Dell 6 series User Manual
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Dell 6 series User Manual

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Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable
RAID Controller (PERC) 6/i,
PERC 6/E and CERC 6/i
User's Guide
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Summary of Contents for Dell 6 series

  • Page 1 Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) 6/i, PERC 6/E and CERC 6/i User’s Guide...
  • Page 2 Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Contents WARNING: Safety Instructions ......SAFETY: General ..SAFETY: When Working Inside Your System .
  • Page 4 ....Initializing Virtual Disks ....Background Initialization ..Full Initialization of Virtual Disks .
  • Page 5 ..Path Support on the PERC 6/E Adapter Removing and Installing the PERC 6/i and CERC 6/i Integrated Storage Controller Cards in Dell . . . Modular Blade Systems (Service-Only Procedure) ..
  • Page 6 Driver Installation ....... . Installing Windows Drivers ... . . Creating the Driver Media .
  • Page 7 ..Dell OpenManage Storage Management ... . Dell SAS RAID Storage Manager ....RAID Configuration Functions .
  • Page 8 ..Replacing an Online Physical Disk ..Stopping Background Initialization Performing a Manual Rebuild of an ....Individual Physical Disk .

  • Page 9: Contents

    A Regulatory Notices ....B Corporate Contact Details (Taiwan Only) 135 Glossary ......Index .
  • Page 10 Contents...

  • Page 11: Warning: Safety Instructions

    WARNING: 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. WARNING: There is a danger of a new battery exploding if it is incorrectly installed.

  • Page 12: Safety: When Working Inside Your System

    Before you remove the system covers, perform the following steps in the sequence indicated. WARNING: Except as expressly otherwise instructed in Dell documentation, only trained service technicians are authorized to remove the system cover and access any of the components inside the system.

  • Page 13: Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge

    In addition, note these safety guidelines when appropriate: • When you disconnect a cable, pull on its connector or on its strain-relief loop, not on the cable itself. Some cables have a connector with locking tabs. If you are disconnecting this type of cable, press in on the locking tabs before disconnecting the cable.

  • Page 14: Safety: Battery Disposal

    You can also take the following steps to prevent damage from electrostatic discharge: • When unpacking a static-sensitive component from its shipping carton, do not remove the component from the antistatic packing material until you are ready to install the component. Just before unwrapping the antistatic package, be sure to discharge static electricity from your body.

  • Page 15: Overview

    Overview The Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) 6 family of controllers and the Dell Cost-Effective RAID Controller (CERC) 6/i offer redundant array of independent disks (RAID) control capabilities. The PERC 6 and CERC 6/i Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) RAID controllers only support Dell-qualified SAS and SATA hard disk drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD).

  • Page 16: Operating System Support

    ESX 3.5 and 3.5i NOTE: Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems are supported with a PERC 6 controller only when the controller is installed in a Dell Precision™ workstation. NOTE: For the latest list of supported operating systems and driver installation instructions, see the system documentation on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

  • Page 17: Summary Of Raid Levels

    Summary of RAID Levels • RAID 0 uses disk striping to provide high data throughput, especially for large files in an environment that requires no data redundancy. • RAID 1 uses disk mirroring so that data written to one physical disk is simultaneously written to another physical disk.
  • Page 18 For example, in a four-disk system using only disk striping (used in RAID 0), segment 1 is written to disk 1, segment 2 is written to disk 2, and so on. Disk striping enhances performance because multiple physical disks are accessed simultaneously, but disk striping does not provide data redundancy.
  • Page 19 Figure 2-2 shows an example of disk mirroring. Figure 2-2. Example of Disk Mirroring (RAID 1) Stripe element 1 Stripe element 1 Duplicated Stripe element 2 Stripe element 2 Duplicated Stripe element 3 Stripe element 3 Duplicated Stripe element 4 Stripe element 4 Duplicated Spanned RAID Levels Spanning is a term used to describe the way in which RAID levels 10, 50, and 60 are constructed from multiple sets of basic, or simple RAID levels.
  • Page 20 Figure 2-3. Example of Distributed Parity (RAID 5) Stripe element 1 Stripe element 2 Stripe element 3 Stripe element 4 Stripe element 5 Parity (1–5) Stripe element 7 Stripe element 8 Stripe element 9 Stripe element 10 Parity (6–10) Stripe element 6 Stripe element 13 Stripe element 14 Stripe element 15...

  • Page 21: About Perc 6 And Cerc 6/I Controllers

    RAID management utilities, and operating system software drivers. PERC 6 and CERC 6 Controller Features The PERC 6 and CERC 6 family of controllers support only Dell-qualified Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) hard disk drives(HDDs), SATA HDDs, and solid-state disks (SSD). Mixing SAS and SATA drives within a virtual disk is not supported.
  • Page 22 Table 3-1. PERC 6 and CERC 6/i Controller Comparisons (continued) Specification PERC 6/E PERC 6/i Adapter PERC 6/i CERC 6/i Adapter Integrated Integrated Battery Yes, Backup Unit Transportable Cache 256-MB 256-MB DDRII 256-MB DDRII 128-MB Memory DDRII cache cache memory cache memory DDRII memory size.
  • Page 23 Table 3-1. PERC 6 and CERC 6/i Controller Comparisons (continued) Specification PERC 6/E PERC 6/i Adapter PERC 6/i CERC 6/i Adapter Integrated Integrated Multiple Up to 64 Up to 64 virtual Up to 64 virtual Up to 64 Virtual Disks virtual disks disks per disks per...

