Dell UCP-61 manual

www .dell.com | support.dell.com Model UCP-60 , UCP-61, and UCC-60 Dell™ PERC 6/i, PERC 6/E and CERC 6/i User’ s Guide Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 1 We dnesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

Notes, Notices, and Cautions NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your sy stem. NOTICE: A NOTICE warns against either poten tial damage to hardware or of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury , or death. NOTE: Refer to the [...]

Contents 3 Contents A CAUTION: Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . 11 SAFETY : General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SAFETY : When Working Inside Y our Sy stem . . . . . . 12 Protecting Against Elec trostatic Discharge . . . . . . 12 SAFETY : Battery Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1O v e r v i e w . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

4 Contents Initializing Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Background Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Full Inititialization of Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . . . 26 Fast Inititialization of Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . . 26 Consistency Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Disk Roaming . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

Contents 5 Redundant Path With Load Balancing Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Using Replace Member and Revertible Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Patrol Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Patrol Read Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Patrol Read Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3 Inst[...]

6 Contents 4 Installing the Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Installing Windows Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Creating the Driver Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Pre-Installation Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Installing the Driver During a Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP Operating Sy stem Installation . . . . . . . [...]

Contents 7 Installing NetWare Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Installing the NetW are Driver in a New NetW are Sy stem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Installing or Updating the NetW are Driver in an Existing NetW are Sy stem . . . . . . . 76 5 Configuring and Managing RAID . . . . . . . 77 Dell OpenManage Storage Management . . . . . . . [...]

8 Contents Phy sical Disk Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Setting LED Blinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Creating Global Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Removing Global or Dedicated Hot Spares . . . . 105 Replacing an Online Phy sical Disk . . . . . . . . 106 Stopping Background Initialization . . . . . . . . 107 Performin[...]

Contents 9 Linux Operating Sy stem Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Controller LED Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Drive Carrier LED Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 B Regulatory Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 C Corporate Contact Details (T aiwan Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Dell_PERC[...]

10 Contents Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 10 We dnesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

SAFETY : General 11 CAUTION: Safety Instructions Use the following safety guidelines to help ensure your own personal safety and to help protect your system and working environment from potential damage. CAUTION: There is a danger of a new battery explodi ng if it is incorrectly installed. Replace the battery only with the same or equivalent ty pe [...]

12 SAFETY : General SAFETY : When W orking Inside Y our Sy stem Before you r emove the system co vers, perform the following step s in the sequence indicated. CAUTION: Except as expressly otherwise instruct ed in Dell documentation, only trained service technicians are authorized to remove the sy stem cover and access any of the components inside t[...]

SAFETY : General 13 Y ou can also take the following steps to pr event damage from el ectrostatic dischar ge: • When unpacking a static-sensitive component fr om its shipping carton, do not remove the component from the antistatic packing materi al until you are ready to install the component. Just before unwrapping the antista tic package, be su[...]

14 SAFETY : General Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 14 We dnesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

Overview 15 Overview The Dell™ P owerEdge™ Expandable R A ID Controller (PERC) 6 family of controllers and the Dell Cost-Effectiv e R AID Controller (CERC) 6/i offer redundant array of independent disks (R AI D) control capabilities. The PERC 6 and CERC 6/i Serial Attached SC SI(SAS) R AID cont rollers support Dell-qualified SAS and SA T A devi[...]

16 Overview Each controller supports up to 64 virtual disks. NOTE: The number of virtual disks supported by the PERC 6/i and the CERC 6/i cards is limited by the config uration supported by the sy stem. PCI Architecture PERC 6 controllers support a P eripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E) x8 host interface. CER C 6/i Modular controller su[...]

Overview 17 RAID Description R AID is a group of independent physical disks that provides high performance by increasing the number of drives used fo r saving and accessing data. A R AID disk subsystem improves I/O pe rformance and data availability . The physical disk group appears to the host system either as a single storage unit or multiple log[...]

18 Overview RAID T erminology Disk Striping Disk striping allows you to write data ac ross multiple physical disks instead of just one physical disk. Di sk striping involves partiti oning each physical disk storage space into stripes of the follow ing sizes: 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB, 128 KB, 256KB, 512KB, and 1024KB. These stripes are interleaved [...]

Overview 19 Disk mirroring provides 100 percent redundancy , but is expensive because each physical disk in the system must be duplicated. F igure 2-2 shows an example of disk mirroring. NOTE: Mirrored phy sical disks improve read performance by read load balance. Figure 2-2. Example of Disk Mirroring (RAID 1) Spanned RAID Levels Spanning is a term[...]

20 Overview Figure 2-3. Example of Distributed Parity (RAID 5) NOTE: Parity is distributed across multiple phy sical disks in the disk group. Figure 2-4. Example of Dual Distributed Parity (RAID 6) NOTE: Parity is distributed across all drives in the array . Stripe element 1 Stripe element 7 Stripe element 2 Stripe element 8 Stripe element 3 Stripe[...]

About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 21 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers This section describes the features of the Dell™ P owerEdge™ Expandable R AID Controller (PERC) 6 and Dell Co st-Effective RAID Controller (CER C) 6/i family of controllers, such as th e configuration options, disk array performance, redundant array of indep endent dis[...]

22 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers Cache Memory 256-MB DDRII cache memory size Optional 512- MB DIMM 256-MB DDRII cache memory size 256-MB DDRII cache memory size 128-MB DDRII cache memory size Cache Fu n c t i o n W rite-Back, W rite-Throug h, Adaptive Read Ahead, No-Read Ahead, Read Ahead Wr i t e - B a c k , W rite-Through, Adaptive Read Ah[...]

