Owners Manual

Critical conditions
The storage array generates a critical event if the RAID controller module detects a critical condition that could cause immediate
failure of the array and/or loss of data. The storage array is in a critical condition if one of the following occurs:
● More than one fan has failed
● Any midplane temperature sensors in the critical range
● Midplane/power supply module failure
● Two or more temperature sensors are unreadable
● Failure to detect or unable to communicate with peer port
NOTE: If both RAID controller modules fail simultaneously, the enclosure cannot issue critical or noncritical event alarms for
any enclosure component.
Noncritical conditions
A noncritical condition is an event or status that does not cause immediate failure, but must be corrected to ensure continued
reliability of the storage array. Examples of noncritical events include the following:
● One power supply module has failed
● One cooling fan module has failed
● One RAID controller module in a redundant configuration has failed
● A battery has failed or has been removed
● A physical disk in a redundant virtual disk has failed
Invalid storage array
The RAID controller module is supported only in a Dell-supported storage array. After installation in the storage array, the
controller performs a set of validation checks. The array status LED is lit with a steady amber color while the RAID controller
module completes these initial tests and the controllers are booted successfully. If the RAID controller module detects a non-Dell
supported storage array, the controller does not startup. The RAID controller module does not generate any events to alert you
in the event of an invalid array, but the array status LED is lit with a flashing amber color to indicate a fault state.
ECC errors
RAID controller firmware can detect ECC errors and can recover from a single-bit ECC error whether the RAID controller
module is in a redundant or nonredundant configuration. A storage array with redundant controllers can recover from multi-bit
ECC errors as well because the peer RAID controller module can take over, if necessary.
The RAID controller module fails over if it experiences up to 10 single-bit errors, or up to three multi-bit errors.
PCI errors
The storage array firmware can detect and only recover from PCI errors when the RAID controller modules are configured for
redundancy. If a virtual disk uses cache mirroring, it fails over to its peer RAID controller module, which initiates a flush of the
dirty cache.
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Troubleshooting your system