  • Page 24: Using The Smart Feature

    Supported Redundant Path Support These RAID configurations are only supported on select Dell modular systems. The PERC 6/i adapter supports a battery backup unit (BBU) on selected systems only. For additional information, see the documentation that shipped with the system.

  • Page 25: Initializing Virtual Disks

    For information on stopping BGI, see "Stopping Background Initialization" on page 108. You can control the BGI rate in the Dell™ OpenManage™ storage management application. Any change in the BGI rate does not take effect until the next BGI run.

  • Page 26: Full Initialization Of Virtual Disks

    During Full Initialization, the host is not able to access the virtual disk. You can start a Full Initialization on a virtual disk by using the Slow Initialize option in the Dell OpenManage storage management application. To use the BIOS Configuration Utility to perform a Full Initialization, see "Initializing Virtual Disks"...

  • Page 27: Disk Roaming

    NOTE: Disks cannot be migrated back to previous Dell PERC RAID controllers. When a controller detects a physical disk with an existing configuration, it flags the physical disk as foreign, and it generates an alert indicating that a foreign disk was detected.

  • Page 28: Compatibility With Virtual Disks Created On Perc 5 Controllers

    Virtual disks created on the CERC 6/i controller or the PERC 5 family of controllers can be migrated to PERC 6. NOTE: For more information about compatibility, contact your Dell technical support representative. Compatibility With Virtual Disks Created on SAS 6/iR Controllers Virtual disks created on the SAS 6/iR family of controllers can be migrated to PERC 6 and CERC 6/i.

  • Page 29: Migrating Virtual Disks From Sas 6/Ir To Perc 6 And Cerc 6/I

    PERC 6 and CERC 6/i. If you are replacing your SAS 6/iR controller with a PERC 6 controller, see the Hardware Owner’s Manual shipped with your system or on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. CAUTION: After you have imported the foreign configuration on the PERC 6 or CERC 6/i storage controllers, migrating the storage disks back to the SAS 6/iR controller may result in the loss of data.

  • Page 30: Battery Management

    6 Exit the BIOS Configuration Utility and reboot the system. 7 Ensure all the latest drivers for PERC 6 or CERC 6/i controller (available on the Dell support website at support.dell.com) are installed. For more information, see "Driver Installation" on page 63.

  • Page 31: Battery Learn Cycle

    Battery Learn Cycle Learn cycle is a battery calibration operation performed by the controller periodically to determine the condition of the battery. This operation cannot be disabled. You can start battery learn cycles manually or automatically. In addition, you can enable or disable automatic learn cycles in the software utility. If you enable automatic learn cycles, you can delay the start of the learn cycles for up to 168 hours (7 days).

  • Page 32: Virtual Disk Write Cache Policies

    Virtual Disk Write Cache Policies The write cache policy of a virtual disk determines how the controller handles writes to that virtual disk. Write-Back and Write-Through are the two write cache policies and can be set on virtual disks individually. All RAID volumes will be presented as Write-Through (WT) to the operating system (Windows and linux) independent of the actual write cache policy of the virtual disk.

  • Page 33: Conditions Under Which Write-Through Is Employed

    Conditions Under Which Write-Through is Employed Write-Through caching is used under all conditions in which the battery is missing or in a low-charge state. Low-charge state is when the battery is not capable of maintaining data for at least 24 hours in the case of a power loss. Conditions Under Which Forced Write-Back With No Battery is Employed Write-Back mode is available when the user selects Force WB with no...
  • Page 34 RAID level. When a RLM/OCE operation is complete, a reboot is not necessary. For a list of RAID level migrations and capacity expansion possibilities, see Table 3-2. The source RAID level column indicates the virtual disk level before the RAID level migration and the target RAID level column indicates the RAID level after the operation is complete.
  • Page 35 Table 3-2. RAID Level Migration (continued) Source Target Required Number of Capacity Description RAID RAID Number of Physical Expansion Level Level Physical Disks Possible Disks (End) (Beginning) RAID 5 RAID 0 3 or more 2 or more Yes Converting to a non-redundant virtual disk and reclaiming disk space used for distributed parity data.

  • Page 36: Fault Tolerance Features

    Fault Tolerance Features Table 3-3 lists the features that provide fault tolerance to prevent data loss in case of a failed physical disk. Table 3-3. Fault Tolerance Features Specification PERC CERC Support for SMART Support for Patrol Read Redundant path support Physical disk failure detection Automatic Automatic Physical disk rebuild using hot spares...

  • Page 37: Failed Physical Disk Detection

    Failed Physical Disk Detection The controller automatically detects and rebuilds failed physical disks when you place a new drive in the slot where the failed drive resided or when an applicable hot spare is present. Automatic rebuilds can be performed transparently with hot spares.

  • Page 38: Patrol Read

    Replace Member operation as the target drive, the hot spare reverts to the hot spare state after a successful Replace Member operation. NOTE: To enable the automatic Replace Member, use the Dell OpenManage storage management application. For more information on automatic Replace Member, see "Dell OpenManage Storage Management" on page 77.

  • Page 39: Patrol Read Modes

    3 Patrol Read adjusts the amount of controller resources dedicated to Patrol Read operations based on outstanding disk I/O. For example, if the system is busy processing I/O operation, then Patrol Read uses fewer resources to allow the I/O to take a higher priority. 4 Patrol Read does not run on any disks involved in any of the following operations: •...
  • Page 40 About PERC 6 and CERC 6/i Controllers...

