Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 User’s Guide
Notes, Cautions, and Warnings 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. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. COMMENT ____________________ Information in this document is subject to change without notice. © 2012 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Contents 1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Supported Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Related Documentation Contacting Dell 2 Features . 13 Physical Disk Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Configured Spin Down Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Types of Virtual Disk Initialization . . . . . . . . . . .
Conditions Under Which Forced Write-Back With No Battery is Employed . . . . . 24 Virtual Disk Read Cache Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Reconfiguration of Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Fault Tolerance . The SMART Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Automatic Replace Member with Predicted Failure . . . . Patrol Read . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 . . . . .
Support For Internal Multiple Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting up Redundant Path Support on the PERC H810 Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reverting to Single Path Support from Redundant Path Support for PERC H810 . 4 Driver Installation 39 40 . . . . . 41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Installing the Windows Drivers . Creating the Driver Media . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Pre-Installation Requirements . . . . . . . .
5 Management Applications for PERC Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dell OpenManage Storage Management BIOS Configuration Utility . . . . . . . . 51 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Entering the BIOS Configuration Utility . Exiting the Configuration Utility . . . . . . . 52 . . . . . . . . . . 53 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Menu Navigation Controls Setting Up Virtual Disks .
Rebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Controller Management (Ctrl Mgmt) . . . . . . . . 79 . . . . . . . . . 80 . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Controller Management Actions . Foreign Configuration View . Physical Disk Management Setting LED Blinking Creating Global Hot Spares. . . . . . . . . . . . . Replacing an Online Physical Disk 82 . . . . 82 . . . . . . . . .
CacheCade Virtual Disk Management . . . . . . . 94 Create CacheCade Virtual Disk . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Delete CacheCade Virtual Disk . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Reconfiguring CacheCade Virtual Disks Automatic Reconfiguration of CacheCade Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . . . 96 . . . . . . . . . . 97 Manual Resizing of CacheCade Virtual Disks 7 Security Key and RAID Management . . . 98 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Security Key Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BIOS Error Messages 109 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discovery Error Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 109 Extra Enclosure Error Message . . . . . . . . . . 109 Cache Data Lost Error Message . . . . . . . . . . 110 Missing Disks in Virtual Disk Error Message . Previous Configuration of Disks Removed Error Message . . . . . . . . 110 . . . . . . . . . 111 Missing Virtual Disks Error Message. . . . . . . . 111 . . . .
Battery Discharged or Disconnected Error Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 . . . . . . . . . . . 118 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Degraded State of Virtual Disks . Memory Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Preserved Cache State . General Issues . PERC Card Has Yellow Bang in Device Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PERC Card Not Seen in Device Manager . 119 . . . . . . 120 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Smart Error Detected on a Physical Disk in a Non-Redundant Virtual . . . . . . . . Replace Member Errors . . . . . 125 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Source Disk Fails During Replace Member Operation Target Disk Fails . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 General Disk Fails. Linux Operating System Errors . . . . . . . . 126 . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contents
1 Overview The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P and H810 family of storage controller cards has the following characteristics: • Complies with Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) 2.0 providing up to 6 Gb/sec throughput. • Supports Dell-qualified serial-attached SCSI (SAS) hard drives, SATA hard drives, and solid-state drives (SSDs). NOTE: Mixing SAS and SATA drives within a virtual disk is not supported. Also, mixing hard drives and SSDs within a virtual disk is not supported.
Table 1-1 compares the hardware configurations for the PERC H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards. Table 1-1.
Table 1-1.
Related Documentation • For all storage controllers documentation, navigate to support.dell.com/manuals Storage Storage Controllers. • To see Dell OpenManage documentation, navigate to upport.dell.com/manuals Software Systems Management. To see the documentation of your PowerEdge or PowerVault system: 1 Go to support.dell.com. 2 Select your line of business. 3 Select Select a Product in Product Support 4 Select Enter a Tag. 5 Enter the Service Tag of the system and click on Go.
2 Features Some of the features discussed for PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards are: • Physical Disk Power Management • Fault Tolerance • Consistency Checks • Disk Roaming • Virtual Disk Migration • Virtual Disk Cache Policies • Virtual Disks Reconfiguring • Virtual Disk Initialization • Patrol Read Physical Disk Power Management Physical disk power management is a power saving feature of the PERC H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards.
There are four power saving modes available: • No Power Savings (default mode)—All power savings features are disabled. • Balanced Power Savings—Spin down is enabled only for unconfigured and hot spare disks. • Maximum Power Savings—Spin down is enabled for configured, unconfigured and hot spare disks. • Customized Power Savings—All power savings features are customizable. You can specify a Quality of Service window during which the configured disks are excluded from spin-down.
NOTE: You cannot disable BGI permanently. If you cancel BGI, it automatically restarts within five minutes. For information on stopping BGI, see "Stopping Background Initialization" on page 84. NOTE: Unlike full or fast initialization of virtual disks, background initialization does not clear data from the physical disks. NOTE: CC/BGI typically causes some loss in performance until the operation completes. Consistency Check (CC) and BGI perform similar functions in that they both correct parity errors.
