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Dell™ PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 3/QC, 3/DC, 3/DCL and

3/SC

PERC 3 User’s Guide

Summary of content (254 pages)

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Dell™ PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 3/QC, 3/DC, 3/DCL and 3/SC PERC 3 User’s Guide w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l .
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____________________ Information in this document is subject to change without notice. © 2002 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Computer Corporation is strictly forbidden. Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, PowerEdge, PowerVault, and Dell OpenManage are trademarks and DellWare is a registered service mark of Dell Computer Corporation. MegaRAID is a registered trademark of LSI Logic Corporation.
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Safety Instructions CAUTION: Safety Instructions Use the following safety guidelines to help ensure your own personal safety and to help protect your computer and working environment from potential damage. General • Do not attempt to service the computer yourself unless you are a trained service technician. Always follow installation instructions closely. • To help prevent electric shock, plug the computer and device power cables into properly grounded electrical outlets.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m • To help protect your computer from sudden, transient increases and decreases in electrical power, use a surge suppressor, line conditioner, or uninterruptible power supply (UPS). • Ensure that nothing rests on your computer’s cables and that the cables are not located where they can be stepped on or tripped over. • Do not push any objects into the openings of your computer.
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• 100 V/50 Hz in eastern Japan and 100 V/60 Hz in western Japan • 230 V/50 Hz in some regions in the Caribbean and South America and most of Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East Also, ensure that your monitor and attached devices are electrically rated to operate with the AC power available in your location. • NOTE: The voltage selection switch must be set to the 115-V position even though the AC power available in Japan is 100 V.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m • When you disconnect a cable, pull on its connector or on its strainrelief 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. As you pull connectors apart, keep them evenly aligned to avoid bending any connector pins. Also, before you connect a cable, ensure that both connectors are correctly oriented and aligned.
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Ergonomic Computing Habits CAUTION: Improper or prolonged keyboard use may result in injury. CAUTION: Viewing the monitor screen for extended periods of time may result in eye strain. Battery Disposal Do not dispose of the battery along with household waste. Contact your local waste disposal agency for the address of the nearest battery deposit site.
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6 w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l .
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Contents Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 PERC 3 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 PERC 3 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 1 Overview SCSI Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Non-volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM) and Flash Read-only Memory (ROM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SCSI Connectors 25 . . . 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Disk Rebuilds Hot Swap 36 SCSI Drive States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Logical Drive States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enclosure Management 39 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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PERC 3/SC Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 PCI Bridge/CPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Cache Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 PERC 3/SC BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Onboard Speaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Serial Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 SCSI Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 SCSI Connectors . . . .
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SCSI Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RAID Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 72 6 PERC 3/QC Features Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Configuration Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 SMART Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Configuration on Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hardware Architecture Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 . . . . .
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Physical Device Layout Configuring Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Arranging Arrays Creating Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating Logical Drives 93 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Configuration Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Maximizing Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Step 5—Install PERC 3/SC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 6—Connect SCSI Cables Step 7—Set Target IDs 111 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Step 8—Power On Host System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Step 9—Run PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility or WebBIOS Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Step 10—Install Operating System Software Drivers . . . . . .
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Optional Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PERC 3/QC Card Layout . Installation Steps 134 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 . . . . . . . . . . 136 Step 2—Power Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Step 3—Set Jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Step 1—Unpack the PERC 3/QC Controller Step 4—Set SCSI Termination . SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 . . . .
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PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC Default Settings . . . . . . . . . PERC 3/SC and PERC 3/DCL Default Settings . 161 . . . . . . . . 161 . . . . . . . . . . . 162 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Using Easy Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Using New Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Reserved Disk Space during Configuration Designating Drives as Hot Spares Using View/Add Configuration Initializing Logical Drives Batch Initialization . . . . .
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Dell Manager Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Objects Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Format Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Rebuild Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Initialize Menu Check Consistency Menu Reconstruct Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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14 Appendix A: SCSI Cables and Connectors 15 Appendix B: Warranties and Return Policy Glossary Index 16 Conte n ts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Figures Figure 2-1. Example of Disk Striping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Figure 2-2. Example of Disk Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Figure 2-3. Example of Disk Spanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Figure 3-1. RAID 0 Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Figure 3-2. RAID 1 Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Figure 3-3. RAID 5 Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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18 F i g u re s
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Tables Table 1-1. Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards . . . . . . 26 Table 1-2. SCSI Bus Widths and Maximum Throughput . . . . . . 27 . . . . . . . . . . 36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Table 2-1. Spanning for RAID 10 and RAID 50 Table 2-2. Types of Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Table 2-3. SCSI Drive States Table 2-4. Logical Drive States Table 3-1.
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Table 6-3. Hardware Architecture Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Table 6-4. Array Performance Features Table 6-5. Fault Tolerance Features Table 6-6. Software Utilities Table 6-7. PERC 3/QC Specifications Table 6-8. SCSI Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Table 7-1. Current Configuration for SCSI Channel 0 . . . . . . . .
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Table 9-6. J13 Dirty Cache LED Pinout Table 9-7. J14 SCSI Activity Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 . . . . . . . 124 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Table 9-8. J16 and J18 TERMPWR Enable Settings Table 9-9. J17 I2C Connector Pinout Table 9-10. Target IDs for SCSI Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Table 10-1. PERC 3/QC Jumper Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Table 10-2. J2, J3, J5 and J7 Termination Enable Pinout . . . . . Table 10-3.
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Table 12-9. Rebuild Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 13-1. General Problems and Suggested Solutions . . . . . . 204 Table 13-2. BIOS Boot Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Table 13-3. Other BIOS Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Table 13-4. Other Potential Problems Table 13-5.
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SECTION 1 Overview PERC 3 Overview PERC 3 Features
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m PERC 3 Overview The Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable RAID Controller 3 (PERC 3) PCI card is a high-performance, intelligent peripheral component interconnect (PCI)-to-SCSI host adapter with RAID control capabilities. PERC 3 provides system availability, high performance, and fault-tolerant disk subsystem management. PERC 3 is an ideal RAID solution for the internal storage of Dell’s workgroup, departmental, and enterprise systems.
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• Two internal and four external connectors for the PERC 3/QC, two internal and two external connectors for the PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL, and one internal and one external connector for the PERC 3/SC • RAID levels 0 (striping), 1 (mirroring), 5 (distributed parity), 10 (combination of striping and mirroring), and 50 (combination of striping and distributed parity) • Advanced array configuration and management utilities • Battery backup for up to 72 hours for the PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC • Up to 12 S
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m PERC 3/SC has one ultra-high-density 68-pin external connector for the external storage subsystem and one high-density 68-pin internal connector. Single-Ended and LVD SCSI Buses The SCSI standard defines two electrical buses: a single-ended bus and an LVD bus. PERC 3 supports both standards. Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards Table 1-1 displays the maximum length of cable that you can use for various SCSI standards. Ta b l e 1 - 1 .
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Ta b l e 1 - 2 .
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28 Ov e r v ie w w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l .
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SECTION 2 Introduction to RAID RAID Definition PERC 3 Host-Based RAID Solution Components and Features
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m RAID Definition RAID is an array of multiple independent hard disk drives that provides high performance and fault tolerance. The RAID array appears to the host computer as a single storage unit or as multiple logical units. Input/output (I/O) improves because several disks can be accessed simultaneously. Although hard drive capabilities have improved drastically, actual performance has improved only three to four times in the last decade.
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• The number of SCSI channels and SCSI hard drives Components and Features RAID versions, or levels, are specifications that describe a system for ensuring the availability and stability of data stored on large disk subsystems. A RAID system can be implemented in a number of different levels). PERC 3 supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 10 (1+0), and 50 (5+0). Physical Array A RAID array is a collection of physical disk drives governed by the RAID management software.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m A hot spare is an unused online disk that, in case of a disk failure in a redundant RAID array, can be used to rebuild the data and re-establish redundancy. After the hot spare is automatically moved into the RAID subsystem, the failed drive is automatically rebuilt on the spare drive. The RAID disk array continues to handle requests while the rebuild occurs.
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Figure 2-1. Example of Disk Striping Segment 1 Segment 5 Segment 9 Segment 2 Segment 6 Segment 10 Segment 3 Segment 7 Segment 11 Segment 4 Segment 8 Segment 12 Stripe Width Stripe width is the number of disks involved in an array where striping is implemented. For example, a four-disk array with disk striping has a stripe width of four. Stripe Size The stripe size is the length of the interleaved data segments that PERC 3 writes across multiple drives.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m 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 reconstruct the failed disk. The primary advantage of disk mirroring is that it provides 100% data redundancy. Because the contents of the disk are completely written to a second disk, it does not matter if one of the disks fails.
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Disk Spanning Disk spanning allows multiple physical drives to function like one big drive. Spanning overcomes lack of disk space and simplifies storage management by combining existing resources or adding relatively inexpensive resources. For example, four 20 GB drives can be combined to appear to the operating system as a single 80 GB drive. Spanning alone does not provide reliability or performance enhancements. Spanned logical drives must have the same stripe size and must be contiguous.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Spanning for RAID 10 or RAID 50 Table 2-1 describes how to configure RAID 10 and RAID 50 by spanning. NOTE: Spanning two contiguous RAID 0 logical drives does not produce a new RAID level or add fault tolerance. It does increase the size of the logical volume and improves performance by doubling the number of spindles. Ta b l e 2 - 1 .
