Dell PERC S300 manual

Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S100, PERC S300 User’ s Guide A5_bk0.book Page 1 Thursday, February 10 , 2011 8:34 PM[...]

Notes, Cautions, and W arnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer . CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if instructions are not followed. WAR N IN G: A WARNING indicates a potential f or property damage, personal injury , or death. ______________ ______ [...]

Contents 3 Contents 1 W ARNING: Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . 7 SAFETY : General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 SAFETY : When W orking Inside Y our Sy stem . . . . . . . 8 Protecting Against Electrostatic Discha rge . . . . . . . 9 2O v e r v i e w . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Introduction . . . . . . [...]

4 Contents General Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Installing the PERC S300 Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Connect Phy sical Disks to the PERC S300 Adapter . . . 35 Complete the Hardware Installation . . . . . . . . . . 35 5 Installing the Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Installing the Microsoft Windows Drivers . . [...]

Contents 5 Supported RAID Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Virtual Di sk Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 9 Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 RAID T echnology - Understanding Disk Array s and V irtual Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 10 Appendix C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

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W ARNING: Safety Instructions 7 1 W ARNING: Safety Instructions Use the following safety guidelines to help ensure your own personal safety and to help protect your syst em and working enviro nment from potential damage. WAR N IN G: Do not expose the Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) S300 adapter to liquids. T o reduce risk of fire h[...]

8 W ARNING: Safety Instructions SAFETY : General Observe and follow service markings: • Do not service any product ex cept as explained in the user documentation. Opening or removing covers that ar e ma rked with a triangular symbol with a lightning bolt might expose you to electrical shock. Components inside these compartments must be serviced o[...]

W ARNING: Safety Instructions 9 In addition, take note of these sa fety guideline s when appropriate: • When you disconnect any cabl e, pull on its connector or on its strain-r elief loop, not on the cable itself. Some ca bles have a connector with locking tabs. If you ar e disconnecting this type of cable, press in on the locking tabs before dis[...]

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Overview 11 2 Overview Introduction The Dell P owerEdge RAID Controller (P ERC) S300 provides an integrated softwar e R AID solution for Dell P owerEdge V alue Servers. The PER C S300 controllers support SAS and SA T A interfaces. Containing two internal connectors with four ports each, the PERC S300 adapter features eight ports for connecting driv[...]

12 Overview This document is intended for use by system administrators and technicians who are familiar with the storage sy stem installation and confi guration. P rer equisites for configuring and using th e controller include fami liarity with: • Servers and computer networks • RAID technology • Storage-interface technology , such as SAS an[...]

Overview 13 Supported Platforms T able 2-1. Dell Sy stems and Support Matrix for the PERC S100 Adapter and PERC S300 Adapter PowerEdge Server PERC Controller , with Chipset and Adapter Support per Pl atform P owerEdge R210 PERC S100 adapter – Intel Ibe x P eak chipsets PERC S300 adapter – Dell 3Gb/s SAS Adapter P owerEdge R210 II PERC S100 adap[...]

14 Overview Platform Requirements for the PE RC S100 Controller and PERC S300 Controller T able 2-2. Platform Requirements — PERC S1 00 Controller or PE RC S300 Controller Component Requirements P rocessor x86, 32-bit compatible processor gr eater than 500 MHz. Memory 512 MB or greater . Physical disk At least one Hard Disk Drives (HDD) or Solid [...]

Overview 15 Operating systems • Micro soft W indows Esse ntial Busine ss Server (x64 ) • Microso ft W indows Server 2008 Datace nter Edition (x64) • Microso ft W indows Server 2008 Enterp rise Edition (x64 ) • Microso ft W indows Server 2008 Enterp rise Edition (x86 ) • Microso ft W indows Server 2008 F oundation • Microso ft W indows S[...]

16 Overview • Microsoft W i ndows Serv er 2008 W eb Edition (x64 ) • Microsoft W i ndows Serv er 2008 W eb Edition (x86 ) • Microsoft W i ndows Small Business Server 2008 • Microsoft W indows Small Business Server 2008 SP2 • Microsoft W indows Small Business Server 2003 R2 SP2 (x86 or x6 4) • Microsoft W i ndows Small Business Server 20[...]