  • Page 41: Installing And Configuring Hardware

    2 Turn off the system and attached peripherals, and disconnect the system from the electrical outlet. For more information on power supplies, see the Hardware Owner’s Manual shipped with your system or on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. 3 Disconnect the system from the network and remove the system cover. For more information on opening the system, see your system’s...
  • Page 42 5 Align the PERC 6/E adapter to the PCI-E slot you have selected. CAUTION: Never apply pressure to the adapter module while inserting it in the PCI-E slot. Applying pressure could break the adapter module. 6 Insert the controller gently, but firmly, until the controller is firmly seated in the PCI-E slot.
  • Page 43 8 For PERC 6/E adapter, replace the cover of the system. For more information on closing the system, see the Hardware Owner’s Manual shipped with your system or on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. Installing and Configuring Hardware...
  • Page 44 9 Connect the cable from the external enclosure to the controller. For more information, see Figure 4-3. Figure 4-3. Connecting the Cable From the External Enclosure connector on the controller cable from the external enclosure system 10 For PERC 6/i adapter, connect the cables from the backplane of the system to the controller.
  • Page 45 11 Replace the cover of the system. For more information on closing the system, see the Hardware Owner’s Manual shipped with your system or on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. 12 Reconnect the power and network cables, and turn on the system.

  • Page 46: Installing The Transportable Battery Backup Unit (Tbbu) On Perc 6/E

    Installing the Transportable Battery Backup Unit (TBBU) on PERC 6/E CAUTION: The following procedure must be performed at an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)-safe workstation to meet the requirements of EIA-625 – "Requirements For Handling Electrostatic Discharge Sensitive Devices." The following procedure must be performed following the IPC-A-610 latest revision ESD recommended practices.

  • Page 47: Installing The Dimm On A Perc 6/E Adapter

    If possible, use antistatic floor pads and work bench pads. CAUTION: PERC 6 cards support Dell-qualified 512 MB and 256 MB DDRII 667 MHz ECC-registered DIMMs with x16 DRAM components. Installing unsupported memory causes the system to hang at POST.

  • Page 48: Transferring A Tbbu Between Controllers

    Figure 4-6. Installing a DIMM PERC 6/E adapter memory socket retention clip memory module Transferring a TBBU Between Controllers The TBBU provides uninterrupted power supply for up to 24 hours to the cache memory module. If the controller fails as a result of a power failure, you can move the TBBU to a new controller and recover the data.

  • Page 49: Removing The Perc 6/E And Perc 6/I Adapters

    Dell™ OpenManage™ storage management application for the required recovery steps. NOTE: Some PERC 6/i adapters installed on a Dell workstation or Dell PowerEdge™ SC systems do not have a BBU. 1 Perform a controlled shutdown on the system in which the PERC 6/E is installed, as well as any attached storage enclosures.
  • Page 50 The location of the PERC 6/i varies from system to system. For information on PERC 6/i card location, see the Hardware Owner’s Manual shipped with your system or on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. 4 Remove any retention mechanism, such as a bracket screw, that may be holding the PERC 6/E in the system and gently lift the controller from the system’s PCI-E slot.
  • Page 51 5 Determine whether the Dirty Cache LED on the controller is illuminated. For location of the LED, see Figure 4-8 • If the LED is illuminated, replace the system cover, reconnect the system to power, turn on the system, and repeat step 1 and step 2. If the LED is not illuminated, continue with the next step.

  • Page 52: Removing The Dimm And Battery From A Perc 6/E Adapter

    Removing the DIMM and Battery from a PERC 6/E Adapter NOTE: The TBBU on the PERC 6/E adapter consists of a DIMM and battery backup unit. 1 Perform a controlled shutdown on the system in which the PERC 6/E adapter is installed, as well as any attached storage enclosures 2 Disconnect the system from the electrical outlet and open the system cover.
  • Page 53 Figure 4-9. PERC 6/E Adapter Dirty Cache LED Location 1 battery dirty cache LED 2 memory module PERC 6/E adapter 5 Press down on the tabs at each edge of the DIMM slot until the TBBU pops out. Lift the TBBU off the adapter. 6 Disconnect the battery cable from the DIMM.

  • Page 54: Disconnecting The Bbu From A Perc 6/I Adapter Or A Perc 6/I Integrated Controller

    Disconnecting the BBU from a PERC 6/i Adapter or a PERC 6/i Integrated Controller NOTE: A PERC 6/i adapter installed in a Dell workstation or a Dell PowerEdge SC system does not have a BBU. NOTE: Batteries with low charges can be detected and recharged. The battery must first be charged and the system must be restarted for the battery to be active again.

  • Page 55: Setting Up Redundant Path Support On The Perc 6/E Adapter

    If the LED is not illuminated, continue with the next step. CAUTION: The PERC 6/i Integrated controller for Dell modular blade systems does not have a dirty cache LED. A non-graceful system shutdown may result in the controller containing dirty cache. If a non-graceful shutdown occurs, reboot the system and ensure no cache-related warnings appear during POST.
  • Page 56 Figure 4-11, Figure 4-12 and Figure 4-13. NOTE: The PERC 6/E adapter supports redundant paths when used with Dell PowerVault™ MD1000 and Dell PowerVault MD1120 disk storage enclosures. Figure 4-11 displays Redundant path Storage Configuration with one enclosure. Figure 4-11. Redundant Path Support Configuration With One Enclosure...
  • Page 57 A single PERC 6/E adapter can support up to three disk storage enclosures in a redundant path configuration. NOTE: Ensure that the latest firmware version is installed on your storage controller. You can find the latest firmware and installation instructions on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. Installing and Configuring Hardware...