About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 23 Support for x8 PCI Express host interface Ye s Ye s Ye s Ye s Online Capacity Expansion Ye s Ye s Ye s Ye s Dedicated and Global Hot Spares Ye s Ye s Ye s Ye s Hot Swap Devices Supported Ye s Ye s Ye s Ye s Non-Disk Devices Supported No No No No Enclosur e Hot-Add b Y es N/A N/A N/A Mixed Capacity Physical Di[...]

24 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers NOTE: The maximum array size is limited by the maximum number of drives per disk group (32), the maximum number of spans per disk group (8), and the size of the phy sical drives. NOTE: The number of phy sical disks on a con troller is limited by the number of slots in the backplane on which the card is attach[...]

About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 25 A SMAR T failure is also r eferred to as a predicted failur e. There ar e numerous factors that r elate to predicted physical disk failures, such as a bearing failur e, a broken r ead/write head, and changes in spin-up rate. In addition, there are factors related to r ead/write surface failure, such as seek e[...]

26 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers Full Inititialization of Virtual Disks P erforming a full initialization on a virtual disk overwrites all blocks and destroys any data that previously e xisted on the virtual disk. A full initialization eliminates the need fo r that virtual disk to undergo a background initialization and can be perf ormed dir[...]

About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 27 By default, consistency check automa tically corrects mirror or parity inconsistencies. However , you can enable the Abort Consistency Check on Error feature on the controller using Dell™ OpenManage™ Storage Management. W ith the Abort Consistency Check on Error setting enabled, consistency check notifies[...]

28 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers When a controller detects a physical disk with a pre-e xisting configuration, it flags the physical disk as foreign , and it generates an alert indicating that a foreign disk was detected. CAUTION: Do not attempt disk roaming during RL M or CE. This causes loss of the virtual disk. P erform the following step[...]

About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 29 Compatibility With Virtual Disks Created on SAS 6/iR Controllers The migration of virtual disks created on the SAS 6/iR family of controllers can be migrated to PERC 6 and CER C 6i. However , only virtual disks with boot volumes of the following Linux oper ating systems successfully boot after migration: • [...]

30 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 4 Boot the system and import the foreig n configuration that is detected. Y ou can do this in two ways as described below : • Pr ess <F> to automatically impo rt the foreign configuration • Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility and navigate to the F oreign Configuration V iew NOTE: For more informati[...]

About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 31 Battery Warranty Information The BBU offers an inexpensive way to protect the data in cache memory . The lithium-ion battery provides a way to store mor e power in a smaller form factor than previous batteries. The BBU shelf life has been preset to last six months from the time of shipment without power . T o[...]

32 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers Learn Cycle Completion T ime Frame The time frame for completion of a lea rn cycle is a function of the battery charge capacity and the dischar ge/charge currents used. F or PER C 6, the expected time frame for completion of a learn cycle is approximately seven hours and consists of the following parts: • L[...]

About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 33 Conditions Under Which Write-Back is Employed W rite-Back caching is used under all cond itions in which the battery is present and in good condition. Conditions Under Which Write-Through is Employed W rite- T hrough caching is used under all cond itions in which the battery is missing or in a low-charge stat[...]

34 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers Reconfiguring V irtual Disks There ar e two different methods to reconfi gur e RAID virtual disks — R AID L evel Migration and Online Capacity Expansion. R AID Level Migrations (RLM) involve the conversion of a virtual disk to a different R AID level and Online Capacity Expansions (OCE) refer to incr eas in[...]

About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 35 NOTE: The total number of phy sical disks in a disk group cannot exceed 32. NOTE: Y ou cannot perform RAID level migrati on and expansion on RAID levels 10, 50, and 60. RAID 1 RAID 5 2 3 or more Y es Removes redundancy while doubling capacity . RAID 1 RAID 6 2 4 or more Y es T wo drives are r equired to be ad[...]

36 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers Fault T olerance Features T able 3-3 lists the features that provide fault tolerance to pr event data loss in case of a failed physical disk. Phy sical Disk Hot Swapping Hot swapping is the manual substitut ion of a replacement unit in a disk subsystem for a defective one. The manual substitution can be perfo[...]

About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 37 Failed Phy sical Disk Detection The controller automatically detects and rebuilds failed physical disks when a new drive is placed in the slot wher e the failed drive r esided or when an applicable hot spare is pr esent. Au tomatic rebuilds can be performed transparently with hot spar es. If you have configur[...]

38 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers Automatic Replace Member with Predicted Failure A Replace Member operation can occur when ther e is a SMAR T predictive failure r eporting on a drive in a virtual disk. The automatic Replace Member is initiated when the first SMAR T error occurs on a physical disk that is part of a virtual disk. The target dr[...]

About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers 39 3 P at ro l Rea d adjusts the amount of controller resources dedicated to P atrol Rea d operations based on outstanding disk I/O . F or example, if the system is busy processing I/O operation, then P atrol Read uses fewer resources to allow the I/O to take a higher priority . 4 Pa t r o l R e a d does not run[...]

40 About PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controllers Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 40 We dnesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 41 Installaing and Configuring Hardware CAUTION: Only trained service technicians are authorized to remove the sy stem cover and access any of the components ins ide the sy stem. Before performing any procedure, refer to the safety and wa rranty information that shipped with your sy stem for complete info rmation[...]

42 Installing and Configuring Hardware Figure 4-1. Installing a PERC 6/E Adapter 1 bracket screw 3 PCI-e slot 2 PERC 6/i adapter 4 filler brackets 2 3 4 1 Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 42 We dnesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 43 Figure 4-2. Installing a PERC 6/i Adapter 7 Tighten the brack et screw , if any , or use the system’s retention clips to secure the controller to the system’s chassis. 8 F or PERC 6/E adapter , replace th e cover of the system. F or more information on closing the system, refer to your system’s Hardware [...]