Overview 17 About RAID A RAID dis k ar ra y is a gro up of i nd epe nd ent physical disks that provides high performance by increasing the number of drives used for saving and accessing data. A R AID disk subsystem improves I/O performance and data availability . The physical disks appear to the host syst em either as a single storage unit or multi[...]

18 Overview RAID T erminology Disk Striping Di sk s tr ip in g al lo w s y ou to w ri te d at a across multiple physical disks instead of just one physical disk. Disk striping in volves partitioning each physical disk storage space into stripes of the variou s sizes. These stripes are interleaved in a repe ated sequential manner . The part of the s[...]

Overview 19 NOTE: Mirrored phy sical disks improve read performance by read load balancing. NOTE: The PERC S300 controller only supports ph y sical disks (SAS and SA T A ). SSD devices cannot be migrated to a PERC S300 controller . Figure 2-2. Example of Disk Mirrori ng (RAID 1) Spanned RAID Levels Spanning is a term used to describe the way in whi[...]

20 Overview Figure 2-3. Example of Distributed Parit y (RAID 5) stripe element1 stripe element2 s tripe element3 stripe element4 s tripe element5 parity (1-5) stripe element7 stripe element8 s tripe element9 stripe element10 parity (6-10) stripe element6 stripe element13 stripe element14 stripe element15 parity (11-15) s tripe element11 stripe elem[...]

Features 21 3 Features General Features The features of the Dell P owerEdg e R AID Controller (PERC) S100 and PERC S300 adapter are described in T able 3-1. NOTE: BAS, BGI, CC and OCE run only on the operating sy stem. T able 3-1. Features of the PERC S100 controller and PERC S300 controller RAID Controller Feature Descrip tion Automatic virtual di[...]

22 Features Boot support for RAI D levels Allows boot support for V olume, RAID 0, RAID 1, R AID 5, and R AID 10. Boot support for degraded virtual disks Enables the system to boot from degraded redundant virtual disks (RAI D 1, R AID 5, or R A ID 10). Cache support for virtual disks Supports these cache options: None , Rea d On l y , Rea d/ W r i [...]

Features 23 Consistency check (CC) A consistency check is a background operation that verifies and corrects the mirror or parity data for fault-tolerant physical disks. It is recommen ded that you periodically run a consistency check on the physical disks. By default, a consistency chec k corrects mirror or parity inconsistencies. After the data is[...]

24 Features Mirror rebuilding A broken mirror can be rebuilt after a new physical disk is inserted and the physical disk is designated as a hot spare. The system does not have to be rebooted. Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) OCE is a process that allows you to add storage capacity to an existing virtual disk. In most ca ses additional storage capaci[...]

Features 25 • In a brief warning at the Dell Inc. PER C S100 Controller BIOS or Dell Inc. PER C S300 Controller BIOS screen, that a virtual disk(s) were found that ar e Degraded and/or Fa i l e d . This alerts the user to the failed ph ysical disk(s ). • At Dell OpenManage Ser ver Adminis trator Storage Manage ment. • W ith a bi-color Status [...]

26 Features Physical disk roaming The controller supp orts moving a physical disk from one backplane slot or cable connection to another (on the same controller). The controller automatically recognizes the repositioned physical disk and lo gically places it in the proper order . WAR N IN G: A virtual disk is lost if you pe rform disk roaming while[...]

Features 27 Virtual disks (general) Up to eight virtual disks ar e supported. The PERC S100 adapter and PER C S300 adapter allows: • Cr eating virtual disks of differ ent R AID levels on a single controller . • Cr eating differ ent R AID lev el virtual disks on the sam e physical disk, to adapt each vi rtual disk to the I/O that it processes. ?[...]

28 Features Virtual disk migration The controller supports automatic virtual disk migration from a PERC S100 adapter to a PERC S30 0 adapter (or vice versa). Manual intervention for migration is not requir ed or used by the PERC S100 adapter or PERC S300 adapter. CAUTION: Before starting a virtual di sk migration, power - down both sy stems before [...]

Features 29 Specifications T able 3-2 compares the specifications of the PER C S100 adapter and PER C S300 adapter. T able 3-2. Specifications for the PERC S100 adapter and PERC S300 adapter Specification PERC S100 adapter PERC S300 adapter SAS technology No Y es S A TA t e c h n o l o g y Ye s Ye s eSA T A technology Y es No SSD technology Y es No[...]