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Figure 2-4. Example of Parity Parity Generator Hot Spares A hot spare is an extra, unused disk drive that is part of the disk subsystem. It is usually in standby mode, ready for service if a drive fails. Hot spares permit you to replace failed drives without system shutdown or user intervention. PERC 3 implements automatic and transparent rebuilds using hot spare drives, providing a high degree of fault tolerance and zero downtime.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m NOTE: Refer to Chapter 11 "PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility" for the procedures used to designate a drive as a hot spare. There are two types of hot spares: • Global Hot Spare • Dedicated Hot Spare Global Hot Spare A global hot spare drive can be used to replace any failed drive in a redundant array as long as its capacity is equal to or larger than the coerced capacity of the failed drive.
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Rebuilding can be done only in arrays with data redundancy, which includes as RAID 1, 5, 10 and 50. A hot spare can be used to rebuild disk drives in RAID 1, 5, 10, or 50 systems. If a hot spare is not available, the failed disk drive must be replaced with a new disk drive so that the data on the failed drive can be rebuilt. Using hot spares, PERC 3 can automatically and transparently rebuild failed drives with user-defined rebuild rates.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 2 - 3 . S C S I D r i v e S t a t e s (continued) State Description Ready The drive is functioning normally but is not part of a configured logical drive and is not designated as a hot spare. (READY) Hot Spare (HOTSP) The drive is powered up and ready for use as a spare in case an online drive fails. Fail (FAIL) A fault has occurred in the drive, placing it out of service.
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SECTION 3 RAID Levels Overview Selecting a RAID Level RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 10 RAID 50
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Overview There are six official RAID levels (RAID 0 through RAID 5.) PERC 3 supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50. The RAID levels that PERC 3 supports are shown in Table 3-1. Ta b l e 3 - 1 . R A I D L e v e l s RAID Level Type 0 Standard 1 Standard 5 Standard 1+0 Combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1 5+0 Combination of RAID 0 and RAID 5 PERC 3 also supports independent drives (configured as RAID 0.
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RAID 0 RAID 0 provides disk striping across all drives in the RAID subsystem. RAID 0 does not provide any data redundancy, but does offer the best performance of any RAID level. RAID 0 breaks up data into smaller blocks and then writes a block to each drive in the array. The size of each block is determined by the stripe size parameter, set during the creation of the RAID set. RAID 0 offers high bandwidth.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Figure 3-1 displays an example of a RAID 0 array. Figure 3-1.
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RAID 1 In RAID 1, the RAID controller duplicates all data from one drive to a second drive. RAID 1 provides complete data redundancy, but at the cost of doubling the required data storage capacity, as shown in Figure 3-2. Table 33 provides an overview of RAID 1. Ta b l e 3 - 3 . R A I D 1 O v e r v i e w Uses Use RAID 1 for small databases or any other environment that requires fault tolerance but small capacity. Strong Points RAID 1 provides complete data redundancy.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Figure 3-2. RAID 1 Array Segment 1 Segment 2 Segment 3 Segment 4 Segment 1 Duplicated Segment 2 Duplicated Segment 3 Duplicated Segment 4 Duplicated RAID 5 RAID 5 includes disk striping at the block level and parity. In RAID 5, the parity information is written to several drives. RAID 5 is best suited for networks that perform a lot of small input/output (I/O) transactions simultaneously.
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Ta b l e 3 - 4 . R A I D 5 O v e r v i e w Uses RAID 5 provides high data throughput, especially for large files. Use RAID 5 for transaction processing applications because each drive can read and write independently. If a drive fails, PERC 3 uses the parity drive to recreate all missing information. Use also for office automation and online customer service that requires fault tolerance. Use for any application that has high read request rates but low write request rates.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Figure 3-3 displays an example of a RAID 5 array. Figure 3-3. RAID 5 Array Data Flow Disk 1 Segment 1 Segment 7 Parity (9–12) Disk 2 Segment 2 Segment 8 Disk 3 Segment 3 Segment 9 Parity (5–8) Disk 4 Segment 4 Segment 10 Disk 5 Segment 5 Segment 11 Parity (1–4) Disk 6 Segment 6 Segment 12 Note: Parity is distributed across drives in the array. RAID 10 RAID 10 is a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1. RAID 10 has mirrored drives.
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Ta b l e 3 - 5 . R A I D 1 0 O v e r v i e w Uses RAID 10 works best for data storage that needs 100% redundancy of mirrored arrays and that also needs the enhanced I/O performance of RAID 0 (striped arrays.) RAID 10 works well for medium-sized databases or any environment that requires a higher degree of fault tolerance and moderate to medium capacity. Strong Points RAID 10 provides both high data transfer rates and complete data redundancy.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Figure 3-4. RAID 10 Array Data Flow RAID 1 Disk 1 Segment 1 Segment 3 Segment 5 RAID 1 Disk 2 Disk 3 Segment 1 Segment 3 Segment 5 Segment 2 Segment 4 Segment 6 D Disk 4 Segment 2 Segment 4 Segment 6 RAID 0 RAID 50 RAID 50 provides the features of both RAID 0 and RAID 5. RAID 50 includes both parity and disk striping across multiple drives. RAID 50 is best implemented on two RAID 5 disk arrays with data striped across both disk arrays.
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RAID 50 can sustain one to four drive failures while maintaining data integrity if each failed disk is in a different RAID 5 array. Table 3-6 provides an overview of RAID 50. Ta b l e 3 - 6 . R A I D 5 0 O v e r v i e w Uses RAID 50 works best when used with data that requires high reliability, high request rates, and high data transfer and medium to large capacity. Strong Points RAID 50 provides high data throughput, data redundancy, and very good performance.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Figure 3-5 displays an example of a RAID 50 array. Figure 3-5.
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SECTION 4 P E R C 3 / S C Fe a t u r e s Hardware Requirements Configuration Features Hardware Architecture Features Array Performance Features PERC 3/SC Fault Tolerance Features Software Utilities Operating System Software Drivers PERC 3/SC Specifications
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Hardware Requirements PERC 3/SC has one SCSI) channel that supports 160M and Wide SCSI at data transfer rates up to 160 MB/s. The SCSI channel supports up to 15 Wide devices or up to seven narrow devices. PERC 3/SC can be installed in a Dell™ PowerEdge™ computer with a motherboard that has 5 V, 32- or 64-bit PCI expansion slots.
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Ta b l e 4 - 1 . C o n f i g u r a t i o n Fe a t u r e s (continued) Specification Feature Non-disk devices supported No Mixed capacity hard disk drives Yes Number of 16-bit internal connectors 1 SMART Technology The PERC 3/SC self-monitoring analysis and reporting technology (SMART) detects predictable drive failures. SMART monitors the internal performance of all motors, heads, and drive electronics.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 4 - 2 . C o n f i g u r a t i o n o n D i s k Fe a t u r e s (continued) Specification Feature User-specified rebuild rate Yes Hardware Architecture Features The PERC 3/SC hardware architecture features are shown in Table 4-3. Ta b l e 4 - 3 .
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Ta b l e 4 - 4 . A r r a y P e r f o r m a n c e Fe a t u r e s (continued) Specification Feature Maximum scatter/gathers 26 elements Maximum size of I/O requests 6.4 MB in 64 KB stripes Maximum queue tags per drive As many as the drive can accept. Stripe sizes 2 KB, 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB, or 128 KB Maximum number of concurrent commands 255 Support for multiple initiators Yes PERC 3/SC Fault Tolerance Features The PERC 3/SC fault tolerance features are shown in Table 4-5.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 4 - 6 . S o f t w a r e U t i l i t i e s Fe a t u r e s (continued) Specification Feature Bootup configuration using the PERC BIOS configuration utility (Ctrl–M) Yes Online read, write, and cache policy switching Yes Intranet support Yes Operating System Software Drivers Operating System Drivers PERC 3/SC includes a disk operating system (DOS) software configuration utility and drivers for Microsoft® Windows NT® V4.
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Ta b l e 4 - 7 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m PERC 3/SC BIOS The BIOS resides on a 1 MB × 8 flash ROM for easy upgrade. The PERC 3/SC BIOS supports INT 13h calls to boot DOS without special software or device drivers. The PERC 3/SC BIOS provides an extensive setup utility that can be accessed by pressing at BIOS initialization. The PERC 3/SC BIOS Configuration Utility is described in Chapter 11.
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SCSI Firmware The PERC 3/SC firmware handles all RAID and SCSI command processing and also supports the features shown in Table 4-8. Ta b l e 4 - 8 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Dell Manager Dell Manager is a character-based, non-GUI utility that changes policies and parameters, and monitors RAID systems. Dell Manager runs under Novell NetWare 5.x, 6.x, and Red Hat Linux 7.x. See Chapter 12 "Dell Manager" for additional information. WebBIOS Configuration Utility WebBIOS is used to configure and manage a RAID system using an HTML interface. See the WebBIOS Configuration Utility Guide for more information.
