Dell™ SAS RAID Storage Manager
Notes, Notices, and Cautions
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer.
NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.
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Contents
1
Introduction
. . . .7
Creating Storage Configurations . . . . 7
Monitoring Storage Devices . . . . 7
Maintaining Storage Configurations. . . . 7
Comparison of Supported Features. . . . 8
2
Installation
. . . .11
Installing Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on Microsoft Windows 11 Installing Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on Linux . . . . 12
Linux Installation Error Messages. . . . 12
3
Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager Windows
and Menus
. . . .13
Starting Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager . . . . 13
Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager Window. . . . 14
Physical/Logical View Panel. . . . 14
Properties/Operations/Graphical View Panel. . . . 15
Event Log Panel . . . . 15
Menu Bar. . . . 15
4
Configuration
. . . .17
Creating a New Configuration on a SAS 5/iR Controller or on a SAS 6/iR Controller . . . . 17
Creating a RAID 1 Configuration on a SAS 5/iR Controller or
on a SAS 6/iR Controller . . . . 18
Creating a New Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i Controller . . . . 19
Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters . . . . 19
Using Auto Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i Controller. . . . 21
Using Guided Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i Controller . . . . 22
Using Manual Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i Controller (RAID 0, 1, 5, and 6). . . . 23
Using Manual Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i Controller (RAID 10) . . . . 25
Adding Hotspare Disks . . . . 26
Using the Replace Member Feature and Revertible Hot Spares. . . 27
Changing Adjustable Task Rates . . . . 28
Changing Virtual Disk Properties. . . . 29
Changing a Virtual Disk Configuration . . . . 29
Adding a Disk Drive to a Configuration on a PERC 5/i Controller or on a PERC 6/i Controller . . . . 30
Changing the RAID Level of a Configuration on a PERC 5/i Controller or on a PERC 6/i Controller . . . . 30
Deleting a Virtual Disk . . . . 30
Saving a Storage Configuration to Disk. . . . 31
Clearing a Storage Configuration from a Controller . . . . 31
Adding a Saved Storage Configuration. . . . 32
5
Monitoring System Events and Storage Devices
. . .33
Monitoring System Events. . . . 33
Monitoring Disk Drives. . . . 34
Running a Patrol Read . . . . 34
Monitoring Virtual Disks . . . . 35
Monitoring Rebuilds and Other Processes. . . . 36
6
Maintaining and Managing
Storage Configurations
. . . .37
Initializing Virtual Disks . . . . 37
Running a Consistency Check . . . . 37
Scheduling a Consistency Check. . . . 38
Scanning for New Drives. . . . 38
Scanning for Foreign Configurations. . . . 39
Clearing a Foreign Configuration . . . . 39
Rebuilding a Drive. . . . 39
Rebuilding a Drive on a Dell SAS 5/iR System or on a Dell SAS 6/iR System . . . . 40
Rebuilding a Drive on a Dell PERC 5/i System or on a Dell PERC 6/i System . . . . 40
Making a Drive Offline or Missing . . . . 41
Preserving Pinned Cache. . . . 42
Upgrading the Firmware . . . . 42
7
Troubleshooting
. . . .45
Pinned Cache State. . . . 45
Windows Installation Error Messages. . . . 45
Linux Installation Error Messages . . . . 46
A Events and Messages
51
List of System Event Messages . . . . 51
Introduction
Dell® SAS RAID Storage Manager works in conjunction with the appropriate libraries and drivers to enable you to configure, monitor, and maintain storage configurations on Dell PERC 5/i, SAS 5/iR, PERC 6/i, and SAS 6/iR
controllers. The Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager graphical user interface (GUI) makes it easy for you to create and manage storage configurations.
NOTE: iR stands for internal RAID.
Creating Storage Configurations
Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager enables you to easily configure the controllers, disk drives, and virtual disks on your Dell workstation or SC server. The Configuration Wizard greatly simplifies the process of creating disk groups and virtual disks.
On Dell systems with PERC 5/i, PERC 6/i, SAS 5/iR, or SAS 6/iR Controllers, you can use the Configuration Wizard Auto Configuration mode to
automatically create the optimal configuration with the available hardware. You can use the Guided Configuration mode, which asks you a few brief questions about the configuration, and then creates it for you. Or you can use the Manual Configuration mode, which gives you complete control over all aspects of the storage configuration.
For Dell systems with PERC 5/iR , PERC 6/i, SAS 5/iR, or SAS 6/iR Controllers, the Configuration Wizard guides you through several simple steps to create your storage configurations.
Monitoring Storage Devices
Maintaining Storage Configurations
On Dell systems with the PERC 5/i, PERC 6/i, SAS 5/iR, or SAS 6/iR controller, you can use Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager to perform system maintenance tasks such as running patrol read operations, updating firmware, and running consistency checks on disk groups that support redundancy.
Comparison of Supported Features
Table 1-1 shows the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager features that are supported by Dell systems using the PERC 5/i or the PERC 6/i controller, and by systems using the SAS 5/iR or the SAS 6/iR controller.
Table 1-1. Feature Comparison
Feature PERC 5/i Controller PERC 6/i Controller
SAS 5/iR Controller SAS 6/iR Controller RAID 0 Configuration Y Y
RAID 1 Configuration Y Y RAID 5 Configuration Y N RAID 6 Configuration N for PERC 5/i
Y for PERC 6/i
N
RAID 10 Configuration Y N RAID 50 Configuration Y N RAID 60 Configuration N for PERC 5/i
Y for PERC 6/i
N
Hotspare Disks Y N for SAS 5/iR Y for SAS 6/iR
Auto Configuration Y N
Guided Configuration Y Y Manual Configuration Y N
Event Monitoring Y Y
Device Properties Information Y Y Create/Delete Virtual Disk Y Y
Run Patrol Read Y N
Rebuild Disk Drive Y Y
Background Virtual Disk Initialization Y N
Remove Drive Y Y
Make Drive Online/Offline Y N Run Consistency Check Y N Scan for New Disk Drives Y Y
Update Firmware Y Y
Save/Add Storage Configuration Y Y Set Adjustable Task Rates Y N Change Virtual Disk Properties Y Y Table 1-1. Feature Comparison
Feature PERC 5/i Controller PERC 6/i Controller
Installation
Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager is pre-installed on your Dell system. If you need to reinstall Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager for some reason, this section explains how to do this on the supported operating systems: Microsoft® Windows®, Red Hat® Linux, and SUSE Linux.