30 Features *SMAR T is supported under the W indows Driver but is not supported with Unified Extensible F irmware Interface (UEFI) and CTRL-R. The SWR AID SMAR T drive status shows as "Degra ded" in OpenManage Storage Services (OMSS). Software-based R AID V olume, RAID 1, RAI D 0 , RA I D 5, RAI D 1 0 V olume, RAI D 1, RAI D 0 , RA ID 5 ,[...]

Hardware Installation 31 4 Hardware Installation Before Y ou Begin This chapter describes how to install the Dell P owerEdge RA ID Controller (PERC) S300 adapter . NOTE: The PERC S100 controller is an integral component of the motherboard. Hardware installation instructions are not required for a sy stem with a PERC S100 controller. General Conside[...]

32 Hardware Installation Installing the PERC S300 Adapter NOTE: The procedure to open a sy stem and add parts might vary from sy stem to sy stem. For more information, see the Hardware Owner's Manual of the sy stem on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com/manuals . 1 Unpack the PERC S300 Adapter and check it for damage. NOTE: If the PER[...]

Hardware Installation 33 Figure 4-1. Install ing a PERC S300 Adapter 1 bracket screw 2 PERC S300 Adapter 3 PCI-E slot 4 filler bracket 5 PCI bracket 1 2 3 4 5 A5_bk0.book Page 33 Thursday , February 10, 2011 8:34 PM[...]

34 Hardware Installation Figure 4-2. Connecti ng the Cables 1 cables to the phy sical disks (applies to sy stems with a PERC S300 adapter) or to backplanes (applies only to sy stems with a PERC S300 modular) 2 SAS/SA T A x4 internal connectors (2) 3 PERC S300 Adapter 1 2 3 A5_bk0.book Page 34 Thursday , February 10, 2011 8:34 PM[...]

Hardware Installation 35 Connect Phy sical Disks to the PERC S300 Adapter WAR N IN G: Critical sy stem components might be damaged if the installe r is not properly grounded to prevent electrost atic discharge (ESD). NOTE: Use either the standard power connector or , if available on the power supply , a SA T A/SA T A II power connector . Do not use[...]

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Installing the Drivers 37 5 Installing the Drivers The Dell P owerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S100 or PER C S100 adapter r equire controller drivers to oper ate with the s upported oper ating systems. This chapter contains the procedures for installing the controller drivers for the follow ing operating s ystems: • Microsoft W indows Server 2008 [...]

38 Installing the Drivers 7 Use the blank optical medium to burn the ISO image. 8 Download the files for the PERC S100 adapter or PER C S300 adapter to the driver media, as indicated in Figur e 5-1. Pre-Installation Requirements for the Controller Drivers • Make sure that your system has the latest BIOS and firmware updates from the Dell Support [...]

Installing the Drivers 39 T able 5-2. Pre-Installation Procedures For The Controller Drivers Procedure Steps 1 Confir m or chan ge configur ation sett ings at the Dell P owerEdge System window a Boot the system. When the Dell P ower -On Self - T est (POST) screen appears, press <F2>. b Wa i t u n t i l t h e Dell P owerEdge System window appe[...]

40 Installing the Drivers 4 Create a bo otable virtual dis k See "Creating Virtual Disks" on page 51. 5 Check c ontroller options and the boot list priority a At the PERC S100 V irtual Disk Man agement utili ty or PERC S300 Virtual Disk Management utility , u se the arrow keys to se lect Controller Options . P r ess <Enter>. Make su[...]

Installing the Drivers 41 6 Change t he Boot Priority List for Devices (if applicable) T o change the or der of the devices (CD-ROM, optical DVD, and so on), perform the following: NOTE: Unless mentioned otherwise, the term PERC V irtual Disk Management utility refers to bot h the PERC S100 Vi rtual Disk Management utility and th e PERC S300 Virtua[...]

42 Installing the Drivers Installing the Controller Drivers During the Ope rating Sy stem Installation: For Sy stems with a PERC S100 Adapter CAUTION: The latest firmware, drivers and applications must be installed whenever the controller software is upgraded. A previous version of the driver might not work with the latest controller software and v[...]