44 Installing and Configuring Hardware 9 Connect the cable from the extern al enclosur e to the controller . See F igure 4-3. Figure 4-3. Connecting the C able From the External Enclosure 10 F or PERC 6/i adapter , connect the cables from the backplane of the system to the controller . The primary SAS connector is white and the secondary SAS connec[...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 45 Figure 4-4. Connecting Cables to the Controller 11 Replace the cover of the system. F o r more information on closing the system, see your system’s Hardware Owner’s Manual . 12 Reconnect the power cables(s) and netw ork cables, and turn on the system. Installing the T ransportable Battery Backup Unit (TBBU[...]

46 Installing and Configuring Hardware 1 Unpack the TBBU and follow all antistatic procedures. NOTICE: When transporting a sensit ive component, first plac e it in an antistatic container or packaging. NOTE: Handle all sensitive components in a static-safe area. If possible, use antistatic floor pads and work bench pads. 2 W ith the DIMM removed fr[...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 47 5 Mount the memory module in the co ntroller memory socket lik e a standard DIMM. F or mor e informati on, see "Installing the DIMM on a PERC 6/E Adapter" on page 47. The memory module is mounted flush with the board so that the memory module is parallel to the board when installed. 6 P ress the memo[...]

48 Installing and Configuring Hardware Figure 4-6. Installing a DIMM 1 PERC 6/E adapter 3 memory socket 2 retention clip 4 memory module 3 2 1 4 Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 48 We dnesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 49 T ransferring a TBBU Between Controllers The TBBU provides uninterrupted power supply to the memory module for up to 72 hours (for a 256 MB of cont roller cache memory) backup power and up to 48 hours (for a 512 MB cac he) if power supply is unexpectedly interrupted while cached data is still pres ent. If the [...]

50 Installing and Configuring Hardware Removing the PERC 6/E and PERC 6/i Adapters NOTE: In the event that th e SAS cable is accidentally pulled when the sy stem is operational, reconnect the ca ble and see the online help of your Open Manage storage management application for the required recovery steps. NOTE: Some PERC 6/i adapters in stalled on [...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 51 Figure 4-7. Removing the PERC 6/E Adapter NOTE: For more information on removing peripherals installed in the sy stem’ s PCI-E slots, see the Hardware Owner’ s Manual that shipped with the sy stem. 5 F or removing a PER C 6/i adapter , determine whether the dirty cache LED on the controller is illuminated.[...]

52 Installing and Configuring Hardware Figure 4-8. Removing the PERC 6/i Adapter 6 Disconnect the data cables and battery cable from the PER C 6/i. Remove any retention mechanism, such as a brack et screw , that might be holding the PERC 6/i in the system, and gently lift the controller from the system’s PCI-E slot. NOTE: For more information on [...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 53 Removing the DIMM and Battery from a PERC 6/E Adapter NOTE: The TBBU on the PERC 6/E adapter consists of a DI MM and battery backup unit. This section describes how to remove the TBBU from a PER C 6/E adapter that is currently installed in a s ystem. 1 P erform a controlled shutdown on the system in which the [...]

54 Installing and Configuring Hardware CAUTION: Running a sy stem without the sy stem cover installed can cause damage due to improper cooling. 3 Remove the TBBU assembly from the adapter by pressing down on the tabs at each edge of the DIMM conne ctor and lifting the TBBU off the adapter . 4 Disconnect the battery cable from the DIMM. 5 Detach the[...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 55 Disconnecting the BBU from a PERC 6/i Adapter or a PERC 6/i Integrated Controller NOTE: A PERC 6/i adapter installe d in a Dell workstation or a Dell SC sy stem does not have a BBU. NOTE: Batteries with low charges can be detected and rechar ged. The battery must first be charged and the sy stem must be restar[...]

56 Installing and Configuring Hardware Setting up Redundant Path Support on the PERC 6/E Adapter The PERC 6/E adapter can detect and use r edundant paths to drives contained in enclosures. W ith redundant paths to the same port of a device, if one path fails, another path can be used to communicate between the controller and the device. F or more i[...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 57 F igure 4-12 displays Redundant path Storage Configuration with two enclosures. Figure 4-12. Redundant Path Suppor t Configuration With T wo Enclosures Storage Storage Storage Storage Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 57 We dnesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

58 Installing and Configuring Hardware F igure 4-13 displays Redundant path Storage Configuration with thr ee enclosures Figure 4-13. Redundant Path Support Configuration With Three Enclosures A single PERC 6/E adapter can support up to three disk storage enclosur es in a redundant path configuration. NOTE: Ensure that the latest firmware ver sion [...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 59 P erform the following steps to c onfigure the har dware to utilize redundantpaths on the PER C 6/E adapter: 1 Set up an enclosure on the PER C 6/E adapter . 2 Connect two SAS cables from the OUT ports on your PERC 6/E adapter to the IN ports of the external en closur e. See F i gure 4-3 to view the connection[...]

60 Installing and Configuring Hardware 4 Open the release lever to disconnect the Modular Storage Controller Car d edge connector from the system boar d connector as illustrated in F igure 4-14. 5 Lift the Modular Storage Controller Card straight up from the system board as illustrated in F igure 4-14. NOTICE: Do not apply pressure to the internal [...]

Installing and Configuring Hardware 61 Installing the Modular Storage Controller Card T o install your new CERC 6/i Modular Storage Controller : 1 Unpack the new CERC 6/i Modular Stor age Controller Car d and check for damage. NOTE: If the card is dama ged, contact Dell. 2 Place the Modular Storage Controller Card onto the System Boar d. Place by a[...]