Installing Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on
Microsoft Windows
Follow these steps if you need to install Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on a system running Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Windows XP, or Microsoft Windows Vista:
NOTICE: If you are installing Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on Windows XP with service pack 1 installed, you will need to obtain a hotfix for the operating system to address an issue with the scsiport module.
1 Insert the CD, which contains Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager, in the CD-ROM drive.
If necessary, find the setup.exe file and double click the file name to start the installation program.
2 When the Welcome screen appears, click Next.
3 When the next screen appears, read and accept the user license and click Next.
The Customer Information screen appears.
4 Enter your user name and organization name. In the bottom part of the screen, select an installation option:
• If you select All users, any user with administrative privileges can use this version of Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager to view or change storage configurations.
5 Click Next to continue.
6 On the next screen, accept the default Destination Folder, or click Change to select a different destination folder. Click Next to continue.
7 On the next screen, click Install to begin the installation. The InstallShield Wizard then installs the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager. This can take several minutes.
8 Click Finish to complete the installation process.
Installing Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on
Linux
Follow these steps if you need to install Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on a system running Red Hat Linux or SUSE Linux:
1 Copy the SSM_linux_installer...tar.gz file to a temporary folder.
2 Untar the SSM_linux_installer...tar.gz file using the following command:
tar -zxvf SSM_linux_installer...tar.gz A new disk directory is created.
3 Go to the new disk directory.
4 In the disk directory, find and read the readme.txt file. 5 To start the installation, enter the following command:
./install.sh
NOTE: If you upgrade Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager, the event logs are not cleared as part of the upgrade process. Events in the event log prior to the upgrade will still appear in the log.
NOTE: You should download the latest device drivers for the RAID controllers from support.dell.com.
Linux Installation Error Messages
• More than one copy of MegaRAID Storage Manager has been installed.
This message indicates that you have installed more than one copy of Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager. (This can be done by using the rpm-force command to install the rpm file directly, which is not recommended, instead of using the install.sh file.) In such cases, you must uninstall all the rpms manually before installing Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager with the procedure listed above.
• The version is already installed.
This message indicates that the version of Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager you are trying to install is already installed on the system. • The installed version is newer.
This message indicates that a version of Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager is already installed on the system, and it is a newer version than the version you are trying to install.
• Exiting installation.
This is the message that appears when the installation is complete. • RPM Installation Failed
Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager
Windows and Menus
This chapter explains how to start Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager and describes the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and menus.
Starting Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager
Follow these steps to start Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager and view the main window:
1 Start the program using the method required for your operating system environment:
• To start Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on a Microsoft Windows system, select Applications-> Programs-> Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager-> StartupUI.
NOTE: If a warning appears stating that Windows Firewall has blocked some features of the program, click Unblock to allow Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager to start. (The Windows Firewall sometimes blocks the operation of programs like Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager that use Java.)
• To start Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on a Red Hat Linux system, select Applications-> System Tools-> Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager-> StartupUI.
• To start Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on a SUSE SLES 9 system, select Start->System-> More Programs-> Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager-> StartupUI.
• To start Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager on a SUSE SLES 10 system, select Computer-> New Application-> Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager-> StartupUI.
2 When the Enter UserName & Password window appears, select an access mode from the drop-down menu.
• Select Full Access if you need to both view the current configuration and change the configuration.
3 Enter your user name and password and click Login.
NOTE: If the computer is networked, this is not the network login but the login to the computer itself. This is the local administrator/root password, not a network logon password.
You must enter the root/administrator username and password in order to use Full Access mode. If your user name and password are correct for the login mode you have chosen, the main Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window appears.
Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager Window
This section describes the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, which appears when you start Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager.
The following topics describe the panels and menu options that appear in this window:
Physical/Logical View Panel
The left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window displays either the Physical view or the Logical view of the system and the devices in it, depending on which tab is selected.
• The Physical view shows the hierarchy of physical devices in the system. At the top of the hierarchy is the system itself. One or more controllers are installed in the system. Each controller has one or more ports. Disk drives and other devices are attached to the ports.
• The Logical view shows the hierarchy of controllers, virtual disks, and disk groups that are defined on the system. (Physical drives also appear in the Logical view, so you can see which physical drives are used by each virtual disk.)
The following icons in the left panel represent the controllers, disk drives, and other devices:
• System (such as server) • Controller
• Port
• Virtual disk
• Physical drive: SAS and SATA • Hot spare
• Enclosure
A red circle to the right of an icon indicates that the device has failed. For example, this icon indicates that a disk drive has failed or gone offline: A yellow circle to the right of an icon indicates that a device is running in a degraded state. For example, this icon indicates that a virtual disk is running in a degraded state because a disk drive has failed:
Properties/Operations/Graphical View Panel
The right panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window has from one to three tabs, depending on the kind of device selected in the left panel.
The Properties tab displays information about the selected device. For example, if a controller icon is selected in the left panel the Properties tab lists information such as the controller name, NVRAM size, and device port count. If a server is selected, the host name, operating system (OS), operating system architecture, IP address, and OS version displays. For more information, see Monitoring Controllers, Monitoring Disk Drives, and Monitoring Virtual Disks.
• The Operations tab lists the operations that can be performed on the device that is selected in the left panel. For example, the virtual disk operations include Locate Virtual Disk and Stop Locating Virtual Disk. Some types of devices, such as disk groups, servers, and ports, do not have operations associated with them. For more information, see Maintaining and Managing Storage Configurations.
Event Log Panel
The lower part of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window displays the system event log entries. New event log entries appear during the session. Each entry has an Error Level indicating the severity of the event, a timestamp and date, and a brief description of the event. For more information about the Event Log, see Monitoring System Events.
NOTE: For some events on Dell systems with a SAS 5/iR controller or a SAS 6/iR controller, the time stamp will be reported as #### because the reported time stamp is not valid.
For more information about the event log entries, see Events and Messages.
Menu Bar
Here are brief descriptions of the main selections on the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager menu bar:
File Menu
The File menu has an Exit option for exiting from Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager. It also has a Rescan option for updating the display in the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window. (Rescan is seldom required; the display normally updates automatically.)
Operations Menu
The Operations menu is available when a controller, physical drive, or virtual disk is selected in the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window. The
Operations menu options vary depending on the type of device selected in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window. For example, the Scan for Foreign Config option is available only when a controller is selected. The options also vary depending on the current state of the selected device. For example, if you select an offline physical drive, the Make Drive Online option appears in the Operations menu.