Installing the Drivers 43 F or Microsoft Windows Server 2003: a Insert the floppy disk that contains the files copied at "Downloading the Controller Driver Media" on page 37. (An external USB floppy disk drive can be used, if your system does not have a built-in floppy disk drive). b Pre s s < F 6 > on the keyboar d, when prompted a[...]

44 Installing the Drivers Installing the Controller Drivers During the Ope rating Sy stem Installation: For Sy stems with a PERC S300 Adapter CAUTION: The latest firmware, drivers and applications must be installed whenever the controller software is upgraded. A previous version of the driver might not work with the latest controller software and v[...]

Installing the Drivers 45 c W ait until the Wind o ws S e tup screen appears with S = Specify Additional Device . Pr ess <S> on the keyboard. d Insert the requested media disk (as applicable) an d press <Enter>. 8 At the Select the driver to be installed window , select Dell PERC S100, S300 Controller... Click Next to load the driver fi[...]

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RAID Configuration and Management 47 6 RAID Configuration and Management The Dell P owerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S100 and PERC S100 adapter are configur ed by using the PERC S100 Virtual Disk Management utility or PERC S300 V irtual Disk Management utilit y . The utility is accessed at system startup, when you ar e prompted to press <Ctrl>[...]

48 RAID Configuration an d Management Accessing the PERC V irtual Disk Management Utility 1 Boot the system and wait until the message Press <Ctrl><R> to Configure appears. 2 P ress <C trl><R>. Y ou hav e a maximum of three seco nds to pres s <Ctrl><R>, or the system’s boot process continues. CAUTION: If SA T A[...]

RAID Configuration and Management 49 The utility contains these fields: • An information field (yellow or red te xt): Located below the window name and the current build number . • Virtual Disks : Displays the virtua l disks that have be en created and information about them: vir tual disk number , R AID level, virtual disk size, virtual disk s[...]

50 RAID Configuration an d Management Initializing Phy sical Disks New physical disks must be ini tialized be fore the y can be us ed. Initial ization writes controller configuration in format ion to the ph ysical disk . Physical disks with the followin g statuses can be initialized: • Non-RAID — A physical disk that was configured by a non-PER[...]

RAID Configuration and Management 51 CAUTION: If a phy sical disk has a virtual disk on it, the phy sical disk cannot be selected for initialization. T o initialize the phy sical disk anyway , make sure to delete the virtual disk. Be sure you want to initialize the phy sical disk, because all data on it (including PERC S100 adapter or PERC S300 ada[...]

52 RAID Configuration an d Management 4 At the Physical Disks field, select the physical disk(s) on which to create a virtual disk: a F or each physical disk, press the <I nsert> k ey to sele ct the physical disk. (The physical disks can be inser ted in any order .) b After selecting the physic al d isk(s) to be included in the virtual dis k,[...]

RAID Configuration and Management 53 NOTE: If you want to have a bootable virtual di sk, make sure that INT 13 support is enabled on the controller , as described in "Controller Options" on page 58. Deleting V irtual Disks CAUTION: Although any virtual disk in the Virtual Disks field can be deleted, including the first- listed virtual dis[...]

54 RAID Configuration an d Management configuration information with the existing configuration informat ion. The previously deleted virtual disk re-appears in the PERC V irtual Disk Manage ment utility . CAUTION: Make sure that all phy sical disks that are part of a virtual disk are in the sy stem before you delete the virtual disk. 1 P ower-up th[...]

RAID Configuration and Management 55 Swapping T wo Virtual Disks Use the Swap T wo V irtual Disks option of the PERC V irtual Disk Management utility to arrange virtual disks in a different or der . CAUTION: Do not swap the first-listed virtual disk at V irtual Disks if it is the sy stem’ s bootable virtual disk. The bootable virtual di sk must a[...]

56 RAID Configuration an d Management Managing Global Hot Spares This option enables you to create a glo bal hot spare from a selected phys ical disk, or to delete a global hot spare. NOTE: A global hot spare can be created only if a phy sical disk is in Ready or Normal status at the Phy sical Disks field. If the phy sical disk is in Online status,[...]

