Users Guide

Table 12. Foreign Configuration Properties (continued)
Property Definition
● Incompatible physical disks — Configuration on the physical disks is not recognized by
the RAID firmware.
● Orphan drive — A physical disk in the foreign configuration has configuration
information that matches another physical disk that is already a part of an array (either a
foreign or a native array).
NOTE: For other applicable physical disk tasks and properties, see Physical Disk Or
Physical Device Properties and Physical Disk Or Physical Device Tasks.
Layout Displays the RAID level of the foreign configuration.
Remarks Provides information about the foreign virtual disk. If the virtual disk cannot be imported,
the reason for failure is displayed.
● Exceeded maximum — The number of virtual disks selected for import has exceeded the
maximum number of supported disks.
● Missing physical disk or Missing span — One or more physical disk(s) or span(s) in the
virtual disk to be imported is missing.
● Unsupported — The selected RAID level is not supported on this controller.
● Orphan drive — The physical disk has been replaced and is no longer a part of the RAID
volume. The configuration should be cleared.
● Stale physical disk — The physical disk to be imported in the virtual disk has outdated
data.
● Partially foreign — The virtual disk is part of an already existing configuration. Some
physical disks in this virtual disk are foreign.
Dedicated Hot Spare Displays whether the foreign disk is a dedicated hot spare.
Based on the properties information, you can decide whether you want to import, recover, or clear the foreign configuration.
To Locate Foreign Configuration Operations Task In Storage Management
For SAS controllers with firmware version 6.1:
1. In the Server Administrator window, under the system tree, expand Storage to display the controller objects.
2. Select a controller object.
3. Click Information/Configuration on the controller Properties page.
4. Select Foreign Configuration Operations from the Controller Tasks drop-down menu.
5. Click Execute.
Importing Foreign Configurations
Some controllers enable you to import a foreign configuration so that virtual disks are not lost after moving the physical disks.
You can import a foreign configuration only if it contains a virtual disk that is either in a Ready or Degraded state. In other
words, all of the virtual disk data must be present, but if the virtual disk is using a redundant RAID level, the additional redundant
data is not required.
For example, if the foreign configuration contains only one side of a mirror in a RAID 1 virtual disk, then the virtual disk is in
a Degraded state and can be imported. On the other hand, if the foreign configuration contains only one physical disk that
was originally configured as a RAID 5 using three physical disks, then the RAID 5 virtual disk is in a Failed state and cannot be
imported.
In addition to virtual disks, a foreign configuration may consist of a physical disk that was assigned as a hot spare on one
controller and then moved to another controller. The Import Foreign Configuration task imports the new physical disk as a
hot spare. If the physical disk was set as a dedicated hot spare on the previous controller, but the virtual disk to which the hot
spare was assigned is no longer present in the foreign configuration, then the physical disk is imported as a global hot spare.
The Import Foreign Configuration task is only displayed when the controller has detected a foreign configuration. You can
also identify whether a physical disk contains a foreign configuration (virtual disk or hot spare) by checking the physical disk
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Controllers