Server Administrator Storage Management 8.
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. Copyright Copyright © 2017 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents 1 Overview........................................................................................................................ 13 What Is New In This Release............................................................................................................................................. 13 Before Installing Storage Management..............................................................................................................................
Hot Spare Protection Policy............................................................................................................................................. 30 Storage Component Severity............................................................................................................................................ 31 Storage Properties And Current Activity...........................................................................................................................
Write Policy................................................................................................................................................................ 50 Cache Policy.............................................................................................................................................................. 50 Disk Cache Policy.................................................................................................................................................
Viewing Physical Disk Firmware Version Report.......................................................................................................... 81 8 Support For PERC 9 Hardware Controllers................................................................... 84 Support For RAID Level 10 Virtual Disk Creation On PERC 9 Hardware Controller........................................................... 84 RAID Level 10 Virtual Disk Creation With Uneven Span....................................................
Battery Transparent Learn Cycle............................................................................................................................... 107 Initiating The Battery Delay Learn Cycle....................................................................................................................107 To Locate Delay Learn Cycle In Storage Management.....................................................................................................
Virtual Disk Tasks...................................................................................................................................................... 128 Virtual Disk — Available Tasks........................................................................................................................................ 129 Reconfiguring A Virtual Disk......................................................................................................................................
Unmirror..........................................................................................................................................................................144 To Unmirror...............................................................................................................................................................144 To Locate Unmirror In Storage Management.............................................................................................................
Replacing A Failed Disk............................................................................................................................................. 157 Using The Physical Disk Online Command On Select Controllers..............................................................................158 Recovering From Removing The Wrong Physical Disk.............................................................................................. 158 Resolving Microsoft Windows Upgrade Problems..........
Physical Disk Tasks Supported By PERC 6/ Controllers............................................................................................169 Virtual Disk Tasks Supported By PERC 6/ Controllers.............................................................................................. 169 Virtual Disk Specifications For PERC 6/ Controllers..................................................................................................170 RAID Levels Supported By PERC 6 Controllers..................
21 Determining The Health Status For Storage Components.......................................... 199 Health Status Rollup: Battery Is Charging Or Dead......................................................................................................... 199 Health Status Rollup: Physical Disks In A Virtual Disk Are Failed Or Removed.................................................................
1 Overview Server Administrator Storage Management provides enhanced features for configuring the locally attached RAID and non-RAID disk storage on a system. Storage Management enables you to perform controller and enclosure functions for all supported RAID and non-RAID controllers and enclosures from a single graphical user interface (GUI) or command-line interface (CLI). The GUI is wizarddriven and includes features for novice and advanced users. The CLI is fully featured and scriptable.
these controllers. Later versions of the firmware and drivers are also supported. For the most recent driver and firmware requirements, contact your service provider. NOTE: To download the latest storport driver, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article KB943545 at support.microsoft.com. If you install Storage Management without the minimum required firmware and drivers, Storage Management may not be able to display the controllers or perform other functions.
NOTE: Storage Management only enumerates and provides the PCI slot information for Broadcom SAS 9207-8e and SAS 9300-8e controllers. As Storage Management does not monitor these non-RAID controllers, devices connected to these controllers are not enumerated, alerts are not logged, and SNMP traps are not sent for these controllers.
2 Getting Started Server Administrator Storage Management is designed for system administrators who implement hardware RAID solutions and understand corporate and small business storage environments. Storage Management enables you to configure the storage components attached to your system. These components include RAID and non-RAID controllers and the channels, ports, enclosures, and disks attached to them.
or https://:1311 where is the IP address for the managed system and 1311 is the default port. NOTE: Type https:// (not http://) in the address field to receive a valid response in your browser. User Privileges Server Administrator provides security through the User, Power User, and Administrator user groups. Each user group is assigned a different level of access to the Server Administrator features.
Displaying The Online Help Storage Management provides an extensive online Help. This Help is available from the Server Administrator graphical user interface when the Storage or lower-level tree view object is selected. The online Help is available as: • Context-sensitive Help — Each Storage Management page has a online Help that describes the contents of the displayed page. icon.
3 Understanding RAID concepts Storage Management uses the Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology to provide Storage Management capability. Understanding Storage Management requires an understanding of RAID concepts, as well as some familiarity with how the RAID controllers and operating system view disk space on your system.
physical disks. The amount of space consumed by a stripe is the same on each physical disk. The portion of a stripe that resides on a physical disk is a stripe element. Striping by itself does not provide data redundancy. Striping in combination with parity does provide data redundancy. • Stripe size — The total disk space consumed by a stripe not including a parity disk. For example, consider a stripe that contains 64KB of disk space and has 16KB of data residing on each disk in the stripe.
• Concatenation • RAID Level 0 (Striping) • RAID Level 1 (Mirroring) • RAID Level 5 (Striping With Distributed Parity) • RAID Level 6 (Striping With Additional Distributed Parity) • RAID Level 50 (Striping Over RAID 5 Sets) • RAID Level 60 (Striping Over RAID 6 Sets) • RAID Level 10 (Striping Over Mirror Sets) • RAID Level 1-Concatenated (Concatenated Mirror) • Comparing RAID Level And Concatenation Performance • No-RAID Related links Starting And Target RAID Levels For Virtual Disk Re
• Data fills up the first disk before it is written to the second disk. • No redundant data is stored. When a disk fails, the large virtual disk fails. • No performance gain. • No redundancy. RAID level 0 (striping) RAID 0 uses data striping, which is writing data in equal-sized segments across the physical disks. RAID 0 does not provide data redundancy. RAID 0 characteristics: • Groups n disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of (smallest disk size) *n disks.
RAID 1 characteristics: • Groups n + n disks as one virtual disk with the capacity of n disks. The controllers currently supported by Storage Management allow the selection of two disks when creating a RAID 1. Because these disks are mirrored, the total storage capacity is equal to one disk. • Data is replicated on both the disks. • When a disk fails, the virtual disk still works. The data is read from the mirror of the failed disk. • Better read performance, but slightly slower write performance.
RAID 5 characteristics: • Groups n disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of (n-1) disks. • Redundant information (parity) is alternately stored on all disks. • When a disk fails, the virtual disk still works, but it is operating in a degraded state. The data is reconstructed from the surviving disks. • Better read performance, but slower write performance. • Redundancy for protection of data.
RAID 50 characteristics: • Groups n*s disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of s*(n-1) disks, where s is the number of spans and n is the number of disks within each span. • Redundant information (parity) is alternately stored on all disks of each RAID 5 span. • Better read performance, but slower write performance. • Requires as much parity information as standard RAID 5. • Data is striped across all spans. RAID 50 is more expensive in terms of disk space.
RAID 60 characteristics: • Groups n*s disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of s*(n-2) disks, where s is the number of spans and n is the number of disks within each span. • Redundant information (parity) is alternately stored on all disks of each RAID 6 span. • Better read performance, but slower write performance. • Increased redundancy provides greater data protection than a RAID 50. • Requires proportionally as much parity information as RAID 6.
RAID 10 characteristics: • Groups n disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of (n/2) disks, where n is an even integer. • Mirror images of the data are striped across sets of physical disks. This level provides redundancy through mirroring. • When a disk fails, the virtual disk still works. The data is read from the surviving mirrored disk. • Improved read performance and write performance. • Redundancy for protection of data.
Comparing RAID Level And Concatenation Performance The following table compares the performance characteristics associated with the more common RAID levels. This table provides general guidelines for choosing a RAID level. Evaluate your specific environment requirements before choosing a RAID level. NOTE: The following table does not show all supported RAID levels in Storage Management. For information on all supported RAID levels in Storage Management, see Choosing RAID Levels And Concatenation. Table 1.
RAID Level Data Availability Read Performance Write Performance Rebuild Performance Minimum Disks Required Suggested Uses data intensive uses. RAID 6 Excellent Sequential reads: Fair, unless using Poor good. writeback cache Transactional reads: Very good N + 2 (N = at least two disks) Critical information. Databases and other read intensive transactional uses. RAID 60 Excellent Very Good X x (N + 2) (N = at least 2) Critical information. Medium sized transactional or data intensive uses.
4 Quick Access To Storage Status And Tasks This section describes various methods to determine the status or health of the storage components on your system and how to quickly launch the available controller tasks.
Related links Setting Hot Spare Protection Policy Dedicated Hot Spare Protection Policy Global Hot Spare Protection Policy Storage Component Severity Component status is indicated by the severity. A component with a Warning or Critical/Failure status requires immediate attention to avoid data loss, if possible. The status of the component indicates the combined status of the components and its lower-level objects.
Alerts Or Events Storage activity generates alerts or events that are displayed in the Alert Log. Some alerts indicate normal activity and are displayed for informational purposes only. Other alerts indicate abnormal activity which must be addressed immediately. For more information about alerts and their corrective actions, see the Server Administrator Messages Reference Guide.