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SECTION 5 PERC 3/DC and PERC 3 / D C L Fe a t u r e s Hardware Requirements Configuration Features Hardware Architecture Features Array Performance Features Fault Tolerance Features Software Utilities Operating System Software Drivers PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL Specifications
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Hardware Requirements NOTE: The PERC 3/DC has a battery option, while the PERC 3/DCL does not have a battery option. PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL have two SCSI channels that support 160M and Wide SCSI at data transfer rates up to 160 MB/s. The SCSI channel supports up to 15 Wide devices or up to seven narrow devices. PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL can be installed in a system with a motherboard that has 5 V, 32- or 64-bit PCI expansion slots.
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Ta b l e 5 - 1 . C o n f i g u r a t i o n Fe a t u r e s (continued) Specification Feature Flashable firmware Yes Hot swap devices supported Yes Non-disk devices supported No Mixed capacity hard disk drives Yes Number of 16-bit internal connectors 2 Cluster support Yes (PERC 3/DC only) SMART Technology The PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL self-monitoring analysis and reporting technology (SMART) detects predictable drive failures.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 5 - 2 . C o n f i g u r a t i o n o n D i s k Fe a t u r e s (continued) Specification Feature More than 200 qtags per array Yes Hardware clustering support on the board Yes User-specified rebuild rate Yes Hardware Architecture Features Table 5-3 displays the PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL hardware architecture features. Ta b l e 5 - 3 .
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Array Performance Features Table 5-4 displays the PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL array performance features. Ta b l e 5 - 4 . A r r a y P e r f o r m a n c e Fe a t u r e s Specification Feature Host data transfer rate 533 MB/s Drive data transfer rate 160 MB/s Maximum scatter/gathers 26 elements Maximum size of I/O requests 6.4 MB in 64 KB stripes Maximum queue tags per drive As many as the drive can accept.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Software Utilities Table 5-6 lists the software utilities. Ta b l e 5 - 6 .
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Ta b l e 5 - 7 . P E R C 3 / D C a n d P E R C 3 / D C L S p e c i f i c a t i o n s Parameter Specification Cache configuration 64 MB or 128 MB DIMM Firmware 1 MB × 8 flash ROM Nonvolatile random access memory (RAM) 32 KB × 8 for storing RAID configuration Operating voltage 5 V, 3.3 V SCSI controller Two SCSI controllers for 160M and Wide support.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Cache Memory Either 64 MB or 128 MB of PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL cache memory reside in a memory bank that uses a 64 MB or 128 MB SDRAM DIMM. PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL support write-through or write-back caching, selectable for each logical drive. To improve performance in sequential disk accesses, the PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL controllers use read-ahead caching by default. You can disable read-ahead caching.
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SCSI Connectors The PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL adapter has two types of SCSI connectors: • Two 68-pin high density internal connectors • Two 68-pin external ultra-high-density connectors Only one connector type can be used for the SCSI channel at any one time. SCSI Termination PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL uses active termination on the SCSI bus conforming to SCSI-2 and SCSI-3 specifications. Termination enable/disable is automatic through cable detection.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m RAID Management RAID management is provided by software utilities that manage and configure the RAID system and PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL, create and manage multiple disk arrays, control and monitor multiple RAID servers, provide error statistics logging, and provide online maintenance.
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SECTION 6 P E R C 3 / Q C Fe a t u r e s Hardware Requirements Configuration Features Hardware Architecture Features Array Performance Features Fault Tolerance Features Software Utilities Operating System Software Drivers PERC 3/QC Specifications
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Hardware Requirements PERC 3/QC is a high-performance intelligent peripheral component interconnect (PCI)-to-SCSI host adapter with RAID control capabilities. PERC 3/QC has four SCSI channels that support 160M and Wide SCSI at data transfer rates up to 160 MB/s. Each SCSI channel supports up to 15 Wide devices or up to seven narrow devices. PERC 3/QC can be installed in a system with a motherboard that has 5 V, 32- or 64-bit PCI expansion slots.
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Ta b l e 6 - 1 . C o n f i g u r a t i o n Fe a t u r e s (continued) Specification Feature Hot swap devices supported Yes Non-disk devices supported No Mixed-capacity hard drives Yes Number of 16-bit internal connectors 2 SMART Technology The PERC 3/QC self-monitoring analysis and reporting technology (SMART) detects predictable drive failures. SMART monitors the internal performance of all motors, heads, and drive electronics. NOTE: The PERC 3/QC does not support clustering.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 6 - 2 . C o n f i g u r a t i o n o n D i s k Fe a t u r e s (continued) Specification Feature User-specified rebuild rate Yes Hardware Architecture Features Table 6-3 lists the PERC 3/QC hardware architecture features. Ta b l e 6 - 3 .
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Ta b l e 6 - 4 . A r r a y P e r f o r m a n c e Fe a t u r e s (continued) Specification Feature Drive data transfer rate 160 MB/s Maximum scatter/gathers 26 elements Maximum size of I/O requests 6.4 MB in 64 KB stripes Maximum queue tags per drive As many as the drive can accept.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 6 - 6 . S o f t w a r e U t i l i t i e s Specification Feature Graphical user interface Yes Management utility Yes Bootup configuration using PERC BIOS configuration utility (Ctrl–M) Yes Online read, write, and cache policy switching Yes Intranet support Yes Operating System Software Drivers PERC 3/QC includes a DOS software configuration utility and drivers for Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.
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Ta b l e 6 - 7 . P E R C 3 / Q C S p e c i f i c a t i o n s (continued) Parameter Specification Operating voltage 5 V, 3.3 V SCSI controller Four SCSI controllers for 160M and Wide support. SCSI data transfer rate Up to 160 MB/s per channel SCSI bus LVD or single-ended SCSI termination Active Termination disable Automatic through cable and device detection Devices per SCSI channel Up to 15 wide or seven narrow SCSI devices. SCSI device types Synchronous or asynchronous.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m PERC 3/QC BIOS The BIOS resides on a 1 MB × 8 flash ROM for easy upgrade. The PERC 3/QC BIOS supports INT 13h calls to boot DOS without special software or device drivers. The PERC 3/QC BIOS provides an extensive setup utility that can be accessed by pressing at BIOS initialization. PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility is described in Chapter 11 "Troubleshooting.
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SCSI Firmware The PERC 3/QC firmware handles all RAID and SCSI command processing and supports the features described in Table 6-8. Ta b l e 6 - 8 . S C S I F i r m w a r e Feature Description Disconnect/ reconnect Optimizes SCSI bus utilization Tagged command queuing Multiple tags to improve random access Scatter/gather A single command can transfer data to and from different memory locations.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Dell Manager Dell Manager is a character-based, non-GUI utility that changes policies, and parameters, and monitors RAID systems. Dell Manager runs under Novell NetWare 5.x, 6.x, and Red Hat Linux 7.x. See Chapter 12 "Dell Manager" for additional information. WebBIOS Configuration Utility WebBIOS is used to configure and manage a RAID system using an HTML interface. See the WebBIOS Configuration Utility Guide for more information.
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SECTION 7 Configuring PERC 3 Configuring SCSI Physical Drives Current Configuration Logical Drive Configuration Physical Device Layout Configuring Arrays Configuration Strategies Assigning RAID Levels Configuring Logical Drives Optimizing Data Storage Planning the Array Configuration Random Array Deletion
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Configuring SCSI Physical Drives Physical SCSI drives must be organized into logical drives. The arrays and logical drives that you construct must be able to support the RAID) level that you select. Observe the following guidelines when connecting and configuring SCSI devices in a RAID array: • You can place up to 32 physical disk drives in an array. • Include all drives that have the same capacity in the same array.
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Ta b l e 7 - 1 . C u r r e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n f o r S C S I C h a n n e l 0 (continued) SCSI ID Device Description SCSI Channel 0 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Use Table 7-2 to list the devices that you assign to each SCSI ID for SCSI Channel 1. Ta b l e 7 - 2 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 7 - 2 . C u r r e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n f o r S C S I C h a n n e l 1 (continued) SCSI ID Device Description SCSI Channel 1 13 14 15 Use Table 7-3 to list the devices that you assign to each SCSI ID for SCSI Channel 2. Ta b l e 7 - 3 .
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Use Table 7-4 to list the devices that you assign to each SCSI ID for SCSI Channel 3. Ta b l e 7 - 4 . C u r r e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n f o r S C S I Channel 3 SCSI ID Device Description SCSI Channel 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Logical Drive Configuration Use Table 7-5 to list the details for each logical drive that you configure. Ta b l e 7 - 5 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l .
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Logical Drive RAID Stripe Size Logical Drive Size Cache Policy Read Policy Write Policy # of Physical Drives LD31 LD32 LD33 LD34 LD35 LD36 LD37 LD38 LD39 Physical Device Layout Use Table 7-6 to list the details for each physical device on the channels. Ta b l e 7 - 6 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 7 - 6 .
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Ta b l e 7 - 6 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 7 - 6 .
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Arranging Arrays You must arrange the arrays to provide additional organization for the drive array. You must arrange arrays so that you can create system drives that can function as boot devices. You can sequentially arrange arrays with an identical number of drives so that the drives in the group are spanned. Spanned drives can be treated as one large drive. Data can be striped across multiple arrays as one logical drive. You can create spanned drives using the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Maximizing Capacity RAID 0 achieves maximum drive capacity, but does not provide data redundancy. Maximum drive capacity for each RAID level is shown below. original equipment manufacturer (OEM) level firmware that can span up to four logical drives is assumed. Table 7-7 displays the drives required, and capacity for the various RAID levels. Ta b l e 7 - 7 .