  • Page 58: Reverting From Redundant Path Support To Single Path Support On The Perc 6/E Adapter

    Perform the following steps to configure the hardware to utilize redundant paths on the PERC 6/E adapter: 1 Set up an enclosure on the PERC 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 enclosure.

  • Page 59: Removing And Installing The Perc 6/I And Cerc 6/I Integrated Storage Controller Cards In Dell Modular Blade Systems (Service-Only Procedure)

    The storage controller card is located below the hard drive bays of the Dell Modular Blade system. To remove the storage controller card: 1 Remove the Dell Modular Blade system from the Modular Blade system chassis. For more information on removing the blade system from the Modular Blade system chassis, see your system’s Hardware Owner’s...

  • Page 60: Installing The Storage Controller Card

    1 Unpack the new storage controller card and check for damage. NOTE: If the card is damaged, contact Dell technical support. 2 Place the storage controller card onto the system board. Align the storage controller card such that the tabs on the system board tray fit through the notches on the edges of the storage controller card.
  • Page 61 NOTE: The CERC 6/i Integrated does not provide support for a battery backup unit. NOTE: For the latest list of firmware and installation instructions, see the system documentation located at the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. Installing and Configuring Hardware...
  • Page 62 Installing and Configuring Hardware...

  • Page 63: Driver Installation

    ESX 3.5 and 3.5i NOTE: For more information on Citrix XenServer and VMware ESX drivers, see the Citrix XenServer and VMware ESX documentation respectively on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. NOTE: To check operating system compatibility, see the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

  • Page 64: Installing Windows Drivers

    Creating the Driver Media Perform the following steps to create the driver media: 1 Browse to the download section for the system on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. 2 Locate and download the latest PERC 6 controller driver to the system.

  • Page 65: Installing The Driver During A Windows Server 2003 Or Windows Xp Operating System Installation

    Load Driver option to load mass storage drivers. For more information on reinstalling the operating system, see the relevant section for your operating system below. Downloading Drivers From the Dell Support Site 1 Go to support.dell.com. 2 Click Drivers and Downloads.

  • Page 66: Installing The Driver During A Windows Server 2008 Or Windows Vista Installation

    NOTE: Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista operating systems include native drivers for the PERC 6 and CERC 6/i RAID controllers. For driver updates, see the Drivers and Downloads section on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. Driver Installation...

  • Page 67: Installing A Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Or Windows Xp Driver For A New Raid Controller

    Installing a Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, or Windows XP Driver for a New RAID Controller NOTE: PERC 5 and PERC 6 use the same driver and do not require separate driver installations. Perform the following steps to configure the driver for the RAID controller on a system that already has Windows installed.

  • Page 68: Updating An Existing Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Xp, Or Windows Vista Driver

    Updating an Existing Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, or Windows Vista Driver NOTE: Close all applications on your system before you update the driver. 1 Insert the media (CD, DVD, or USB drive) containing the driver. 2 Select Start → Settings → Control Panel → System. The System Properties screen displays.

  • Page 69: Installing Linux Driver

    13 Click Finish to exit the wizard and reboot the system for the changes to take place. NOTE: Dell provides the Dell Update Package (DUP) to update drivers on systems running Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. DUP is an executable application that updates drivers for specific devices. DUP supports command line interface and silent execution.
  • Page 70 3 Use the dd command to create a driver update disk. Use the appropriate image for the purpose. dd if= of=/dev/fd0 NOTE: You can create a driver update disk on a Windows system using the program dcopynt.

  • Page 71: Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Operating System Using The Driver Update Diskette

    Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Operating System Using the Driver Update Diskette Perform the following steps to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux (versions 4 and 5) and the appropriate driver. 1 Boot normally from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation media. 2 At the command prompt, type: linux expert dd 3 When the install prompts for a driver diskette, insert the diskette and...

  • Page 72: Installing The Rpm Package With Dkms Support

    6 Click OK. If you want to install from another 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 Gold media is required when you install any Suse Linux Enterprise Server 9 service pack.
  • Page 73 Upgrading the Kernel When upgrading to a new kernel, you must reinstall the DKMS-enabled driver packages. Perform the following steps to update or install the driver for the new kernel: 1 In a terminal window, type the following: dkms build -m -v -k ...

  • Page 74: Installing Solaris Driver

    Use the procedures in this section to install the driver for Solaris 10. To ensure that you have the current version of the driver, download the updated Solaris driver from the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. The package is a gzipped .tar file. Download the package to a Solaris system,...

  • Page 75: Adding/Updating The Driver To An Existing System

    Use the procedures in this section to install the driver for Novell NetWare 6.5. To ensure that you have the current version of the driver, download the updated NetWare driver from the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. Installing the NetWare Driver in a New NetWare System Follow the instructions in the Novell NetWare Installation Guide to install Novell NetWare in the system.

  • Page 76: Installing Or Updating The Netware Driver In An Existing Netware System

    4 From the screen that displays, go to the Storage Adapter screen to install the MegaRAID SAS driver. 5 Delete any existing RAID adapter listings. 6 Press to add unlisted drivers. 7 Press again. A path is displayed. 8 Press .

  • Page 77: Configuring And Managing Raid

    Dell OpenManage Storage Management Dell OpenManage storage management is a storage management application for Dell systems that provides enhanced features for configuring a system's locally-attached RAID and non-RAID disk storage. Dell OpenManage storage management application enables you to perform controller and enclosure...