Consistency Checks Consistency Check (CC) is a background operation that verifies and corrects the mirror or parity data for fault tolerant virtual disks. It is recommended that you periodically run a consistency check on virtual disks. You can manually start a CC using the BIOS Configuration Utility or the Dell OpenManage storage management application. You can schedule CC to run on virtual disks using a Dell OpenManage storage management application.
Virtual Disk Migration The PERC H710, H710P, and H810 cards support migration of virtual disks from one controller to another without taking the target controller offline. The controller can import RAID virtual disks in optimal, degraded, or partially degraded states. You cannot import a virtual disk that is in an offline state.
Perform the following steps to use disk migration: 1 Turn off the system that contains the source controller. 2 Move the appropriate physical disks from the source controller to the target controller. The system with the target controller can be online while inserting the physical disks. The controller flags the inserted disks as foreign disks. 3 Use the Dell OpenManage storage management application or the controller BIOS Configuration Utility to import the detected foreign configuration.
4 Exit the BIOS Configuration Utility and reboot the system. 5 Ensure that all the latest drivers for the PERC H710, H710P, or H810 card (available at support.dell.com) are installed. For more information, see "Driver Installation" on page 43. Virtual Disk Write Cache Policies NOTE: PERC H310 only supports Write-Through mode. The write cache policy of a virtual disk determines how the controller handles writes to the virtual disk.
Conditions Under Which Write-Back is Employed Write-Back caching is used under all conditions in which the battery is present and in good condition. Conditions Under Which Forced Write-Back With No Battery is Employed CAUTION: It is recommended that you use a power backup system when forcing Write-Back to ensure there is no loss of data if the system suddenly loses power. Write-Back mode is available when you select Force WB with no battery.
Reconfiguration of Virtual Disks An online virtual disk can be reconfigured in ways that expands its capacity and/or change its RAID level. NOTE: Spanned virtual disks such as RAID 10, 50, and 60 cannot be reconfigured. NOTE: Reconfiguring Virtual Disks typically impacts disk performance until the reconfiguration operation is complete.
Table 2-1. RAID Level Migration Source Target Number of RAID RAID Physical Level Level Disks (Beginning) Number of Capacity Description Physical Expansion Disks (End) Possible RAID RAID 1 0 0 2 or more Yes Increases capacity by adding disks RAID RAID 1 0 1 2 No Converts non-redundant virtual disk into a mirrored virtual disk by adding one disk. RAID RAID 1 or more 0 5 3 or more Yes At least one disk needs to be added for distributed parity data.
Fault Tolerance The list of features of the PERC cards that provide fault tolerance to prevent data loss is as follows: • Support for Self Monitoring and Reporting Technology (SMART) • Support for Patrol Read • Redundant path support (for PERC H810 only) • Physical disk failure detection • Physical disk rebuild using hot spares • Battery and Non-Volatile Cache backup of controller cache to protect data • Detection of batteries with low charge after boot up The next sections describe some metho
Automatic Replace Member with Predicted Failure A Replace Member operation can occur when there is a SMART predictive failure reporting on a physical disk in a virtual disk. The automatic Replace Member is initiated when the first SMART error occurs on a physical disk that is part of a virtual disk. The target disk needs to be a hot spare that qualifies as a rebuild disk. The physical disk with the SMART error is marked as failed only after the successful completion of the Replace Member.
• Patrol Read does not run on any disks involved in any of the following operations: – Rebuild – Replace Member – Full or Background Initialization – CC – RLM or OCE NOTE: By default, Patrol Read automatically runs every seven days on configured SAS and SATA hard drives. Patrol Read is not necessary on SSD and is disabled by default. For more information on Patrol Read, see the Dell OpenManage documentation at support.dell.com/manuals.
Physical Disk Failure Detection Failed physical disks are detected and rebuilds automatically start to new disks that are inserted into the same slot. Automatic rebuilds can also happen transparently with hot spares. If you have configured hot spares, the controllers automatically try to use them to rebuild failed physical disks. Using Persistent Hot Spare Slots NOTE: The persistent hot spare slot feature is disabled by default.
• The replacement disk must be of the same protocol and disk technology. For example, only a SAS hard drive can replace a SAS hard drive; only a SATA SSD can replace a SATA SSD. • The replacement disk must be of equal or greater capacity than the one it is replacing. Using Replace Member and Revertible Hot Spares The Replace Member functionality allows a previously commissioned hot spare to be reverted to a usable hot spare.
Cache Preservation With Non-Volatile Cache (NVC) In essence, the NVC module allows controller cache data to be stored indefinitely. If the controller has data in cache memory during a power outage or improper system shutdown, a small amount of power from a battery is used to transfer cache data to non-volatile flash storage where it remains until power is restored and the system is booted.
When to Replace the Battery When the state of health of the battery is declared bad, the virtual disks transitions to write through mode. If battery is declared bad, then the firmware runs learn cycles in subsequent reboots until the battery is replaced. The virtual disk then transitions to Write Back mode.
Features
Deploying the PERC Card 3 CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or telephone service and support team. Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty. Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the system.