62 Installing and Configuring Hardware Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 62 We dnesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

Installing the Drivers 63 Installing the Drivers The Dell™ P owerEdge™ Expandable R AID Controller (PERC) 6 and Dell Cost-Effective R A ID Controller (C ERC) 6/i family of controllers req u i re software drivers to operate with the supported operating systems. This chapter contains the procedures fo r installing the drivers for the following op[...]

64 Installing the Drivers Installing Windows Driver This section documents the procedures used to install the W indows driver . Creating the Driver Media P erform the following steps to create the driver media: 1 Browse to the download section for the system from the Dell Support website at support.dell.com . 2 Locate and download the latest PERC 6[...]

Installing the Drivers 65 4 F rom the list of drivers displayed, sele ct the driver that you requir e. Select the self -extracting zip file and click Ru n . Copy the driver to a diskette drive, CD, D VD, or USB drive. Repeat this step for all the drivers that you req u i re . 5 During the operating system installation described in "Installing [...]

66 Installing the Drivers Installing the Driver During a Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP Operating Sy stem Installation P erform the following steps to install the driver during operating system installation. 1 Boot the system using the Microsoft W indows XP/Microsoft W indows Server 2003 media. 2 When the message P ress F6 if you need to install[...]

Installing the Drivers 67 3 The system prompts for the media to be inserted. Insert the installation media and browse to the proper location. 4 Select the appropriate PERC 6 controller from the list, click Next and continue installation. NOTE: Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista operating sy stems include native support for the PE RC 6 and CERC 6[...]

68 Installing the Drivers 8 Click Next . 9 The wizard detects and installs the a ppropriate device drivers for the new R AID controller . 10 Click F inish to complete the installation. 11 Reboot the system when prompted. Updating an Existing Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP , or Windows Vista Driver P erform the following steps [...]

Installing the Drivers 69 10 F ollow the steps in the wizard and browse to the location of the driver files. 11 Select the INF file from the USB key or other media. 12 Click Next and continue the installation steps in the W izard. 13 Click Fi n i s h to exit the wizar d and reboot the system for the changes to take place. NOTE: Dell provides the De[...]

70 Installing the Drivers 3 Use the dd command to create a driver upda te disk. Use the appropriate image for the purpose. dd if=<name of the dd image file> of=/dev/fd0 NOTE: Y ou can create a driver update disk on a Windows sy stem using the program dcopynt . NOTE: The output file of might be different, depend ing on how your operating sy st[...]

Installing the Drivers 71 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Operating Sy stems using the Driver Update Diskette P erform the following steps to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux (versions 4 and 5) and the appropriate driver . 1 Boot normally from the Red Hat En terprise Linux installation media. 2 At the command prompt, type: linux expert dd 3 Whe[...]

72 Installing the Drivers 6 Click OK . If you want to install from anothe r driver update medium, continue with the following steps. 7 The system displays the message PLEASE CHOOSE DRIVER UPDATE MEDIUM . 8 Select the appropriate driver update medium. The system selects the driver from the disk and installs it. NOTE: Suse Linux Enterprise Server 9 G[...]

Installing the Drivers 73 2 T o check whether the driver is successfully installed in the new k ernel, type: dkms status Y ou must see a message similar to the following one on the scr een to confirm installation: <driver name>, <driver version>, <new kernel version>: installed 3 If the previous device driver is in use, you must r[...]

74 Installing the Drivers Installing Solaris 10 on a PowerEdge Sy stem Booting From a PERC 6 and CERC 6i Controller T o install the driver during Solari s 10 operating system installation: 1 Boot the system from the Solaris installation media and select the preferr ed console. 2 After Solaris finishes configuring de vices, a menu appears. Select Ap[...]

Installing the Drivers 75 Installing NetW are Driver Use the procedures in this section to in stall the driver for Novell NetW are 6.5. T o ensure that you have the curr ent version of the driver , download the updated NetW are driver from the Dell Support website at support.dell.com . Installing the NetWare Driver in a New NetW are Sy stem F ollow[...]

76 Installing the Drivers Installing or Updating the NetWare Driver in an Existing NetW are Sy stem P erform the following steps to add the Novell NetW are driver to an e xisting installation: 1 At the root prompt, type hdetect and press <Enter>. The Configuration Options screen is displayed. 2 F rom the screen that displays, go to the Storag[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 77 Configuring and Managing RAID Dell Open Manage storage management applications enable you to manage and configure the R AID system, create and manage multiple disk groups, control and monitor multiple R A ID systems, and provide online maintenance. The applications for De ll™ P owerEdge™ Expandable R AID Control[...]

78 Configuring and Managing RAID RAID Configuration Functions NOTE: Dell OpenManage Storage Management can perform all th e same tasks as and more tasks than the BIOS Configuration Utility . After you attach physical disks, use a co nfiguration utility to or ganize your SAS drives and SA T A drives into virtual disks . If the operating system is no[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 79 BIOS Configuration Utility The BIOS Configuration Utility , also known as Ctrl+R, is a Open Manage storage management application embedd ed on the PERC 6 controllers that configures and maintains R AID disk groups and virtual disks, and manages the R A ID system. Ctrl+R is independent of any operating system. NOTE: [...]

80 Configuring and Managing RAID NOTE: Y ou can access multiple controllers through the BIOS Configuration Utility by pressing <F12>. NOTE: Y ou can access PERC 5 and PERC 6 a dapters from the same BIOS if the PERC 5 firmware version is 5. 1.1-0040 or later . Y ou need to verify if you are currently set to edit the PERC 5 or PERC 6 adapter . [...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 81 Use the up arrow key to move to the upper menu items within a menu or to a higher level menu. Y ou can also use the up arrow key to close a menu list in a popup window , such as the stripe element size menu. W ord wrap is supported. Virtual Disk 1 Virtual Disk 4 Use the down arrow key to move to the lower menu items[...]