5 PCI Express Solid-State Device Support This section provides an overview of the Storage Management device management support for Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) Solid-State Drive (SSD) and its associated devices like the backplane and extender card. In Storage Management, PCIe SSD appears under Storage in the tree view. Storage Management reports the PCIe SSD devices and its various properties.
Properties Description NOTE: In CLI commands, the PCIe SSD subsystem ID is displayed as the controller ID. Status These icons represent the severity or health of the PCIe SSD Subsystem. — Normal/OK — Warning/Non-critical — Critical/Failure/Error Name Displays the name of the subsystem. Slot ID Displays the slot to which the PCIe SSD subsystem is attached.
Properties Description — Warning/Non-critical — Critical/Failure/Error Name Displays the name of the extender card. State Displays the status of the extender card. Possible values are: Ready — The extender card is functioning normally. Degraded — The extender card has encountered a failure and is operating in a degraded state. Failed — The extender card has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning.
Properties Description percent lifetime used and write protect progress is less than 100 percent. Approaching Warranty Coverage Expiry — The drive is reaching the specified TBW, indicating that it is close to the end of warranty coverage. However, the drive will be functional as the number of spare blocks available are still above the threshold for entering the read-only mode.
Properties Description Product ID Displays the product ID of the device. Serial No. Displays the serial number of the device. PCIe Negotiated Link Speed Displays the current negotiated transfer speed of the physical device in GT/s. PCIe Maximum Link Speed Displays the capable transfer speed of the physical device in GT/s. PCIe Negotiated Link Width Displays the current negotiated link width of the physical device. PCIe Maximum Link Width Displays the capable link width of the physical device.
CAUTION: On VMware ESXi hosts, before performing Full Initialization on the Micron PCIe SSD it is important to first delete any data stores on it. Failure to do so can result in system instability. To erase an encrypted physical device, select the Full Initialization task.
Exporting The Log The export log contains debug information for the PCIe SSD and can be useful when troubleshooting. You can export the reliability log from the Physical Device Available Tasks drop-down list. Related links To Locate Export Log In Storage Management For NVMe PCIe SSDs Performing A Cryptographic Erase On An NVMe PCIe SSD Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features.
PCIe SSDs and run PCIe SSD tasks on the PCIe SSD in slot card Properties page. To view the complete PCIe SSD in slot card properties, click Full View on the top of the page. For more information, see PCIe SSD in Slot Card Tasks The following table lists the PCIe SSD in slot card properties. Table 6. PCIe SSD in Slot Card Properties Properties Description ID Displays the ID assigned to the PCIe SSD in slot card by Storage Management.
Properties Description NOTE: This option is applicable to Micron PCIe SSDs, Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) PCIe SSDs, and SAS/SATA SSDs. Firmware Revision Displays the firmware version of the device. Model Number Displays the Piece Part Identification (PPID) of the PCIe SSD. Capacity Displays the capacity of the device. Vendor ID Displays the hardware vendor of the device. Product ID Displays the product ID of the device. Serial No. Displays the serial number of the device.
To Locate Export Log In Storage Management For NVMe PCIe SSDs To locate this task in storage management: NOTE: This operation is supported only on NVMe PCIe SSDs. 1. Expand the Storage tree object to view the controller objects. 2. Expand PCIe SSD Subsystems. 3. Select Physical Disks. 4. Select Export Log from the Available Tasks drop-down menu. 5. Click Execute. The Export Log page is displayed. 6. 7.
PCIe SSD Subsystem Health Indicates the roll-up health status of physical devices. The individual health status of the physical devices appears at the respective level. Related links Backplanes Backplane Firmware Version Backplanes PCIe SSDs are attached to the PCIe SSD backplane of the system. The number of supported PCIe SSDs depend on the system. NOTE: PCIe SSDs must be used with PCIe SSD backplanes. Do not plug in SAS/SATA devices to a PCIe SSD backplane or vice versa.
6 Storage Information And Global Tasks Use the Storage information and Global Tasks window to view high-level information about the storage components or devices on your system. These windows also allow you to launch global tasks that affect all controllers attached to the system. Related links Storage Properties Global Tasks Storage Controller Properties Storage Properties The Storage tree-view object has the following properties. Table 7.
To set the Remaining Rated Write Endurance Threshold: 1. In the Server Administrator window, under the System tree, select the Storage tree object. The storage Properties window is displayed. 2. Click the Information/Configuration subtab to display more information. 3. Under Global Tasks, select Set Remaining Rated Write Endurance Threshold from the drop-down menu.
NOTE: The newly entered threshold values are retained even after you upgrade Server Administrator. NOTE: When the Available Spare Threshold drops below the configured threshold, an Alert is logged and the SNMP trap is received for the same. For more information on SNMP traps, see the Dell OpenManage SNMP Reference Guide at dell.com/openmanagemanuals. The threshold polling interval is scheduled to repeat every five minutes.
Property Definition Rebuild Rate The rebuild rate is the percentage of the resources available on the system dedicated to rebuild a failed disk when a rebuild is necessary. For more information on rebuild rate, see Setting The Rebuild Rate. Alarm State Displays whether the alarm on the controller is enabled or disabled. Cluster Mode Indicates whether the controller is part of a cluster configuration. Storage Components For information on attached controllers, see Controllers.
7 Controllers This chapter provides information about the supported controllers and controller features in Storage Management. Related links RAID Controller Technology: SATA And SAS Which Controllers Do I Have? Non-RAID Controller Description What Is A Controller? Most operating systems do not read and write data directly from the disks, but instead send read and write instructions to a controller.
• PERC H330 Adapter, PERC H330 Mini Monolithic, PERC H330 Mini Blades, PERC H330 Embedded, PERC H730 Adapter, PERC H730 Mini Monolithic, PERC H730 Mini Blades, PERC H730P Adapter, PERC H730P Mini Monolithic, PERC H730P Mini Blades, PERC H730P Slim, and PERC H830 Adapter • PERC FD33xD/FD33xS RAID Controller Features Different controllers have different features.
Read Policy Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. The read policies indicate whether the controller should read sequential sectors of the virtual disk when seeking data. • Read Ahead — The controller reads sequential sectors of the virtual disk when seeking data. Read ahead policy may improve system performance if the data is written to the sequential sectors of the virtual disk.
The Direct I/O and Cache I/O policy apply to readings on a specific virtual disk. These settings do not affect the read-ahead policy. The cache policies are: • Cache I/O — Specifies that all reads are buffered in cache memory. • Direct I/O — Specifies that reads are not buffered in cache memory. When using Direct I/O, data is transferred to the controller cache and the host system simultaneously during a read request.
improve write performance. For example, after the background initialization of a RAID 5 virtual disk completes, the parity information is initialized. After the background initialization of a RAID 1 virtual disk completes, the physical disks are mirrored. The background initialization process helps the controller identify and correct problems that may occur with the redundant data later. In this regard, the background initialization process is similar to a check consistency.
Firmware Or Driver Versions Use the firmware or driver versions window to view information about the controller firmware and drivers. For more information on firmware and drivers, see Before Installing Storage Management. Related links Firmware/Driver Properties Firmware/Driver Properties The firmware and driver properties can vary depending on the model of the controller. The firmware and driver properties are listed in the table below.
Controller Components For information on attached components, see: • RAID Controller Batteries • Firmware Or Driver Versions • Connectors NOTE: If you have connected the enclosure in Redundant path mode, the connectors are represented as Logical Connector. • Virtual Disks Controllers Properties And Tasks Use the controllers properties and tasks window to view information about the controller and perform controller tasks.
Property Definition NOTE: You can also identify the slot ID by selecting the System → Main → System Chassis → Slots object and clicking the Information tab. State Displays the status of the controller. Possible values are: • • • Firmware Version Ready — The controller is functioning normally. Degraded — The controller has encountered a failure and is operating in a degraded state. Failed — The controller has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning.
Property Definition Reconstruct Rate The reconstruct rate is the percentage of resources available on a system dedicated to reconstruct a disk group after adding a physical disk or changing the RAID level of a virtual disk residing on the disk group. For more information on reconstruct rate, see Setting The Reconstruct Rate. Abort Check Consistency on Error Enables you to stop the Check Consistency operation on error.
Property Definition For more information about patrol read, see Setting The Patrol Read Mode and Starting And Stopping Patrol Read. Patrol Read State Displays the current state of the patrol read process. Possible values are: • • • Ready — The patrol read process is enabled and runs when next scheduled or when manually initiated. Active — The patrol read process is running. Stopped — The patrol read has been stopped. For more information about patrol read, see Setting The Patrol Read Mode.
Related links How Do I Identify The Firmware Version That Is Installed Controller Tasks Available Reports Controller Tasks To execute a controller task: 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 a task from the Available Tasks drop-down menu. 5. Click Execute. NOTE: Different controllers support different features.