RAID Configuration and Management 57 Viewing Phy sical Disk Details 1 P ower-up the system to start booting. 2 When prompted, press the <Ctrl><R> keys to access the PERC V irtual Disk Management utility . 3 At the Main Menu field, select View Physical Disk Details . P ress <Enter>. 4 Use the arrow keys to choose a physical disk. 5[...]

58 RAID Configuration an d Management Rescanning Disks This option en ables you to rescan al l channels and detect new or r emoved physical disks or virtual disks. • T o perform a rescan, select Rescan Disks from the Main Menu field and press <Enter>. (The activity indica tor , in the information field at the top of the window , spins while[...]

RAID Configuration and Management 59 Continuing to Boo t After using the PERC V irtual Disk Management utility , return the system to its normal booting process by selecting Continue to Boot in the Main Menu field and pressing <Ent er>. Pause if Degraded When ON , the BIOS stops booting when a degraded virtual disk is found. P ress <Enter&[...]

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T roubleshooting 61 7 T roubleshooting T o get help with yo ur Dell P ower Edge RAID Contro ller (PE RC) PERC S100 adapter and PERC S300 adapter, contact your Dell T echnical Service repr esentative or access the Dell Support W eb site at support.dell.com . The chapter discusses four major categories of troubleshooting: • Normal tasks that cannot[...]

62 T roubleshooting Boot Mode , Boot Sequence , and/or Boot Sequence R etry are set incorrectly 1 At system star tup, when the Dell POST screen appears, press <F2> to enter the Dell Inc. Po w e r E d g e B I O S screen. 2 Scroll to Boot Settings . Pr ess <Enter> a nd make sure that Boot Mode is set to BIOS . 3 Scroll to Boot Sequence . [...]

T roubleshooting 63 A Non-Raid virtual disk is no longer in the first position in the PERC V irtual Disk Management utility list after the system is rebooted NOTE: When booting from a Non-Raid virtual disk, creating a virtual disk in Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Storage Management changes the virtual disk order and displaces the bootable No[...]

64 T roubleshooting Warning Messages: Dell Inc. PERC S100 Adapter or Dell Inc. PERC S300 Adapter BIOS Screen The Dell Inc. PERC S100 Controller BIOS scr een or Dell Inc. PER C S300 Controller B IOS screen is one of the first screens to appear during your system’s boot sequence. If the system ’s virtual disks were in Normal or Read y status befo[...]

T roubleshooting 65 T able 7-3. Warning Messages: Del l Inc. PERC S100 or PERC S3 00 Adapter BIOS Warning Messa ge Corrective Action WARNING: Found virtual disks that are Degraded This warning message appears when at least one virtual disk is in a Degraded state and Pause if D egraded is set to ON at the PERC Virtua l Disk Management u tility . The[...]

66 T roubleshooting T able 7-4. W arning Messages: Dell Inc. PERC S100 or S300 Ada pter BIOS (continued) Warnin g Message Corrective Action WARNING: Found virtual disks that are Failed This warning message appears when at least one virtual disk is in a Fa i l e d state and Pause if Failed is set to ON at the PERC V irtual Disk Management utility . [...]

T roubleshooting 67 T able 7-5. Warning Messages: Del l Inc. PERC S100 or S300 Adapter BIOS (continued) Warning Messa ge Corrective Action WARNING: Found virtual disks that are Degraded and Failed This warning message appears when multiple virtual disks are in Degrad ed and Fa i l e d state and Pause if Degraded or Pause if Failed ar e set to ON at[...]

68 T roubleshooting T able 7-6. W arning Messages: Dell Inc. PERC S100 or S300 Ada pter BIOS (continued) Warnin g Message Corrective Action BIOS NOT INSTALLED - User Disabled INT13 BIOS Load This warning message appears when: • The INT13 Boot Support option has been set to OFF at the PERC V irtual Disk Management uti lity . Bootable devices do no[...]

T roubleshooting 69 T able 7-7. Other Errors Appearing on the BIOS Issue Likely Causes to Check Corrective Actions The R AID 0 goes offline and the RAID 1 becomes degraded in a P owerEdge R210 system with two drives. F aulty physical disk 1 Boot system into CTLR-R and rep la ce fa ul ty d ri ve . 2 Delete the failed R AID 0 and then create a new R [...]