Removing the PERC Controller 1 Perform a controlled shutdown of the system and attached peripherals. 2 Disconnect the system from the electrical outlet and remove the system cover. 3 Remove the storage controller from the PCIe slot of the system. See Figure 3-1, Figure 3-2, or Figure 3-3 as relevant to the type of PERC controller that you have. Installing the PERC Controller 1 Perform a controlled shutdown of the system and attached peripherals.
Figure 3-1.
Figure 3-2.
Figure 3-3. Removing and Installing the PERC Mini Monolithic Controller 4 3 1 2 1 retention bracket 2 release lever (2) 3 PERC stack-up connector 4 PERC mini monolithic controller Support For Internal Multiple Controllers On PowerEdge systems with dual bays (backplanes), the hard drives are managed by independent PERC H710P cards. The PERC H710P cards do not share the disks or the RAID volumes.
Setting up Redundant Path Support on the PERC H810 Adapter The PERC H810 card can detect and use redundant paths to disks contained in enclosures. With redundant paths to the same device, if one path fails, another path can be used to communicate between the controller and the device. To set up a configuration with redundant paths, both ports on a controller must be cabled to the In ports of a single enclosure.
Reverting to Single Path Support from Redundant Path Support for PERC H810 If you need to revert to single path support from redundant path support, shut down the system and remove the exact same cables that were added to support redundant path support, leaving only one connection between the controller and enclosures. After you remove the cable and power up the system, ensure that there are no warning messages during boot, and that all virtual disks are online and optimal.
Figure 3-4.
4 Driver Installation The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards require software drivers to operate with the supported operating systems. This chapter contains the procedures for installing the drivers for the PERC H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards. NOTE: For more information on VMware ESX drivers, see the VMware ESX documentation on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com/manuals.
Pre-Installation Requirements Before you install the operating system: • Read the Microsoft Getting Started document that shipped with your operating system. • Ensure that your system has the latest BIOS, firmware, and driver updates. If required, download the latest BIOS, firmware, and driver updates from the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. • Create a device driver media (diskette, USB drive, CD, or DVD).
5 Select the System Type, Operating System, Driver Language, and Category from the drop-down list. 6 The drivers that are applicable to your selection are displayed. From the available list, download the drivers that you require to a diskette drive, USB drive, CD, or DVD. 7 During the operating system installation, use the media that you created with the Load Driver option to load mass storage drivers.
6 On the Locate device driver screen, select Search for a suitable driver for my device and click Next. 7 Browse and select the drivers from the Locate Driver Files screen. 8 Click Next. 9 The wizard detects and installs the appropriate device drivers for the new RAID controller. 10 Click Finish to complete the installation. 11 Reboot the system when prompted. Updating Existing Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 NOTE: Close all applications on your system before you update the driver.
9 Click Next. 10 Follow the steps in the wizard and browse to the location of the driver files. 11 Select the INF file from the driver media (CD, DVD, or other media). 12 Click Next and continue the installation steps in the wizard. 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 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system.
Installing or Updating the RPM Driver Package With DKMS Support NOTE: This procedure is applicable for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 SP7 and SUSE Enterprise Linux 10 SP4. NOTE: For SUSE Enterprise Linux 10 SP4, immediately following the operating system installation, download the latest driver from support.dell.com, and update the driver using the procedures detailed in this section.
Installing or Updating the RPM Driver Package With KMP Support NOTE: This procedure is applicable for SUSE Enterprise Linux 11 SP2. Perform the following steps to install the RPM package with KMP support: 1 Uncompress the gzipped tarball driver release package. 2 Install the driver package using the command: rpm –ihv kmpmegaraid_sas-.rpm NOTE: Use rpm -Uvh when updating an existing package.
Driver Installation
5 Management Applications for PERC Cards Dell OpenManage Storage Management applications enable you to manage and configure the RAID system, create and manage multiple disk groups, control and monitor multiple RAID systems, and provide online maintenance.
BIOS Configuration Utility The BIOS Configuration Utility, also known as , is a storage management application embedded on the PERC H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards that configures and maintains RAID disk groups and virtual disks. is independent of the operating system. 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.
Exiting the Configuration Utility To exit the BIOS Configuration Utility (), press at any menu screen. If there is only one controller, then a dialog box is displayed to confirm your choice. Select OK to exit and press . If multiple controllers are present, then the key brings you to the Controller Selection screen. Press again to reach the exit screen. A dialog box is displayed to confirm your choice. Select OK to exit and press .
Table 5-1. Notation Menu Navigation Keys (continued) Meaning and Use Example down-arrow Use the down-arrow key to move to the lower menu Virtual Disk 1 key items within a menu or to a lower level menu. You can also use the down-arrow key to open a menu list in a popup window, such as the stripe element size Virtual Disk 4 menu, and select a setting. Word wrap is supported. Select Add New VD and press to create a new virtual disk.
Table 5-1. Menu Navigation Keys (continued) Notation Meaning and Use Example Press to move to the previous menu Press screen among the main menu screens: VD Mgmt, PD on Mgmt, Ctrl Mgmt, and Foreign View. the PD Mgmt screen to return to the VD Mgmt screen. Press to access Help information. The Help screens display a glossary of topics you can use to access information about navigation, RAID levels, and general topics.
