drive.
RAIDXpert User Manual Scheduled To schedule a Rebuild: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Logical Drive you want to rebuild. 3. Click the Rebuild tab in Management View. 4. Click a Single Disk (unassigned physical drive) to use as a replacement drive. Available drives have a white frame. Selected drives have a red frame. 5. Click the Enable option. 6. From the dropdown menus, select a start time. Start time is based on a 24-hour clock. 7.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Canceling a Schedule If you want to cancel the scheduled Rebuild, do the following: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Logical Drive whose schedule you want to cancel. 3. Click the Rebuild tab in Management View. 4. Click the Disable option. Automatic Rebuilding Automatic rebuilding of a logical drive is possible under the following conditions: • The logical drive is a RAID 1 or a RAID 5 with 3 physical drives.
RAIDXpert User Manual and automatic rebuild in its user interface as well as via popup messages. Depending on your Event Notification settings (see page 36), RAIDXpert can also notify you via email message. When the automatic rebuild operation is completed, you must remove and replace the faulty physical drive with a new one. See “Replacing the Failed Physical Drive” on page 87 and your system User Manual for more information on replacing a physical drive.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Canceling a Schedule If you want to cancel the scheduled Synchronization, do the following: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Synchronization Schedule tab in Management View. 3. Click the Disable option. Synchronizing One Logical Drive The Logical Drive Synchronization tab enables you to synchronize an individual logical drive. You can also synchronize all logical drives at the same time, see page 78.
RAIDXpert User Manual Note You cannot start a Redundancy Check until all other background activities are finished. They include: Rebuild, Full Initialization, Migration, Expansion, and Synchronization (with Fix option). Any of these tasks can take a long time, depending on the size of your physical drives. On Demand To Synchronize or Redundancy Check a logical drive: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Logical Drive you want to synchronize. 3.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Scheduled To schedule a Synchronization or Redundancy Check: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Logical Drive you want to synchronize. 3. Click the Synchronization tab in Management View. 4. 5. In the Policy dropdown menu, choose: • Fix – If you want Synchronization • Redundancy Check – If you do not want to correct inconsistencies Click the Enable option. 6. Click the by Day, by Week or by Month option. 7.
RAIDXpert User Manual Canceling a Schedule If you want to cancel the scheduled Synchronization or Redundancy Check, do the following: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Logical Drive whose schedule you want to cancel. 3. Click the Synchronization tab in Management View. 4. Click the Disable option.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing To initialize a logical drive: 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Click the Logical Drive whose initialization you want to view, pause, resume, or abort. 3. Click the Initialization tab in Management View. 4. Optional. Click the Pause, Resume, or Abort button. 5. Optional, Abort only. In the Confirmation box, click the OK button. Logical Drive Activation The Activation feature enables you to hot-plug a RAID 1 logical drive.
RAIDXpert User Manual In a few moments, the logical drive status goes from Offline to Critical. Critical status allows you to access your data and rebuild the logical drive. See “Rebuilding a Logical Drive” on page 74. Managing a Critical or Offline Logical Drive A fault-tolerant logical drive—RAID 1, 5, or 10—goes Critical when a physical drive is removed or fails. Due to the fault tolerance of the logical drive, the data is still available and online.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing one physical drive, disappears from the interface if the physical drive is removed or fails. Since these logical drives are not fault tolerant, the data stored in the logical drive is no longer accessible. If one physical drive fails, all of the data on the logical drive is lost. You must replace the failed drive. Then, if the logical drive had more than one physical drive, delete the logical drive, and re-create it. Restore the data from a backup source.
RAIDXpert User Manual In this example, the Status is Critical and Background activity is Idle. This condition indicates that there is no automatic rebuild, so you must take action to restore the logical drive: 1. Identify the failed physical drive. 2. Replace the failed physical drive. 3. Rebuild your logical drive. Identifying the Failed Physical Drive 1. Click Physical Drive View in Tree View. 2. Look for a missing physical drive.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Replacing the Failed Physical Drive Replace the failed physical drive with a new one of equal or greater capacity. Then rebuild the logical drive. See your system User Manual for more information about replacing a physical drive. Rebuilding Your Logical Drive These instructions describe a manual rebuild. They apply when you have not enabled Automatic Rebuild and have no Spare drive. 1. Click Logical Drive View in Tree View. 2.