To launch the Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard, select the Create Virtual Disk task. Related links Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard Enabling The Controller Alarm Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. To enable the alarm on the controller, select the Enable Alarm task. When enabled, the alarm sounds in the event of a device failure. Related links Using Alarms To Detect Failures Disabling The Controller Alarm Does my controller support this feature? Supported Features.
Related links Rebuilding Redundant Information To Change The Rebuild Rate To locate Set Rebuild Rate In Storage Management To Change The Rebuild Rate To change the rebuild rate: 1. Type a numerical value in the Set New Rebuild Rate (0-100) field. The value must be within the 0–100 range. 2. Click Apply Changes. To exit and cancel your changes, click Return to Previous Page. To locate Set Rebuild Rate In Storage Management 1. Expand the Storage tree object to display the controller objects. 2.
4. Select Reset Configuration from the Available Tasks drop-down menu. 5. Click Execute. You can also locate this task from the Change Controller Properties drop-down menu. Exporting The Controller Log File Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. The Export Log task exports the controller log to a text file. This log provides detailed information on the controller activities and can be useful for troubleshooting.
NOTE: It is not recommended to remove an external enclosure cable while the operating system is running on the system. Removing the cable could result in a foreign configuration when the connection is re-established. The Foreign Configuration Operations task is displayed only when a controller detects a foreign configuration. Select this option and click Execute to display the Foreign Configuration Preview page.
Property Definition The foreign configuration may be in degraded or failed state due to any of the following reasons: • • • • • • • Missing physical disk — One of the physical disk(s) in the potential virtual disk is missing or not available. Missing span — One or more spans of a hybrid virtual disk is missing. Stale physical disks — One or more physical disks in the configuration may contain out-ofdate data relating to other disks of that virtual disk.
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.
After moving a physical disk from one controller to another, you may find that the physical disk contains all or some portion of a virtual disk (foreign configuration). You can identify whether a previously used physical disk contains a foreign configuration (virtual disk) by checking the physical disk state. If the physical disk state is Foreign, then the physical disk contains all or some portion of a virtual disk.
Property Definition State Displays the current state of the physical disk. After Import State Displays the after-import state of the physical disk. The physical disk can be imported in any of the following states: • • • • • Online — The physical disk is part of the imported virtual disk and functions normally. Offline — The physical disk is offline after import to the virtual disk.
Property Definition In certain circumstances, the Used RAID Disk Space displays a value of zero (0) even though a portion of the physical disk is actually being used. This occurs when the used space is 0.005GB or less. The algorithm for calculating the used disk space rounds off a figure of 0.005GB or less than zero. Used disk space that is between 0.006GB and 0.009GB is rounded off to 0.01GB. Available RAID Disk Space Displays the amount of available space on the disk.
The background initialization rate, configurable between 0% and 100%, represents the percentage of the system resources dedicated for running the background initialization task. At 0%, the background initialization has the lowest priority for the controller, takes maximum time to complete, and has the least impact to system performance. A background initialization rate of 0% does not mean that the background initialization is stopped or paused.
5. Click Execute. You can also locate this task from the Change Controller Properties drop-down menu. Related links Changing The Controller Properties Setting The Reconstruct Rate Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. The Set Reconstruct Rate task changes the amount of system resources dedicated for the reconstruct task. The reconstruct task recreates the virtual disk after you have changed the RAID level or reconfigured the virtual disk.
If the communication channel between the connector and the first enclosure is lost, the redundant path configuration is lost. In this case, the health of the logical connector is displayed as critical. Navigate to the Information/Configuration page of the logical connector to view details of the Path Health. For a brief outline of this scenario, see the following table: Table 14.
Related links Path Health Clearing The Connectors Redundant Path View Clearing The Redundant Path View Consider a case where you reboot your system and Storage Management, displays the logical connector with a path failure message. It is possible that you may have intentionally unplugged the second connector. In this case, the path failure message is not relevant. There could be a fault in the connected cable or the cable may not be connected properly to the controller.
percent (0%). When the Patrol Read task is set to Auto mode, you cannot start or stop the task. Auto mode is the default setting. NOTE: For more information on how often the Patrol Read task runs when in Auto mode, see your controller documentation. • Manual — Enables you to start and stop the Patrol Read task using Start and Stop Patrol Read. Setting the mode to Manual does not initiate the Patrol Read task. If the system reboots while Patrol Read is running in Manual mode, Patrol Read does not restart.
Changing The Controller Properties NOTE: This task is not supported on PERC hardware controllers running in HBA mode. Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. The Change Controller Properties task provides you the option to change multiple controller properties simultaneously. This task is available only on SAS controllers with firmware version 6.1 and later.
• Balanced Power Savings Mode — Provides good power savings while limiting I/O latency. • Maximum Power Savings Mode — Provides maximum power savings for all drives. • Customized Power Savings Mode — Allows you to customize the power-saving settings. The default values are populated when you select this power mode. You can select or clear the features you want to enable.
Physical Disk Power On Unconfigured Drives And Hot Spares 1. Select Enabled for the Spin Down Unconfigured Drives and Spin Down Hot Spares options. 2. Click Apply Changes. To exit and cancel your changes, click Go Back to Previous Page. Related links Managing The Physical Disk Power Managing Physical Disk Power Using The Customized Power Savings Mode To manage physical disk power through the Customized Power Savings Mode: 1. Select the Customized Power Save Mode option. 2.
Managing The Preserved Cache The Managed Preserved Cache feature provides you the option to ignore or restore the controller cache data. In the write-back policy, data is written to the cache before being written to the physical disk. If the virtual disk goes offline or is deleted for any reason, the data in the cache is lost. Data in the cache may also be lost in case of unintended cable or power failure.
NOTE: For the Encryption Key Identifier and Passphrase guidelines, click the 3. icon on the page. Type a Passphrase. A Passphrase must contain at least one numeral, alphabets both lower and upper case are allowed, and one non-alphanumeric character (except space). NOTE: Server Administrator Storage Management provides a suggested passphrase below the Passphrase text box. 4.
On an encryption-capable controller, the Manage Encryption Key task allows you to enable encryption in LKM mode. If you enable LKM, you can create an encryption key on an encryption-capable controller and save it locally. You can also change or delete the encryption key. NOTE: This task is available only on PERC H7x0 and H8x0 controllers. Related links Passphrase Manage Encryption Key Task In Storage Management To go to the Manage Encryption Key task in Storage Management: 1.
NOTE: This task is not supported on PERC hardware controllers running in HBA mode. 1. In the Server Administrator window, under the system tree, expand Storage to display the controller objects. 2. Select the Controller object. 3. Click Information/Configuration on the controller Properties page. 4. In the Controller Tasks drop-down menu, select Convert to RAID Capable disks. The non-RAID disks are displayed. 5. Select the drives that you want to convert. 6. Click Apply.
You can use this feature to automatically configure all physical disks in Ready state into RAID 0 virtual disks. This feature is supported on PERC 9 family of hardware controllers with the latest firmware version. NOTE: The Auto Configure RAID0 operation is only supported on SAS and SATA HDDs. If there are any SSDs available in the server, this feature ignores the SSDs when performing the Auto Configure RAID0 operation.
To Locate View Patrol Read Report In Storage Management 1. In the Server Administrator window, under the system tree, click Storage. 2. Select View Patrol Read Report from the Select Report drop-down menu. 3. Click Execute. Viewing Check Consistency Report Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. The check consistency report provides information on all the consistency checks performed on the controller in a chronological order.
C:\\Dell\SysMgt\sm where C:\Program files may vary based on the system. On systems running Linux: /opt/dell/srvadmin/etc/srvadmin-storage/hddfwver.csv On systems running ESXi: /etc/cim/dell/srvadmin/srvadmin-storage/hddfwver.csv If the existing firmware(s) for all physical disks is the latest, the following message is displayed: There are no physical disks available that require firmware update.
Property Definition DUP Reboot Required If this field is set to Yes, then the Update Package (DUP) field is not blank. It indicates the availability of an online DUP. The DUP allows to be sent to the firmware payload through an online executable, but the firmware will not be committed to the disk until the next system reboot. Hence, you can perform one-to-many online deployments using applications or scripts that can launch the online executable.
8 Support For PERC 9 Hardware Controllers The PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) family of enterprise-class controllers is designed for enhanced performance, increased reliability and fault tolerance, and simplified management — providing a powerful, easy-to-manage way to create a robust infrastructure and help maximize server uptime. The introduction of the PERC 9 family of hardware controllers also brings about improvements in storage solutions.
NOTE: RAID Level 10 virtual disk creation command from Storage Management CLI does not support optional parameter [spanlength=] on PERC 9 hardware controllers. • The Advanced Wizard does not provide the option to select span length for RAID Level 10 virtual disk creation on PERC 9 hardware controllers. • The span layout for RAID Level 10 virtual disk created from the Express Wizard on PERC 9 hardware controllers uses the span layout as recommended by the firmware of the PERC 9 hardware controller.