When you define the virtual disks, you can set the following virtual disk parameters: • RAID level • Stripe element size • Read policy • Write policy • Type of initialization • Hot spare configuration NOTE: The default hard drive cache policy for a virtual disk composed with SAS hard drives is disabled and with SATA hard drives is enabled. The Virtual Disk parameter can not be changed in the BIOS Configuration Utility ().
Table 5-2. Virtual Disk Parameters and Descriptions (continued) Parameter Description Write Policy Write Policy specifies the controller write policy. You can set the write policy to Write-Back or Write-Through. In Write-Back caching, the controller sends a data transfer completion signal to the host when the controller cache has received all the data in a transaction. NOTE: If a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) is present, the default cache setting is Write-Back.
Virtual Disk Management Creating Virtual Disks NOTE: Combining SAS and SATA hard drives within a virtual disk is not supported. Also, combining hard drives and SSDs within a virtual disk is not supported. NOTE: To create secured virtual disks, see "Security Key and RAID Management" on page 99. Perform the following steps to create a virtual disk: 1 During host system bootup, press when the BIOS screen is displayed. The Virtual Disk Management screen is displayed.
9 Use the arrow key to highlight a physical disk and press the spacebar, , or to select the disk. 10 Select additional disks, if required. NOTE: (PERC H310) Only RAID Capable physical disks are eligible to be included in a Virtual Disk. To convert physical disks to RAID Capable, see "Converting Physical Disk to RAID Capable for PERC H310" on page 61. 11 Press to move the cursor to the Basic Settings box. 12 Set the virtual disk size in the VD Size field.
e If you need to change the read policy, press to move the cursor to Read Policy. f Press to display the options (No Read Ahead, Read Ahead, or Adaptive Read Ahead). Press the down-arrow key to highlight the desired option and press . g If you need to change the write policy, press to move the cursor to Write Policy. h Press to display the options (Write-Through, Write Back). Press the down-arrow key to highlight an option and press .
Converting Physical Disk to RAID Capable for PERC H310 NOTE: By default, all physical drives are discovered as Non-RAID drives. Conversion of a physical disk to RAID capable allows that disk to be used within a Virtual Disk or as a Hot Spare. 1 Press to access the PD Mgmt screen. A list of physical disks is displayed. The status of the each disk is displayed under State. 2 Press the down-arrow key to highlight a physical disk. 3 Press to display the menu of available actions.
3 Select Start Init. to begin a regular initialization or select Fast Init. to begin a fast initialization. 4 A pop-up windows is displayed indicating that the virtual disk has been initialized. 5 Repeat the procedures from step 1 to step 4 to configure another virtual disk. NOTE: The PERC H310 card supports up to 16 virtual disks per controller, and the PERC H710, H710P, and H810 cards support up to 64 virtual disks per controller. The currently configured virtual disks display on the screen.
Importing or Clearing Foreign Configurations Using the VD Mgmt Menu When a foreign configuration exists, the BIOS screen displays the message Foreign configuration(s) found on adapter. In addition, a foreign configuration is displayed on the right side of the Ctrl Mgmt screen. You can use the VD Mgmt menu to import the existing configuration to the RAID controller or clear the existing configuration.
Importing or Clearing Foreign Configurations Using the Foreign Configuration View Screen NOTE: To import a secured foreign configuration, see "Security Key and RAID Management" on page 99. If one or more physical disks are removed from a configuration, the configuration on those disks is considered a foreign configuration by the RAID controller.
1 If all or some of the physical disks in a configuration are removed and reinserted, the controller considers the disks to have foreign configurations. Perform the following steps: a Select Foreign Configuration View to display the foreign configuration information on the Foreign Configuration View screen. b Press to display the options (Import, Clear). NOTE: You must have all the disks in the system before you perform the import operation.
c Select Import to merge the foreign configurations with the existing configuration on the controller or Clear to delete the foreign configuration(s) from the re-inserted disk(s). If you select Import, all drives that were pulled before the virtual disk became offline are imported, and then automatically rebuilt. NOTE: Start a consistency check immediately after the rebuild is complete to ensure data integrity for the virtual disks.
Break Mirror in BIOS Configuration Utility To use the Break Mirror feature from the BIOS Configuration Utility (), perform the following steps: The RAID1 VD that you are to split must be in an optimal state, and it cannot be running any other background tasks. 1 During boot up, press when prompted by the BIOS screen. If there is more than one controller in the system, choose the controller. The VD Mgmt screen is displayed by default.
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. The 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 preserved cache exists.
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. Perform the following steps to create or delete dedicated hot spares: 1 On the VD Mgmt screen, select Disk Group # and press to display the menu of available actions. The available menu options appear.
Deleting Virtual Disks NOTE: You cannot delete a virtual disk during an initialization. NOTE: Warning messages appear stating the effect of deleting a virtual disk. Click OK twice to complete the virtual disk deletion. To delete virtual disks, perform the following steps in the BIOS Configuration Utility (): 1 Press to access the VD Mgmt screen. 2 Use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the Virtual Disks heading. 3 Press . The action menu is displayed.
