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Preparation
Disk drives are shipped in expansion packages of 42 drives. Customers with multiple enclosures may spread the 42 disk drives
of an expansion package across multiple enclosures, provided that the DDICs are installed 14 at a time to completely fill empty
rows. The installation pattern providing the best airflow and thermal performance is described in this section.
The drawers must be populated with DDICs in whole rows. Each drawer contains 3 rows of 14 DDICs. Rules and assumptions are
listed:
● The minimum number of DDICs in an enclosure is 28.
● The number of rows must not differ by more than 1 between the top and bottom drawers.
● The rows should be populated from the front of the drawer to the rear of the drawer
● If a second expansion package of disk drives is shipped to a customer, the disk drives of the second expansion package must
match the disk drives that were originally shipped with the 5U84 enclosure. Both groups of disk drives must share the same
model type and capacity.
NOTE:
Part numbers for expansion packages are not listed because they change over time when disk drives ship with
new firmware, or new disk drive models become available. Contact your account manager for part numbers.
● If the two groups of disk drives have different firmware, all disk drives must be updated with current/compatible firmware.
See the Dell PowerVault ME5 Series Storage System Administrator's Guide or online help for additional information about
updating firmware.
Installation guidelines
The recommended order for partially populating disk drives in the 5U84 enclosure optimizes the airflow through the chassis.
5U84 enclosure-plan view of drawer
The 5U84 ships with drawers installed in the chassis. However, to avoid shock and vibration issues during transit, the enclosure
does not ship with DDICs installed in the drawers. An enclosure is configured with either 42 disk drives (half-populated) or 84
disk drives (fully populated) for customer delivery. If half-populated, the rows containing disk drives should be populated with
a full complement of DDICs (no blank slots in the row). The following list identifies rows in drawers that should contain DDICs
when the enclosure is configured as half-populated:
● Top drawer–front row
● Top drawer–middle row
● Bottom drawer–front row
If additional disk drives are incrementally installed into a half-populated enclosure, the DDICs must be added one complete row
at a time (no blank slots in row) in the sequence listed:
● Bottom drawer–middle row
● Top drawer–back row
● Bottom drawer–back row
Replacing a controller module or IOM
This section provides procedures for removing and installing a controller module or IOM in a 2U or 5U enclosure.
The 2U enclosures support single or dual-controller module configurations. The 5U84 enclosures support only dual-controller
module configurations.
If a controller module fails, the controller will fail over and run on a single controller module until the redundancy is restored.
For 2U enclosures, an controller module must be installed in slot A, and either a controller module or controller blank must be
installed in slot B to ensure sufficient air flow through the enclosure during operation. For 5U84 enclosures, an controller module
must be installed in both slots.
In a dual-controller module configuration, controller modules and IOMs are hot-swappable, which means you can replace one
module without halting I/O to disk groups, or powering off the enclosure. In this case, the second controller module takes over
operation of the storage system until you install the new module.
You might need to replace a controller module or IOM when:
● The Fault LED is illuminated
● Health status reporting in the PowerVault Manager indicates a problem with the module
● Events in thePowerVault Manager indicate a problem with the module
● Troubleshooting indicates a problem with the module
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Module removal and replacement
shows the location and indexing of drawers accessed from the enclosure front panel.
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Troubleshooting