Hot Spare Considerations — 4KBSector Hard-Disk Drives The following is the Hot Spare considerations (Dedicated and Global Hot Spare) for 4KB sector hard-disk drives supported on PERC 9 hardware controllers: • You cannot assign 4KB sector hard-disk drives as Dedicated Hot Spare for virtual disks created with 512B sector hard-disk drives and vice versa.
9 Enclosures And Backplanes Physical disks can be contained in an enclosure or attached to the backplane of a system. An enclosure is attached to the system externally while the backplane and its physical disks are internal. Related links Enclosures Backplanes Backplanes You can view the Backplane object by expanding the controller and connector object in the Storage Management tree view. Storage Management displays the status of the backplane and the attached physical disks.
Storage management allows hot plugging of enclosures. Hot plugging is defined as the adding of a component to a system while the operating system is still running. NOTE: This feature requires that the physical devices connected to the controller have the latest firmware. For the latest supported firmware, contact your service provider. After you hot plug or hot reconfigure an enclosure, refresh the left tree to display the change in status and configuration; a system reboot is not required.
Property Definition • Part Number commands. The Failed state is displayed when the enclosure does not respond to a status query from Storage Management. For example, disconnecting the cable. Missing — The fan is not present in the enclosure. Displays the part number of the fan. This property is not displayed for the 22xS enclosures that have E.17 firmware or later. Speed Indicates the fan speed. The values are displayed in rpm.
Enclosure Temperature Probes The enclosure temperature probes are displayed under the Temperatures object. You can select the Temperatures object to view the status information. The status information includes the current temperature in Celsius and the warning and failure thresholds for the temperature probe. The failure threshold has a default value that cannot be changed. However, you can set the warning threshold.
Property Definition • • • • • • Degraded — The temperature probe has encountered a failure and is operating in a degraded state. Failed — The temperature probe has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning. Storage Management is unable to communicate with the enclosure using SES commands. The Failed state is displayed when the enclosure does not respond to a status query from Storage Management for any reason. For example, disconnecting the cable causes a Failed state.
The firmware for the EMM must be at the same level as that of the enclosure. The status of the EMMs is displayed as degraded if there is a mismatch between the EMM firmware. To verify the EMM firmware version: 1. In the Server Administrator window, under the system tree, click Storage dashboard. 2. Expand the tree view until the EMMs object is displayed. 3. Select the EMMs object. The firmware version for each EMM is displayed in the Firmware Version column in the right pane.
Property Definition NOTE: For multiple backplanes, the firmware version appears as upstream and downstream versions. SCSI Rate Displays the maximum SCSI speed that the EMM in a SCSI enclosure supports. Enclosure And Backplane Health Displays the status of the enclosure or backplane and the components attached to the enclosure or backplane.
Property Definition • • Degraded — The enclosure has encountered a failure and is operating in a degraded state. This state does not apply to backplanes. Failed — The enclosure or backplane has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning. Connector Displays the number of connectors attached to the enclosures or backplanes. This number matches the number connector on the controller hardware. Depending on the controller type, the connector can be either a SCSI channel or a SAS port.
Property Definition Asset Name Displays the name assigned to the enclosure. You can change this property using the Setting Asset Data task. Backplane Part Number Displays the part number of the enclosure backplane. SAS Address Displays the SAS address of the SAS backplane. Split Bus Part Number Displays the part number of the enclosure split bus module. A split bus is indicated by a single triangle symbol on the back of the enclosure.
Setting Asset Data Does my enclosure support this feature? See Supported Features. You can change the asset tag and asset name of the enclosure. The new asset tag and asset name that you specify are displayed on the Information/Configuration of the enclosure. Changing The Asset Tag And Asset Name Of An Enclosure To change the asset tag and asset name of the enclosure: 1. Type the new asset tag name in the New asset tag field.
To check the temperature: 1. In the Server Administrator window, under the system tree, click Storage dashboard. 2. Expand the tree view until the Temperatures object is displayed. 3. Select the Temperatures object. The temperature reported by the temperature probe is displayed in celsius in the Reading column in the right pane.
To Locate View Slot Occupancy Report In Storage Management 1. In the Server Administrator window, under the system tree, expand Storage to display the controller objects. 2. Expand a controller object. 3. Select the connector object. 4. Select the enclosure object. 5. Click Information/Configuration. 6. Select View Slot Occupancy Report from the Available Tasks drop-down menu. 7. Click Execute.
3. Identify a connector that is not attached to storage. If the connector is already attached to storage, then the connector object can be expanded to display an enclosure or backplane and the attached physical disks. A connector object that cannot be expanded in the tree view is an open connector not currently attached to storage. Storage Management displays a number for each connector. These numbers correspond to the connector numbers on the controller hardware.
10 Connectors A controller contains one or more connectors (channels or ports) to which you can attach disks. You can externally access a connector by attaching an enclosure (for external disks) to the system or internally access by attaching to the backplane (for internal disks) of a system. You can view the connectors on the controller by expanding the controller object in the tree view. NOTE: For PCIe SSD, connectors are referred as PCIe SSD extenders.
Creating A Channel-Redundant Virtual Disk Using RAID 10 To create a channel-redundant virtual disk using RAID 10: 1. Select one physical disk on each of the two channels. 2. Select an additional disk on each of the two channels. You have now selected the minimum number of disks for a RAID 10. Repeat step 2 until you have selected the desired number of disks. 3. Click Continue to exit. Creating A Channel-Redundant Virtual Disk Using RAID 50 To create a channel-redundant virtual disk using RAID 50: 1.
Property Definition • • Ready — The connector is functioning normally. Degraded — The connector has encountered a failure and is operating in a degraded state. Failed — The connector has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning. • Connector Type Displays whether the connector is operating in RAID or SCSI mode. Depending on the controller type, the connector can be either a SCSI connector or a SAS port. Termination Indicates the termination type of the connector.
Related links Path Health Path Health The path health of the connectors is represented as normal, warning, or critical. The possible values are displayed as Available, Degraded, or Failed. If the enclosure health is displayed as degraded and further investigation shows all enclosure components (EMMs, Fans, Physical Disks, Power Supplies, and Temperature) to be in normal condition, select the Information/Configuration subtab of the enclosure to view details of the Path Failure.
11 Tape Drive Tape drives contain several tape backup units (TBUs) on which data can be backed up. Storage Management enumerates the TBUs that are used for data back up. You can view the tape drives associated with a particular controller on the Tape Drives on Controller page. Tape Drive Properties Table 25. Tape Drive Properties Property Definition ID Displays the ID of the tape drive. Name Displays the name of the tape drive. Bus Protocol Displays the bus protocol type of the tape drive.
12 RAID Controller Batteries Some RAID controllers have batteries. If the controller has a battery, Storage Management displays the battery under the controller object in the tree view. If there is a power outage, the controller battery preserves data that is in the volatile cache memory (SRAM) but not yet written to disk. The battery is designed to provide a minimum backup of 24 hours. When a RAID controller is first installed in a server, the battery may need charging.
Property Definition Next Learn Time Displays the number of days and hours left before the controller firmware initiates the next learn cycle. Maximum Learn Delay Displays the maximum number of days and hours that you can delay the battery learn cycle. The controller firmware automatically initiates the battery learn cycle. You cannot stop or pause the learn cycle, but you can delay it. For more information, see Initiating The Battery Delay Learn Cycle and Starting A Learn Cycle.
NOTE: The learn cycle cannot be performed while the battery is charging. If either a user or the controller firmware initiates the learn cycle while the battery is charging, then the battery learn state displays Requested. The learn cycle begins when the battery is fully charged.
13 Physical Disks Or Physical Devices Physical disks or physical devices reside within an enclosure or are attached to the controller. On a RAID controller, physical disks or devices are used to create virtual disks. Related links Physical Disk Tasks Guidelines To Replace A Physical Disk Or Physical Device A replacement disk may not be the same model as the physical disks or devices in the storage enclosure.
The new physical disk or physical device is displayed in the tree view after refreshing the display. If the new disk is not displayed, restart the computer. Related Information • If you are replacing a disk that is part of a virtual disk, see Replacing The Disk.
NOTE: Physical devices are applicable only to PCIe SSD. Table 27. Physical Disk Properties Property Definition Status These icons represent the severity or health of the storage component. — Normal/OK — Warning/Non-critical — Critical/Failure/Error For more information, see Storage Component Severity. Power Status Displays the power status of the physical drives. The power status is present only for H700 and H800 controllers and is not present in the Physical Disk for Virtual Disk page.
