Users Guide
Table Of Contents
- Dell Technologies PowerEdge RAID Controller 11 User’s Guide PERC H755 adapter, H755 front SAS, H755N front NVMe, and PERC H755 MX adapter
- Contents
- Dell Technologies PowerEdge RAID Controller 11
- Applications and User Interfaces supported by PERC 11
- Features of PowerEdge RAID Controller 11
- Controller features
- Virtual disk features
- Hard drive features
- Fault tolerance
- Install and remove a PERC 11 card
- Safety instructions
- Before working inside your system
- After working inside your system
- Remove the PERC H755 adapter
- Install the PERC H755 adapter
- Remove the PERC H755 front SAS card
- Install the PERC H755 front SAS card
- Remove the PERC H755N front NVMe card
- Install the PERC H755N front NVMe card
- Remove the PERC H755 MX adapter
- Install the PERC H755 MX adapter
- Driver support for PERC 11
- Firmware
- Manage PERC 11 controllers using HII configuration utility
- Enter the PERC 11 HII configuration utility
- Exit the PERC 11 HII configuration utility
- Navigate to Dell PERC 11 configuration utility
- View the HII Configuration utility dashboard
- Configuration management
- Controller management
- Clear controller events
- Save controller events
- Save debug log
- Enable security
- Disable security
- Change security settings
- Restore factory default settings
- Auto configure behavior
- Manage controller profile
- Advanced controller properties
- Virtual disk management
- Physical disk management
- Hardware components
- Security key management in HII configuration utility
- Security key and RAID management
- Security key implementation
- Local Key Management
- Create a security key
- Change Security Settings
- Disable security key
- Create a secured virtual disk
- Secure a non-RAID disk
- Secure a pre-existing virtual disk
- Import a secured non-RAID disk
- Import a secured virtual disk
- Dell Technologies OpenManage Secure Enterprise Key Manager
- Supported controllers for OpenManage Secure Enterprise Key Manager
- Manage enterprise key manager mode
- Disable enterprise key manager mode
- Manage virtual disks in enterprise key manager mode
- Manage non–RAID disks in enterprise key manager mode
- Migration of drives from local key management to enterprise key management
- Troubleshooting
- Single virtual disk performance or latency in hypervisor configurations
- Configured disks removed or not accessible error message
- Dirty cache data error message
- Discovery error message
- Drive Configuration Changes Error Message
- Windows operating system installation errors
- Firmware fault state error message
- Foreign configuration found error message
- Foreign configuration not found in HII error message
- Degraded state of virtual disks
- Memory errors
- Preserved Cache State
- Security key errors
- General issues
- Physical disk issues
- Physical disk in failed state
- Unable to rebuild a fault tolerant virtual disk
- Fatal error or data corruption reported
- Multiple disks are inaccessible
- Rebuilding data for a failed physical disk
- Virtual disk fails during rebuild using a global hot spare
- Dedicated hot spare disk fails during rebuild
- Redundant virtual disk fails during reconstruction
- Virtual disk fails rebuild using a dedicated hot spare
- Physical disk takes a long time to rebuild
- Drive removal and insertion in the same slot generates a foreign configuration event
- SMART errors
- Replace member errors
- Linux operating system errors
- Drive indicator codes
- HII error messages
- Appendix RAID description
- Getting help
- Documentation resources
Instant secure erase
Instant Secure Erase (ISE) drives use the same encryption technology as SED drives but do not allow the encryption key to
be secured. The encryption technology allows the drive to be re-purposed and securely erased using the cryptographic erase
function.
NOTE: ISE drives do not provide protection against theft.
4 KB sector disk drives
PERC 11 controllers support 4 KB sector disk drives, which enables you to efficiently use the storage space.
Before installing Windows on 4 KB sector disk drives, see Windows operating system installation errors.
NOTE: Mixing 512–byte native and 512–byte emulated drives in a virtual disk is allowed, but mixing 512–byte and 4 KB
native drives in a virtual disk is not allowed.
NOTE: 4 K is only supported in UEFI mode and not legacy BIOS.
NOTE: 4 K devices do not appear under the select boot device option. For more information, see Enable boot support.
Fault tolerance
The PERC 11 series supports the following:
● Self-Monitoring and Reporting Technology (SMART)
● Patrol read
● Physical disk failure detection
● Controller cache
● Battery Transparent Learn Cycle
The next sections describe some methods to achieve fault tolerance.
The SMART feature
The SMART feature monitors certain physical aspects of all motors, heads, and physical disk electronics to help detect
predictable physical disk failures. Data on SMART compliant physical disks can be monitored to identify changes in values
and determine whether the values are within threshold limits. Many mechanical and electrical failures display some degradation
in performance before failure.
A SMART failure is also referred to as predicted failure. There are numerous factors that are predicted physical disk failures,
such as a bearing failure, a broken read/write head, and changes in spin-up rate. In addition, there are factors related to
read/write surface failure, such as seek error rate and excessive bad sectors.
NOTE:
For detailed information on SCSI interface specifications, see t10.org and for detailed information on SATA interface
specifications, see t13.org.
Automatic Replace Member with predicted failure
A replace member operation can occur when there is a SMART predictive failure reporting on a physical disk in a virtual disk.
The automatic replace member is initiated when the first SMART error occurs on a physical disk that is part of a virtual disk. The
target disk needs to be a hot spare that qualifies as a rebuild disk. The physical disk with the SMART error is marked as failed
only after the successful completion of the replace member. This prevents the array from reaching degraded state.
If an automatic replace member occurs using a source disk that was originally a hot spare (that was used in a rebuild), and a new
disk is added and set as a target disk for the replace member operation, the hot spare drive will revert to the hot spare state
after the replace member operation successfully completes.
NOTE: To enable automatic replace member, use the Dell storage management application.
24 Features of PowerEdge RAID Controller 11