Group Operations Menu
The Group Operations menu options include Check Consistency, Show Progress, and Initialize (on Dell PERC 5/i controllers and Dell PERC 6/i controllers only).
Log Menu
The Log menu includes options for saving and clearing the message log. For more information, see Monitoring System Events.
Help Menu
On the Help menu you can select Help-> Help to view the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager online Help file. You can select Help-> About to view version information for the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager.
Configuration
You use Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager to create storage configurations on Dell systems with PERC 5/i, SAS 5/iR, PERC 6/i , and SAS 6/iR controllers. The controllers support storage configurations for the following RAID levels:
• Dell SAS 5/iR controller: RAID 0 and RAID 1 • Dell SAS 6/iR controller: RAID 0 and RAID 1
• Dell PERC 5/i controller: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, and RAID 50
• Dell PERC 6/i controller: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10, RAID 50, and RAID 60
To learn more about RAID and RAID levels, see the Glossary.
Creating a New Configuration on a SAS 5/iR
Controller or on a SAS 6/iR Controller
You can use the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager Configuration Wizard to create new configurations on Dell systems with the SAS 5/iR controller or the the SAS 6/iR controller.
To start the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager Configuration Wizard, select a Dell SAS 5/iR or a Dell SAS 6/iR controller in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and then select Operations->
Configuration-> Configuration Wizard. The following subsections explain how to create a RAID 0 or a RAID 1 configuration on a Dell system with a SAS 5/iR controller or a SAS 6/iR controller.
Creating a RAID 0 Configuration on a SAS 5/iR Controller or on a
SAS 6/iR Controller
Follow these steps to create a RAID 0 configuration on a Dell system with a SAS 5/iR controller or with a SAS 6/iR controller:
1 Select a Dell SAS 5/iR or a Dell SAS 6/iR controller in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, and then select
Operations-> Configuration-> Configuration Wizard.
2 In the Configuration Wizard, select two or more available drives in the left panel. Click the right-arrow Add button to move the selected drives to the right panel.
NOTICE: Be sure you do not select the disk drive on which the operating system is installed.
3 Click Accept to accept these drives for the new RAID 0 disk group. NOTE: To remove a single drive from a proposed disk group, select the drive icon in the right panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and click the left-arrow button.
4 Click Next. The next Configuration Wizard window appears. 5 Select the disk group to use for the new virtual disk.
6 In the right panel, select RAID 0 as the RAID level.
7 Click Accept to accept the configuration of the new virtual disk.
NOTE: Click the Reclaim button if you want to undo a virtual disk that you just defined. (For more information, see the Glossary entry for reclaim virtual disk.)
8 Select an available disk for another virtual disk and define its properties, or click Next to go to the next configuration step. (You can define up to two virtual disks.) The virtual disk summary window appears.
9 Review the configuration shown in the window. If you want to change something, click Back and change the configuration parameters. 10 Click Finish to accept the configuration and start the initialization
Creating a RAID 1 Configuration on a SAS 5/iR Controller or on a
SAS 6/iR Controller
Follow these steps to create a RAID 1 configuration on a Dell system with a SAS 5/iR controller or a SAS 6/iR controller:
1 Select a Dell SAS 5/iR or a Dell SAS 6/iR controller in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, and then select
Operations-> Configuration-> Configuration Wizard.
2 In the Configuration Wizard, select two available drives in the left panel. Click the right-arrow Add button to move the selected drives to the right panel.
NOTICE: Be sure you do not select the disk drive on which the operating system is installed.
3 Click Accept to accept these drives for the new RAID 1 disk group. NOTE: You can add hotspare disks to a configuration on a SAS 6/iR controller. For information about adding hotspares, see Adding Hotspare Disks.
4 Click Next. The next Configuration Wizard window appears. 5 Select the disk group to use for the new virtual disk.
6 In the right panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, select RAID 1 as the RAID level.
7 Click Accept to accept the configuration of the new virtual disk, which appears in the window.
NOTE: Click the Reclaim button if you want to undo a virtual disk that you just defined. (For more information, see the Glossary entry for reclaim virtual disk.)
8 Select an available disk for another virtual disk and define its properties, or click Next to go to the next configuration step. (You can define up to two virtual disks.) The virtual disk summary window appears.
9 Review the configuration shown in the window. If you want to change something, click Back and change the configuration parameters. 10 Click Finish to accept the configuration and start the initialization
Creating a New Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i
Controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i Controller
You can use the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager Configuration Wizard to create new storage configurations on Dell systems with the PERC 5/i controller or with the PERC 6/i controller.
To open the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager Configuration Wizard, select a PERC 5/i controller or a PERC 6/i controller in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager screen and then select Operations->
Configuration-> Configuration Wizard. The first Configuration Wizard window is a menu with three configuration modes:
• Auto Configuration automatically creates an optimal configuration from the available disk drives.
• Guided Configuration asks you a few simple questions about what kind of configuration you want and then automatically creates it from the available disk drives.
• Manual Configuration gives you the greatest level of control in creating a new virtual disk.
NOTE: You can use Auto Configuration, Guided Configuration, or Manual
Configuration to create a RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, or RAID 6 configuration. To create a RAID 10 configuration, you must use the Manual Configuration mode.
The following subsections explain how to create storage configurations on a Dell system with a PERC 5/i controller or a PERC 6/i controller:
• Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters
• Using Auto Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i Controller
• Using Guided Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i Controller
• Using Manual Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i Controller (RAID 0, 1, 5, and 6)
Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters
This section describes the Virtual Disk Parameters that you can set when you use the Guided Configuration or Manual Configuration modes of the Configuration Wizard. You do not necessarily need to change these parameters when you create a storage configuration; you can leave them at their default settings.
• Stripe Size:
A stripe is a segment of data spread across multiple physical disks. Data segments with stripe sizes of 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128 Kbytes are supported. The default is 64 KB. For more information, see the Glossary entry for striping.
• Read Policy:
Always Read Ahead: Read-ahead capability allows the controller to read sequentially ahead of requested data and to store the additional data in cache memory, anticipating that the data will be needed soon. This speeds up reads for sequential data, but there is little improvement when accessing random data.
No Read Ahead: Disables the read-ahead capability.
Adaptive Read Ahead: When selected, the controller begins using read-ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred in sequential sectors. If the read requests are random, the controller reverts to No Read Ahead. • Write Policy:
Write back: In this mode the controller sends a data transfer completion signal to the host when the controller cache has received all the data in a transaction. This setting is recommended in standard mode.
