A P P E N D I X C RAID Controller Considerations This appendix contains the following sections: • Supported RAID Controllers and Required Cables, page C-2 • Mixing Drive Types in RAID Groups, page C-3 • SuperCap Power Modules (RAID Backup Units), page C-3 • Embedded MegaRAID Controller, page C-5 • RAID Controller Cabling, page C-17 • Restoring RAID Configuration After Replacing a RAID Controller, page C-21 • For More Information, page C-21 Cisco UCS C24 Server Installation and Service Guide
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Supported RAID Controllers and Required Cables Supported RAID Controllers and Required Cables This server supports the RAID controller options, cables, and RAID backup units shown in Table C-1. Caution Do not use the embedded MegaRAID controller and a hardware RAID controller card at the same time. This is not supported and could result in data loss.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Mixing Drive Types in RAID Groups Table C-2 lists the RAID options for the large form factor (LFF) version of the server. Table C-2 Cisco UCS C24 Large Form Factor RAID Options SuperCap Power Module RAID Levels Supported Required Cables (Each PID is a cable-pair kit.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations RAID Controller Migration RAID Controller Migration This server supports hardware RAID (PCIe controller cards) and embedded software RAID. See Table C-4 for which migrations are allowed and a summary of migration steps. Table C-4 RAID Controller Migration Starting RAID Controller Migrate to HW RAID Allowed? Migrate to SW RAID Allowed? None (no drives) Allowed Allowed Onboard SCU Storage support is Disabled in BIOS 1. Install card. 2. Install cables.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Embedded MegaRAID Controller Note VMware ESX/ESXi or any other virtualized environments are not supported for use with the embedded MegaRAID controller. Hypervisors such as Hyper-V, Xen, or KVM are also not supported for use with the embedded MegaRAID controller. Note The embedded RAID option is available only with the SFF 16-drive backplane. It does not operate through an expander.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller • Installing LSI MegaSR Drivers For Windows and Linux, page C-9 Notes on Supported Embedded MegaRAID Levels The following RAID levels are supported by the embedded MegaRAID controller. • RAID 0—You can configure a RAID 0 virtual drive (VD) using one or more physical drives (PDs). This level supports up to eight VDs and PDs. • RAID 1—A RAID 1 VD is configured from only two PDs.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Installing a SCU Upgrade ROM Module For Embedded RAID SAS Support The SCU Upgrade ROM module contains a chip on a small circuit board. This module attaches to a motherboard header (see Figure C-1). This chip adds SAS support for up to eight drives. To install a SCU upgrade ROM jumper, follow these steps: Step 1 Locate the SCU_ROM header (see Figure C-1).
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Installing a Software RAID Key Module for Embedded RAID 5 Support The software RAID key module contains a chip on a small circuit board. This module attaches to a motherboard header. This chip upgrades SAS support to add RAID 5 support (RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 for up to eight drives). See Figure C-1. Note You must have the RAID SCU upgrade ROM installed and before you can use the RAID 5 key.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Launching the LSI Embedded RAID Configuration Utility Launch the utility by pressing Ctrl+M when you see the prompt during system boot. For more information about using the Embedded MegaRAID software to configure your disk arrays, see the LSI Embedded MegaRAID Software User Guide.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Downloading the LSI MegaSR Drivers The MegaSR drivers are included in the C-series driver ISO for your server and OS. Download the drivers from Cisco.com: Step 1 Find the drivers ISO file download for your server online and download it to a temporary location on your workstation: a. See the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/cisco/software/navigator.html b. Click Unified Computing and Servers in the middle column. c.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Step 4 Step 5 c. Expand the Zip file, which contains the folder with the MegaSR driver files. d. Copy the expanded folder to a USB thumb drive. Start the Windows driver installation using one of the following methods: • To install from local media: Connect an external USB DVD drive to the server and then insert the first Windows install disc into the drive. Skip to Step 6.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Linux Driver Installation This section explains the steps to install the embedded MegaRAID device driver in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation or a SuSE Linux Enterprise Server installation.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Step 4 If necessary, use this command to change the file name of the driver update disk to a name with fewer than eight characters: copy dud-[driver version].img dud.img Step 5 Open the DOS Command Prompt and navigate to the directory where raw write.exe is located. Step 6 Type the following command to create the installation diskette: raw write Step 7 Press Enter. You are prompted to enter the name of the boot image file.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Installing the Red Hat Linux Driver For the specific supported OS versions, see the Hardware and Software Interoperability Matrix for your server release. This section describes the fresh installation of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux device driver on systems with the embedded MegaRAID stack. Step 1 Create a RAID drive group using the LSI SWRAID Configuration utility before you install this driver for the OS.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Note Step 10 The noprobe values depend on the number of drives. For example, to install RHEL 5.7 on a RAID 5 configuration with three drives, enter: Linux dd blacklist=isci blacklist=ahci noprobe=ata1 noprobe=ata2 noprobe=ata3 Press Enter. The prompt asks whether you have a driver disk. Step 11 Use the arrow key to select Yes, and then press Enter.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Embedded MegaRAID Controller Step 5 • To install from local media: Connect an external USB DVD drive to the server and then insert the first RHEL install disc into the drive. Skip to Step 6. • To install from remote ISO: Log in to the server’s CIMC interface and continue with the next step. Launch a Virtual KVM console window and select the Virtual Media tab. a. Click Add Image and browse to select your remote RHEL installation ISO file. b.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations RAID Controller Cabling RAID Controller Cabling This section includes the following topics: • Cable Routing, page C-17 • Cisco UCS C24 Server RAID Cabling Instructions, page C-18 Cable Routing The RAID controller connectors in this server are shown in Figure C-2.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations RAID Controller Cabling Cisco UCS C24 Server RAID Cabling Instructions This section contains the following topics: • Backplane and Expander Options, page C-18 • Small Form Factor 24-Drive Backplane With Expander Cabling, page C-18 • Small Form Factor 16-Drive Backplane (No Expander) Cabling, page C-19 • Large Form Factor 12-Drive Backplane With Expander Cabling, page C-20 Backplane and Expander Options The server is orderable in three different versions,
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations RAID Controller Cabling Step 1 Connect SAS cable 1 from card connector SAS 0 to the Port0 connector on the expander. Step 2 Connect SAS cable 2 from card connector SAS 1 on the card to the Port1 connector on the expander. Step 3 If you are using the 9265CV-8i card, you can also install an SCPM for RAID backup. Install the SCPM (see Replacing a SuperCap Power Module (RAID Backup Unit), page 3-41), then attach the cable from the card to the SCPM.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations RAID Controller Cabling Second Controller (Drives 9 through 16, Cable UCSC-CABLE-A8): The required UCSC-CABLE-A8 cable kit has two mini-SAS cables. To control 16 drives in this configuration, you must add a second controller card to control drives 9–16. Cable 3 controls drives 9–12 and cable 4 controls drives 13–16.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations Restoring RAID Configuration After Replacing a RAID Controller Restoring RAID Configuration After Replacing a RAID Controller When you replace a RAID controller, the RAID configuration that is stored in the controller is lost. Use the following procedure to restore your RAID configuration to your new RAID controller. Step 1 Replace your RAID controller. See Replacing a PCIe Card, page 3-35.
Appendix C RAID Controller Considerations For More Information http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/3rd-party/lsi/mrsas/userguide/LSI_MR_SAS_SW_UG.