RAIDXpert User Manual You can monitor Rebuild progress on the Rebuild tab. Click the respective buttons to pause and resume the Rebuild. When the Rebuild is finished, your logical drive will be Functional again.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing Spare Drives • Viewing Spare Drives (below) • Creating a Spare Drive (page 89) • Deleting a Spare Drive (page 90) A spare drive is a physical drive designated to function as a hot spare drive. A hot spare drive automatically replaces a failed physical drive. You can also set the Controller to rebuild a logical drive from a Free physical drive.
RAIDXpert User Manual 4. Click a Single Disk (unassigned physical drive) to use as a spare drive. Available drives have a white frame. Selected drives have a red frame. Drives with a blue frame are assigned to a logical drive. You cannot select for a spare drive a split physical drive, where part of the physical drive currently supports a logical drive. 5. Click the Create button. The new Spare Drive appears under Physical Drive View and Spare Drive View.
Chapter 5: Monitoring and Managing 5. In the Confirmation box, click the OK button. The selected spare drive is deleted.
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Chapter 6: Technology Background • Physical and Logical Drive Support (page 93) • Port Multiplier (page 93) • Introduction to RAID (page 94) • Choosing a RAID Level (page 101) • Choosing Stripe Block Size (page 103) • Gigabyte Boundary (page 103) • Initialization (page 104) • Hot Spare Drive(s) (page 104) • Partition and Format the Logical Drive (page 105) • Migration (page 105) • Media Patrol (page 107) Physical and Logical Drive Support The AMD Chipset SATA Controller supports up to:
RAIDXpert User Manual Introduction to RAID RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) allows multiple physical drives to be combined together in a logical drive. The operating system sees the logical drive as a single storage device, and treats it as such. The RAID software and/or controller handle all of the individual drives on its own.
Chapter 6: Technology Background RAID 0 – Stripe When a logical drive is striped, the read and write blocks of data are interleaved between the sectors of multiple physical drives. Performance is increased, since the workload is balanced between drives or “members” that form the logical drive. Identical drives are recommended for performance as well as data storage efficiency. Figure 1.
RAIDXpert User Manual RAID 1 – Mirror When a logical drive is mirrored, identical data is written to a pair of physical drives, while reads are performed in parallel. The reads are performed using elevator seek and load balancing techniques where the workload is distributed in the most efficient manner. Whichever drive is not busy and is positioned closer to the data will be accessed first.
Chapter 6: Technology Background RAID 5 – Block Striping with Distributed Parity RAID 5 stripes data and distributes parity information across the physical drives along with the data blocks. This organization increases performance by accessing multiple physical drives simultaneously for each operation, as well as fault tolerance by providing parity data. In the event of a physical drive failure, data can be re-calculated by the RAID system based on the remaining data and the parity information.
RAIDXpert User Manual RAID 10 – Mirror/Stripe RAID 10 combines the properties of RAID 0 and RAID 1 logical drives. RAID 10 increases performance by reading and writing data in parallel while protecting data with duplication. Four physical drives are required for RAID 10. One drive pair is mirrored together then striped over a second drive pair. Figure 4.
Chapter 6: Technology Background RAID Ready – Single Drive RAID Ready arranges individual physical drives the same as if they were attached to the PC’s motherboard controller. The advantage is that the AMD Chipset SATA Controller can accommodate up to 10 physical drives, more than most PC motherboards. Figure 5. RAID Ready deals with individual physical drives As a single physical drive, RAID Ready does not offer the performance or security advantages of other RAID logical drives.
RAIDXpert User Manual JBOD – Concatenation JBOD stands for “Just a Bunch of Disks” and normally refers to one or more physical drives working independently. The AMD Chipset SATA Controller offers the added feature of concatenation, where the capacity of multiple drives is added together. When one drive is full, the data is saved to the next drive automatically. By way of example, using this feature, three 500 GB physical drives concatenated together have the equivalent capacity of single 1.5 TB drive.
Chapter 6: Technology Background Choosing a RAID Level There are several issues to consider when choosing the RAID Level for your logical drive. The following discussion summarizes some advantages, disadvantages, and applications for each choice.