  • Page 78: Raid Configuration Functions

    RAID Configuration Functions After you attach physical disks, use a configuration utility to organize the disks into virtual disks. If the operating system is not yet installed, use the BIOS Configuration Utility to perform this procedure. Use the configuration utilities to perform the following tasks: •...

  • Page 79: Bios Configuration Utility

    NOTE: Use the BIOS Configuration Utility for initial setup and disaster recovery. You can use advanced features through Dell OpenManage storage management application and Dell SAS RAID storage manager. The following sections provide information about using the BIOS Configuration Utility.

  • Page 80: Exiting The Configuration Utility

    NOTE: You can access multiple controllers through the BIOS Configuration Utility by pressing . NOTE: You can access PERC 5 and PERC 6 controllers from the same BIOS if the PERC 5 firmware version is 5.1.1-0040 or later. You need to verify if you are currently set to edit the PERC 5 or PERC 6 adapter.
  • Page 81 Table 6-1. Menu Navigation Keys (continued) Notation Meaning and Use Example up-arrow Use the up-arrow key to move to the upper menu Virtual Disk 1 items within a menu or to a higher level menu. You can also use the up-arrow key to close a menu list in a Virtual Disk 4 popup window, such as the stripe element size menu.
  • Page 82 Table 6-1. Menu Navigation Keys (continued) Notation Meaning and Use Example Press to move the cursor to the next control Press to on a dialog box or page. move the cursor to the next parameter you want to change. ...

  • Page 83: Setting Up Virtual Disks

    Table 6-1. Menu Navigation Keys (continued) Notation Meaning and Use Example Switch between two controllers. Press to display a list of controllers. Spacebar Press the spacebar to select an item, such as a virtual Press the disk in the List View, select all the virtual disks spacebar to select (Mark All), or de-select all the virtual disks (Unmark...
  • Page 84 Table 6-2 shows the parameters that you can configure when defining virtual disks. Table 6-2. Virtual Disk Parameters and Descriptions Parameter Description RAID Level RAID Level specifies whether the virtual disk is RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, or 60. The RAID level you select depends on the number of disks, disk capacity, and the requirements for fault tolerance and performance.

  • Page 85: Virtual Disk Management

    Table 6-2. Virtual Disk Parameters and Descriptions (continued) Parameter Description Read Policy Read-Ahead enables the read ahead feature for the virtual disk. You can set this parameter to Read-Ahead, No-Read-Ahead, or Adaptive. The default is No-Read-Ahead. Read-Ahead specifies that the controller uses Read-Ahead for the current virtual disk.
  • Page 86 2 Use the arrow keys to highlight Controller # or Disk Group #. 3 Press to display the actions you can perform. 4 Select Create New VD and press . The Create New VD screen displays. The cursor is on the RAID Levels option.
  • Page 87 15 Perform the following steps to select the virtual disk parameters: Press to move the cursor to the parameters you want to change. Press the down-arrow key to open the parameters and scroll down the list of settings. To change the stripe element size, press to highlight Stripe Element Size.

  • Page 88: Initializing Virtual Disks

    If you have chosen to create hot spares in the earlier steps, a pop-up window displays where drives with appropriate sizes are displayed. Press the spacebar to select the drive size. Select the check box to enable the enclosure affinity setting for the hot spare.

  • Page 89: Importing Or Clearing Foreign Configurations Using The Vd Mgmt Menu

    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 sure you want to continue? You can select Yes or No.

  • Page 90: Importing Or Clearing Foreign Configurations Using The Foreign Configuration View Screen

    Perform the following steps to import or clear foreign configurations. 1 During bootup, press when prompted by the BIOS banner. The VD Mgmt screen displays by default. 2 On the VD Mgmt screen, highlight the Controller #. The controller number is the only item that displays until you import the foreign configuration.
  • Page 91 You can use the Foreign Configuration View screen to manage foreign configurations in the following cases: • All the physical disks in a configuration are removed and re-inserted. • Some of the physical disks in a configuration are removed and re-inserted. •...
  • Page 92 NOTE: When you import a foreign configuration, the dedicated hot spares in the configuration are imported as dedicated hot spares on two conditions — the associated virtual disk is already present or the associated virtual disk is also imported along with the configuration. NOTE: Start a consistency check immediately after the rebuild is complete to ensure data integrity for the virtual disks.

  • Page 93: Managing Preserved Cache

    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 preserved until you import the virtual disk or discard the cache. NOTE: Certain operations, such as creating a new virtual disk, cannot be performed if pinned cache exists.

  • Page 94: Managing Dedicated Hot Spares

    Managing Dedicated Hot Spares A dedicated hot spare automatically replaces a failed physical disk only in the selected disk group which the hot spare is part of. A dedicated hot spare is used before a global hot spare is used. You can create dedicated hot spares or delete them on the VD Mgmt screen.

  • Page 95: Deleting Virtual Disks

    4 Press to confirm the changes. The VD Mgmt screen displays the updated list of hot spares under the Hot spares heading. NOTE: If a global hot spare or dedicated hot spare is removed and reinserted, it regains its status as a hot spare. NOTE: If a dedicated hot spare is removed, re-inserted, and then imported, the physical disk changes to a global hot spare upon completion of the foreign...