82 Configuring and Managing RAID <T ab> P ress <T ab> to move the cursor to the ne xt control on a Dialog or page. P ress <T ab> to move the cursor to the next parameter you want to change. <Shift> <T ab> P ress <Shift><T ab> to move the cursor to the previous control on a dialog or page. P ress <Shift&g[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 83 Setting Up Virtual Disks This section contains the procedures used to set up a disk group and cr eate virtual disks. Each of the following pr ocedures ar e explained individually in this section in detail. 1 Create the virtual disks and se lect the virtual disk options. 2 Designate hot spares (optional). F or more i[...]

84 Configuring and Managing RAID T able 6-2. Virtual Disk Pa rameters and Descriptions Parameter Description R AID Level RAID Level specifies the whether the vir tual disk is R AID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60. The RAID le vel you select depends on the number of disks, disk capacity , and the r equirements for fault tolerance and performance. See &qu[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 85 V irtual Disk Management Creating Virtual Disks NOTE: PERC 6 does not support creation of a virtual disk that combines SAS phy sical disks and SA T A phy sical disks. P erform the following steps to cr eate virtual disks. 1 During host system bootup, press <Ctrl><R> when the BIOS banner displays. The V i[...]

86 Configuring and Managing RAID 3 P ress <F2> to display the actions you can perform. 4 Select Create New VD and press <Enter>. The Create New VD screen displays. The cursor is on the R AID L evels option. 5 P ress <Enter> to display the possible R A ID levels, based on the physical disks available. 6 P ress the down arrow key to[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 87 15 P erform the following steps to se lect the virtual disk parameters: a P ress <T ab> to move the cursor to the parameters you want to change. b P ress the down arrow key to open th e parameters and scroll down the list of settings. c T o change the stripe element size, pr ess <T ab> to highlight Strip[...]

88 Configuring and Managing RAID l If you have chosen to create hot spar es in the earlier steps a pop-up window appears where drives with appropriate sizes ar e displayed. P ress the spacebar to select the drive size. Select the check box to enable th e enclosure affinity setting for the hot spare. m After you select the drive size, click OK to fi[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 89 If you attempt to run a Consistency Check on a virtual disk that has not been initialized, the following error message displays: The virtual disk has not been initialized. Running a consistency check may result in inconsistent messages in the log. Are you su re you want to continue? Y ou can select Ye s or No . If y[...]

90 Configuring and Managing RAID P erform the following steps to import or clear for eign configurations. 1 During bootup, press <Ctrl><R> when prompted by the BIOS banner . The VD Mgmt screen appears by default. 2 On the VD Mgmt screen, highlight the Controller # . The controller number is the only item that appears until you import th[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 91 Y ou can use the F oreign Configuration V iew screen to manage for eign configurations in the following cases: • All the physical disks in a configuration are r emoved and re-inserted. • Some of the physical disks in a conf iguration are r emoved and re-inserted. • All the physical disks in a virtual disk are [...]

92 Configuring and Managing RAID NOTE: When you import a foreign c onfiguration, the dedicated hot spares in the configuration are im ported as dedicated hot spares on two conditions - the associated virtual disk is already present or the associated virtual disk is also im ported along with the configuration. NOTE: Start a consistency check i mmedi[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 93 Managing Preserved Cache If a virtual disk becomes offline or is deleted because of missing physical disks, the controller preserves the dirty cache from the virtual disk. This preserved dirty cache, known as pinned cache, is pr eserved until you import the virtual disk or discard the cache. NOTE: Certain operations[...]

94 Configuring and Managing RAID Managing Dedicated Hot Spares A dedicated hot spare automatically r eplaces a failed physical disk only in the selected disk group which the hot spare is part of. A dedicated hot spar e is used before a global hot spar e is used. Y ou can cr eate dedicated hot spares or delete them on the VD Mgmt screen. P erform th[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 95 Deleting Virtual Disks T o delete virtual disks, perform the fo llowing steps in the BIOS Configuration Utility . NOTE: Y ou cannot delete a virtual di sk during an initialization. NOTE: W arning messages are displayed stating the effect of deleting a virtual disk. Click OK twice to complete the virtual disk deletio[...]

96 Configuring and Managing RAID Resetting the Configuration Y ou can delete all virtual disks on t he R AID controller by performing this operation. T o r eset the configuration, perform the following steps in the BIOS Configuration Utility : 1 P ress <Ctrl><N> to access the VD Mgmt screen. 2 P ress <T ab> or use the arrow ke ys [...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 97 Virtual Disk Management (VD Mgmt) The V irtual Disk Management screen, VD Mgmt , is the first screen that displays when you access a R AID controller from the main menu screen on the BIOS Configuration Utility . In the T ree V iew , the left panel displays the menus for the virtual disk management, which are: • Co[...]

98 Configuring and Managing RAID Virtual Disks Disk Group # P roperties: • Number of virtuals disks (VD) • Number of physical disks (PD) • Space available in the virtual disk • Number of free segments • Number of dedicated hot spares Virtual Disk # Virtual Disk # P roperties: • RAID level (0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, or 60) • RAID status of t[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 99 NOTE: The List View of the Virtual Disk Management screen display s different options from the T ree View . Physical Disk # Physical Disk P roperties: •V e n d o r n a m e • Physical disk size • Physical disk state Disk Group # P roperties: • Number of virtuals disks (VD) • Number of physical disks (PD) ?[...]