Clearing the Configuration You can delete all virtual disks on the RAID controller by performing the operation. To clear the configuration, perform the following steps in the BIOS Configuration Utility (): 1 Press to access the VD Mgmt screen. 2 Use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the Controller heading. 3 Press . The action menu is displayed. 4 Select Clear Config. A pop-up window is displayed prompting for confirmation to delete all virtual disks.
Virtual Disk Management (VD Mgmt) The Virtual Disk Management screen, VD Mgmt, is the first screen that is displayed when you access a RAID controller from the main menu screen on the BIOS Configuration Utility ().
Table 5-3.
Table 5-3.
Table 5-3.
Virtual Disk Actions Table 5-4 describes the actions you can perform on virtual disks. For procedures you can use to perform the actions, See "Virtual Disk Management" on page 58. Table 5-4. Virtual Disk Actions Action Description Create a new virtual Creates a new virtual disk from one or more physical disks. disk You can configure hot spares when you create a virtual disk. Manage dedicated hot spares Creates or deletes a hot spare that you can dedicate to a single redundant virtual disks.
Physical Disk Management (PD Mgmt) The Physical Disk Management screen (PD Mgmt) displays physical disk information and action menus. The screen displays physical disk IDs, vendor names, disk size, type, state, and disk group (DG). You can sort the list of physical disks based on the headings.
Physical Disk Actions Table 5-6 describes the actions you can perform on physical disks. For procedures that can be used to perform the actions, see "Physical Disk Management" on page 81. Table 5-6. Physical Disk Actions Action Description Rebuild Regenerates all data to a replacement disk in a redundant virtual disk (RAID level 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, or 60) after a disk failure. A disk rebuild normally occurs without interrupting normal operations on the affected virtual disk.
The listed rates in Table 5-7 were taken during single disk failure with no I/O present on a PERC H810 card connected to a single PowerVault MD1220 enclosure. Rates vary depending on type, speed and number of hard drives present in array; as well as which controller model and enclosure configuration are being used. Table 5-7. Estimated Rebuild Rates RAID Level Number of Hard Drives 7.
Controller Management Actions Table 5-8 describes the actions you can perform on the Ctrl Mgmt screen. Table 5-8. Controller Management Options Option Description Enable Controller BIOS Select the option to enable the controller BIOS. If the boot device is on the RAID controller, the BIOS must be enabled. Disable the BIOS to use other boot devices. In a multiple controller environment, you can enable BIOS on multiple controllers.
Foreign Configuration View When a foreign configuration is present, you can select Foreign Configuration View to display the configuration. The screen shows the foreign configuration as it would be if you import it. You can preview the foreign configuration before you decide whether to import it or clear it. In some cases, a foreign configuration cannot be imported. If a physical disk in a virtual disk is rebuilding, the physical disk's state is set to Rebuild.
Creating Global Hot Spares You can use a global hot spare to replace a failed physical disk in any redundant array as long as the capacity of the global hot spare is equal to or larger than the coerced capacity of the failed physical disk. Perform the following steps to create global hot spares: 1 Press to access the PD Mgmt screen. A list of physical disks is displayed. The status of the each disk is displayed under the heading State.
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. If you use physical disks with different capacities in a virtual disk, all physical disks in the virtual disk are treated as if they have the capacity of the smallest physical disk.
Restrictions and Limitations The following restrictions and limitations apply to the Replace Member operation: • The Replace Member functions are restricted to one per array for RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5, and two per array for RAID 6. • The Replace Member function and rebuild cannot run simultaneously on a RAID 6 virtual disk. The rebuild operation has a higher priority, and the Replace Member operation is aborted if a rebuild begins.
Performing a Manual Rebuild of an Individual Physical Disk CAUTION: If a physical disk is a member of a disk group that contains multiple virtual disks and one of the virtual disks is deleted when a rebuild operation is in progress, the rebuild operation stops. You can then resume the rebuild operation manually using a storage management application. To avoid interruption, ensure that none of the virtual disks are deleted until the rebuild is complete.
3 Press the spacebar to select Enable Controller BIOS. An X is displayed beside Enable Controller BIOS. 4 Press to move the cursor to the Apply button, and then press to apply the selection. The controller BIOS is enabled. To disable the controller BIOS, use the spacebar to de-select the Enable Controller BIOS control, and then select Apply and press .
4 Press to move the cursor to the Apply button, and then press to apply the selection. The controller BIOS is enabled. To disable Enable BIOS Stop on Error, use the spacebar to de-select Enable BIOS Stop on Error, then select Apply and press .
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 BIOS Stop on Error, and Enable Auto Import. Perform the following steps to restore default settings: 1 Press to access the Ctrl Mgmt menu screen. 2 Press to move the cursor to the Settings box. 3 Use the spacebar to de-select the settings for the options in the Settings box.
NOTE: The help information for all of the options within the UEFI RAID Configuration Utility can be viewed by clicking on Help at the top right-hand corner of the browser screen. Help information for individual option menus can also be viewed by simply scrolling down on each option. NOTE: Some of the options within the UEFI RAID Configuration Utility are not present if the controller does not support the corresponding feature.