  • Page 96: Resetting The Configuration

    3 Press . The action menu displays. 4 Select Delete Disk Group and press . The disk group is deleted. When you delete a disk group, the remaining disk groups with higher numbers are automatically renumbered. For example, if you delete disk group #2, disk group #3 is then automatically renumbered as disk group #2.
  • Page 97 • Controller Management (Ctrl Mgmt) menu • Foreign Configuration View menu Most menus consist of two panels: • A left panel with the menu options • A right panel with details of the items selected in the left panel The following sections describe the menu and submenu options for each of the major menus.
  • Page 98 Table 6-3. Information on the Virtual Disk Management Screen Menu Item Selected Information Displayed in Right Panel in Left Panel Controller # Controller Properties: • Number of disk groups (DG) • Number of virtuals disks (VD) • Number of physical disks (PD) Disk Group # Disk Group # Properties: •...
  • Page 99 Table 6-3. Information on the Virtual Disk Management Screen (continued) Menu Item Selected Information Displayed in Right Panel in Left Panel Physical Disks Disk Group # Properties: • Number of virtuals disks (VD) • Number of physical disks (PD) • Space available on the physical disks •...
  • Page 100 Table 6-3. Information on the Virtual Disk Management Screen (continued) Menu Item Selected Information Displayed in Right Panel in Left Panel Space Allocation Disk Group # Properties: • Number of virtuals disks (VD) • Number of physical disks (PD) • Space available on the physical disks •...
  • Page 101 Virtual Disk Actions Table 6-4 describes the actions you can perform on virtual disks. For procedures you can use to perform these actions, See "Physical Disk Management" on page 105. Table 6-4. Virtual Disk Actions Action Description Create a new virtual Creates a new virtual disk from one or more physical disks.
  • Page 102 • Performing the Replace Member operation • Setting the LED to blink • Making a disk online or offline (unaffiliated with a disk group) • Creating global hot spares • Removing dedicated hot spares or global hot spares Physical Disk Actions Table 6-5 describes the actions you can perform on physical disks.
  • Page 103 For information on getting the best rebuild performance from your RAID controller, see the documentation on Dell Support website at support.dell.com. Controller Management (Ctrl Mgmt)
  • Page 104 Controller Management Actions Table 6-6 describes the actions you can perform on the Ctrl Mgmt screen. Table 6-6. Controller Management Options Option Description Enable Controller Select this option to enable the controller BIOS. If the boot BIOS device is on the RAID controller, the BIOS must be enabled. Disable the BIOS to use other boot devices.

  • Page 105: Physical Disk Management

    The section "Importing or Clearing Foreign Configurations Using the Foreign Configuration View Screen" on page 90 contains the procedures you can use to manage the foreign configurations. NOTE: The BIOS Configuration Utility reports error codes for failed imports of foreign configurations. Physical Disk Management Setting LED Blinking The LED blinking option indicates when physical disks are being used to...

  • Page 106: Removing Global Or Dedicated Hot Spares

    Perform the following steps to create global hot spares. 1 Press to access the PD Mgmt screen. A list of physical disks displays. The status of the each disk displays under the heading State. 2 Press the down-arrow key to highlight a physical disk to change to a global hot spare.

  • Page 107: Replacing An Online Physical Disk

    4 Press the down-arrow key to select Remove Hot Spare from the list of actions and press . The physical disk is changed to the Ready state. The status of the physical disk is displayed under the heading State. NOTE: Try to use physical disks of the same capacity in a specific virtual disk.

  • Page 108: Stopping Background Initialization

    Restrictions and Limitations The following restrictions and limitations apply to the Replace Member operation: • The Replace Member functions are restricted to one per array for RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5, and two per array for RAID 6. •...

  • Page 109: Controller Management

    3 Press to display a menu of available actions. The Rebuild option is highlighted at the top of the menu. 4 Press the right-arrow key to display the rebuild options and select Start. 5 After you start the rebuild, press to display the previous menu. NOTE: You can also use the VD Mgmt screen to perform a manual rebuild.

  • Page 110: Enabling Bios Stop On Error

    After you enable the BIOS for a controller, perform the following steps to enable the boot support for that controller. 1 Press to access the Ctrl Mgmt menu screen. 2 Press to move the cursor to the Select Bootable VD in the Settings box.

  • Page 111: Restoring Factory Default Settings

    Restoring Factory Default Settings You can use the Ctrl Mgmt menu screen 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. Perform the following steps to restore default settings: 1 Press ...
  • Page 112 Configuring and Managing RAID...

  • Page 113: Troubleshooting

    Troubleshooting To get help with your Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) 6 and Dell Cost-Effective RAID Controller (CERC) 6/i controller, you can contact your Dell Technical Service representative or access the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. Post Error Messages The controller BIOS read-only memory (ROM) provides Int 13h functionality (disk I/O) for the virtual disks connected to the controller.
  • Page 114 Turn off the system and try to reseat the controller. If this message is still displayed, contact Dell Technical Support. The controller preserves the dirty cache There are offline or missing from a virtual disk if the disk becomes...
  • Page 115 Allow the battery to charge fully to resolve this problem. If the problem persists, the battery or adapter DIMM might be faulty; contact Dell Technical Support. Contact Dell Technical Support. Firmware is in Fault State New firmware has been flashed that is Firmware version incompatible with the previous version.
  • Page 116 The foreign configuration message is Clear the foreign configuration using always present during POST but no CTRL+R or Dell OpenManage™ Server foreign configurations are present in the Administrator Storage Management. foreign view page in CTRL+R. All virtual CAUTION: The physical disk goes to disks are in an optimal state.
  • Page 117 MBE errors are serious, as to continue or else power off they cause data corruption and data loss. the system, replace the In case of MBE errors, contact Dell controller and reboot. Technical Support. NOTE: A similar message displays when multiple single-bit ECC errors are detected on the controller during bootup.
  • Page 118 Table 7-1. BIOS Errors and Warnings (continued) Message Meaning The message indicates that some Some configured disks have configured disks were removed. If the been removed from your system disks were not removed, they are no longer or are no longer accessible. accessible.