100 Configuring and Managing RAID Virtual Disk Actions T able 6-4 describes the actions you can perform on virtual disks. F or procedures you can use to perform these actions, See "Physical Disk Management" on page 104. T able 6-4. Virtual Disk Actions Action Description Create a new virtual disk Creates a new virtual disk from one or mor[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 101 Phy sical Disk Mana gement (PD Mgmt) The Physical Disk Management screen, PD Mgmt , displays physical disk information and action menus. The screen displays physical disk IDs, vendor names, disk size, type, state, and disk group ( DG ). Y ou can sort the list of physical disks based on these headings. Y ou can perf[...]

102 Configuring and Managing RAID Rebuild Select Reb u il d to rebuild one or mor e failed physical disks. F or information on performing a physical disk rebuild, see "P erforming a Manual Rebuild of an Individual Physical Disk" on page 107. If no workload is placed on the storage subsystem, the controller rebuilds SAS drives at a rate of[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 103 Controller Management Actions T able 6-6 describes the actions you can perform on the Ctrl Mgmt screen. Foreign Configuration View When a foreign configuration is pr esent, you can select Fo r e i g n Configuration V iew to display the configuration. This scr een shows the foreign configuration as it would be if yo[...]

104 Configuring and Managing RAID The section "Importing or Clearing F oreign Configurations Using the F or eign Configuration View Scr een " on page 90 contains the procedures you can use to manage the foreign configurations. NOTE: The BIOS Configuration Utility report s error codes for fa iled imports of foreign configurations. Phy sica[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 105 P erform the following steps to cr eate global hot spares. 1 P ress <Ctrl><N> to access the PD Mgmt screen. A list of physical disks displays. The status of the each disk displays under the heading State . 2 P ress the down arrow key to highlight a physical disk to change to a global hot spare. 3 P ress[...]

106 Configuring and Managing RAID 4 P ress the down arrow key to select Remove Hot Spare from the list of actions and press <Enter>. The physical disk is changed to the Ready state. The status of the physical disk is displayed under the heading State . NOTE: T ry to use phy sical disks of the same capacity in a specific virtual disk. If you u[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 107 Restrictions and Limitations The following restrictions and limitations apply to the R eplace Member operation: • The Replace Member functions are r estricted to one per array for RAID 0, R AID 1, and RAID 5, and two per array for R AID 6. • The Replace Member function and rebuild cannot run simultaneously on a[...]

108 Configuring and Managing RAID 3 P ress <F2> to display a menu of available actions. The Rebuild option is highlighted at the top of the menu. 4 P ress the right arrow key to display the r ebuild options and select Start . 5 After you start the rebuild, pr ess <Esc> to display the previous menu. NOTE: Y ou can also use the VD Mgmt sc[...]

Configuring and Managing RAID 109 After you enable the BIOS for a controller , perform the following steps to enable the boot support for that controller . 1 P ress <Ctrl><N> to access the Ctrl Mgmt menu screen. 2 P ress <T ab> to move the cursor to the Select Bootable VD in the Settings box. 3 P ress the down arrow key to display[...]

110 Configuring and Managing RAID Restoring Factory Default Settings Y ou can use the Ctrl Mgmt menu scr een to restore the default settings for the options in the Settings box. The settings are Enable Controller BIOS , Enable Alarm , and Enable BIOS Stop on Error . P erform the following steps to restor e default settings. 1 P ress <Ctrl><[...]

T roubleshooting 111 T roubleshooting T o get help with your Dell™ P owerEdge™ Expandable R AID Controller (PERC) 6 and Dell Cost-Effective R AID Controller (CERC) 6/i controller , you can contact your Dell T echnical Service r epresentative or access the Dell Support website at support.dell.com . Post Error Messages The controller BIOS read-on[...]

112 T roubleshooti ng Adapter at Baseport xxxx is not responding where xxxx is the baseport of the controller If the controller does not respond for any r eason but is detected by the BIOS, it displays this warning and continues. T urn off the system and try to reseat the controller . If this messa ge is still displayed, contact Dell T echnical Sup[...]

T roubleshooting 113 Memory/Battery problems were detected. The adapter has recovered, but cached data was lost. Press any key to continue. This message occurs under the following conditions: • The adapter detects that the cache in the controller cache has not yet been written to the disk subsystem. • The controller detects an error-corr ecting[...]

114 T roubleshooti ng The foreign configuration message is always present during POST but no foreign configurations are present in the foreign view page in CTRL+R and all virtual disks are in an optimal state. Clear the foreign configuration using CTRL+R or Dell OpenManage™ Server Administrator Storage Management. NOTE: The phy sical disk goes to[...]

T roubleshooting 115 Multibit ECC errors were detected on the RAID controller. If you continue, data corruption can occur. Contact technical support to resolve this issue. Press 'X' to continue or else power off the system, replace the controller and reboot. This error is specific to PERC 6/i controller . Multi-bit ECC errors (MBE) occur [...]

116 T roubleshooti ng Physical disk removed: Physical Disk {x.x.x} Controller {x}, Connector {x} Device failed: Physical Disk {x.x.x} Controller {x}, Connector {x}". These two messages appe ar in the event log when you remove a dri ve. The first message indicates that the disk was removed and the second message indicates that the device has fa[...]

T roubleshooting 117 T able 7-2 describes the BBU-related erro r messages and warnings that display for the BIOS. V irtual Disks Degraded A redundant virtual disk is in a degr aded state when one or more physical disks has failed or is inaccessible. F or exampl e, a R AID 1 virtual disk consisting of two physical disks can sustain one physical disk[...]

118 T roubleshooti ng Memory Errors Memory errors can corrupt cached data, so the controllers are designed to detect and attempt to recover from these memory errors. Single-bit memory errors can be handled by the controller and do not dis rupt normal operation. A notification is sent if the number of single-b it errors ex ceeds a threshold value. M[...]