Property Definition • • • • • • information, see Performing A Clear Physical Disk And Cancel Clear and Slow And Fast Initialize. SMART Alert Detected — A SMART alert (predictive failure) has been detected on the physical disk or device. The physical disk or device may fail and should be replaced. This state applies to physical disks or devices attached to non-RAID controllers. Unknown — The physical disk or device has failed or is in an unusable state.
Property Definition • • • • • • 2106 2107 2108 2109 2110 2111 For information on alert messages, see the Server Administrator Messages Reference Guide. Progress Displays the progress of an operation that is being an operation is that is being performed on the physical disk or device. Encryption Capable Displays whether the physical disk or device is a Self-Encryption Disk (SED). The possible values are Yes and No. Encrypted Displays whether the physical disk or device is encrypted to the controller.
Property Definition Vendor ID Displays the hardware vendor of the disk. Product ID Displays the product ID of the device. Firmware Revision Displays the firmware version of the physical device. Serial No. Displays the serial number of the disk. Part Number Displays the Piece Part Identification (PPID) of the physical drive. T10 Protection Information Capability Indicates whether the physical disk supports data integrity. The possible values are Yes and No.
• Assigning And Unassigning Global Hot Spare • Preparing To Remove • Setting Online And Offline • Rebuilding Data • Cancelling A Rebuild • Performing A Clear Physical Disk And Cancel Clear • Enabling Revertible Hot Spare • Performing Cryptographic Erase • Convert To RAID Capable Disk • Convert To Non-RAID Disk Blinking And Unblinking A Physical Disk Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features.
NOTE: This procedure is not available for physical disks or devices that have been assigned as a hot spare or physical disk or devices that are part of a virtual disk. In addition, this procedure is only supported for hot swap physical disks or devices (disks that reside in a carrier.) Rebuilding Data Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. Select the Rebuild task to reconstruct data when a physical disk in a redundant virtual disk fails.
NOTE: For PERC H310, H700, H710, H710P, H800, H810, H330, H730, H730P, H830, and PERC FD33xD/FD33xS controllers, if any of the drives you selected are in the Spun Down state, the following message is displayed: The current physical drive is in the spun down state. Executing this task on this drive takes additional time, because the drive needs to spun up. You should be familiar with the size requirements and other considerations associated with hot spares.
1. Review the physical disk to be erased. Ensure that it does not contain necessary data and make a backup if necessary. If you want to blink the physical disk, click Blink button. 2. Click Clear when you are ready to erase all information on the physical disk. To exit without clearing the physical disk, click Return to Previous Page.
Performing Cryptographic Erase Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. CAUTION: Cryptographic Erase permanently erases all data present on the disk. Select the Cryptographic Erase task to erase an encrypted physical disk.
14 Virtual Disks A virtual disk refers to a storage created by a RAID controller from one or more physical disks. Although a virtual disk may be created from several physical disks, it is viewed by the operating system as a single disk. Depending on the RAID level used, the virtual disk may retain redundant data if there is a disk failure or have particular performance attributes. NOTE: Virtual disks can only be created on a RAID controller.
• PERC H730P Adapter, PERC H730P Mini Monolithic, PERC H730P Mini Blades, PERC H730P Slim • PERC H730 Adapter, PERC H730 Mini Monolithic, PERC H730 Mini Blades • PERC H830 Adapter • PERC FD33xD/FD33xS NOTE: The order of the controllers displayed on Storage Management may differ with the order of the controllers displayed in the Human Interface (HII) and PERC Option ROM. The order of the controllers does not cause any limitation.
Related links Channel Redundancy Virtual Disk Task: Reconfigure (Step 1 of 3) Virtual Disk Considerations For PERC S100, S110, S130, And S300 Controllers The following considerations apply when creating virtual disks: • Space allocation — When you create a new virtual disk, the PERC S100, PERC S110, PERC S130, and PERC S300 controllers allocate the largest area of free space on the physical disks to the new virtual disk.
Related links Virtual Disk Considerations For PERC S100, S110, S130, And S300 Controllers Number Of Virtual Disks Per Controller There are limitations on the number of virtual disks that can be created on the controller. For information about the maximum number of virtual disks supported by a controller, see the virtual disk specifications for the controller in Supported Features.
Related links What is RAID? Deleting A Virtual Disk Channel Redundancy Reconfiguring Or Migrating Virtual Disks Physical Disk Or Physical Device Properties Physical Disk Or Physical Device Tasks Create Virtual Disk Advanced Wizard Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard Reconfiguring Or Migrating Virtual Disks Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. Reconfiguring or migrating a virtual disk enables you to increase the capacity or change the RAID level of the virtual disk.
Controller Mini Monolithic, PERC H730 Mini Blades, PERC H730P Adapter, PERC H730P Mini Monolithic, PERC H730P Mini Blades, PERC H730P Slim, PERC H830 Adapter, PERC FD33xD/FD33xS Starting RAID Level Target RAID Level Comments RAID 6 requires a minimum of 4 disks. RAID 5 RAID 0 With or without adding additional disks RAID 5 RAID 5, RAID 6 Add at least one additional disk. RAID 6 requires a minimum of 4 disks.
If you have a redundant virtual disk, you can reconstruct the contents of a failed physical disk onto a new disk or a hot spare. A rebuild can take place during normal operation, but it degrades performance. Related links Replacing A Failed Disk Setting The Rebuild Rate A Rebuild Does Not Work Managing Virtual Disk Bad Block Management Virtual disk bad blocks are bad blocks on one or more member physical disks. The read operation on the virtual disks having bad blocks may fail.
RAID Level Virtual Disk State Scenario Result The disk then remaps the LBA to another physical location. The problem is resolved. RAID 6 Degraded (two failed/missing physical disks) One bad block on a physical disk. The controller cannot regenerate data from the peer disks. This results in a virtual disk bad block. RAID 6 Ready One bad block on a physical disk. The controller regenerates data from peer disks and sends a Write to the bad block.
Virtual Disk Properties The virtual disk properties can vary depending on the model of the controller. Table 30. Virtual Disk Properties Property Definition Status These icons represent the severity or health of the storage component. — Normal/OK — Warning/Non-critical — Critical/Failure/Error For more information, see Storage Component Severity. Name Displays the virtual disk name. State Displays the status of the virtual disk.
Property Definition NOTE: This property is displayed only if you set any Hot Spare Protection Policy. For more information, see Setting Hot Spare Protection Policy. Layout Displays the RAID level. Size Displays the total capacity of the virtual disk. The algorithm for calculating the virtual disk size rounds a value of 0.005 or less, down to 0.00 and a value between 0.006 and 0.009, up to 0.01. For example, a virtual disk size of 819.725 is rounded down to 819.72. A virtual disk size of 819.
Virtual Disk — Available Tasks The following is a list of possible tasks in the virtual disk Available Tasks drop-down box.
On PERC controllers, background initialization of redundant virtual disks begins automatically after the virtual disk is created. Because the initialization is run in the background, other processes can continue while the initialization completes. The background initialization of a redundant virtual disk prepares the virtual disk for parity information and improves write performance. It is important that the background initialization is allowed to run to completion.
The Resume Check Consistency task resumes a check consistency after it has been paused. Blinking And Unblinking A Virtual Disk Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. The Blink and Unblink tasks blink or unblink the lights on the physical disks included in the virtual disk. Renaming A Virtual Disk Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. The Rename task enables you to change name of the virtual disk.
H710P Mini Monolithic, PERC H800, PERC H810 Adapter, PERC H330 Adapter, PERC H330 Mini Monolithic, PERC H330 Mini Blades, PERC H330 Embedded, PERC H730 Adapter, PERC H730 Mini Monolithic, PERC H730 Mini Blades, PERC H730P Adapter, PERC H730P Mini Monolithic, PERC H730P Mini Blades, PERC H730P Slim, PERC H830 Adapter, and PERC FD33xD/FD33xS. Encrypting A Virtual Disk Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. The Encrypt Virtual Disk task encrypts an unencrypted virtual disk.
to function. The data is read from the surviving mirrored pair disk. This feature provides the best failure protection, read and write performance. The system must have at least four physical disks to use RAID 10. • Select RAID 50 to implement striping across more than one span of physical disks. RAID 50 groups n*s disks as one large virtual disk with a capacity of s*(n-1) disks, where s is the number of spans and n is the number of disks within each span. • 6.
Before creating a virtual disk, you should be familiar with the information in Considerations Before Creating Virtual Disks. You may also want to review Choosing RAID Levels And Concatenation. NOTE: This task is not supported on PERC hardware controllers running in HBA mode. To create a virtual disk using the Create Virtual Disk Advanced Wizard: 1. On the left-hand side of the Server Administrator page, expand Storage. 2. Click on the . 3. Click on Virtual Disks.