  • Page 119: Virtual Disks Degraded

    To resolve this problem, allow the battery to charge fully. If the problem persists, the battery or adapter DIMM might be faulty; contact Dell Technical Support. Virtual Disks Degraded A redundant virtual disk is in a degraded state when one or more physical disks have failed or are inaccessible.

  • Page 120: Memory Errors

    The controller logs an event to the controller’s internal event log and displays a message during POST indicating a multi-bit error has occurred. NOTE: In case of a multi-bit error, contact Dell Technical Support. Pinned Cache State The controller preserves the dirty cache from a virtual disk if the virtual disk becomes offline or is deleted because of missing physical disks.

  • Page 121: General Problems

    General Problems Table 7-3 describes general problems you might encounter, with suggested solutions. Table 7-3. General Problems Problem Suggested Solution The device displays in Device Reinstall the driver. For more information on Manager but has a yellow bang reinstalling drivers, see "Driver Installation" on (exclamation mark).

  • Page 122: Physical Disk Related Issues

    Check the backplane for damage. failed state. Check the SAS cables. Reseat the physical disk. Contact Dell Technical Support if the problem persists. Cannot rebuild a fault The replacement disk is too small or not compatible tolerant virtual disk. with the virtual disk. Replace the failed disk with a...

  • Page 123: Physical Disk Failures And Rebuilds

    Optimal state without a rebuild occurring. You can use the BIOS Configuration Utility or Dell OpenManage storage management application to perform a manual rebuild of multiple physical disks.
  • Page 124 You can use the BIOS Configuration Utility or Dell OpenManage storage management application to perform a manual rebuild of an individual physical disk. For information on rebuilding a single physical disk, see "Performing a Manual Rebuild of an Individual Physical...

  • Page 125: Smart Errors

    NOTE: For information about where to find reports of SMART errors that could indicate hardware failure, see the Dell OpenManage storage management documentation on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. Table 7-6. SMART Errors Problem...

  • Page 126: Replace Member Errors

    Table 7-6. SMART Errors (continued) Problem Suggested Solution A SMART error Specify how the CC operation must perform when a SMART occurs during a error is encountered. Consistency Check There are two settings, Yes and No. No is the default setting (CC) and allows CC to continue when the first error is encountered.

  • Page 127: Linux Operating System Errors

    Linux Operating System Errors Table 7-8 describes issues related to the Linux operating system. Table 7-8. Linux Operating System Errors Error Message Suggested Solution This error message displays when the Linux Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) kernel: sdb: asking for mid-layer asks for physical disk cache settings.
  • Page 128 Table 7-8. Linux Operating System Errors (continued) Error Message Suggested Solution Driver does not auto-build into This error is a generic problem for Dynamic new kernel after customer updates. Kernel Module Support (DKMS) and applies to all DKMS-enabled driver packages. This issue occurs when you perform the following steps: Install a DKMS-enabled driver package.

  • Page 129: Controller Led Indicators

    Table 7-8. Linux Operating System Errors (continued) Error Message Suggested Solution This is a known issue. An unsupported smartd[smartd[2338] command is entered through the user Device: /dev/sda, Bad application. User applications attempt to direct IEC (SMART) mode page, Command Descriptor Blocks to RAID volumes. err=-5, skip device The error message does not effect the feature functionality.

  • Page 130: Drive Carrier Led Indicators

    Drive Carrier LED Indicators The LED on the physical disk carrier indicates the state of each physical disk. Each drive carrier in your enclosure has two LEDs: an activity LED (green) and a status LED (bicolor, green/amber) as shown in Figure 7-1. The activity LED flashes whenever the drive is accessed.
  • Page 131 Table 7-10. Drive Carrier Status LEDs (continued) Description Green/amber flashing Predicted failure reported by drive (Green On 500 ms / Amber On 500 ms, Off 1000 ms) Green flashing Drive being spun down by user request or other (Green On 3000 ms, Off non-failure condition 3000 ms, Amber On 3000 ms, Off...
  • Page 132 Troubleshooting...