70 T roubleshooting Vi rtual Disk-Related Errors Use the informa tion on the follow ing tables as guideline s for troubleshooting the controller . S100 rom option not visible during S300 controller use in the system. S100 and S300 co- existence in the sa me system is not supported. S100 option rom becomes disabled when S100 and S300 are available. [...]

T roubleshooting 71 The desired physical disk is unavailable Determine whether the physical disk: • Is a dedicated hot spare and unavailable for use in another virtual disk. • Is full or has insufficient available capacity . The system alr eady has a maximum of eight virtual disks Delete unused virtual disks. CAUTION: Deleting a virtual disk de[...]

72 T roubleshooting T able 7-10. A Vi rtual Disk is in a Degraded State Likely Causes to Check Corrective Actions A physical disk was removed • Install the original ph ysical disk, if it was inadvertently r emoved , or replac e it with a new o r used physical disk. • Initialize a new physical disk. P erform a Res ca n for all physical disks tha[...]

T roubleshooting 73 T able 7-11. Cannot Assign a Dedicated Hot Spare to a V irtual Disk Likely Causes to Check Corrective Actions The R AID level does not allow a dedicated hot spare to be cr eated Hot spares cannot be cr eated for V olume or RAID 0 virtual disks. The designated physical disk does not have sufficient capacity to be a dedicated hot [...]

74 T roubleshooting The physical disk is already part of a virtual disk A glo bal ho t sp are can not b e sele cted i f it i s alre ady part of an existing virtual disk. The physical di sk assigned as th e global hot spare has failed When prompted at system startup, press <Ctrl><R>to ac cess the PERC V irtual Disk Management utility . A[...]

T roubleshooting 75 Phy sical Disk-Related Errors T able 7-13. The Phy sical Disk Fails Likely Causes to Check Corrective Actions A physical disk is not visible in the PERC V irtual Disk Management utility or is offline • Check that the cabl es are properl y connecte d. • F or PERC S300 adapters only : check that the physical disk is installed [...]

76 T roubleshooting T able 7-15. The Wrong Phy sical Disk was Removed Likely Causes to Check Corrective Actions A physical disk has been removed from a virtual disk The r emoval of one physical disk from a virtual disk causes: • A V ol ume or RAID 0 virtual d isk to change to Fa i l e d status. • A RA I D 1 an d RA I D 5 vi rt u a l d i sk t o [...]

Appendix A 77 A Appendix A Controller Specifications This section contai ns information about the Dell P owerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S100 and S300 adapter specifications: • Read, write, and cache policy • Physical and virtua l disk tasks • Virtual disk specifications • Supported RAID levels Read, Write, and Cache Policy T able A-1 indic[...]

78 Appendix A Controller T asks T able A-2 indicates the tasks that ar e supported or not supported by the PERC S100 Adapter and PERC S300 adapter. Phy sical Disk T asks T able A-3 indicates the physical disk tasks that ar e supported/not supported by the controllers at the PER C Vi rtual Disk Management util ity . NOTE: Unless mentioned otherwise,[...]

Appendix A 79 Vi r t u a l D i s k T a s k s T able A-4 indicates the virt ual disk tasks that are s upported/not supported by the controllers. Supported RAID Levels T able A-5 indicates the RAID levels th at are supported by the PERC S100 Adapter and PER C S300 adapter. T able A-4. Virtual Disk T asks Virtual Disk T ask Name Supported by PERC S100[...]

80 Appendix A Vi rtual Disk Specifications T able A-6 indicates the virtual disk specifications that apply to the PERC S100 Adapter and PERC S300 adapter. T able A-6. V irtual Disk Specifications for the PERC S100 adapt er and PERC S300 adapter Virtu al Disk Specification V alue Maximum number of virtual disks per controller 8 Minimum virtual disk [...]

Appendix B 81 B Appendix B RAID T echnology - Understanding Disk Array s and V irtual Disks A disk array consists of the physical disks that are connected to a controller . A vir tual disk is data storage created by a controller from one or more physical disks. The virtual disk is viewed by the operating system as a single disk. The Dell P owerEdge[...]

82 Appendix B Understanding RAID Levels A PERC S100 controller or PERC S300 controller supports the following RAI D le v e ls : T able B-1. RAID Levels and Ch aracteristics RAID Level Main Characteristics Advantages Vo l u m e ( c a n b e created o nly using the PERC S100 V irtual Disk Management utility or PER C S300 Vir tu al Di s k Management ut[...]