Write through: In this mode the controller sends a data transfer completion signal to the host when the disk subsystem has received all the data in a transaction.
NOTE: If you select Write back, you need to clear the check box "Use Write through for failed or missing battery?". Otherwise, Write through is used because no battery is present.
CAUTION: Using Write Back can result in data loss if a power failure occurs since the data is not stored in battery backed cache.
• IO Policy: The IO Policy applies to reads on a specific virtual disk. It does not affect the Read-ahead cache.
Direct IO: In this mode, reads are not buffered in cache memory. Data is transferred to cache and the host concurrently. If the same data block is read again, it comes from cache memory.
• Access Policy: Select the type of data access that is allowed for this logical drive: Read/Write, Read Only, or Blocked.
• Disk Cache Policy: Select a disk cache setting for this disk: Unchanged, Enabled, or Disabled.
NOTE: The disk cache setting applies to the whole disk group; it cannot be set on an individual virtual disk. Changing the setting on a virtual disk causes the setting to change for the disk group.
• Init State:
No Initialization: The new configuration is not initialized and the existing data on the disks is not overwritten.
Fast Initialization: Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager quickly writes zeroes to the first and last 10 Mbyte regions of the new virtual disk and then completes the initialization in the background. This allows you to start writing data to the virtual disk immediately.
Full Initialization: A complete initialization is done on the new configuration. You cannot write data to the new virtual disk until the initialization is complete. This can take a long time if the disks are large.
NOTICE: If you initialize a drive on which the operating system is installed, you will overwrite the Operating System and potentially make the system non-functional.
Using Auto Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell
PERC 6/i Controller
Auto Configuration is the quickest and simplest way to create a new storage configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i controller. When you select Auto Configuration mode on the first Configuration Wizard window, the Configuration wizard creates the best configuration possible using the available physical disks.
Follow these steps to create a new storage configuration in Auto Configuration mode:
1 Select a PERC SAS 5/i or a PERC SAS 6/i controller in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, and then select
2 Select Auto Configuration and click Next. The Auto Configuration window appears.
3 On the next screen, select a redundancy option from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the Auto Configuration window:
• No Redundancy: The new configuration will have no data redundancy (RAID 0). If a physical disk in the configuration fails, all data will be lost.
• With Redundancy: The new configuration will have data redundancy, either by parity data (RAID 5 or RAID 6) or mirrored data (RAID 1). If a physical disk fails, its data is still protected.
NOTE: The PERC 5/i controller supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50, but it does not support RAID 6 or 60. The PERC 6/i controller supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60.
4 Select an Initialization option from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the window:
• No Initialization: The new configuration is not initialized and the existing data on the disks is not overwritten.
• Fast Initialization: Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager quickly writes zeroes to the first and last 10 Mbyte regions of the new virtual disk and then completes the initialization in the background. This allows you to start writing data to the virtual disk immediately.
• Full Initialization: A complete initialization is done on the new configuration. You cannot write data to the new virtual disk until the initialization is complete. This can take a long time if the disks are large.
5 Click Modify if you want to make changes to the Auto Configuration. For example, you could change the size of a virtual disk. To modify the configuration, perform the following steps:
a Select a virtual disk in the New Virtual Disks panel. The Reclaim button becomes available.
b Click Reclaim. A warning states that this will delete the newly created virtual disk.
d If desired, reclaim the second virtual disk.
e Click the checkbox next to one or two new arrays. The Virtual Disk Properties for the selected array(s) display in the right panel.
f Select one array to create a non-spanned virtual disk (RAID 0, 1, 5, or 6), or select both arrays to create a spanned virtual disk (RAID 50 and 60).
NOTE: The PERC 5/i controller does not support RAID 6 or RAID 60. g Click Accept in the right panel. The new virtual disk displays.
h Click Next.
6 Click Finish. The new storage configuration will be created and initialized (unless you selected No Initialization). Check the configuration you just created to make sure it is acceptable.
Using Guided Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell
PERC 6/i Controller
Guided Configuration provides an easy way to create a new storage
configuration. Based on the information that is provided, the Configuration Wizard uses the available disk drives to create an optimal storage
configuration.
Follow these steps to create a new storage configuration in Guided Configuration mode on a Dell PERC 5/i controller or on a Dell PERC 6/i controller:
1 Select a PERC SAS 5/i or a PERC SAS 6/i controller in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, and then select
Operations-> Configuration-> Configuration Wizard.
2 Select Guided Configuration and click Next. The Guided Configuration window appears.
3 Select a redundancy option at the top of the Guided Configuration window:
• Redundancy Only: Create a configuration only if redundancy (RAID 1, RAID 5, or RAID 6) is possible. RAID 6 is available for the PERC 6/i controller, but not for the PERC 5/i controller.
4 Choose whether you want to use existing disk groups (arrays) in the new virtual disk. The options are:
• Use Existing Arrays Only • Don’t Use Existing Arrays • Use Existing and New Arrays
The first and third options are disabled if there are no available existing disk groups (arrays).
5 Select the maximum number of virtual disks you want to create. The maximum number of virtual disks supported is 64.
The Configuration Wizard might not be able to create as many virtual disks as you want, depending on the current configuration and the number of virtual disks that have already been created.
6 Click Next to continue to the next window.
7 Change the default virtual disk parameters in this window, if needed. In the right panel, you can specify the number of virtual disks to create. You can also choose to use less than the full capacity of this array for the virtual disk(s). (You could do this in order to leave capacity available for other virtual disks that you create later.) In the lower right panel, you can change the virtual disk parameters, such as the stripe size, read policy, and write policy. To learn about the Stripe Size and other virtual disk
parameters, see Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters. 8 Click Next to continue to the next window.
9 Check the configuration that you have just defined. If it is acceptable, click Finish. If you want to change a setting for all of the virtual disks, click Back to return to the previous windows. If you want to change a setting for specific virtual disks, perform the following steps:
a Select a virtual disk in the New Virtual Disks panel. The Reclaim button becomes available.
b Click Reclaim. A warning states that this will delete the newly created virtual disk.
c Click Yes to accept. The array displays in the top left panel under the heading Arrays.
e Click the checkbox next to one or two new arrays. The Virtual Disk Properties for the selected array(s) display in the right panel.
f Select one array to create a non-spanned virtual disk (RAID 0, 1, 5, or 6), or select both arrays to create a spanned virtual disk (RAID 50 and 60).