  • Page 133: Regulatory Notices

    Regulatory Notices For additional regulatory information, please go to the Regulatory Compliance Homepage on www.dell.com at the following location: www.dell.com/regulatory_compliance. Regulatory Notices...
  • Page 134 Regulatory Notices...
  • Page 135 Corporate Contact Details (Taiwan Only) Pursuant to Article 11 of the Commodity Inspection Act, Dell provides the following corporate contact details for the certified entity in Taiwan for the products addressed by this document: Dell B.V. Taiwan Branch 20/F, No. 218, Sec. 2, Tung Hwa S. Road,...
  • Page 136 Corporate Contact Details (Taiwan Only)
  • Page 137 Glossary Adapter An adapter enables the computer system to access peripheral devices by converting the protocol of one bus or interface to another. An adapter may also provide specialized function. For example, a RAID controller is a type of adapter that provides RAID functions.
  • Page 138 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 AC power failure or a brief power outage. BIOS Acronym for basic input/output system. Your system's BIOS contains programs stored on a flash memory chip.
  • Page 139 Caching The process of utilizing a high speed memory buffer, referred to as a “cache,” in order to speed up the overall read or write performance. This cache can be accessed at a higher speed than a disk subsystem. To improve read performance, the cache usually contains the most recently accessed data, as well as data from adjacent disk sectors.
  • Page 140 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 RAID controller on which one or more virtual disks can be created, such that all virtual disks in the disk group use all of the physical disks in the disk group.
  • Page 141 DKMS Acronym for Dynamic Kernel Module Support. Designed by Dell™, DKMS creates a framework in which kernel-dependent module source can reside so that it is easy to rebuild modules as you upgrade kernels. DKMS is used in the upgrade ®...
  • Page 142 Failed Physical Disk A physical disk that has ceased to function, that consistently functions improperly, or that is inaccessible. Fault Tolerance Fault tolerance is the capability of the disk subsystem to undergo a single drive failure per disk group without compromising data integrity and processing capability.
  • Page 143 Acronym for gigabyte(s). A gigabyte equals 1,024 megabytes or 1,073,741,824 bytes (2^30 bytes). Host System Any system on which the RAID controller is installed. Mainframes, workstations, and personal systems can all be considered host systems. Hot Spare An idle, powered on, stand-by physical disk ready for immediate use in case of disk failure.
  • Page 144 Initialization The process of writing zeros to the data fields of a virtual disk and, in fault tolerant RAID levels, generating the corresponding parity to put the virtual disk in a Ready state. Initializing erases previous data and generates parity so that the virtual disk passes a consistency check.
  • Page 145 ECC errors are errors that occur in the memory, which can corrupt cached data so that it has to be discarded. ECC double-bit errors are serious, as they result in corrupted data and data loss. In case of double-bit ECC errors, contact Dell Technical Support.
  • Page 146 Non Read Ahead Non read ahead is a cache read policy. If you select Non read ahead in the BIOS Configuration Utility, the controller does not read sequentially ahead of requested data and store the additional data in cache memory, anticipating that the data is needed soon.
  • Page 147 Online Capacity Expansion Operation to add capacity to an existing virtual disk by adding an additional physical disk while the host system is active, and without affecting data availability. Operating Environment An operating environment can include the host system where physical disks are attached, any I/O buses and controllers, the host operating system and any additional software required to manage the virtual disk.
  • Page 148 The interface required to transmit and receive data packets transferred across the serial bus. Each PHY can form one side of the physical link in a connection with a PHY on a different SATA device. The physical link contains four wires that form two differential signal pairs.
  • Page 149 Protocol A set of formal rules describing how to transmit data, generally across a network or when communicating with storage subsystems. Low-level protocols define the electrical and physical standards to be observed, bit- and byte-ordering, and the transmission and error detection and correction of the bit stream. High-level protocols deal with the data formatting, including the message syntax, the terminal to system dialogue, character sets, sequencing of messages, etc.
  • Page 150 The Dell OpenManage™ storage management application configures the disks after you have installed the operating system. Storage Management enables you to perform controller and enclosure functions for all supported RAID and non-RAID controllers and enclosures from a single graphical or command-line interface without requiring the use of the controller BIOS utilities.
  • Page 151 Redundant Virtual Disk A redundant virtual disk is one which has redundant data on physical disks in the disk group that can be used to rebuild a failed physical disk. A virtual disk can use disk striping across the physical disks, disk mirroring or parity to provide redundancy.
  • Page 152 Acronym for Red Hat Package Manager. RPM is a software manager used to install, remove, query, and verify the software on your system. RPMs are used in the driver update procedures for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server (SLES). Acronym for Serial Attached SCSI.
  • Page 153 SMART Acronym for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. The self-monitoring analysis and reporting technology (SMART) feature monitors the internal performance of all motors, heads, and drive electronics to detect predictable drive failures. This feature helps monitor drive performance and reliability, and protects the data on the drive. When problems are detected on a drive, you can replace or repair the drive without losing any data.
  • Page 154 Acronym for Serial SCSI Protocol. SSP enables communication with other SAS devices. Each PHY on the SAS controller can function as an SSP initiator or SSP target. Storport The Storport driver has been designed to replace SCSIport and work with Windows 2003 and beyond.
  • Page 155 Virtual Disk A virtual disk refers to storage created by a RAID controller from one or more physical disks. Although a virtual disk may be created from several physical disks, it is seen by the operating system as a single disk. Depending on the RAID level used, the virtual disk may retain redundant data in case of a disk failure.
  • Page 156 Glossary...
  • Page 157 Index compatibility with existing RAID controllers, 24 background initialization, 25, consistency check, 88, 101, 139 stopping, 108 controller, 139, 151 descriptions, 15 baseport, 137 controller management, 103 battery installing transportable battery backup, 46 management, 30 removing from PERC 5/E disk groups Adapter, 52 deleting, 95 BIOS, 104, 138...
  • Page 158 electrostatic discharge. See ESD NetWare driver installation, 75 ESD, 13 Novell NetWare drivers, 63 Novell Netware, 63 fault tolerance, 34 features, 34 foreign configuration, 104 operating system support, 16 Foreign Configuration View, 104 operating systems, 16 hot swap, 143 parity, 19, 36, 147 distributed, 140 hot swapping, 36 Patrol Read, 38...
  • Page 159 management, 101 SAS, 152 cables, 122 post error messages, 113 controller descriptions, 15 devices, 15 overview, 15 SATA, 152 RAID, 143-144 SCSIport, 152 configuration, 77 configuration and SMART technology, 24 management, 77 spare, 153 configuration functions, 83 Storport, 154 configuration information, 33 definition, 16, 149 stripe element size, 84 description, 16...
  • Page 160 Windows, 63 drivers, 63 updating drivers, 68 Windows XP Driver Installation on an Existing System, 76 write policy, 84 Index...

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