The algorithm determines the candidate mirror in the following order: * Across connectors at the same level of enclosure and same size. * Across connectors in the enclosure that are not at the same level but of same size. * Across enclosures connected to the same connector and to a disk of the same size. * Within the enclosure with a physical disk of acceptable size difference. * Across connectors at the same level of enclosure and of acceptable size difference.
• Physical disk 0:1 • Physical disk 0:2 • Physical disk 0:3 • Physical disk 0:4 Physical Disks Selected The Physical Disks Selected section of the page displays the disks you have chosen. In this example, two disks are selected. • Physical disk 0:0 • Physical disk 0:1 Each RAID level has specific requirements for the number of disks that must be selected. RAID 10, RAID 50, and RAID 60 also have requirements for the number of disks that must be included in each stripe or span.
In some cases, the virtual disk is slightly larger than the size you specify. The Create Virtual Disk Wizard adjusts the size of the virtual disk to avoid rendering a portion of the physical disk space unusable. NOTE: If a physical disk is receiving a SMART alert, it cannot be used in a virtual disk. NOTE: For a controller that has more than one channel, it may be possible to configure a virtual disk that is channelredundant.
Related links Calculation For Maximum Virtual Disk Size Monitoring Disk Reliability On RAID Controllers Channel Redundancy What is RAID? RAID Controller Read, Write, Cache, And Disk Cache Policy Write Policy Span Edit In the edit mode, you cannot alter the number of physical disks per span. If there are enough available physical disks, you can reduce or increase the number of spans. You can also alter the contents of a span by removing the span and selecting a new physical disk to comprise that span.
NOTE: For a controller that has more than one channel, it may be possible to configure a virtual disk that is channelredundant.
• Select RAID 5 for striping with distributed parity — This selection groups n disks together as one large virtual disk with a total capacity of (n-1) disks. When a disk fails, the virtual disk continues to function. This feature provides better data redundancy and read performance, but slower write performance. The system must have at least three physical disks to use RAID 5.
Related links Reconfiguring A Virtual Disk Slow And Fast Initialize Considerations For Fast Initialize The Fast Initialize task initializes all physical disks included in the virtual disk. The Fast Initialize task updates the metadata on the physical disks so that all disk space is available for future write operations.
To exit without formatting or initializing the virtual disk, click Go Back To Virtual Disk Page. To Locate Virtual Disks Task In Storage Management 1. In the Server Administrator window, under the system tree, expand Storage to display the controller objects. 2. Expand a Controller object. 3. Select the Virtual Disks object. 4. Depending on the task you want to initiate, select one of the following from the Available Tasks drop-down menu. 5.
Renaming a virtual disk enables you to change the name of the virtual disk. The numbering format for the virtual disk remains unchanged. Depending on the controller you have, there are different considerations regarding the controller BIOS: The virtual disk name can contain only alphanumeric characters as well as spaces, dashes and underscores. The maximum length of the name depends on the controller. In most cases, the maximum length is 15 characters.
Split Mirror Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. Use the Split Mirror task to separate mirrored data originally configured as a RAID 1, RAID 1-concatenated, or RAID 10 virtual disk. Splitting a RAID 1 or RAID 1-concatenated mirror creates two concatenated non-redundant virtual disks. Splitting a RAID 10 mirror creates two RAID 0 (striped) non-redundant virtual disks. Data is not lost during this operation.
Related links Time Delay In Displaying Configuration Changes Assigning And Unassigning Dedicated Hot Spare Does my controller support this feature? See Supported Features. A dedicated hot spare is an unused backup disk that is assigned to a single virtual disk. When a physical disk in the virtual disk fails, the hot spare is activated to replace the failed physical disk without interrupting the system or requiring your intervention.
You can copy data from a physical disk, which is a member of a virtual disk, to another physical disk by providing a Replace Member Configuration option. You can initiate multiple copies of data from different array groups. The source physical disk should be part of a virtual disk and in the Online state. Also, the virtual disk should not be fully degraded. NOTE: You must also enable the Revertible Hot Spare option to use Replace Member Disk task.
If you want to change the replace member, click Go Back to Previous Page. To exit without making changes, click Cancel.
15 Moving Physical And Virtual Disks From One System To Another This section describes how to move physical and virtual disks from one system to another. Related links Migrating SAS Virtual Disks To Another System Required Conditions SAS Controllers Virtual disks can only be migrated to a controller that is using the same technology. For example, virtual disks on a SAS controller must be migrated to a SAS controller.
16 Protecting Your Virtual Disk With A Hot Spare When you create a virtual disk using a RAID controller, it enables the system to continue functioning even during a disk failure. This feature can be enabled by assigning a hot spare to the virtual disk. When a disk fails, the redundant data is rebuilt onto the hot spare without interrupting system operations.
Dedicated Hot Spare Protection Policy Table 31. Hot Spare Properties Property Definition RAID Level Indicates the RAID level(s) for which you want to configure the hot spare protection policy. Minimum Number of Disks Indicates the minimum number of physical disks to be assigned as dedicated hot spares for the selected RAID level(s). Severity Level Displays the severity level you want to assign to the generated alert, if this policy is violated.
• Enclosure affinity settings for a global/dedicated hot spare are not automatically set when you upgrade to version 6.1. Enclosure affinity settings for a global/dedicated hot spare are not automatically set when you import a foreign virtual disk. Considerations For Hot Spares On PERC 6/E And PERC 6/I Controllers On the PERC 6/E and PERC 6/I controllers, assigning a hot spare is equivalent to assigning a physical disk to replace another physical disk if it fails.
• Considerations for Multiple Dedicated Hot Spares — From Storage Management version 3.1 onwards, you can assign more than one dedicated hot spare to a virtual disk. NOTE: This feature is applicable only on PERC 6 family of controllers. Considerations For Hot Spares On PERC S100 And PERC S300 Controllers For the PERC S100 and PERC S300 controllers, a hot spare is assigned to a virtual disk.
17 CacheCade Using Solid-State Drives CacheCade is used to improve random read performance of the solid-state drive (SSD) based virtual disks. A solid-state drive (SSD) is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data. SSDs significantly increase the I/O performance (IOPS) and/or write speed in Mbps from a storage device. With storage controllers, you can create a CacheCade using SSDs. The CacheCade is then used for better performance of the storage I/O operations.
Related links CacheCade Using Solid-State Drives CacheCade Properties The CacheCade(s) page displays a table of properties for each CacheCade. Table 33. CacheCade Properties Property Definition Status These icons represent the severity or health of the storage component. • — Normal/OK • — Warning/Non-critical • — Critical/Fatal For more information, see Storage Component Severity. Name Displays the name of the CacheCade.
The Resize CacheCade(s) page is displayed. 2. From the available CacheCade(s), add or remove additional CacheCade(s) as required. The disks that you select are displayed in the Selected Physical Disks section. NOTE: While selecting and clearing the SSDs that must participate in the CacheCade, retain at least one of the original SSDs. 3. Click Finish. Renaming The CacheCade To rename the CacheCade: 1.
18 Troubleshooting This section contains troubleshooting procedures for common situations as well as for specific problems. Related links Common Troubleshooting Procedures Virtual Disk Troubleshooting Specific Problem Situations And Solutions PCIe SSD Troubleshooting Common Troubleshooting Procedures This section describes commands and procedures that can be used in troubleshooting.
Drivers And Firmware Storage Management is tested with the supported controller firmware and drivers. In order to function properly, the controller must have the minimum required version of the firmware and drivers installed. The most current versions can be obtained from the support site. NOTE: You can verify which firmware and drivers are installed by selecting the Storage object in the tree view and clicking Information/Configuration.
Assigning A Hot Spare If a hot spare was already assigned to the virtual disk, then the data from the failed disk may already be rebuilt onto the hot spare. In this case, you need to assign a new hot spare.
Resolving Microsoft Windows Upgrade Problems If you upgrade the Microsoft Windows operating system on a server, you may find that Storage Management no longer functions after the upgrade. The installation process installs files and updates registry entries on the server that are specific to the operating system. Changing the operating system can disable Storage Management. To avoid this problem, you should uninstall Storage Management before upgrading.
The rebuild may also report sense key errors. In this situation, take the following actions to restore the maximum data possible: 1. Back up the degraded virtual disk onto a fresh (unused) tape drive. • If the backup is successful — If the backup completes successfully, then the user data on the virtual disk has not been damaged. In this case, you can continue with step 2. • 2.
NOTE: SAS controllers do not allow you to create redundant and nonredundant virtual disks on the same set of physical disks. Specific Problem Situations And Solutions This section contains additional troubleshooting information.