NOTE: PERC 5/i does not support RAID 6 or RAID 60.
g Click Accept in the right panel. The new virtual disk displays.
h Click Next.
i Click Finish. The new storage configuration will be created and initialized (unless you selected No Initialization). Check the configuration you just created to make sure it is acceptable.
Using Manual Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell
PERC 6/i Controller (RAID 0, 1, 5, and 6)
NOTE: PERC 5/i does not support RAID 6.
Follow these steps to create a RAID 0, 1, 5, or 6 storage configuration using the Manual Configuration mode of the Configuration Wizard:
1 Select a PERC SAS 5/i or a PERC SAS 6/i controller in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, and then select
Operations-> Configuration-> Configuration Wizard.
2 Select Manual Configuration and click Next. The Manual Configuration window appears.
3 In the first Manual Configuration window, select two or more available drives in the left panel for a RAID 0 or 1 configuration, or select three or more available drives for a RAID 5 or 6 configuration.
NOTE: For RAID 1, you must select an even number of drives.
You can select drives three ways: • Click on an individual drive.
• Select consecutive drives by holding down <Shift>, and then clicking on the first drive and the last drive you want to include.
• Select non-consecutive drives by holding <Ctrl> and clicking multiple non-consecutive drives.
NOTICE: Be sure you do not select the disk drive on which the operating system is installed.
NOTE: To remove a drive from a proposed new disk group, select the drive icon in the right panel and click the left-arrow Remove button.
5 Click Accept to accept these drives for the new RAID disk group.
6 To add a hotspare to an array, select an available drive in the left panel, and then select the array from the drop-down menu, and click Add HotSpare To.
NOTE: Hot spares are not available for RAID 0.
7 Click Next. The next Configuration Wizard window appears.
The Arrays box lists the new disk group (array) that you just defined, plus any existing disk groups with holes (free space) that you can use for a new configuration.
8 In the Arrays box, click the checkbox to select the disk group to use for the new virtual disk.
9 In the right panel under Virtual Disk Properties, select the desired RAID level.
10 (Optional) Set Size (in MB) to a lower number if you do not want to use the entire available capacity for the new virtual disk.
11 (Optional) Change the other Virtual Disk Properties, if desired. For more information, see Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters.
NOTE: You cannot change the default Volume Name if Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager is running in a language that uses the Double Byte Character Set. The default Volume Name must be kept.
12 Click Accept to accept the configuration of the new virtual disk. The RAID 0 virtual disk appears in the left panel under New Virtual Disk. NOTE: If you want to undo a virtual disk that you just defined, click on the virtual disk option, and then click the Reclaim button . (For more information, see the Glossary entry for reclaim virtual disk.) The array will display under
Arrays. You can then start at step 7 to create a new virtual disk.
14 Check the configuration that you have just defined. If it is acceptable, click Finish and start the initialization process (unless you selected No Initialization earlier). If you want to change a setting for all of the virtual disks, click Back to return to the previous windows. If you want to change a setting for specific virtual disks, perform the following steps:
a Select a virtual disk in the New Virtual Disks panel. The Reclaim button becomes available.
b Click Reclaim. A warning states that this will delete the newly created virtual disk.
c Click Yes to accept. The array displays in the top left panel under the heading Arrays.
d If desired, reclaim the second virtual disk.
e Click the checkbox next to one or two new arrays. The Virtual Disk Properties for the selected array(s) display in the right panel.
f Change the properties for the virtual disk(s), as desired.
g Click Accept to accept the configuration of the new virtual disk.
h Check the configuration that you have just defined. If it is acceptable, click Finish. The new storage configuration will be created and initialized (unless you selected No Initialization).
Using Manual Configuration on a Dell PERC 5/i Controller or on a Dell
PERC 6/i Controller (RAID 10)
Follow these steps to create a RAID 10 storage configuration using the Manual Configuration mode of the Configuration Wizard:
1 Select a PERC 5/i or a PERC 6/i controller in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, and then select Operations-> Configuration-> Configuration Wizard.
2 Select Manual Configuration and click Next. The Manual Configuration window appears.In the first Manual Configuration window, select three or more available drives in the left panel. Click the right-arrow Add button to move the selected drives to the right panel.
3 In the first Manual Configuration window, select two available drives in the left panel. Click the right-arrow Add button to move the selected drives to the right panel to be part of a new array.
4 Click Accept to accept these drives for a new RAID 1 disk group.
5 Select two more drives for a second RAID 1 disk group, click Add, and click Accept.
6 Click Next. The Configuration Wizard window for virtual disks appears. The Arrays box lists the new disk groups that you just defined, plus any existing disk groups with holes (free space) that could be used for a new configuration.
7 In the left panel, select the two RAID 1 disk groups in the Arrays box. 8 In the right panel, select RAID 10 as the RAID level.
9 (Optional) Change the other Virtual Disk Properties, if necessary. For more information, see Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters.
NOTE: You cannot change the default Volume Name if Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager is running in a language that uses the Double Byte Character Set. The default Volume Name must be kept.
10 Click Accept to accept the configuration of the new virtual disk. The virtual disk appears in the left panel under New Virtual Disk.
NOTE: If you want to undo a virtual disk that you just defined, click on the virtual disk, and then click the Reclaim button . (For more information, see the
Glossary entry for reclaim virtual disk.) The array will display under Arrays. You can then start at step 7 to create a new virtual disk.
11 Click Next to go to the next configuration step. The Virtual Disk Summary window appears.
12 Check the configuration that you have just defined. If it is acceptable, click Finish and start the initialization process (unless you selected No Initialization earlier). If you want to change a setting for all of the virtual disks, click Back to return to the previous windows. If you want to change a setting for specific virtual disks, perform the following steps:
a Select a virtual disk in the New Virtual Disks panel. The Reclaim button becomes available.
c Click Yes to accept. The array displays in the top left panel under the heading Arrays.
d If desired, reclaim the second virtual disk.
e Click the checkbox next to one or two new arrays. The Virtual Disk Properties for the selected array(s) display in the right panel.
f Change the properties for the virtual disk(s), as desired.
g Click Accept to accept the configuration of the new virtual disk.
h Click Next to go to the next configuration step. The Virtual Disk Summary window appears.
i Check the configuration that you have just defined. If it is acceptable, click Finish and start the initialization process (unless you selected No Initialization earlier).
Adding Hotspare Disks
Hotspare disks are supported by the Dell PERC 5/i, PERC 6/i, and SAS 6/iR controllers. Hotspares are disk drives that are available to automatically replace failed drives in a RAID 1, RAID 5, or RAID 6 virtual disk. Dedicated hotspares are available to only one virtual disk. Global hotspares are available to any virtual disk on a specific controller.