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Ta b l e 7 - 8 . Fa u l t To l e r a n c e Fe a t u r e s f o r R A I D L e v e l s 0 , 1 a n d 5 (continued) RAID Level Fault Tolerance Protection 5 100% protection through striping and parity. The data is striped and parity data is written across a number of physical disk drives. Maximizing Drive Performance You can configure an array for optimal performance; however, optimal drive configuration for one type of application will probably not be optimal for any other application.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 7 - 1 0 . P h y s i c a l D r i v e s R e q u i r e d f o r E a c h R A I D L e v e l RAID Level Minimum Number of Physical Drives Maximum Number of Physical Drives 5 3 32 10 4 16 50 6 256 (PERC has a limit of 60, using PERC 4/QC with 15 drives on each of the 4 channels.
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Servers that support Video on Demand typically read the data often, but write data infrequently. Both the read and write operations tend to be long. Data stored on a general-purpose file server involves relatively short read and write operations with relatively small files. Array Functions You must first define the major purpose of the disk array.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Using the Array Configuration Planner Table 7-12 lists RAID levels, fault tolerance, and effective capacity for some possible drive configurations for an array consisting of one to 32 drives. This table does not take into account any hot spare (standby) drives. You should always have a hot spare drive in case of drive failure. RAID 1 requires two drives. RAID 5 requires at least three drives. RAID 10 requires at least four drives.
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Ta b l e 7 - 1 2 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m NOTE: When a ‘delete’ request reaches the operating system driver, the driver stops all the running input/output (I/O) for other logical drives and processes the delete request first. Normal read/write operation starts after the delete request is completed. After you delete a logical drive, you can create a new one.
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SECTION 8 PERC 3/SC Hardware Installation Requirements PERC 3/SC Card Layout Installation Steps
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Requirements This chapter describes the installation procedures for the PERC 3/SC board. You must have the following: • A PERC 3/SC controller • A host computer with an available 5 V, 32- or 64-bit PCI expansion slot • The PERC 3 installation diskettes • The necessary SCSI cables (This depends on the number and type of SCSI devices to be attached.
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PERC 3/SC Card Layout Figure 8-1 shows the PERC 3/SC card, jumpers, and connectors. Figure 8-1.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m 6 Connect the SCSI cables to SCSI devices. Make sure all cables are properly attached, and that the PERC 3/SC card is properly installed. 7 Set the target IDs for the SCSI devices. 8 Replace the computer cover and turn the power on. Be sure the SCSI devices are powered up before or at the same time as the host computer. 9 10 Run the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility or WebBIOS Configuration Utility to configure arrays and logical drives.
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Step 3—Set Jumpers Make sure the jumper settings on the PERC 3/SC card are correct. The jumpers and connectors are shown in Table 8-1. Ta b l e 8 - 1 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 8 - 2 . J 1 Te r m i n a t i o n E n a b l e S e t t i n g s (continued) Type of SCSI Termination J10 Setting Permanently disable all onboard SCSI termination. Short pins 2-3 Permanently enable all onboard SCSI termination. OPEN (default) J9 I2C Interface Connector J9 is a four-pin header that allows the i960RM core processor to serve as a master and slave device that resided on the I2C bus when used with the I2C bus interface unit.
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J8 Hard Disk LED J8 is a four-pin connector that attaches to a cable that connects to the hard disk light emitting diode (LED) mounted on the computer enclosure. The LED indicates data transfers.Table 8-5 shows the pinout for J8. Ta b l e 8 - 5 . J 8 H a r d D i s k L E D Pin Description 1 VCC through pull-up 2 SCSI activity signal 3 SCSI activity signal 4 VCC through pull-up J10 Term Power J10 is a 2-pin jumper. The factory setting is pins 1-2 shorted.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m J16, J17 RUBI Slot Interrupt Steering J16 and J17 are 3-pin jumpers. You can short them for a one-channel or twochannel motherboard. The default is OPEN; the pins are not shorted. Table 8-7 shows the settings for shorting J16 and J17. Ta b l e 8 - 7 .
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SCSI Termination The SCSI bus is an electrical transmission line and it must be terminated properly to minimize reflections and losses. You complete the SCSI bus by setting termination at both ends. You can let PERC 3/SC automatically provide SCSI termination at one end of the SCSI bus. You can terminate the other end of the SCSI bus by attaching an external SCSI terminator module to the end of the cable or by attaching a SCSI device that internally terminates the SCSI bus at the end of the SCSI channel.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m F i g u r e 8 - 3 .
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Step 5—Install PERC 3/SC Choose a 3.3 V or 5 V PCI slot and align the PERC 3/SC card bus connector to the slot. Press down gently but firmly to make sure that the card is properly seated in the slot. The bottom edge of the controller card should be flush with the slot. Figure 8-4 shows PCI slots on a motherboard. Figure 8-4.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Insert the PERC 3/SC card in a PCI slot, as shown in Figure 8-5. Screw the bracket to the computer chassis. Figure 8-5. Installation of PERC 3/SC Card into Motherboard Bracket Screw 32-bit Slots (3.
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Step 6—Connect SCSI Cables Connect the SCSI cables to SCSI devices, as shown in Figure 8-6. PERC 3/SC provides two SCSI connectors: • J11, the SCSI channel internal high-density 68-pin connector for Wide (16-bit) SCSI • J13, the SCSI channel external ultra high-density 68-pin connector for Wide (16-bit) SCSI Make sure all cables are properly attached, and that the PERC 3/SC card is properly installed. Figure 8-6.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Perform the following steps to connect SCSI devices: 1 Disable termination on any SCSI device that does not sit at the end of the SCSI bus. 2 Configure all SCSI devices to supply termination power (TermPWR.) 3 Set proper target IDs (TIDs) for all SCSI devices. Cable Suggestions System throughput problems can occur if SCSI cable use is not maximized. You should: • Use cables up to 12 meters for LVD devices.
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The PERC 3/SC controller automatically occupies TID 7 in the SCSI channel. Eight-bit SCSI devices can use the TIDs from 0 to 6 only. 16-bit devices can use the TIDs from 0 to 15. The arbitration priority for a SCSI device depends on its TID. Table 8-8 shows the target IDs. Ta b l e 8 - 8 . Ta r g e t I D s Priority Highest TID 7 6 Lowest 5 ... 2 1 0 15 14 ... 9 8 NOTICE: Non-disk devices (CD-ROM or tapes) should have unique SCSI IDs regardless of the channel they are connected to.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m The PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility prompt times out after several seconds. The PERC 3 host adapter (controller) number, firmware version, and cache synchronized dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) size display in the second portion of the BIOS message. The numbering of the controllers follows the PCI slot scanning order used by the host motherboard.
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SECTION 9 PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL Hardware Installation Requirements PERC 3/DC Card Layout PERC 3/DCL Card Layout Installation Steps Replacing a PERC 3/DC Containing a BC Chip with a PERC 3/DC Containing a BE Chip
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Requirements This chapter describes the installation procedures for the PERC 3/DC, and PERC 3/DCL boards. It also contains the procedure for replacing the PERC 3/DC that has a BC chip with a PERC 3/DC that has a BE chip. You must have the following: NOTE: The PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL controller must be installed in a PCI expansion slot.
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PERC 3/DC Card Layout Figure 9-1.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m PERC 3/DCL Card Layout Figure 9-2.
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7 Connect SCSI devices. 8 Power on the host system. 9 Run the BIOS Configuration Utility or the WebBIOS Configuration Utility. 10 Install the operating system software driver. Step 1—Unpack the PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL Unpack and install the hardware in a static-free environment. Remove the controller card and inspect it for damage. If the card appears damaged, please contact your Dell support representative. Step 2—Power Down Turn off the computer and remove the AC power cord.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 9 - 1 .
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J10 NVRAM Clear J10 is a 2-pin connector used to clear the memory from the NVRAM, which stores RAID configuration information. Table 9-4 displays the pinout for J10. Ta b l e 9 - 4 . J 1 0 N V R A M C l e a r P i n o u t Pin Description 1 Signal 2 GND J11 Serial Port J11 is a 3-pin header that attaches to a serial cable. Table 9-5 and Figure 9-3 display the pinout. Ta b l e 9 - 5 . J 1 1 S e r i a l P o r t P i n o u t Pin Description 1 Receive data 2 Transmit data 3 Ground Figure 9-3.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 9 - 6 . J 1 3 D i r t y C a c h e L E D P i n o u t Pin Description 1 Signal pulled high 2 Dirty cache signal J14 SCSI Activity LED J14 is a four-pin connector for an LED mounted on the computer enclosure. Table 9-7 displays the J14 pinout. Ta b l e 9 - 7 .