T roubleshooting 119 General Problems T able 7-3 describes general problems you might encounter , along with suggested solutions. T able 7-3. General Problems Problem Suggested Solution The device displays in Device Manager but has a yellow bang (ex clamation point). Reinstall the driver . S ee the driver installation procedures in the section &quo[...]

120 T roubleshooti ng Phy sical Disk Related Issues T able 7-4 describes physical disk-related problems you might encounter and the suggested solutions. T able 7-4. Phy sical Disk Issues Problem Suggested Solution One of the physical disks in the disk array is in the failed state. P erform the following actions to resolve this problem: • Check th[...]

T roubleshooting 121 Phy sical Disk Failures and Rebuilds T able 7-5 describes issues related to physical disk failur es and rebuilds. T able 7-5. Phy sical Disk Failure and Rebuild Issues Issue Suggested Solution Rebuilding the physical disks after multiple disks become simultaneously inaccessible. Multiple physical disk errors in a single array t[...]

122 T roubleshooti ng Rebuilding a physical disk after one of them is in a failed state. If you have configured hot spar es, the PERC 6 controller automatically tries to use one to rebuild a physical disk that is in a failed state. Manual rebui ld is necessary if no hot spar es with enough capacity to rebuild the failed physical disks ar e availabl[...]

T roubleshooting 123 SMART Errors T able 7-6 describes issues r elated to the Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting T echnology (SMAR T). SMAR T monitors the internal performance of all motors, heads, and physical disk electronics and detects predictable physical disk failures. NOTE: For information about where to find re ports of SMART errors tha[...]

124 T roubleshooti ng Replace Member Errors T able 7-7 describes issues related to the Replace Member feature. NOTE: For more information about the Replace Member features, see "Replacing an Online Physical Disk " on page 106 . A SMAR T error occurs during a Consistency Check (CC) Specify how the Consistency Check operation should perform[...]

T roubleshooting 125 Linux Operating Sy stem Errors T able 7-8 describes issues relate d to the Linux operating system. T able 7-8. Linux Operat ing Sy stem Errors Error Message Suggested Solution <Date:Time> <HostName> kernel: sdb: asking for cache data failed <Date:Time> <HostName> kernel: sdb: assuming drive cache: write [...]

126 T roubleshooti ng Driver does not auto-build into new kernel after customer updates. This error is a generi c problem for DKMS and applies to all DKMS-enabled driver packages. This issue occurs when you perform the following steps: 1 Install a DKMS-enabled driver package. 2 R un up2date or a similar tool to upgrade the kernel into the latest ve[...]

T roubleshooting 127 Controller LED Indicators The external SAS ports on the PER C 6/E adapter have a port status LED per x4 SAS port. This bicolor LED displays the status of any external SAS port. The LED indicates whether all links are functional or only partial links ar e functional. T able 7-9 describes the patterns for the PERC 6/E adapter por[...]

128 T roubleshooti ng Drive Carrier LED Indicators The LED on the physical disk carrier ind icates the state of each physical disk. Each drive carrier in your enclosure has two LEDs: an activity LED (gr een) and a bicolor (green/amber) status LED as shown in F igure 7-1. The activity LED flashes whenever the drive is accessed. Figure 7-1. Drive Car[...]

T roubleshooting 129 Amber flashing (125 ms) Drive has failed Green/amber fla shing Green On 500 ms Amber On 500 ms Off 1000 ms P redicted failure reported by drive Green flashing Green On 3000 ms Off 3000 ms Amber On 3000 ms Off 3000 ms Drive being spun down by user request or other non-failure condition T able 7-10. Drive Carrier Status LEDs (con[...]

130 T roubleshooti ng Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 130 Wednesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

Regulatory Notices 131 Regulatory Notices F or additional regulatory informati on, please go to the Regulatory Compliance Homepage on www .dell.com at the following location: www .dell.com/regulatory_compliance . Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 131 Wednesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

132 Regulatory Notices Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 132 Wednesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

Regulatory Notices 133 Corporate Contact Details (T aiwan Only) Pursuant to Article 11 of the Commodity Inspec tion Act, Dell provides the following corporate contact details for the certified entity in T aiw an for the products addressed by this document: Dell B.V . T aiwan Branch 20/F , No . 218, Sec. 2, T ung Hwa S. Road, Ta i p e i , Ta i w a n[...]

134 Regulatory Notices Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 134 Wednesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]

Glossary 135 Glossary A Adapter An adapter enables the computer system to access peripheral devices by converting the protocol of one bus or inter face to another . An adapter may also provide specialized function. F or example, a R AID controller is a type of adapter that provides R AID functions. Adapters m ay reside on the system board or be an [...]

136 Glossary Battery Backup Unit (BBU) The battery backup unit protects the integrity of the cached data on the controller by providing backup power if there is a complete A C power failure or a brief power outage. BIOS Acronym for basic input/output system . Y our computer's BIOS contains programs stored on a flash memory ch ip. The BIOS cont[...]

Glossary 137 Caching The process of utilizing a high speed memo ry buffer , referr ed to as a “cache,” in order to speed up the overall r ead or write performance. This cache can be accessed at a higher speed than a disk subsystem. T o improve r ead performance, the cache usually contains the most recently accessed data, as well as data from ad[...]

138 Glossary Disk Array A collection of disks from one or more disk subsystems combined using a configuration utility . The utility controls the disks and presents them to the array operating environment as one or more logical drives. Disk Group A logical grouping of disks attached to a R A ID controller on which one or more virtual disks can be cr[...]