NOTE: The SAS 6/iR controller supports global hotspares only.
To add a global hotspare disk, follow these steps:
1 Select the Physical View tab in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager screen, and select the icon of an unused disk drive. 2 Select the Operations tab in the right panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage
Manager screen.
3 Select Make Global Hotspare.
You can create dedicated hot spares when you create a new configuration with the Configuration Wizard. To add dedicated hotspares after running the Configuration Wizard, follow these steps:
1 Select the Physical View tab in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and select the icon of an unused disk drive. 2 In the right panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, select
3 In the right panel of the Operations tab, select the disk group (array) to which the hotspare will be dedicated.
4 Click Go to create the dedicated hotspare.
Using the Replace Member Feature and
Revertible Hot Spares
The Replace Member functionality allows a previously commissioned hot spare to be reverted back to a usable hot spare. When a drive failure occurs within a virtual disk, an assigned hot spare (dedicated or global) is commissioned and begins rebuilding until the virtual disk is optimal. Once the failed drive is replaced (in the same slot) and the rebuild to the hot spare is complete, the controller automatically starts to copy data from the commissioned hot spare to the newly-inserted drive. Once this is complete, the new drive is part of the virtual disk and the hot spare is reverted back to being a ready hot spare; this allows hot spares to remain in specific enclosure slots. While the controller is reverting the hot spare, the virtual disk remains optimal.
NOTE: The controller automatically reverts a hot spare only if the failed drive is replaced with a new drive in the same slot. If the new drive is not placed in the same slot, a manual replace member operation can be used to revert a previously commissioned hot spare.
The Replace Member function works with another fault tolerance feature, load balancing, to avoid downtime and keep data available to users. Load balancing is a method of spreading work between two or more computers, network links, CPUs, physical disk drives, or other resources. Load balancing is used to maximize resource use, throughput, or response time. In the controllers, the balancing service is performed by the firmware. Using multiple paths with load balancing, instead of a single path, can increase availability through redundancy. If there are redundant paths to different ports of a device, then access to a device is not lost if a path fails.
Automatic Replace Member with Predicted Failure
If an automatic Replace Member occurs using a source drive that was originally a hot spare (that was used in a rebuild), and a new drive added for the Replace Member operation as the target drive, the hot spare reverts to the hot spare state after a successful Replace Member operation.
Manual Replace Member Operation
In addition to the automatic Replace Member operation, you can perform a manual Replace Member operation. Perform the following steps to carry out a manual Replace Member operation:
1 Select a physical disk in the left panel of the main menu screen. 2 Click the Operations tab in the right panel.
The utility identifies the drives you can use to replace existing drives in the virtual disk.
3 Click Go to carry out the Replace Member operation.
After the controller copies data from the commissioned hot spare to the newly-inserted drive, the new drive is part of the virtual disk and the hot spare reverts back to being a ready hot spare.
Restrictions and Limitations
The following restrictions and limitations apply to the Replace Member operation:
• The Replace Member functions are restricted to one per array for RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5, and two per array for RAID 6.
• The Replace Member function and rebuild cannot run simultaneously on a RAID 6 virtual disk. The rebuild operation has a higher priority, and the Replace Member operation will be aborted if a rebuild begins.
Changing Adjustable Task Rates
NOTE: Dell recommends that you leave the adjustable task rates at their default settings, in order to achieve the best system performance. If you raise the task rates above the defaults, foreground tasks will run more slowly and it might seem that the system is not responding. If you lower the task rates below the defaults, rebuilds and other background tasks might run very slowly and might not complete within a reasonable time. If you decide to change the values, record the original default value here so you can restore them later, if necessary:
Rebuild Rate: ___________________ Patrol Rate: ___________________
Background Initialization Rate: ___________________ Check Consistency Rate: ___________________ Reconstruction Rate: ___________________
1 Select the Physical View tab in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and select a controller icon.
2 In the right panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, select the Operations tab and select Set Adjustable Task Rates.
The default task rates appear in the right panel.
3 Enter changes, as needed, to the task rates for Rebuild Rate, Patrol Rate (for patrol reads), Background Initialization (BGI) Rate (for fast initialization), Check Consistency Rate (for consistency checks), and Reconstruction Rate. Each task rate can be set from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the faster the activity will run in the background, possibly impacting other system tasks.
NOTE: Patrol read does not report on its progress while it is running. The patrol read status is reported in the Event Log only.
4 Click Go to accept the new task rates.
5 When the warning message appears, click OK to confirm that you want to change the task rates.
Changing Virtual Disk Properties
You can change the Read Policy, Write Policy, and other properties of a virtual disk at any time after the virtual disk is created. To do this, follow these steps: 1 Select the Logical View tab in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage
Manager screen.
2 Select a virtual disk icon in the left panel of the window.
3 In the right panel, select the Operations tab, and then select Set Virtual Disk Properties.
A list of Virtual Disk Properties appears in the right panel. The properties include the Read Policy, Default Write Policy, an option for Write Through for a failed or missing battery, IO policy, Access Policy, Disk Cache Policy, and Background Initialization.
4 Change the virtual disk properties as needed in the right panel. For information on these properties, see Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters.
5 Click Go to accept the changes.
Changing a Virtual Disk Configuration
You can use the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager Reconstruction Wizard to change the configuration of virtual disks on a Dell system with a PERC 5/i controller or a PERC 6/i controller. You can change the configuration for virtual disks at the following RAID levels for these RAID controllers:
• PERC 5/i controller: RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5
• PERC 6/i controller: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6
NOTICE: Be sure to back up the data on the virtual disk before you change its configuration.
The Reconstruction Wizard allows you to change a virtual disk configuration by adding disk drives to the virtual disk, removing disk drives from it, or changing its RAID level.
To start the Reconstruction Wizard, select a virtual disk icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and then select Operations-> Advanced Operations-> Reconstruction Wizard from the menu. This section has the following subsections explaining the Reconstruction Wizard options:
• Adding a Disk Drive to a Configuration on a PERC 5/i Controller or on a PERC 6/i Controller
• Changing the RAID Level of a Configuration on a PERC 5/i Controller or on a PERC 6/i Controller
Adding a Disk Drive to a Configuration on a PERC 5/i Controller or on a
PERC 6/i Controller
NOTICE: Be sure to back up the data on the virtual disk before you add a drive to it.