Appendix B 83 RAID 1 (mirroring) Mirrors data on one physical disk to another , to provide basic redundancy . In the event of a single physical disk failure a second copy of the data e xists, which can be used to restore the data to a new , replacemen t physical disk. Useful when only two physical disks are available, and when data integrity is mor[...]

84 Appendix B Disk States - V irtual an d Phy sical Disks The following tables indicate the stat uses that can appear at the PER C Virtual Disk Management utility . RA ID 5 (striping with parity) Stripes data, as well as parity , across all physical disks in the virtual disk. P arity information is interspersed across the virtual disk. In the event[...]

Appendix B 85 Failure States Whether a virtual disk is marked as Fa i l e d or Degraded depends upon what R AID level virtual disk it is, and how many physical dis ks of the virtual disk have failed. In T able B-4 note the changes in state. If a r escan of all channels i s performe d after disconnecting a physical disk, the state of every virtual d[...]

86 Appendix B Creating Virtual Disks: Future Expansion When creating virtual disks, consider wh ether or not the virtual disk capacity needs to be expanded in the future. Fo r a Microsoft W indows operating system, format the virtua l disks with New T echnology F ile System (NTFS). Microsoft Corporation provides a ut ility (diskpart.ex e) that can [...]

Appendix B 87 Rescanning Phy sical Disks for Changes in State The physical disk information disp layed at the PERC V irtual Disk Management utility is the state of the physical disks when they were last scanned. If a rescan has not been perf ormed, the information displayed is the state of the physical disks at boot time. Every time a physical disk[...]

88 Appendix B Global Hot Spares A global hot spare is a backup physical disk that can be used by any redundant virtual disk. It is not assigned (dedicated) to an y specific virtual disk. Virtual disks can typically be r ebuilt by us ing a global spare disk, as long as the global hot spar e is not alr eady part of the vi rtual disk and has enough av[...]

Appendix C 89 C Appendix C Regulatory Notices Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) is any signal or emission, radiated in free space or conducted along power or signa l leads, that endangers the functioning of a radio navig ation or othe r safety service or seriously degrades, obstructs, or r epeatedly interrupts a licensed radio communications servi[...]

90 Appendix C Dell computers ar e designed, te sted, and classified for their in tended electromagnetic enviro nment. These el ectromagnetic envir onment classifications generally refer to th e following harmonized definitions: • Class A is typ ically for business or industrial environmen ts. • Class B is typically for residential environments.[...]

Appendix C 91 FCC, Class B This product generates, uses, and can ra diate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and us ed in accor dance with the manufacturer’s instruction manual, may cause interfer ence with radio and television r eception. This product has been tested and found to comply with the limits f or a Class B digital device pur[...]

92 Appendix C The following information is provided on the device or devices covered in this document in compliance with FCC r egulations: Industry Canada No tice (Canada Only) Industry Canada, Clas s A This Class A digital apparatus co mplies with Canadian ICES-003. Cet appareil numérique de la classe A est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada.[...]

Appendix C 93 • EN 61000-3-2 — "Electromagnetic Compatibility - P art 3: Limits - Section 2: Limits for Harmonic Current Emi ssions (Equipment Input Current Up to and Including 16 A P er Phase)." • EN 61000-3-3 — "Electromagnetic Compatibility - P art 3: Limits - Section 3: Limitation of V oltage Fluctuations and Flicker in L[...]

94 Appendix C CE Mark Notice This equipmen t complies wi th the essentia l requirements of the European Union Directive 1999/5/EC. A5_bk0.book Page 94 Thursday , February 10, 2011 8:34 PM[...]

Appendix D 95 D Appendix D Contacting Dell F or customers in the United States, call 800- WWW -DELL (800-999-3355). NOTE: If you do not have an active Internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell product catalog. Dell provides several online and teleph one-based support and service opti[...]

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Index 97 Index B background initialization, 21 BIOS, major functions, 47 boot device, warning message, 68 boot priority list changing it, 4 1 checking controller options, 4 0 boot support, R AID levels, 22 booting the system after using the BIOS configuration utility , 59 C cache policy , 77 CE Mark Notice, 94 CE Notice (European Uni on), 92 checkp[...]