RAIDXpert User Manual RAID 5 Advantages Disadvantages High Read data transaction rate Disk failure has a medium impact on throughput Medium Write data transaction rate Good aggregate transfer rate Recommended Applications for RAID 5: • File and Application servers • WWW, E-mail, and News servers • Intranet servers • Most versatile RAID level RAID 10 Advantages Disadvantages Implemented as a mirrored logical drive Very high disk overhead - uses only whose segments are striped logical 50% of to
Chapter 6: Technology Background JBOD Advantages Disadvantages Enables you to manage multiple physical drives from a single controller The failure of just one drive will result in all data in all drives being lost Not suitable for mission critical environments Recommended Applications for JBOD: • Any application requiring large data capacity but where read/write speed or fault-tolerance are not important • Applications were low-cost operation critical Choosing Stripe Block Size For RAID 0, 5, and 1
RAIDXpert User Manual Initialization Initialization is the process of setting all of the data bits on all of the physical drives to zero. This has the effect of erasing any existing data from the drives. This action is especially helpful in creating accurate parity in logical drives with more than four drives. Fast Initialization is available for all RAID levels and JBOD. Full Initialization is available for RAID 1, 5, and 10. See “Creating a Logical Drive” on page 62.
Chapter 6: Technology Background Partition and Format the Logical Drive Like any other type of fixed disk media in your system, a RAID logical drive must also be partitioned and formatted before use. Use the same method of partitioning and formatting on a logical drive as you would any other fixed disk. See “Appendix B: Partition and Format” on page 111.
RAIDXpert User Manual You can add physical drives to an existing logical drive while keeping the same RAID level for: • RAID 0 • RAID 5 • JBOD RAIDXpert supports up to six physical drives for these logical drives. Important • The Target logical drive may require more physical drives than the Source logical drive • Add physical drives that are the same size or larger than those in the current logical drive.
Chapter 6: Technology Background For example: • You can migrate a 2.5 TB logical drive up to 4 TB • You can only migrate a 1.9 TB logical drive up to 2 TB See the chart below. Current LD Size Maximum LD Migration Size Sector Size 8 to 16 TB 16 TB 4096 bytes 4 to 8 TB 8 TB 2048 bytes 2 to 4 TB 4 TB 1024 bytes 0 to 2 TB 2 TB 512 bytes You can direct RAIDXpert to migrate a logical drive beyond the maximum size.
RAIDXpert User Manual To schedule or run Media Patrol, see “Scheduling Media Patrol – All Physical Drives” on page 54 or “Running Media Patrol – One Physical Drive” on page 58. See also “Setting up Email Event Notification” on page 36 and “Viewing the Physical Drive Bad Sector Log” on page 59.
Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions I tried to log into RAIDXpert but my browser showed the message “cannot be displayed.” What is the problem? The browser decided prematurely that RAIDXpert was not responding. Click the Refresh button. This action usually brings up the login screen. I can access the Host PC over my company’s intranet. But I can’t access it from an outside Internet connection.
RAIDXpert User Manual Why do the Rebuild, Synchronize, and Migrate operations take so long compared to moving data? When data is moved, the operation consists of reading, writing, and checking one or more files. Rebuild, Synchronize, and Migrate involve reading, writing, and checking all the logical block addresses or individual data blocks on each physical drive. Plus, your logical drive remains available while these operations take place. These added requirements increase complexity and take more time.
Appendix B: Partition and Format In order for your operating system to recognize and work with the physical drives attached to your AMD Chipset SATA Controller, the drives must be partitioned and formatted.
RAIDXpert User Manual 3. Click the Next button to start the Wizard. 4. In the following windows, choose Disk 1 to Initialize. Do not choose any disks to Convert. Click the Finish button to Initialize the logical drive. 5. Right-click the Unallocated portion of Disk 1 and choose New Partition... from the popup menu. The New Partition Wizard appears.
Appendix A: Partition and Format 6. Click the Next button to start the wizard. 7. In the following windows, do the following actions.
RAIDXpert User Manual When formatting is complete, your logical drive will appear as a hard disk drive in the Disk Management window (above) and the My Computer window (below).