If you receive alerts 2146 through 2150 as the result of performing a rebuild or while the virtual disk is in a degraded state, then data cannot be recovered from the damaged disk without restoring from the backup. If you receive alerts 2146 through 2150 under circumstances other than a rebuild, then data recovery may be possible. The following describes each of these situations. Alerts 2146 Through 2150 Received During A Rebuild Or While A Virtual Disk Is Degraded Perform the following steps: 1.
firmware reports the current temperature and temperature probe status. This may cause a delay in displaying the correct temperature and temperature probe status. Related links Changing The Warning Threshold On The Temperature Probe Storage Management May Delay Displaying Storage Devices After Reboot Storage Management requires time after a reboot to find and inventory all attached storage devices. You may experience a delay in storage controllers being displayed until this operation has completed.
Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) Solid-State Drive (SSD) Is Not Visible In The Operating System Probable Cause: Hardware is not installed correctly Solution: Check the following components to ensure that they are connected: • Devices: The PCIe SSDs are installed in a PCIeSSD backplane. • Backplane: The cables for the PCIeSSD backplane are connected. • Cables: PCIe cables are unique for the configuration.
19 Frequently Asked Questions This section provides frequently asked questions that address situations commonly experienced in a storage environment.
How Do I Recover From Removing The Wrong Physical Disk For more information, see Recovering From Removing The Wrong Physical Disk. How Do I Identify The Firmware Version That Is Installed The properties information of the controller displays the firmware version that is installed on the controller. From the Storage tree view object, you can display the firmware version for all controllers attached to the system. You can also view this information in the Information/Configuration page of the controller.
20 Supported Features Different controllers support different features. The tasks displayed by the Storage Management menus and other features vary depending on whether the controller supports the feature. This chapter lists the features supported by the controllers. For more information on Controllers, see your hardware documentation. NOTE: The order of the controllers displayed on Storage Management may differ with the order of the controllers displayed in the Human Interface (HII) and PERC Option ROM.
Controller Task Name PERC 6/E PERC 6/I PERC 6/I Modular Set Rebuild Rate Yes Yes Yes Set Background Initialization Rate Yes Yes Yes Set Check Consistency Rate Yes Yes Yes Set Reconstruct Rate Yes Yes Yes Rescan Controller No No No Create Virtual Disk Yes Yes Yes Export Log File Yes Yes Yes Clear Foreign Configuration Yes Yes Yes Import Foreign Configuration Yes Yes Yes Import/Recover Foreign Configuration Yes Yes Yes Set Patrol Read Mode Yes Yes Yes Start Patr
Battery Task Name PERC 6/E PERC 6/I PERC 6/I Modular Delay Learn Cycle Yes Yes Yes Connector Tasks Supported By PERC 6/ Controllers Table 36. Connector Tasks Supported by PERC 6/ Controllers Connector Task Name PERC 6/E PERC 6/I PERC 6/I Modular Connector Rescan No No No Physical Disk Tasks Supported By PERC 6/ Controllers Table 37.
Virtual Disk Task Name PERC 6/E PERC 6/I PERC 6/I Modular Reconfigure Yes Yes Yes Change Policy Yes Yes Yes Split Mirror No No No Unmirror No No No Delete Last Virtual Disk Yes Yes Yes Delete (any) Virtual Disk Yes Yes Yes Check Consistency Yes Yes Yes Cancel Check Consistency Yes Yes Yes Pause Check Consistency No No No Resume Check Consistency No No No Cancel Background Initialization (BGI) Yes Yes Yes Format Virtual Disk No No No Cancel Format Virtual D
Virtual Disk Specification PERC 6/E PERC 6/I PERC 6/I Modular Maximum Number of Virtual Disks per Disk Group 16 16 16 Maximum Number of Physical Disks that can be Concatenated NA NA NA Maximum Number of Physical Disks in a RAID 0 32 32 32 Maximum Number of Physical Disks in a RAID 1 2 2 2 Maximum Number of Physical Disks in a RAID 5 32 32 32 Maximum Number of Physical Disks in a RAID 10 256 with firmware version 6.
RAID Levels Supported By PERC 6 Controllers Table 40. RAID Levels Supported by PERC 6/ Controllers RAID Level PERC 6/E PERC 6/I PERC 6/I Modular Concatenation No No No RAID 0 Yes Yes Yes RAID 1 Yes Yes Yes RAID 5 Yes Yes Yes RAID 10 Yes Yes Yes RAID 50 Yes Yes Yes RAID 6 Yes Yes Yes RAID 60 Yes Yes Yes Read, Write, And Cache Policy Supported By PERC 6 Controllers Table 41.
Supported Features On PERC Hardware Controllers This section identifies the controller-supported features and whether an enclosure can be attached to the following hardware controllers: • PERC FD33xD/FD33xS • PERC H830 Adapter • PERC H730P Adapter, PERC H730P Mini Monolithic, PERC H730P Mini Blades, PERC H730P Slim • PERC H730 Adapter, PERC H730 Mini Monolithic, PERC H730 Mini Blades • PERC H330 Adapter, PERC H330 Mini Monolithic, PERC H330 Mini Blades, PERC H330 Embedded • PERC H800 and PERC H81
Controller Task Name PER C H80 0 PER C H81 0 Ada pter PERC H700 Adapter / Integrat ed PERC H700 Modul ar PERC H710 Adapter / Mini Monolit hic/ Mini Blade PERC H710P Adapte r PERC H310 Adapt er/ Mini Blade / Mini Mono lithic PERC H730P Adapte r/Mini Monolit hic/ Mini Blades /Slim PERC H730 Adapte r/Mini Monoli thic/ Mini Blades PERC H330 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Embedde d PERC H830 Adapte r PERC FD33xD / FD33xS Reset Configuration Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Controller Task Name PER C H80 0 PER C H81 0 Ada pter PERC H700 Adapter / Integrat ed PERC H700 Modul ar PERC H710 Adapter / Mini Monolit hic/ Mini Blade PERC H710P Adapte r PERC H310 Adapt er/ Mini Blade / Mini Mono lithic PERC H730P Adapte r/Mini Monolit hic/ Mini Blades /Slim PERC H730 Adapte r/Mini Monoli thic/ Mini Blades PERC H330 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Embedde d PERC H830 Adapte r PERC FD33xD / FD33xS Hot-plug of Enclosures Yes Yes No No No No No No No No Yes
Controller Task Name PER C H80 0 PER C H81 0 Ada pter PERC H700 Adapter / Integrat ed PERC H700 Modul ar PERC H710 Adapter / Mini Monolit hic/ Mini Blade PERC H710P Adapte r PERC H310 Adapt er/ Mini Blade / Mini Mono lithic PERC H730P Adapte r/Mini Monolit hic/ Mini Blades /Slim PERC H730 Adapte r/Mini Monoli thic/ Mini Blades PERC H330 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Embedde d PERC H830 Adapte r PERC FD33xD / FD33xS Check Consistency Report Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Connector Tasks Supported By PERC Hardware Controllers Table 45.
Physical Disk Task Name PER C H80 0 PER C H810 Adap ter PERC H700 Adapter/ Integrated PERC H700 Modul ar PERC H710 Adapter/ Mini Blade/ Mini Monolithi c PERC H710 P Adapt er PERC H310 Adapter /Mini Blade/ Mini Monolit hic PERC H730P Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Slim PERC H730 Adapter /Mini Monolit hic/ Mini Blades PERC H330 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Embedde d PERC H830 Adapte r PER C FD3 3xD/ FD3 3xS Clear Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No Cancel Clear
Virtual Disk Task Name PER C H80 0 PER C H81 0 Ada pter PERC H700 Adapter/ Integrated /Modular PERC H710 Adapter /Mini Monolith ic/Mini Blade PERC H710P Adapter /Mini Blade/ Mini Monolit hic PERC H310 Adapter /Mini Blade/ Mini Monolit hic PERC H730P Adapter/ Mini Monolith ic/Mini Blades/ Slim PERC H730 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades PERC H330 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Embedde d PER PERC C FD33xD/ H83 FD33xS 0 Ada pter Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Virtual Disk Task Name PER C H80 0 PER C H81 0 Ada pter PERC H700 Adapter/ Integrated /Modular PERC H710 Adapter /Mini Monolith ic/Mini Blade PERC H710P Adapter /Mini Blade/ Mini Monolit hic PERC H310 Adapter /Mini Blade/ Mini Monolit hic PERC H730P Adapter/ Mini Monolith ic/Mini Blades/ Slim PERC H730 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades PERC H330 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Embedde d PER PERC C FD33xD/ H83 FD33xS 0 Ada pter Encrypt Virtual Disk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Virtual Disk Specific ation PER C H80 0 PER C H81 0 Ada pter PERC H700 Adapter/ Integrated /Modular PERC H710 Mini Blade PERC H710 Adapte r/Mini Monolit hic PER C H710 P Adap ter PERC H310 Adapte r/Mini Blade/ Mini Monolit hic PERC H730P Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Slim PERC H730 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades PERC H330 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Embedde d PER PERC C FD33xD/ H83 FD33xS 0 Ada pter Physical Disks per Span Minimu 8 K m Stripe Size 64 K 8 K 64 K 64 K
Virtual Disk Specific ation PER C H80 0 PER C H81 0 Ada pter PERC H700 Adapter/ Integrated /Modular PERC H710 Mini Blade PERC H710 Adapte r/Mini Monolit hic PER C H710 P Adap ter PERC H310 Adapte r/Mini Blade/ Mini Monolit hic PERC H730P Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Slim PERC H730 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades PERC H330 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Embedde d PER PERC C FD33xD/ H83 FD33xS 0 Ada pter Maximu m Number of Physical Disks in a RAID 10 256 256 16 NA 16
Virtual Disk Specific ation PER C H80 0 PER C H81 0 Ada pter PERC H700 Adapter/ Integrated /Modular PERC H710 Mini Blade PERC H710 Adapte r/Mini Monolit hic PER C H710 P Adap ter PERC H310 Adapte r/Mini Blade/ Mini Monolit hic PERC H730P Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Slim PERC H730 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades PERC H330 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Embedde d PER PERC C FD33xD/ H83 FD33xS 0 Ada pter Minimu 3 m Number of Physical Disks in a RAID 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Virtual Disk Specific ation PER C H80 0 PER C H81 0 Ada pter PERC H700 Adapter/ Integrated /Modular PERC H710 Mini Blade PERC H710 Adapte r/Mini Monolit hic PER C H710 P Adap ter PERC H310 Adapte r/Mini Blade/ Mini Monolit hic PERC H730P Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Slim PERC H730 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades PERC H330 Adapter/ Mini Monolithi c/Mini Blades/ Embedde d PER PERC C FD33xD/ H83 FD33xS 0 Ada pter 8 8 8 8 8 8 NA 8 8 NA 8 of Physical Disks in a RAID 6 Minim
Read, Write, Cache And Disk Cache Policy Supported By PERC Hardware Controllers Table 50.