Controller Management The Controller Management menu can be used to perform the following controller-level functions. Each of these functions is its own selectable menu option. 90 • View Controller Information—Displays information about the controller. • Change Controller Properties—Updates controller properties and/or restores factory defaults for the controller. • Battery Management— Displays battery status and capacity information.
Virtual Disk Management The Virtual Disk Management menu can be used to create and manage virtual disks on the controller. The following functions can be performed under Virtual Disk Management. Each of these functions is its own selectable menu option. • Create Virtual Disk—Creates a virtual disk by selecting the RAID level, physical disks, and virtual disk parameters.
Enclosure Management The Enclosure Management menu can be used to view the firmware version of the enclosure and the physical disks attached to the controller, along with their physical disk states.
6 CacheCade The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H710, H710P, and H810 cards support CacheCade, a feature that can improve application performance by increasing read caching capacity. The CacheCade feature makes use of highperforming solid state disks (SSDs) as a secondary tier of cache. CacheCade provides faster reads and maximizes transactional I/O performance.
• CacheCade virtual disks are read cache only. • CacheCade virtual disks cannot be migrated to a controller that does not support CacheCade. • Importing a CacheCade drive may result in a RAID 0 VD. You must reconfigure the CacheCade VD after importing. • CacheCade virtual disks are not presented to the operating system. Configuring and Managing CacheCade Virtual Disks All management applications allow the creation and deletion of CacheCade virtual disks.
Create CacheCade Virtual Disk NOTE: Only SSDs can be used to create CacheCade virtual disks. NOTE: Combining SAS and SATA SSDs within a CacheCade virtual disk is not supported. NOTE: To avoid inefficient use of space, it is recommended that CacheCade volumes are created with drives of the same size. Larger disk sizes are truncated to the size of the smallest contributing disk, similar to RAID 0.
7 Press to move the cursor to the CacheCade Virtual Disk Name field. Enter a name if required. 8 After you specify the virtual disk name, select OK to save the selection or select Cancel to cancel the selection. After the CacheCade virtual disk is created successfully, it is listed in the Virtual Disk Management screen under the CacheCade disk group, and is labeled as a CacheCade virtual disk. The virtual disk has an optimal state and its RAID level is RAID 0.
There are two methods to reconfigure CacheCade virtual disks: • Automatic reconfiguration of cachecade virtual disks • Manual reconfiguration of cachecade virtual disks Automatic Reconfiguration of CacheCade Virtual Disks A CacheCade virtual disk that is made up of more than one SSD is automatically reconfigured upon a removal or failure of a member SSD. The virtual disk retains an Optimal state and adjusts its size to reflect the remaining number of member disks.
Manual Resizing of CacheCade Virtual Disks In operating system management applications, a manual resizing of a CacheCade virtual disk occurs due to the addition or removal of drives. Reboot is not be necessary. • Any number of SSDs can be added to a CacheCade virtual disk. • There is no SAS and SATA mixing allowed within a CacheCade virtual disk, so SATA SSDs cannot be added to a SAS CacheCade virtual disk and vice versa. • HDDs cannot be added to a CacheCade virtual disk.
Security Key and RAID Management 7 NOTE: PERC H310 does not support any security implementations. Security Key Implementation The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H710, H710P, and H810 cards support Self-Encrypting Disks (SED) for protection of data against loss or theft of SEDs. Protection is achieved by the use of encryption technology on the drives. The encryption key is protected from unauthorized use by a security key. There is one security key per controller.
• • The Virtual Disk Management screen, VD Mgmt, is the first screen that is displayed when you access a RAID controller from the main menu screen on the BIOS Configuration Utility (). The following are security-related actions you can perform through the virtual disk management menu: – Security Key Management—Creates, changes, or deletes the security settings on a controller. – Secure Disk Group—Secures all Virtual Disks in Disk Group.
2 Select a controller, and press . The Virtual Disk Management screen is displayed for the selected controller. 3 Use the arrow keys to highlight Security Key Management. 4 Press to display the actions you can perform. 5 Select Create Key and press . The Create Security Key screen is displayed. The cursor is at the Security Key Identifier. 6 Enter an identifier for your security key.
6 The Change Security Key screen is displayed. The cursor is at the Security Key Identifier. Enter an identifier for your Security Key. 7 Press to enter a new passphrase. NOTE: You need to provide the current passphrase in order to change the security key on the controller. 8 Press and select OK to accept the settings and to exit the window. Select Cancel to exit if you do not want to change the security key on the controller.
Creating Secured Virtual Disks To create a secured virtual disk, the controller must have a security key established first. See "Create Security Key" on page 100. NOTE: Combining SAS and SATA hard drives within a virtual disk is not supported. Also, combining hard drives and solid state drives (SSDs) within a virtual disk is not supported. After the security key is established, perform the steps outlined in the "Creating Virtual Disks" on page 88 to create a virtual disk.