Follow these steps to add a disk drive to a configuration with the Configuration Wizard:
1 Select a virtual disk icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and then select Operations-> Advanced Operations-> Reconstruction Wizard from the menu to start the Reconstruction Wizard.
2 Click Add Drive on the Reconstruction Wizard menu screen, and then click Next.
3 When the next screen appears, select an available disk drive in the top panel and click the down-arrow Add button to move it to the Selected Drives list.
4 Click Next to continue. The next screen appears.
5 (Optional) Select a different RAID level for the configuration from the drop-down menu in the lower right of the window.
6 Review the information in the window. If everything is acceptable, click Finish.
Changing the RAID Level of a Configuration on a PERC 5/i Controller or
on a PERC 6/i Controller
NOTICE: Be sure to back up the data on the virtual disk before you change its RAID level.
Follow these steps to change the RAID level of a RAID 1, RAID 5, or RAID 6 (PERC 6/i only) configuration with the Configuration Wizard:
1 Select the Logical View tab in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager screen.
2 Select a virtual disk icon in the left panel, and then select Operations-> Advanced Operations-> Reconstruction Wizard from the menu to start the Reconstruction Wizard.
3 Click Change RAID Level on the Reconstruction Wizard menu screen. NOTE: This option is not available for RAID 0 configurations.
4 When the next screen appears, select a RAID level from the drop-down menu in the lower right corner.
5 Review the information in the window. If everything is acceptable, click Finish.
A Reconstruct operation begins on the virtual disk. You can monitor the progress of the reconstruction in the Group Show Progress window. To do this, select Group Operations -> Show Progress.
Deleting a Virtual Disk
NOTICE: Be sure to back up the data on the virtual disk before you delete it. Be sure that the operating system is not installed on this virtual disk.
NOTICE: If one or more drives have a bootable partition, they will not appear on the list of drives that are available to create a new virtual drive. Virtual drives that have a bootable partition cannot be deleted, in order to prevent you from accidentally deleting a drive that contains the operating system.
You can delete virtual disks in order to rearrange the storage space. To delete a virtual disk, follow these steps:
1 Back up all user data on the virtual disk you intend to delete.
3 In the right panel, select the Operations tab and select Delete Virtual Disk.
4 Click Go.
5 When the warning message appears, click the check box to confirm that you are certain that you want to delete the virtual disk, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the virtual disk.
NOTE: You will be asked twice if you want to delete a virtual disk to avoid deleting the virtual disk by mistake.
Saving a Storage Configuration to Disk
You can save an existing controller configuration to a file so you can apply it to another controller. To save a configuration file, follow these steps:
1 Select a controller icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window.
2 On the menu bar, select Operations-> Configuration-> Save Configuration to file.
The Save dialog box appears.
3 In the Save dialog box, type a name for the configuration file, or accept the default name (hostname.cfg).
4 Click Save to save the configuration file.
Clearing a Storage Configuration from a
Controller
You must clear a storage configuration from a controller before you can create a new configuration on the controller or load a previously saved configuration file.
NOTICE: Before you clear a configuration, be sure to save any data that you want to keep! Clearing a configuration deletes all data from the disks of the existing configuration.
To clear a configuration from a controller, follow these steps:
2 On the menu bar, select Operations-> Configuration-> Clear Configuration.
A warning message appears.
NOTICE: If a configuration contains an operating system drive, the configuration cannot be cleared.
3 Click Yes to clear the configuration or No to cancel the operation.
Adding a Saved Storage Configuration
When you replace a controller, or when you want to duplicate an existing storage configuration on a new controller, you can add a saved configuration to the controller.
NOTICE: When you add a saved configuration to a replacement controller, be sure that the number and size of the physical disks connected to the controller is exactly the same as it was when the configuration was saved.
To add a saved configuration, follow these steps:
1 Select a controller icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window.
2 On the menu bar, select Operations-> Configuration-> Add Saved Configuration.
A warning message appears.
3 Click Yes. When the Open dialog box appears, select the configuration file and click Open.
Monitoring System Events and
Storage Devices
The Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager enables you to monitor the status of disk drives, virtual disks, and other storage devices. This chapter explains how to use Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager to perform the following monitoring tasks.
Monitoring System Events
Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager monitors the activity and performance of all controllers in the system and the storage devices connected to them. When an event occurs (such as the creation of a new virtual disk or the removal of a physical drive) an event message appears in the log displayed at the bottom of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window.
Each event in the log includes an error level (Info, Warning, Caution, or Fatal) a date and time stamp, and a brief description. (For a list of all events, see Appendix A, Events and Messages)
The Log menu has four options:
• Save Log: Saves the current log as a .log file. • Save Log Text: Saves the current log as a .txt file. • Clear Log: Clears the current log information. • Load Log: Enables you to load a different log file.
Monitoring Controllers
When Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager is running, you can see the status of all controllers in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window. If the controller is operating normally, the controller icon looks like this: . If the controller has failed, a small red circle appears to the right of the icon. (See Physical/Logical View Panel for a complete list of device icons.) To display complete controller Information, click a controller icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and click the
Properties tab in the right panel. The Properties tab lists information such as Product Name, Serial No., SubVendor ID, Host Port Count, and task rates. Controller properties are defined in the Glossary.
Monitoring Disk Drives
When Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager is running, you can see the status of all physical disk drives in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window. If the disk drive is operating normally, its icon looks like this: . If the disk drive has failed, a small red circle appears to the right of the icon, like this . (See Physical/Logical View Panel for a complete list of device icons.)
To display complete disk drive information, click a disk drive icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and click the
Properties tab in the right panel. The Properties tab lists information such as vendor name, device ID, drive size, and physical drive state. All disk drive properties are defined in the Glossary.
Running a Patrol Read
The Dell PERC 5/i controller and the Dell PERC 6/i controller supports the patrol read feature. Patrol read provides a dynamic check on the virtual disk to confirm the disk is functioning properly. Patrol read runs in the background, adjusting its performance based on the patrol read settings and the i/o load on the controller. A patrol read can be used for all RAID levels and for all hotspare drives. To start a patrol read, follow these steps:
1 Click a controller icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window.
2 Select Operations -> Start Patrol Read.
3 When prompted, click Yes to confirm that you want to start a patrol read. To change the patrol read settings, follow these steps:
1 Click a controller icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window.
2 Select the Operations tab in the right panel, and select Set Patrol Read Properties.
3 Select an Operation Mode for patrol read. The options are:
• Auto: Patrol read runs automatically at the time interval you specify on this screen.