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J17 I2C Connector J17 is a 4-pin header. Table 9-9 displays the J17 pinout. Ta b l e 9 - 9 . J 1 7 I 2 C C o n n e c t o r P i n o u t Pin Description 1 Data 2 GND 3 Clock 4 Power (fused) Step 4—Set SCSI Termination Each PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL SCSI channel can be individually configured for termination enable mode by setting the J2 and J3 jumpers. You must terminate the SCSI bus properly. Set termination at both ends of the SCSI cable.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m F i g u r e 9 - 4 . Te r m i n a t i o n o f I n t e r n a l S C S I D i s k A r r a y s f o r PERC 3/DC and 3/DCL Internal SCSI Drives ID0 Boot Drive No Term. ID1 No Term. ID2 Term. Enabled For a disk array, set SCSI bus termination so that removing or adding a SCSI device does not disturb termination. The connectors between the two ends of the channel can connect SCSI devices that have termination enabled.
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Figure 9-5.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Step 6—Select and Set Target IDs for SCSI Devices Set target identifiers (TIDs) on the SCSI devices. Each device in a specific SCSI channel must have a unique TID in that channel. See the documentation for each SCSI device to set the TIDs. The PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL controller automatically occupies TID 7 in the SCSI channel. 8-bit SCSI devices can use the TIDs from 0 to 6 only. 16-bit devices can use the TIDs from 0 to 15.
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Figure 9-6. Connecting SCSI Cables to PERC 3/DC and 3/DCL Pin 1 Pin 1 Connect SCSI Devices When connecting SCSI devices: 1 Disable termination on any SCSI device that is not at the end of the SCSI bus. If the cable is terminated, do not terminate SCSI devices. 2 Configure all SCSI devices to supply TermPWR. 3 Set proper target IDs (TIDs) for all SCSI devices. 4 The cable length should not exceed 12 meters for LVD and 160M SCSI devices.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Step 8—Power On Host System Replace the computer cover and reconnect the alternating current (AC) power cords. Power on the host computer. Ensure that all SCSI devices are connected, including SCSI and power cables. If the computer is powered up before a SCSI device, the device might not be recognized. During boot, the PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL BIOS message appears: (For simplicity, only the PERC 3/DC message is shown.
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Step 10—Install Operating System Software Driver See the documentation for the PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL operating systems driver for additional information about installing the drivers for Windows NT, Windows 2000, Novell NetWare 5.x, 6.x, and Red Hat Linux 7.x. Replacing a PERC 3/DC Containing a BC Chip with a PERC 3/DC Containing a BE Chip Using Driver 5.22.1 or 5.22.2 and Firmware 161J or 161N Perform the following steps to replace the PERC 3/DC card if you are using the 5.22.1 or 5.22.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m 1 Upgrade the existing driver from 5.22.1 or 5.22.2 to 5.30 or later. 2 Shut down the machine in which you are going to replace the controller. 3 Replace the controller (using the procedures in this chapter.) 4 Boot to Windows. When you log into Windows, New Device Prompts appears. 5 132 Load the driver if prompted.
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SECTION 10 PERC 3/QC Hardware Installation Requirements PERC 3/QC Card Layout Installation Steps
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Requirements This chapter describes the installation procedures for the PERC 3/QC board. You must have the following: • A PERC 3/QC controller • A host computer with an available 5 V, 32- or 64-bit peripheral component interconnect (PCI) expansion slot • The PERC 3/QC installation diskettes • The necessary SCSI cables (This depends on the number and type of SCSI devices to be attached.
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J22 Channel 2/3 External J13 Channel 0/1 External J9 J10 J1 J12 J5 J7 J2 J3 J6 J4 Channel 0 SCSI Internal Activity Wide SCSI LED J2 Channel 0 Termination Enable J3 Channel 1 Termination Enable J5 Channel 2 Termination Enable J7 Channel 3 Termination Enable (See List Above) J1 Channel 1 Internal Wide SCSI J9 Channel 0 TERMPWR Enable J10 Channel 1 TERMPWR Enable J11 Channel 2 TERMPWR Enable J12 Channel 3 TERMPWR Enable J14 Serial Port J23 External Battery Connector Speaker (See List Above) J15
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Installation Steps This section provides an overview of installing the RAID controller. See the following sections for more information about each step. 1 Unpack the PERC 3/QC controller and inspect for damage. Make sure all items are in the package. If damaged, call your Dell original equipment manufacturer (OEM) support representative. 2 Turn the computer off and remove the cover. 3 Check the jumper settings on the PERC 3/QC controller.
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Step 2—Power Down Turn off the computer and remove the cover. Make sure the computer is turned off and disconnected from any networks before installing the controller. Step 3—Set Jumpers Make sure the jumper settings on the PERC 3/QC card are correct. Table 10-1 displays the jumpers and connectors. Ta b l e 1 0 - 1 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m J2, J3, J5, and J7 Termination Enable J2, J3, J5, and J7 are 3-pin connectors that set the SCSI termination for each SCSI channel. The Dell default is termination always enabled (OPEN.) Table 10-2 displays the pinout. Ta b l e 1 0 - 2 .
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J14 Serial Port J14 attaches to a serial cable. Figure 10-2 and Table 10-4 show the pinout for J14. Figure 10-2. J14 Serial Port Diagram 2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7 9 Ta b l e 1 0 - 4 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 1 0 - 6 . J 1 9 O n b o a r d B I O S E n a b l e S e t t i n g s J19 Setting Onboard BIOS Status Unjumpered Enabled Jumpered Disabled J23 External Battery J23 is a 5-pin connector that attaches to the optional battery pack. Table 107 displays the J23 pinout. Ta b l e 1 0 - 7 .
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F i g u r e 1 0 - 3 . E x a m p l e o f Te r m i n a t i o n SCSI Terminator Termination on Controller Enabled SCSI Devices (Termination Disabled on Both) For a disk array, set SCSI bus termination so that removing or adding a SCSI device does not disturb termination. An easy way to do this is to connect the PERC 3/QC card to one end of the SCSI cable and to connect an external terminator module at the other end of the cable. The connectors between the two ends can connect SCSI devices.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Terminating Internal SCSI Disk Arrays Set the termination so that SCSI termination and termination power are intact when any disk drive is removed from a SCSI channel, as shown in Figure 10-4. F i g u r e 1 0 - 4 .
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Step 5—Install PERC 3/QC Choose a 3.3 V or 5 V PCI slot and align the PERC 3/QC bus connector to the slot. Press down gently but firmly to make sure that the card is properly seated in the slot. The bottom edge of the controller card should be flush with the slot. Figure 10-5 displays the PCI slots on a motherboard. Figure 10-5.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Insert the PERC 3/QC card into a PCI slot as shown in Figure 10-6. Screw the bracket to the computer frame. Figure 10-6. Installation of the PERC 3/QC Card Bracket Screw Edge of Mother Board 32-bit Slots (3.
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Step 6—Connect SCSI Cables Connect SCSI cables to SCSI devices. PERC 3/QC provides two internal SCSI connectors, J1 (channel 1) and J4 (channel 0), which are the SCSI channel internal high-density 68-pin connectors for Wide (16-bit) SCSI. PERC 3/QC provides four external SCSI connectors: J13 (channels 0 and 1) and J22 (channels 2 and 3), the SCSI channel external ultra high-density 68-pin connectors for Wide (16-bit) SCSI. Only one cable should be connected to any available channel.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Cable Suggestions System throughput problems can occur if SCSI cable use is not maximized. You should: • Use cables up to 12 meters for LVD devices. • For single ended SCSI devices, use the shortest SCSI cables (no more than 3 meters for Fast SCSI, no more than 1.5 meters for an 8-drive Ultra2 SCSI system and no more than 3 meters for a 6-drive Ultra2 SCSI system.) • Use active termination. • Use only Dell-approved cables.
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Firmware Initializing... [Scanning SCSI Device...(etc.)...] The firmware takes several seconds to initialize. During this time the adapter will scan the SCSI channel. When ready, the following appears: HA –0 (Bus 1 Dev 6) Type: PERC 3/QC Standard FW x.
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148 PERC 3/ QC H a r d wa r e In s ta l la ti on w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l .
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SECTION 11 PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility Configuration On Disk Starting the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility BIOS Configuration Utility Menu Options Configuring Arrays and Logical Drives Choosing the Configuration Method Designating Drives as Hot Spares Using Easy Configuration Using New Configuration Using View/Add Configuration Initializing Logical Drives Deleting Logical Drives (Random Array Deletion) Formatting Physical Drives Rebuilding Failed Disk Drives Using a Pre-loaded SCSI Drive “As-is” Exi
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m The PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility configures disk arrays and logical drives. Because the utility resides in the PERC 3 BIOS, its operation is independent of the operating systems on your computer. This chapter describes the utility, and the configuration options it offers. Clustering is described at the end of the chapter. Configuration On Disk PERC 3 supports Configuration on Disk (drive roaming.
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Press to Enable BIOS For each PERC adapter in the host system, the firmware version, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) size, and the status of logical drives on the card display. If you do not press within a few seconds of the prompt, the computer continues normal booting. After you press a key to continue, the Management Menu screen displays. See the next section, “BIOS Configuration Utility Management Menu Options,” for more information.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 1 1 - 1 . B I O S C o n f i g u r a t i o n U t i l i t y M e n u O p t i o n s Option Description Objects Select this option to individually access controllers, logical drives, and physical drives. Format Select this option to low-level format hard disk drives. Rebuild Select this option to rebuild failed disk drives.