Glossary 139 DUD Acronym for driver update diskette. A DUD is an image of a disk ette stored as a regular file. T o use it, you have to create the content to a r eal diskette from this file. The steps used to create the disk ette depend on how the image is supplied. E ECC Errors Acronym for error correcting code. ECC errors occur in the memory and [...]

140 Glossary Fault T olerance F ault tolerance is the capability of the disk subsystem to undergo a single drive failure per disk group without compromising data integrity and processing capability . The PERC 6 controllers pr ovide this support through r edundant virtual disks in R AID levels 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60. F ault tolerance is often assoc[...]

Glossary 141 H Host Sy stem Any system on which the R AID contro ller is installed. Mainframes, workstations, and personal systems can all be consider ed host systems. Hot Spare An idle, powered on, stand-by physical di sk r eady for immediate use in case of disk failure. It does not contain any user data. A hot spar e can be dedicated to a single [...]

142 Glossary Inter -IC Inter -IC, also known as I 2 C, is a multi-master bus, meaning that more than one chip can be connected to the same bu s. Each chip can act as a master and initiate a data transfer . L Load-balancing Load balancing is a method of spreading work between two or more computers, network links, CPUs, physical disk drives , or othe[...]

Glossary 143 Mirroring The process of providing complete redundancy using two physical disks, by maintaining an exact copy of one physi cal disk’s data on the second physical disk. If one physical disk fails, the conten ts of the other physical disk can be used to maintain the integrity of the sy stem and to rebuild the failed physical disk. Mult[...]

144 Glossary Ns Acronym for nanosecond(s), one billionth of a second. NVRAM Acronym for non-volatile random access memory . A storage system that does not lose the data stored on it when pow er is r emoved. NVRAM is used to stor e configuration data on the R AID controller . O Offline A physical disk is offline when it is pa rt of a virtual disk bu[...]

Glossary 145 sets. In R AID, this method is applied to entire physical disks or stripe elements across all physical disks in a virtual disk. P arity consists of dedicated parity , in which the parity of the data on two or more physical disks is stor ed on an additional physical disk, and distributed parity , in which the parity data are distributed[...]

146 Glossary Phy sical Disk States A physical disk can be in one of the following states: • Un-configured Good: A disk access ible to the R AID controller but not configured as a part of a vi rtual disk or as a hot spar e. • Hot Spare: A physical disk that is configur ed as a hot spare. • Online: A physical disk can be accessed by the R AID c[...]

Glossary 147 R RAID Acronym for Redundant Array of Indepe ndent Disks (originally Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks). It is an array of multiple independent physical disks managed together to yield higher reliability and/or performance e xceeding that of a single physical disk. The virtual disk appears to the operating system as a single storage[...]

148 Glossary Read-Ahead A memory caching capability in some co ntrollers that allows them to read sequentially ahead of requested data and stor e the additional data in cache memory , anticipating that the ad ditional data is required soon. Read-Ahead supplies sequential data faster , but is no t as effective when accessing random data. Rebuild The[...]

Glossary 149 T ypically , a physical disk fails or is expect ed to fail, and the data is r ebuilt on a hot spare. The failed physical disk is r eplaced with a new disk. Then the data is copied from the hot spare to the new physical disk, and the hot spar e reverts from a rebuild drive to its orig inal hot spar e status. The Re pl a ce M e mb e r op[...]

150 Glossary SA T A Acronym for Serial Advanced T echnology Attachment. A physical storage interface standard, is a serial link that provides point-to-point connections between devices. The thinner serial cab les allow for better airflow within the system and permit smaller chassis designs. SCSIport The SCSIport driver is a feature of the Microsoft[...]

Glossary 151 Spanning The method by which nested R AID leve ls (such as RAID 10, 50, and 60) ar e constructed from multiple sets of basic, or single R AID levels. F or example, a R AID 10 is made up of multiple sets of RA ID 1 arrays where each R AID 1 set is considered a span. Data is then striped (R AID 0) across the RAID 1 spans to create a R AI[...]

152 Glossary Stripe Element Size The total disk space consumed by a str ipe not including a parity disk. F or example, consider a stripe that contains 64 KB of disk space and has 16 KB of data residing on each disk in the stripe. In this case, the stripe element size is 16 KB and the stripe size is 64 KB. Striping Disk striping writes data across a[...]

Index 153 Index B background initialization, 25, 135 stopping, 1 0 7 baseport, 135 battery installing transportable battery backup, 4 5 management, 3 0 removing from PER C 5/E Adapter , 5 3 BIOS, 103, 136 BIOS Configuration Utility , 79, 101-103, 136 controller management, 1 0 2 F oreign V iew menu, 1 0 3 menu navigation controls, 8 0 menu options,[...]

154 Index E electrostatic discharge. See ESD ESD, 12 F fault tolerance, 34 features, 3 4 foreign configuration, 103 F oreign Configuration V iew , 103 H hot swap, 141 hot swapping, 36 I initialization, 141 L LED behavior patterns, 1 2 7 operation, 2 7 M manual rebuild, 107 N NetW are driver installation, 75 Novell NetW are drivers, 6 3 Novell Netwa[...]

Index 155 physical disks a c t i o n s , 101 management, 1 0 1 post error messages, 111 R R AID, 141 configuration, 7 7 configuration and management, 7 7 configuration functions, 8 3 configuration information, 3 4 d e f i n i t i o n , 17, 147 description, 1 7 level migration, 1 4 7 l e v e l s , 17, 100, 147 management, 7 7 p a r i t y , 145 summa[...]

Index 156 W Wi n d o w s , 6 3 drivers, 6 3 updating drivers, 6 8 W indows XP Driver Installation on an Existing System, 7 6 write policy , 84 Dell_PERC6.1_UG.book Page 156 Wednesday, April 15, 2009 4:18 PM[...]