Importing or Clearing Secured Foreign Configurations and Secure Disk Migration Secured virtual disks created on a PERC H700/H800 or H710/H710P/H810 card can be migrated to another PERC H710, H710P, or H810 card. A virtual disk secured with a security key different from the current controller security key cannot be imported without authentication of the original passphrase used to secure them.
5 If you select to Import the configuration, the Secure Foreign Import screen is displayed. NOTE: The key identifier for the passphrase used to secure the foreign secured virtual disks is displayed under the Secured Drives option. 6 Enter the passphrase that was used to secure the foreign configuration 7 Press and select OK to finish importing the secured foreign configuration or select Cancel to exit this menu.
Troubleshooting Security Key Errors Secured Foreign Import Errors A foreign configuration is a RAID configuration that already exists on a replacement physical disk that you install in a system. A secured foreign configuration is a RAID configuration that was created under a different security key.
Failure to Instant Secure Erase Task on Physical Disks Instant Secure Erase is the process of securely erasing all data permanently on an encryption-capable physical disk and resetting the security attributes. It is used in a couple of scenarios such as deleting a foreign configuration in the event of a forgotten or lost passphrase or unlocking a disk that had been previously locked.
Security Key and RAID Management
8 Troubleshooting To get help with your Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P and H810, you can contact your Dell Technical Service representative or see support.dell.com. BIOS Error Messages The controller BIOS read-only memory (ROM) provides Int 13h functionality (disk I/O) for the virtual disks connected to the controller. You can boot from or access the physical disks without a driver.
Cache Data Lost Error Message Error Message: Cache data was lost, but the controller has recovered. This could be due to the fact that your controller had protected cache after an unexpected power loss and your system was without power longer than the battery backup time. Press any key to continue or 'C' to load the configuration utility.
Previous Configuration of Disks Removed Error Message Error Message: All of the disks from your previous configuration are gone. If this is an unexpected message, then please power off your system and check your cables to ensure all disks are present. Press any key to continue, or 'C' to load the configuration utility. Probable Cause: The message indicates that all configured disks were removed. If the disks were not removed, they are no longer accessible.
Dirty Cache Data Error Message Error Message: The cache contains dirty data, but some virtual disks are missing or will go offline, so the cached data can not be written to disk. If this is an unexpected error, then please power off your system and check your cables to ensure all disks are present. If you continue, the data in cache will be permanently discarded. Press 'X' to acknowledge and permanently destroy the cached data.
Drive Configuration Changes Error Message Error Message: Entering the configuration utility in this state will result in drive configuration changes. Press 'Y' to continue loading the configuration utility or please power off your system and check your cables to ensure all disks are present and reboot. Probable Cause: The message is displayed after another BIOS warning indicating there are problems with previously configured disks and you have chosen to accept any changes and continue.
Virtual Disks Offline Error Message Error Message: x Virtual Disk(s) Offline, where x is the number of virtual disks failed. Probable Cause: This warning is displayed when the BIOS detects virtual disks in the offline state. Corrective Action: You must check to determine why the virtual disks failed and correct the problem. The BIOS does not take any action. Virtual Disks Degraded Error Message Error Message: x Virtual Disk(s) Degraded, where x is the number of virtual disks degraded.
• The controller discards the cache rather than sending it to the disk subsystem because the data integrity cannot be guaranteed. • The battery may be under charged. Corrective Action: 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. Firmware Fault State Error Message Error Message: Firmware is in Fault State Corrective Action: Contact Dell Technical Support.
Foreign Configuration Not Found in Error Message Error Message: The foreign configuration message is present during POST but no foreign configurations are present in the foreign view page in CTRL+R. All virtual disks are in an optimal state. Corrective Action: Ensure all your PDs are present and all VDs are in optimal state. Clear the foreign configuration using or Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Storage Management.
Multibit ECC Errors Detected Error Messages NOTE: The following error is specific to the PERC H710 controller only. Error Message: Multibit ECC errors were detected on the RAID controller. If you continue, data corruption can occur. Contact technical support to resolve this issue. Press 'X' to continue or else power off the system, replace the controller and reboot. Or Error Message: Multibit ECC errors were detected on the RAID controller.The DIMM on the controller needs replacement.
Battery Discharged or Disconnected Error Message Error Message: The battery is currently discharged or disconnected. Verify the connection and allow 30 minutes for charging.If the battery is properly connected and it has not returned to operational state after 30 minutes of charging then contact technical support for additional assistance. Probable Cause: This message may appear for controller without battery, depending on the virtual disks’ policies.
Multi-bit errors are more serious as they result in corrupted data and data loss. The following are the actions that occur in the case of multi-bit errors: • If a multi-bit error occurs while accessing data in the cache when the controller is started with dirty cache, the controller discards the cache contents. The controller generates a warning message to the system console to indicate that the cache was discarded and generates an event.
No Hard Drives Found Error Message During Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Installation Issue: No Hard Drives Found message is displayed during a mediabased installation of Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Corrective Action: The issue occurs because of any of the following causes: • The driver is not native in the operating system. To resolve the issue, press to install the RAID device driver during installation. • The virtual disks are not configured properly.