Read, Write, and Cache Policy PERC PERC H800 H810 Adapte r PERC H700 Adapter/ Integrate d/ Modular PERC H710 Adapter /Mini Monolit hic/Mini Blade PER C H710 P Adap ter PERC H310 Adapter /Mini Blade/ Mini Monolit hic PERC H730P Adapter/ Mini Monolithic /Mini Blades/ Slim PERC H730 Adapter / Mini Monolit hic/Mini Blades PERC PERC H330 H830 Adapter Adapter / Mini Monolit hic/ Mini Blades/ Embedd ed PERC FD33xD/ FD33xS Write Cache Enable d Protec ted No No No No No No No No No No No Cache
• Enclosure Support For enclosure-supported tasks, see Enclosure And Backplane Features. Controller Tasks Supported On SAS 6/iR And H200 Controllers Table 52.
Connector Tasks Supported On SAS 6/iR And H200 Controllers Table 54. Connector Tasks Supported on SAS 6/iR and H200 Controllers Connector Task Name SAS 6/iR PERC H200 Connector Rescan No No Physical Disk Tasks Supported On SAS 6/iR And H200 Controllers Table 55.
Virtual Disk Task Name SAS 6/iR PERC H200 Split Mirror No No Unmirror No No Delete Last Virtual Disk Yes Yes Delete (any) Virtual Disk Yes Yes Check Consistency No No Cancel Check Consistency No No Pause Check Consistency No No Resume Check Consistency No No Cancel Background Initialization (BGI) No No Format Virtual Disk No No Cancel Format Virtual Disk No No Restore Dead Disk Segments No No Initialize Virtual Disk No No Fast Initialize Virtual Disk No No Slow I
Virtual Disk Specification SAS 6/iR PERC H200 Maximum Number of Physical Disks that Can Be Concatenated NA NA Maximum Number of Physical Disks in a RAID 0 8 10 — Adapter 10 — Integrated 4 — Modular Maximum Physical Disks in a RAID 1 2 2 Maximum Number of Physical Disks in a RAID 5 NA NA Maximum Number of Physical Disks in a RAID 10 NA 10 — Adapter 10 — Integrated 4 — Modular Maximum Number of Physical Disks in a RAID 50 NA NA Minimum Number of Physical Disks that Can Be Concatenated NA
Read, Write, and Cache Policy SAS 6/iR PERC H200 Write Back No No Write Through No No Force Write Back (Enabled Always) No No Write Cache Enabled Protected No No Cache Policy No No Disk Cache Policy Yes Yes Cache I/O No No Direct I/O No No Enclosure Support On SAS 6/iR And H200 Controllers Table 60.
Physical Disk Tasks Supported By The PERC S100, PERC S110, PERC S130, And S300 Controllers Table 62.
Virtual Disk Specifications For PERC S100, PERC S110, PERC S130, And S300 Controllers Table 64.
NOTE: When creating virtual disks using software RAID controllers, the information related to the physical disks linked to the virtual disk is enumerated or displayed on Storage Management after a short delay. This delay in displaying the information does not cause any functional limitation. If you are creating partial virtual disks, it is recommended that you provide Storage Management adequate time between each partial virtual disk creation process.
Enclosure Support On The PERC S100, PERC S110, PERC S130, And S300 Controllers Table 67. Enclosure Support on the PERC S100, PERC S110, PERC S130, and S300 Controllers Enclosure Support PERC S100 PERC S110 PERC S130 PERC S300 Can an enclosure be attached to this controller? No No No No Supported Features On The Non-RAID Controllers This section identifies the controller-supported features and whether an enclosure can be attached to the controller.
Controller Task Name Non-RAID SCSI Non-RAID SAS Stop Patrol Read No No Battery Tasks Supported By Non-RAID Controllers Table 69. Battery Tasks supported by Non-RAID Controllers Battery Task Name Non-RAID SCSI Non-RAID SAS Recondition Battery No No Start Learn Cycle No No Delay Learn Cycle No No Connector Tasks Supported On The Non-RAID Controllers Table 70.
Virtual Disk Task Name Non-RAID SCSI Non-RAID SAS Create Virtual Disk Advanced Wizard No No Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard No No Rename No No Blink/Unblink No No Reconfigure No No Change Policy No No Split Mirror No No Unmirror No No Delete Last Virtual Disk No No Delete (any) Virtual Disk No No Check Consistency No No Cancel Check Consistency No No Pause Check Consistency No No Resume Check Consistency No No Cancel Background Initialization (BGI) No No Fo
• Supported Features On SAS 6iR And PERC H200 Controllers • Supported Features on PERC H310 Adapter (A), PERC H310 Mini Monolithic (MM), PERC H310 Mini Blades (MB) Controllers, see Supported Features On The PERC Hardware Controllers • Supported Features on PERC H700, PERC H710 A, PERC H710 MB, PERC H710 MM, PERC H710P A, PERC H710P MB, PERC H710P MM, PERC H730P A, and PERC H730P S Controllers, see Supported Features On The PERC Hardware Controllers • Supported Features on PERC H800, PERC H810 A, PERC
21 Determining The Health Status For Storage Components The chapter describes how the status of lower-level storage components is “rolled up" into the combined status displayed for the controller or other higher-level component. The examples provided by these tables do not cover all scenarios, but they do indicate how status is rolled up when a particular component is in a healthy, degraded, or failed state.
Health Status Rollup: Physical Disks In A Virtual Disk Are Unsupported, Partially, Or Permanently Degraded Table 78. Health Status Rollup: Physical Disks in a Virtual Disk are Unsupported, Partially, or Permanently Degraded (Enclosures Not Included) Storage Subsystem Controller Battery Connector Physical Disk(s) Firmware/ Driver Virtual Disk(s) Component Status Health Rollup Health Status Rollup: All Physical Disks In A Virtual Disk Are In Foreign State Table 79.
Storage Subsystem Controller Battery Connector Physical Disk(s) Firmware/ Driver Virtual Disk(s) Physical Disk(s) Firmware/ Driver Virtual Disk(s) Firmware/ Driver Virtual Disk(s) Health Status Rollup: Virtual Disk Is Failed Table 82. Health Status Rollup: Virtual Disk is Failed (Enclosures Not Included) Storage Subsystem Controller Battery Connector Component Status Health Rollup Health Status Rollup: Unsupported Firmware Version Table 83.
Health Status Rollup: One Enclosure EMM Is Failed Table 86. Health Status Rollup: One Enclosure EMM is Failed Storage Subsystem Controller Connector Enclosure Enclosure EMM Virtual Disks Physical Disks Component Status Health Rollup N/A Health Status Rollup: One Enclosure Temperature Probe Is Failed Table 87.
Health Status Rollup: One Or More Physical Disks Are Failed Table 89. Health Status Rollup: One or More Physical Disks are Failed Storage Subsystem Controller Connector Enclosure Enclosure Physical Disk(s) Virtual Disks Physical Disks Component Status Health Rollup N/A N/A Health Status Rollup: Physical Disk Is Rebuilding Table 90.