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Initialize Menu Choose Initialize from the BIOS Configuration Utility Management Menu to initialize one or more logical drives. Press the space bar to select a single driver or the key to select all drives for initialization. This action typically follows the configuration of a new logical drive. NOTE: See page 178 for procedures for initializing logical drives. NOTICE: Initializing a logical drive destroys all data on the logical drive.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 1 1 - 3 . A d a p t e r M e n u O p t i o n s (continued) Option Description Disk Spin up Timings Choose this option to set the method and timing for spinning up the hard disk drives. Cache Flush Timings Choose this option to set the cache flush interval to once every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 seconds. The default is 4. Rebuild Rate Use this option to select the rebuild rate for drives attached to the selected adapter.
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Cluster Mode and the Initiator ID You can enable or disable cluster mode. When you disable cluster mode, the system operates in standard mode. In addition, when you enable cluster mode, the system automatically disables the BIOS. You can change the Initiator ID only when you are in cluster mode. You cannot change the ID while in standard mode. The ID can be a number from 0 to 15. We recommend that you use 6 or 7. When you are in standard mode, the ID is always 7.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m 4 Select Enabled to enable Virtual Sizing. After you have created a logical drive set, the partition of the drive should be as large as the virtual size of the logical drive. After you have created a logical array set, the drive partition can be as large as the full size of the logical drive. However, this is the full virtual drive size, not the actual physical drive size.
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Channel Choose Objects—> Channel to select a SCSI channel on the currently selected controller. After you select a channel, press to display the options for that channel. Table 11-6 describes the SCSI channel menu options. Ta b l e 1 1 - 6 . S C S I C h a n n e l M e n u O p t i o n s Option Description Termination Enabled/Disabled When set to enabled, the PERC 3 controller is terminated. When set to disabled, it is not terminated.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 1 1 - 7 . B a t t e r y I n f o r m a t i o n M e n u O p t i o n s (continued) Menu Item Explanation No of Cycles Displays the number of charge cycles. After 1100 charge cycles, the life of the battery pack is assumed to be over and you must replace it. Reset Battery Charge Counter Choose Objects—> Reset Battery Charge Counter to reset the charge cycle count.
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Check Consistency Menu Choose Check Consistency to verify the redundancy data in logical drives that use RAID levels 1, 5, 10, and 50. The parameters of the existing logical drives appear. Discrepancies are automatically corrected, assuming always that the data is correct. However, if the failure is a read error on a data drive, the bad data block is reassigned with the generated data. Perform the following steps to run a consistency check: 1 Select Check Consistency on the Management Menu.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m 1 Choose a configuration method. 2 Designate hot spares (optional). 3 Create arrays using the available physical drives. 4 Define logical drives using the space in the arrays. 5 Save the configuration information. 6 Initialize the new logical drives.
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If you select New Configuration, the existing configuration information on the selected controller is destroyed when the new configuration is saved. View/Add Configuration View/Add Configuration allows you to control the same logical drive parameters as New Configuration without disturbing the existing configuration information. You can also choose to enable the Configuration on Disk feature. PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC Default Settings Table 11-8 displays the default settings for PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Reserved Disk Space during Configuration Up to 20.6 MB of disk space is reserved when a hard drive is being configured. Designating Drives as Hot Spares Hot spares are physical drives that are powered up along with the RAID drives and usually stay in a standby state. The hot spare drive should be larger than or equal to the smallest logical drive.
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3 Press the arrow keys to select Make HotSpare and press . The indicator for the selected drive changes to HOTSP. 4 Save the configuration. Using Easy Configuration In Easy Configuration, each array is associated with exactly one logical drive. Perform the following steps to create arrays using Easy Configuration. 1 Choose Configure from the Management Menu. The Configure options menu displays. 2 Choose Configure—> Easy Configuration. The array selection menu appears.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m NOTE: Try to use drives of the same capacity in a specific array. If you use drives with different capacities in an array, all drives in the array are treated as if they have the capacity of the smallest drive in the array. 3 Press the arrow keys to highlight specific physical drives. 4 Press the spacebar to associate the selected physical drive with the current array.
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NOTE: You can press to display the number of drives in the array, their channel and ID, and to display array information, such as the stripes, slots, and free space. 8 Press to configure logical drives. The logical drive configuration screen appears. Span=Yes displays on this screen if you select two or more arrays to span. The window from the top of the screen shows the logical drive that is currently being configured as well as any existing logical drives.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Stripe Size specifies the size of the segments written to each disk in a RAID 1 or 5 logical drive. You can set the stripe size to 2 KB, 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB, or 128 KB. A larger stripe size produces better read performance, especially if your computer does mostly sequential reads. If you are sure that your computer does random read requests more often, choose a small stripe size. The default is 64 KB.
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– Direct I/O specifies that reads are not buffered in cache memory. Direct I/O does not override the cache policy settings. Data is transferred to cache and the host concurrently. If the same data block is read again, it comes from cache memory. This is the default setting. 15 Press to exit the Advanced Menu. 16 After you define the current logical drive, choose Accept and press . The array selection screen appears if any unconfigured disk drives remain.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m An array selection window displays the devices connected to the current controller. Hot key information appears at the bottom of the screen. The hot key functions are: NOTE: Try to use drives of the same capacity in a specific array. If you use drives with different capacities in an array, all drives in the array are treated as if they have the capacity of the smallest drive in the array.
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– 5 RAID 50 requires at least six physical drives per array. Press after you finish creating the current array. A window entitled Select Configurable Array(s) appears. It displays the array, and array number, such as A-00. 6 Press the spacebar to select the array. Span information, such as Span-1, displays in the array box. You can create multiple arrays, then select them to span them.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m The logical drive configuration screen appears. Span=Yes displays on this screen if you select two or more arrays to span. The window at the top of the screen shows the logical drive that is currently being configured as well as any existing logical drives.
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the criteria are not met, the span setting makes no difference for the current logical drive. 12 Highlight a spanning option and press . 13 Set the logical drive size. 14 Move the cursor to Size and press . By default, the logical drive size is set to all available space in the array(s) being associated with the current logical drive, accounting for the span setting. 15 Open the Advanced Menu to set the remaining options: 16 Set the Stripe Size.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m 19 – No-Read-Ahead specifies that the controller does not use readahead for the current logical drive. – Read-ahead specifies that the controller uses read-ahead for the current logical drive. – Adaptive specifies that the controller begins using read-ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred in sequential sectors.
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Using View/Add Configuration View/Add Configuration allows you to associate logical drives with physical arrays (this is called spanning of arrays.) The existing configuration is left intact, so you can also use View/Add Configuration simply to look at the current configuration. Perform the following steps to configure the arrays using View/Add Configuration. 1 Choose Configure from the Management Menu. The Configure menu options display. 2 Choose Configure—> View/Add Configuration.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m NOTE: Try to use drives of the same capacity in a specific array. If you use drives with different capacities in an array, all drives in the array are treated as if they have the capacity of the smallest drive in the array. 3 Press the arrow keys to highlight specific physical drives. 4 Press the spacebar to associate the selected physical drive with the current array.
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NOTE: You can press to display the number of drives in the array, their channel and ID, and to display array information, such as the stripes, slots, and free space. 8 Press to configure a logical drive. The logical drive configuration screen appears. Span=Yes displays on this screen if you select two or more arrays to span. The logical drive that is currently being configured and any existing logical drives are displayed.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m – CanSpan: Array spanning is enabled for the current logical drive. The logical drive can occupy space in more than one array. – NoSpan: Array spanning is disabled for the current logical drive. The logical drive can occupy space in only one array. PERC 3 supports spanning for RAID 1 and RAID 5 arrays only.
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– 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. This setting is not recommended. – In Write-through caching, the controller sends a data transfer completion signal to the host when the disk subsystem has received all the data in a transaction. This is the default setting for cluster mode.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m If space remains in the arrays, the next logical drive to be configured appears. 22 Repeat steps 3 to 21 to create an array and configure another logical drive. If all array space is used, a list of the existing logical drives appears. 23 Press any key to continue. 24 Respond to the Save prompt. 25 Initialize the logical drives you have just configured. Initializing Logical Drives Initialize each new logical drive you configure.
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Individual Initialization 1 Choose Objects—> Logical Drive option from the Management Menu. 2 Select the logical drive to be initialized. 3 Choose Initialize from the action menu. Initialization progress appears as a bar graph on the screen. 4 When initialization completes, press any key to display the previous menu. Deleting Logical Drives (Random Array Deletion) This RAID controller supports random array deletion.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m This deletes the logical drive and makes the space it occupied available for you to make another logical drive. Formatting Physical Drives You can do low-level formatting of SCSI drives using the BIOS Configuration Utility. Because most SCSI disk drives are low-level formatted at the factory, this step is usually not necessary.
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• Individual Formatting. Choose the Format option from Objects—> Physical Drive action menu for a physical drive. Batch Formatting 1 Select Format from the Management Menu. A device selection window displays the devices connected to the current controller. 2 Press the arrow keys to highlight the drives. 3 Press the spacebar to select the desired physical drives for formatting. The indicators for the selected drives flashes.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Rebuilding Failed Disk Drives If a disk drive fails in an array that is configured as a RAID 1 or 5 logical drive, you can recover the lost data by rebuilding the drive. Table 11-10 describes the types of rebuilds. Ta b l e 1 1 - 1 0 . R e b u i l d Ty p e s Type Description Automatic Rebuild If you have configured hot spares, PERC 3 automatically tries to use them to rebuild failed disks.