• Manual: Patrol read runs only when you manually start it by selecting Start Patrol Read from the controller Options panel.
• Disabled: Patrol read does not run at all.
4 (Optional) Specify a maximum count of physical drives to include in the patrol read. The count must be between 0 and 255.
5 (Optional) Select the virtual disks on this controller that you want to exclude from the patrol read. The existing virtual disks are listed in the gray box. To exclude a virtual disk, check the box next to it.
6 (Optional) Change the frequency at which the patrol read runs (the execution frequency). The default frequency is 168 hours (7 days), which is suitable for most configurations.
Patrol Read Frequency: ___________________ Continuous Patrolling: Enabled/Disabled Patrol Read Task Rate: ___________________
7 (Optional) Select Continuous Patrolling if you want patrol read to run continuously in the background instead of running at periodic intervals. If you select Continuous Patrolling, the time interval field is grayed out. 8 Click Go to enable the patrol read properties.
NOTE: Patrol read does not report on its progress while it is running. The patrol read status is reported in the Event Log only.
You have the option to change the patrol read task rate. The task rate determines the amount of system resources that are dedicated to a patrol read when a patrol read is running. Dell recommends, however, that you leave the patrol read task rate at its default setting. If you raise the task rate above the default, foreground tasks will run more slowly and it might seem that the system is not responding. For more information, about the patrol read task rate, see Changing Adjustable Task Rates.
Monitoring Virtual Disks
When Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager is running, you can see the status of all virtual disks. If a virtual disk is operating normally, the icon looks like this: . If the virtual disk is running in degraded mode (for example, if a physical disk has failed) a small yellow circle appears to the right of the icon: . (See Physical/Logical View Panel for a complete list of device icons.)
For the Dell PERC 5/i controller, and the Dell PERC 6/i controller, when you select the Logical tab, the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window shows which physical disks are used by each virtual disk. The same physical disk can be used by multiple virtual disks.
NOTE: On Dell PERC 5/i controllers and Dell PERC 6/i controllers, you can change virtual disk properties such as Read Policy, Write Policy, IO Policy, and Access Policy after the virtual disk has been created. For more information, see Changing Virtual Disk Properties.
To display a graphical view of a virtual disk, click on a virtual disk icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager and click the Graphical View tab. In Graphical View, the disk group (array) used for this virtual disk is shaded blue to show how much of the disk group capacity is used by this virtual disk. If part of the disk group is shaded white, this indicates that some of the capacity is used by another virtual disk. In a RAID 10 configuration, two disk groups are used by one virtual disk.
Monitoring Rebuilds and Other Processes
Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager allows you to monitor the progress of rebuilds and other lengthy processes in the Group Show Progress window. To open this window, select Group Operations -> Show Progress on the menu bar.Operations on virtual disks appear in the left panel of the Group Show Progress window, and operations on physical drives appear in the right panel. The following operations appear in this window.
• Background initialization of a virtual disk (on Dell PERC 5/i controllers and Dell PERC 6/i controllers only)
• Rebuild (see Rebuilding a Drive)
• Consistency check (on Dell PERC 5/i controllers and Dell PERC 6/i controllers only) (see Running a Consistency Check)
• Replace member (on Dell PERC 5/i controllers and Dell PERC 6/i controllers only)
Maintaining and Managing Storage
Configurations
This chapter explains how to use Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager to maintain and manage storage configurations.
Initializing Virtual Disks
To initialize a virtual disk after you complete the configuration process on a Dell PERC 5/i controller and on a Dell PERC 6/i controller, follow these steps:
1 Select the Logical tab in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and click the icon of the virtual disk that you want to initialize.
2 Select Group Operations-> Initialize. The Group Initialize dialog box appears.
3 Select the virtual disk(s) to initialize, or click Select All to select all of the virtual disks in the list.
4 Click the Fast Initialization check box if you want to use this option. If you leave the box unchecked, Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager will run a Full Initialization on the virtual disk. A Full Initialization takes longer thans Fast Initialization. (For more information, see Understanding Virtual Disk Parameters.)
5 Click Start to start the initialization.
Running a Consistency Check
You should periodically run a consistency check on fault-tolerant virtual disks that are on Dell PERC 5/i controllers and Dell PERC 6/i controllers. It is especially important to do this if you suspect that the virtual disk consistency data might be corrupted. Be sure to back up the data before running a consistency check if you think the consistency data might be corrupted. You can use the Check Consistency stop on error option to select whether Check Consistency stops when an inconsistency is detected or whether it fixes the inconsistency, logs the event, and continues.
To run a consistency check, follow these steps: 1 Select Group Operations-> Check Consistency.
The Group Consistency Check window appears.
2 Select the virtual disks that you want to check, or click Select All to select all of the virtual disks.
3 Click Start to begin the operation.
You can monitor the progress of the consistency check. See Monitoring Rebuilds and Other Processes for more information.
NOTE: You can also run a consistency check by selecting the virtual disk icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window and selecting the option on the Operation tab in the right panel. If you select the Automatically fix errors check box, Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager automatically fixes any consistency data errors that it finds.
NOTE: Running consistency check impacts the system performance. Make sure to perform this maintenance task during periods of lower usage.
Scheduling a Consistency Check
You can schedule a consistency check to run at a specified time on fault-tolerant virtual disks that are on Dell PERC 5/i controllers and Dell PERC 6/i controllers. This feature makes it easier to run consistency checks on the virtual disks on a regular basis.
To run a consistency check, follow these steps:
2 In the right panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window, select the Operations tab and select Schedule Check Consistency.
The schedule options appear in the right panel. 3 You can select from the following options:
• How often to run the consistency check: run it hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or disable it
• Whether to run the consistency check continuously
• The month, day, year, and time on which to start the consistency check
The default is the month, day, year, and time when you invoke this dialog box.
4 Click Go to set the schedule.
Scanning for New Drives
Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager normally detects newly installed disk drives and displays icons for them in the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window. If for some reason the utility does not detect a new drive (or drives), you can use the Rescan command to find it. The Rescan command updates the display in the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager window. (Rescan is seldom required; the display normally updates automatically.)
To do this, follow these steps:
1 Select a controller icon in the left panel of the Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager screen.
2 Select File-> Rescan.
If Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager detects any new disk drives, it displays a list of them on the screen. If not, it notifies you that none were found.
