Technologies for HP ProLiant 100-series G5 (Generation 5) servers, 2nd edition

user to split a RAID 1 mirror into two separate RAID 0 arrays

. The controller also supports mirror

recombining, which is combining two RAID 0 arrays into a RAID 1 mirror. The battery-backed write

cache is not required for this feature. RAID 6 (double parity) is available when using the BBWC.

Some server configurations include a BBWC on the P400 controller. The BBWC is also available as

an option.

The BBWC is required for capacity expansion, which allows the user to add a physical disk to an

existing array. The controller then recalculates parity and balances the data across the disks. During

the expansion, data and logical structures on the array are preserved.

The P400 controller supports a recovery ROM and Online Drive Flashing. In the event of a failed

attempt to flash the controller’s ROM, the recovery ROM reverts to the previous good ROM. With

Online Drive Flashing, disk drive firmware updates can be pre-loaded onto the controller and the

controller will flash the firmware onto the disk drives at the next reboot.

HP Embedded SATA RAID

The HP embedded SATA RAID that comes standard on most ProLiant 100-series servers offers basic

data protection. The RAID is implemented through the option ROM and device driver. Unlike OS

RAID, SATA RAID allows booting from a degraded RAID 1 array (that is, a failed drive) without

manual intervention. With OS RAID, a rescue floppy/CD or re-ordering of drives is required under

certain failure scenarios. Although OS RAID is implemented through the operating system, SATA RAID

is independent of the operating system.

In the hardware RAID model, RAID operations are performed by a dedicated controller with

dedicated memory and processor. Hardware RAID is achieved through controllers such as HP Smart

Array controllers. HP Embedded SATA RAID supports RAID 0, 1 and 10, and a maximum of four non-

hot plug SATA drives. RAID 5 is available on the ProLiant ML115 G5 server. HP Embedded SATA

RAID supports Microsoft® Windows®, Linux® and NetWare operating systems.

Server deployment

Deployment is a crucial step in setting up a server. HP has developed deployment utilities that are

tailored to a specific environment.

HP ProLiant Easy Set-up CD

The ProLiant ML110 G5 and ML115 G5 servers include an Easy Set-up CD that allows quick, single-

server deployment suited for small and mid-sized businesses. The CD includes tools and utilities that

simplify server installation tasks such as these:

 Preparing the server for a specific operating system (OS)

 Loading applicable licenses and documentation

 Configuring the array controllers and storage devices

 Performing diagnostics

The Easy Set-up CD is tailored to a specific server model (ML110 G5 or ML115 G5) and loads

operating system drivers that have been optimized to maximize performance. Embedded utilities are

leveraged to provide a customized configuration or to set intelligent defaults for the server hardware

and array controller. The Easy Set-up CDs provide assisted installation for Microsoft Windows 2003

For more information on splitting or “breaking” a mirror, refer to the white paper “RAID 1(+0): breaking mirrors and

rebuilding drives HOWTO,” available at

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00378986/c00378986.pdf.