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A device selection window displays the devices connected to the current controller. The failed drives have FAIL indicators. 2 Press the arrow keys to highlight any failed drives to be rebuilt., 3 Press the spacebar to select the desired physical drives for rebuild. 4 After you select the physical drives, press . 5 Select Yes at the prompt. The indicators for the selected drives change to REBLD. Rebuilding can take some time, depending on the number of drives selected and the drive capacities.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m 10 Press to exit the Advanced Menu. You are prompted to accept the settings. 11 Highlight Accept and press . Do not initialize the logical drive. 12 Press . and choose Yes at the Save prompt. 13 Exit the BIOS Configuration Utility. 14 Reboot the system. 15 Set the host system to boot from SCSI, if such a setting is available.
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To enable hardware termination, leave the pins open. The default is hardware termination. Clustering Physically, a cluster is a grouping of two independent servers that can access the same data storage and provide services to a common set of clients. With current technology, this usually means servers connected to common I/O buses and a common network for client access. NOTE: Clustering is not supported by PERC 3/QC, PERC 3/DCL or PERC 3/SC. It is supported by PERC 3/DC.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m After you start the BIOS configuration utility, perform the following steps to enable or disable the cluster mode: 1 Select Objects—> Adapter—> Cluster Mode. 2 Select Enable or Disable. After you select Disable or Enable, a dialog box displays for you to confirm your choice to change the parameter.
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SECTION 12 Dell Manager Starting Dell Manager Dell Manager Menu Options Designating Drives as Hot Spares Parameters Initializing Logical Drives Deleting Logical Drives (Random Array Deletion) Formatting Physical Drives Rebuilding Failed Disk Drives Exiting Dell Manager
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Starting Dell Manager Dell™ Manager is a character-based, non-GUI utility that changes policies, and parameters, and monitors RAID systems. Dell Manager runs under Novell® NetWare® 5.x, 6.x, and Red Hat Linux 7.x. To start Dell Manager from any directory, make sure the program file is in the usr/sbin directory. Type the command shown in Table 12-1. Ta b l e 1 2 - 1 . C o m m a n d U s e d t o S t a r t D e l l M a n a g e r In...
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Management Menu Options Table 12-2 displays the options for the Dell Manager Management Menu. Ta b l e 1 2 - 2 . M a n a g e m e n t M e n u O p t i o n s Option Description Initialize Select this option to initialize one or more logical drives. Objects Select this option to individually access controllers, logical drives, and physical drives. Format Select this option to low-level format physical drives. Rebuild Select this option to rebuild failed physical drives.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m 3 Select Settings—> Keyboard—> Linux Console from the Terminal menu. Dell Manager Menu Options The following sections list the menu and sub-menu options available from the Dell Manager Management Menu. Initialize Menu Choose Initialize from the Dell Manager Management Menu to initialize one or more logical drives. This action typically follows the configuration of a new logical drive.
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Ta b l e 1 2 - 3 . A d a p t e r M e n u O p t i o n s (continued) Option Description View/Update Parameters Select this option to display the firmware version number and the cache memory size. You can also change the rebuild rate for the adapter through this option. Adapter Type The model of adapter that is being used. Logical Drive Choose Objects—> Logical Drive to select a logical drive and to perform the actions described in Table 12-4. Ta b l e 1 2 - 4 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 1 2 - 5 . L o g i c a l D r i v e D e f a u l t S e t t i n g s Parameter Setting Read Policy Adaptive Readahead Cache Policy Direct I/O Spanning Off Physical Drive Select Objects—> Physical Drive to select a physical device and to perform the operations listed in Table 12-5. When you choose this option, the physical drives in the system are listed.
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SCSI Channel Choose Objects—> SCSI Channel to select a SCSI channel on a controller. Table 12-7 displays the operations you can perform on the selected channel. Ta b l e 1 2 - 7 . S C S I C h a n n e l O p t i o n s Option Description State Choose this option to enable termination. Termination Choose this option to set the type of termination. Battery Backup Choose Objects-> Battery Backup to view the battery backup information. You can use the battery backup menu to reset the charge cycle count.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 1 2 - 8 . B a t t e r y B a c k u p M e n u I t e m s (continued) Menu Item Explanation No of Cycles This must be configured. When first installing a battery pack, set the Charge Cycle to 0. The dialog box below appears when you select No of Cycles. Choose YES to reset the number of cycles to zero and press . After 1100 charge cycles, the life of the battery pack is assumed to be over, and you must replace it.
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Rebuild Menu Choose Rebuild from the Management Menu to rebuild one or more failed disk drives. Check Consistency Menu Choose this option to verify the redundancy data in logical drives using RAID levels 1 or 5. When you choose Check Consistency, the parameters of the existing logical drives on the current controller appear. The logical drives are listed by number. PERC 3 automatically corrects any differences found in the data. Perform the following steps to run a consistency check.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m 1 Select Objects—> Physical Drive and press . The Physical Drive Selection Menu displays. 2 Highlight a drive on the Physical Drive Selection Menu using the arrow keys and press . The action menu for the physical drive displays. 3 Use the arrow key to select Make HotSpare, then press . The indicator for the selected physical drive changes to HOTSP.
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• – Read-ahead specifies that the controller uses read-ahead for the current logical drive. – Adaptive specifies that the controller begins using read-ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred in sequential sectors. If all read requests are random, the algorithm reverts to Normal, however, all requests are still evaluated for possible sequential operation. Cache Policy applies to reads on a specific logical drive. It does not affect the Read-ahead cache.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m The progress of the initialization for each drive displays in bar graph format. 6 When initialization is complete, press any key to continue. 7 Press to display the Management Menu. Individual Initialization Perform the following steps to initialize one logical drive. 1 Select Objects—> Logical Drive. 2 Select the logical drive to be initialized. 3 Choose Initialize from the action menu.
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Perform the following steps to delete logical drives: 1 Choose Objects—> Logical Drive. The logical drives display. 2 Use the arrow key to highlight the logical drive you want to delete. 3 Press to delete the logical drive. This deletes the logical drive and makes the space it occupied available for you to make another logical drive. Formatting Physical Drives You can do low-level formatting of SCSI drives using Dell Manager.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Formatting Drives You can format the physical drives using: • Batch Formatting The Format option in the Dell Manager Management Menu lets you format up to eight disk drives simultaneously. • Individual Formatting. Choose the Format option from the Objects—> Physical Drive options menu for an individual disk drive. Batch Formatting 1 Choose Format on the Management Menu.
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4 When formatting completes, press any key to display the previous menu. Rebuilding Failed Disk Drives If a physical drive fails in an array configured as a RAID 1 or 5 logical drive, you can recover the lost data by rebuilding the drive. If a rebuilding spare fails, a new rebuild is started using a second spare, if available. The capacity of the second spare must be equal to or greater than the failed drive. Table 12-9 describes the rebuild types. Ta b l e 1 2 - 9 .
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Manual Rebuild – Batch Mode Perform the following steps to rebuild more than one drive: 1 Choose Rebuild from the Management Menu. A device selection window displays the devices connected to the current controller. The failed drives have FAIL indicators. 2 Press the arrow keys to select the drives to be rebuilt. 3 After you select the physical drives, press . 4 Type Yes at the confirmation prompt.
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SECTION 13 Tr o u b l e s h o o t i n g Overview BIOS Boot Error Messages Other BIOS Error Messages Other Potential Problems Audible Warnings
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Overview This chapter describes the problems that you might encounter during installation and use of PERC, and how to resolve them. Table 13-1 describes general problems you might encounter. Ta b l e 1 3 - 1 . G e n e r a l P r o b l e m s a n d S u g g e s t e d S o l u t i o n s Problem Suggested Solution Some operating systems do not load in a computer with a PERC 3 adapter.
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Ta b l e 1 3 - 1 . G e n e r a l P r o b l e m s a n d S u g g e s t e d S o l u t i o n s Problem Suggested Solution The following displays: Make sure that termination power (TERMPWR) is being properly provided to each peripheral device- populated channel. Firmware Initializing... Make sure that each end of the SCSI channel chain is properly terminated using the recommended terminator type for the peripheral device.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Ta b l e 1 3 - 2 . B I O S B o o t E r r o r M e s s a g e s (continued) Message Problem Suggested Solution Configuration of NVRAM and drives mismatch. Run View/Add Configuration option of PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility. The configuration stored in the PERC 3 adapter does not match the configuration stored in the drives. Press to run the BIOS Configuration Utility.
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Ta b l e 1 3 - 2 . B I O S B o o t E r r o r M e s s a g e s (continued) Message Problem Suggested Solution X Logical Drives Degraded x number of logical drives signed on in a degraded state. Make sure all physical drives are properly connected and are powered on. Run the BIOS Configuration Utility to find whether any physical drives are not responding. Reconnect, replace, or rebuild a drive that is not responding. 1 Logical Drive Degraded A logical drive signed on in a degraded state.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Other BIOS Error Messages Table 13-3 explains the other BIOS error messages that can display. Ta b l e 1 3 - 3 . O t h e r B I O S E r r o r M e s s a g e s Message Problem Suggested Solution Following SCSI disk not found and no empty slot available for mapping it The physical disk roaming feature did not find the physical disk with the displayed SCSI ID. No slot is available to map the physical drive.