Fatal Error or Data Corruption Reported Issue: Fatal error(s) or data corruption(s) are reported when accessing virtual disks. Corrective Action: Contact Dell Technical Support. Physical Disk Displayed as Blocked Issue: One or more physical disks is displayed as Blocked and can not be configured. Corrective Action: Update the PERC cards to the latest firmware available on support.dell.com.
If the virtual disk is redundant and transitioned to Degraded state before going Offline, a rebuild operation starts automatically after the configuration is imported. If the virtual disk has gone directly to the Offline state due to a cable pull or power loss situation, the virtual disk is imported in its Optimal state without a rebuild occurring.
Physical Disk Fails During Reconstruction on Redundant Virtual Disk Issue: A physical disk fails during a reconstruction process on a redundant virtual disk that has a hot spare. Corrective Action: The dedicated hot spare goes to Ready state and the virtual disk goes to Failed state. Virtual Disk Fails Rebuild Using a Dedicated Hot Spare Issue: A virtual disk fails during rebuild while using a dedicated hot spare.
SMART Errors SMART monitors the internal performance of all motors, heads, and physical disk electronics and detects predictable physical disk failures. NOTE: For information about where to find reports of SMART errors that could indicate hardware failure, see the Dell OpenManage storage management documentation at support.dell.com/manuals. Smart Error Detected on a Physical Disk in a Redundant Virtual Disk Issue: A SMART error is detected on a physical disk in a redundant virtual disk.
Smart Error Detected on a Physical Disk in a Non-Redundant Virtual Issue: A SMART error is detected on a physical disk in a redundant virtual disk. Corrective Action: Perform the following steps: 1 Back up your data. 2 Use Replace Member or set up a global hot spare to replace the disk automatically. For more information about the Replace Member feature, see "Using Replace Member and Revertible Hot Spares" on page 31. 3 Replace the affected physical disk with a new physical disk of equal or higher capacity.
Corrective Action: If the target disk fails and the Replace Member operation aborts but the source data is still available, then the Replace Member operation continues as Replace Member.
The driver running in the new kernel is the native driver of the new kernel. The driver package you installed previously in the new kernel does not take effect in the new kernel.
Disk Carrier LED Indicators The LED on the physical disk carrier indicates the state of each physical disk. Each disk carrier in your enclosure has two LEDs: an activity LED (green) and a status LED (bicolor, green/amber) as shown in Figure 8-1. The activity LED is active whenever a disk is being accessed while the status LED indicates when a disk is being spun up, is rebuilding, or is in a fault state. Figure 8-1.
Appendix: RAID Description A RAID is a group of independent physical disks that provides high performance by increasing the number of disks used for saving and accessing data. A RAID disk subsystem offers the following benefits: • Improved I/O performance and data availability. • Improved data throughput because several disks are accessed simultaneously. The physical disk group appears either as a single storage unit or multiple logical units to the host system.
• RAID 10 is a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1, uses disk striping across mirrored disks. It provides high data throughput and complete data redundancy. RAID 10 can support up to eight spans, and up to 32 physical disks per span. • RAID 50 is a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 5 where a RAID 0 array is striped across RAID 5 elements. RAID 50 requires at least six disks. • RAID 60 is a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 6 where a RAID 0 array is striped across RAID 6 elements.
Disk Mirroring With mirroring (used in RAID 1), data written to one disk is simultaneously written to another disk. If one disk fails, the contents of the other disk can be used to run the system and rebuild the failed physical disk. The primary advantage of disk mirroring is that it provides complete data redundancy. Both disks contain the same data at all times. Either of the physical disks can act as the operational physical disk.
The parity data is distributed across all the physical disks in the system. If a single physical disk fails, it can be rebuilt from the parity and the data on the remaining physical disks. RAID level 5 combines distributed parity with disk striping, as shown in Figure A-3. Parity provides redundancy for one physical disk failure without duplicating the contents of entire physical disks. RAID 6 combines dual distributed parity with disk striping.
Index B D Background Initialization, 18 disk groups deleting, 70 background initialization, 18 stopping, 84 disk migration, 21 battery management, 23 disk mirroring, 131 BIOS, 80 disk roaming, 20 BIOS Configuration Utility, 78, 80 controller management, 79 Foreign View menu, 81 menu navigation controls, 53 menu options, 71 menus, 71 physical disk management, 77 starting, 52 virtual disk management, 72 disk striping, 130 C compatibility with existing RAID controllers, 15, 17 Disk roaming, 20 di
H hot swapping, 30 I interface specifications, 27 L LED operation, 20 physical disks actions, 78 management, 77 R RAID configuration functions, 55 definition, 129 levels, 76, 129 summary of levels, 129 RAID level, 56 read policy, 57 M manual rebuild, 85 rebuild, 78 manual, 85 S O operating system support, 15, 17 operating systems, 15, 17 SAS overview, 13 SMART technology, 15, 17 stripe element size, 56 P parity, 131 Patrol Read, 33 PERC overview, 13 PERC H700, H800 supported operating systems, 15
V virtual disks deleting, 70 management, 72 menu options, 76, 80 parameters, 56 setting up, 79, 81 W write policy, 57 Index 135
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