Users Guide

12. Run the following command and verify that only 0–11 drives are displayed:
racadm storage get pdisks
For more information about the RACADM commands, see the iDRAC RACADM Command Line Interface Reference Guide
available at dell.com/idracmanuals.
Viewing universal slots
Some 13
th
generation PowerEdge server backplanes supports both SAS/SATA and PCIe SSD drives in the same slot. These slots
are called universal slots and are wired to the primary storage controller (PERC) and a PCIe extender card. The backplane firmware
provides information about the slots that support this feature. The backplane supports SAS/SATA disks or PCIe SSDs. Typically, the
four higher number slots are universal. For example, in a universal backplane that supports 24 slots, slots 0-19 support only SAS/
SATA disks while slots 20-23 support either SAS/SATA or PCIe SSD.
The roll-up health status for the enclosure provides the combined health status for all the drives in the enclosure. The enclosure link
on the Topology page displays the entire enclosure information irrespective of which controller it is associated with. Because two
storage controllers (PERC and PCIe extender) can be connected to the same backplane, only the backplane associated with the
PERC controller is displayed in System Inventory page.
In the Storage → Enclosures → Properties page, the Physical Disks Overview section displays the following:
• Slot Empty — If a slot is empty.
• PCIe Capable — If there are no PCIe capable slots, this column is not displayed.
• Bus Protocol — If it is a universal backplane with PCIe SSD installed in one of the slots, this column displays PCIe.
• Hotspare — This column is not applicable for PCIe SSD.
NOTE: Hot swapping is supported for universal slots. If you want to remove a PCIe SSD drive and swap it with a SAS/
SATA drive, ensure that you first complete the PrepareToRemove task for the PCIe SSD drive. If you do not perform
this task, the host operating system may have issues such as a blue screen, kernel panic, and so on.
Setting SGPIO mode
The storage controller can connect to the backplane in I2C mode (default setting for Dell backplanes) or Serial General Purpose
Input/Output (SGPIO) mode. This connection is required for blinking LEDs on the drives. Dell PERC controllers and backplane
support both these modes. To support certain channel adapters, the backplane mode must be changed SGPIO mode.
The SGPIO mode is only supported for passive backplanes. It is not supported for expander-based backplanes or passive backplanes
in downstream mode. Backplane firmware provides information on capability, current state, and requested state.
After LC wipe operation or iDRAC reset to default, the SGPIO mode is reset to disabled state. It compares the iDRAC setting with
the backplane setting. If the backplane is set to SGPIO mode, iDRAC changes its setting to match the backplane setting.
Server power cycle is required for any change in setting to take effect.
You must have Server Control privilege to modify this setting.
NOTE: You cannot set the SGPIO mode using iDRAC Web interface.
Setting SGPIO mode using RACADM
To configure the SGPIO mode, use the set command with the objects in the SGPIOMode group.
If it is set to disabled, it is I2C mode. If enabled, it is set to SGPIO mode.
For more information, see the iDRAC RACADM Command Line Interface Reference Guide available at dell.com/idracmanuals.
Choosing operation mode to apply settings
While creating and managing virtual disks, setting up physical disks, controllers, and enclosures or resetting controllers, before you
apply the various settings, you must select the operation mode. That is, specify when you want to apply the settings:
• Immediately
• During the next system reboot
• At a scheduled time
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