Smart Array 5300 Controller User Guide

6
Configuring an Array
HP provides two utilities for manually configuring an array on a Smart Array
controller:
•
•
•
•
Array Configuration Utility (ACU)—A versatile, browser-based utility that
provides maximum control over configuration parameters
Option ROM Configuration for Arrays (ORCA)—A simple ROM-based
configuration utility that runs on all operating systems
Whichever utility you use, the following limitations apply:
For the most efficient use of drive space, do not mix drives of different capacity
within the same array. The configuration utility treats all physical drives in an
array as if they have the same capacity as the smallest drive in the array. The
excess capacity of any larger drives is wasted because it is unavailable for data
storage.
The probability that an array will experience a drive failure increases with the
number of physical drives in the array. If you configure a logical drive with
RAID 5, keep the probability of failure low by using no more than 14 physical
drives in the array (for details, refer to Appendix F, “Probability of Logical Drive
Failure”).
For conceptual information about arrays, logical drives, and fault tolerance methods,
refer to Appendix D, “Drive Arrays and Fault Tolerance.”
NOTE: To copy a particular array configuration to several other servers on the same network,
use the Array Configuration Replicator (ACR) utility or the scripting capability of ACU. ACR is
provided in the SmartStart Scripting Toolkit, available on the HP website
(http://www.hp.com/servers/sstoolkit
).
HP Smart Array 5300 Controller User Guide 6-1
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