98 Index E electrostatic discharge, protecting against, 9 errors, physical disks dedicated hot spare has failed or is in error , 7 5 F ailed status is displayed, 7 5 errors, virtual disks Fa i l e d s t a t u s , 7 1 virtual disk has been deleted, 7 3 ESD protection, 9 F fault tolerance, 23 FCC Notice (U.S. only), 90 features of the PER C S100 adap[...]

Index 99 O OCE, 24 offline virtual disks, warning message, 66 Online Capacity Expansion, 24 options changing controller options, 5 8 options, controller , 58 P PERC S100 controller , Management Setup, 45 PERC S100 V irtual Disk Management utili ty , PERC S300 Virtual Disk Management utili ty access to it, 4 8 PERC S300 Adapter installation, 3 2 PER[...]

100 Index rescanning for changes in state, 8 7 S configuring the controller using the PERC S100, 4 7 safety general, 8 safety instruc tions, 7 working inside your system, 8 specif icatio ns, PERC S100 adapter , PERC S300 adapter , 77 specif ication sÖ virtual d isks, 8 0 Storport, dr iver supp ort, 26 stripe size, 26 support for RAID level, 22 T t[...]

Index 101 BIOS not installed, user disabled INT13 BIOS load, 6 8 found virtual disks that are Degraded, 6 5 found virtual disks that are Offline, 6 6 no boot device available, 6 8 warning messages PERC S100 Controller BIOS screen, PER C S300 Controller BIOS screen warning messages ,6 4 write policy , 77 A5_bk0.book Page 101 Thursday, February 10, 2[...]

102 Index A5_bk0.book Page 102 Thursday, February 10, 2 011 8:34 PM[...]

Glossary 103 Glossary A DAPTER — An adapter enables the system to access peripheral devices by converting the protocol of one bus or in terface to another . An adapter may also provide specialized function. F o r example, a R AID controller is a type of adapter that provides RA ID functions. Adapters may reside on the system board o r be an add-i[...]

104 Glossary immediately and the main memory read is aborted (or not started). If the data is not cached (a cache miss), it is fetched from main memory and saved in cache memory . C ACHING — The process of utilizing a high spee d memory buffer , referr ed to as a “cache, ” in order to speed up th e overall re ad or write performance. This cac[...]

Glossary 105 F AULT T OLERANCE — F ault tolerance is the capabili ty of the disk subsystem to undergo a single drive failure for t he physical disks in a virtu al disk without compromising data integrity and processing capability . The PERC S100 controller and PERC S300 controller provide this support through redundant virtual disks in R AID leve[...]

106 Glossary H OT S WAP — Replacement of a failed component while the system is running and operating normally . I NITIALIZATION — The process of writing zeros to the data fields of a virtual disk and, in fault tolerant R AID levels, generating the corr esponding pa rity to put the virtual disk in a Ready state. Initialization generates parity [...]

Glossary 107 NCQ (N ATIVE C OMMAND Q UEUING )— A command protocol for Serial A T A, that allows multiple, outstanding commands to be active on a drive at the same time. N ON -R AID C ONFIGURATION — Non-Raid data is data that already e xists on a replacement physical disk. The Non-Raid phys ical disk must be initialized before it can be used wit[...]

108 Glossary system. The PER C Virtual Di sk Management utility , accessed by pressing <Ctrl><R> at system startup , is built on element s called controls. Each control performs a function. The f unctions include procedures you ca n use to configure physical disks and virtual disks. The PERC V irtual Disk Manageme nt utility differs fro[...]

Glossary 109 SAN (S TORAGE A REA N ETWORK )— A high-performance, typically enterprise-lev el network that attaches disk storage subsys tems to servers. The storage device s ar e accessible to multiple hosts at the same tim e. SAS (S ERIAL A TTACHED SCSI) — SAS is a serial, point-to-point, enterprise-level device interface that levera ges the pr[...]

110 Glossary S TRIPING — Disk striping writes data across all ph ysical disks in a virtual disk. Each stripe consists of consecutive virtual disk data addr esses that are mapped in fix ed-size units to each physical disk in the virtual di sk using a sequential pattern. F or example, if the virtual disk includes five physical disk s, the stripe wr[...]