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Other Potential Problems Table 13-4 describes other items that might cause problems. Ta b l e 1 3 - 4 . O t h e r P o t e n t i a l P r o b l e m s Topic Information Physical drive errors To display the Media Error and Other Error options, select the Objects—> Physical Drive menu and press after you select a physical drive. A Media Error is an error that occurred while actually transferring data.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Audible Warnings The PERC card onboard tone generator indicates events and errors. Table 13-5 describes the warnings and their meanings. Ta b l e 1 3 - 5 . A u d i b l e W a r n i n g s Tone Pattern Meaning Examples Three seconds on and one second off A logical drive is offline. One or more drives in a RAID 0 configuration failed. Two or more drives in a RAID 1 or 5 configuration failed.
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SECTION 14 Appendix A: SCSI Cables and Connectors Visit Dell’s web site at www.dell.com for information about qualified SCSI cables and connectors, or contact your Dell representative for information.
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212 Appendix A : SC SI Cabl es and C o nnectors w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l .
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SECTION 15 Appendix B: Wa r r a n t i e s a n d R e t u r n Policy
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Dell-branded hardware products purchased in the U.S. or Canada come with either a one-year, two-year, three-year, or four-year (U.S. only) limited warranty. To determine which warranty you purchased, see the Dell invoice that accompanied your computer. The following sections describe these limited warranties, the manufacturer guarantee for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the return policy for the U.S. One-Year Limited Warranty (U.S.
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Dell will repair or replace products covered under this limited warranty that are returned to Dell’s facility. To request warranty service, you must contact Dell’s Customer Technical Support within the limited warranty period. If warranty service is required, Dell will issue a Return Material Authorization Number. You must ship the products back to Dell in their original or equivalent packaging, prepay shipping charges, and insure the shipment or accept the risk of loss or damage during shipment.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m SOME STATES (OR JURISDICTIONS) DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE PRECEDING EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. These provisions apply to Dell’s one-year limited warranty only. For provisions of any service contract covering your system, see your invoice or the separate service contract that you will receive.
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This limited warranty does not cover any items that are in one or more of the following categories: software; external devices (except as specifically noted); accessories or parts added to a Dell system after the system is shipped from Dell; accessories or parts added to a Dell system through Dell's system integration department; accessories or parts that are not installed in the Dell factory; or Dell Software and Peripherals products.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Limited Warranty Coverage During Year Two During the second year of this limited warranty, Dell will provide, on an exchange basis and subject to Dell’s Exchange Policy in effect on the date of the exchange, replacement parts for the Dell hardware product(s) covered under this limited warranty when a part requires replacement.
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General Provisions THIS LIMITED WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS, AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS, WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE (OR JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION). DELL'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR MALFUNCTIONS AND DEFECTS IN HARDWARE IS LIMITED TO REPAIR AND REPLACEMENT AS SET FORTH IN THIS LIMITED WARRANTY STATEMENT.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Three-Year Limited Warranty (U.S. Only) Dell Computer Corporation ("Dell") manufactures its hardware products from parts and components that are new or equivalent to new in accordance with industry-standard practices. Dell warrants that the hardware products it manufactures will be free from defects in materials and workmanship. The limited warranty term is three years beginning on the date of invoice, as described in the following text.
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Limited Warranty Coverage During Year One During the one-year period beginning on the invoice date, Dell will repair or replace products covered under this limited warranty that are returned to Dell’s facility. To request warranty service, you must contact Dell’s Customer Technical Support within the warranty period. If warranty service is required, Dell will issue a Return Material Authorization Number.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m You will pay Dell for replacement parts if the replaced part is not returned to Dell. The process for returning replaced parts, and your obligation to pay for replacement parts if you do not return the replaced parts to Dell, will be in accordance with Dell’s Exchange Policy in effect on the date of the exchange. You accept full responsibility for your software and data.
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These provisions apply to Dell’s three-year limited warranty only. For provisions of any service contract covering your system, see your invoice or the separate service contract that you will receive. If Dell elects to exchange a system or component, the exchange will be made in accordance with Dell’s Exchange Policy in effect on the date of the exchange.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Limited Warranty Coverage During Year One NOTE: Before you ship the product(s) to Dell, back up the data on the hard drive(s) and any other storage device(s) in the product(s). Remove any removable media, such as diskettes, CDs, or PC Cards. Dell does not accept liability for lost data or software.
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You will pay Dell for replacement parts when the replaced part is not returned to Dell. The process for returning replaced parts, and your obligation to pay for replacement parts if you do not return the replaced parts to Dell, will be in accordance with Dell's Exchange Policy in effect on the date of the exchange. You accept full responsibility for your software and data. Dell is not required to advise or remind you of appropriate backup and other procedures.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m If Dell elects to exchange a system or component, the exchange will be made in accordance with Dell's Exchange Policy in effect on the date of the exchange. In any instance in which Dell issues a Return Material Authorization Number, Dell must receive the product(s) for repair prior to the expiration of the limited warranty period in order for the repairs to be covered by the limited warranty.
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Dell will repair or replace products covered under this limited warranty that are returned to Dell’s facility. To request warranty service, you must contact Dell’s Customer Technical Support within the warranty period. If warranty service is required, Dell will issue a Return Material Authorization Number. You must ship the products back to Dell in their original or equivalent packaging, prepay shipping charges, and insure the shipment or accept the risk of loss or damage during shipment.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m SOME STATES (OR JURISDICTIONS) DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE PRECEDING EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. These provisions apply to Dell’s one-year limited warranty only. For provisions of any service contract covering your system, see your invoice or the separate service contract that you will receive.
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This limited warranty does not cover any items that are in one or more of the following categories: software; external devices (except as specifically noted); accessories or parts added to a Dell system after the system is shipped from Dell; accessories or parts added to a Dell system through Dell’s system integration department; accessories or parts that are not installed in the Dell factory; or Dell Software and Peripherals products.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Limited Warranty Coverage During Year Two During the second year of this limited warranty, Dell will provide, on an exchange basis and subject to Dell’s Exchange Policy in effect on the date of the exchange, replacement parts for the Dell hardware product(s) covered under this limited warranty when a part requires replacement.
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DELL'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR MALFUNCTIONS AND DEFECTS IN HARDWARE IS LIMITED TO REPAIR AND REPLACEMENT AS SET FORTH IN THIS LIMITED WARRANTY STATEMENT. THESE WARRANTIES GIVE YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS, AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS, WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE (OR JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION).
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Damage due to shipping the products to you is covered under this limited warranty. Otherwise, this limited warranty does not cover damage due to external causes, including accident, abuse, misuse, problems with electrical power, servicing not authorized by Dell, usage not in accordance with product instructions, failure to perform required preventive maintenance, and problems caused by use of parts and components not supplied by Dell.
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Dell owns all parts removed from repaired products. Dell uses new and reconditioned parts made by various manufacturers in performing warranty repairs and building replacement products. If Dell repairs or replaces a product, its warranty term is not extended.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m "Total Satisfaction" Return Policy (U.S. Only) If you are an end-user customer who bought new products directly from a Dell company, you may return them to Dell within 30 days of the date of invoice for a refund or credit of the product purchase price.
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One-Year End-User Manufacturer Guarantee (Latin America and the Caribbean Only) Guarantee Dell Computer Corporation ("Dell") warrants to the end user in accordance with the following provisions that its branded hardware products, purchased by the end user from a Dell company or an authorized Dell distributor in Latin America or the Caribbean, will be free from defects in materials, workmanship, and design affecting normal use, for a period of one year from the original purchase date.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Limitation and Statutory Rights Dell makes no other warranty, guarantee or like statement other than as explicitly stated above, and this Guarantee is given in place of all other guarantees whatsoever, to the fullest extent permitted by law.
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Glossary Array—A grouping of hard disk drives combines the storage space on the hard drives into a single segment of contiguous storage space. The RAID controller can group hard drives on one or more channels into an array. A hot spare drive does not participate in an array. Array Management Software—Software that provides common control and management for a disk array.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Cache Input/Output (I/O)—A small amount of fast memory that holds recently accessed data. Caching speeds subsequent access to the same data. It is most often applied to processor-memory access, but can also be used to store a copy of data accessible over a network. When data is read from or written to main memory, a copy is also saved in cache memory with the associated main memory address.
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Disk Duplexing—A variation on disk mirroring in which a second disk adapter or host adapter and redundant hard drives are present. Disk Mirroring—Writing duplicate data to more than one (usually two) hard disks to protect against data loss in the event of device failure. Disk mirroring is a common feature of RAID systems. Disk Spanning—Disk spanning allows multiple hard drives to function like one big drive.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m FlexRAID Power Fail Option—The FlexRAID Power Fail option allows a reconstruction to restart if a power failure occurs. This is the advantage of this option. The disadvantage is, once the reconstruction is active, the performance is slower because an additional activity is running. Formatting—The process of writing zeros to all data fields in a physical drive (hard drive) to map out unreadable or bad sectors.
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Initialization—The process of writing zeros to the data fields of a logical drive and generating the corresponding parity to bring the logical drive to a ready state. Initializing erases previous data and generates parity so that the logical drive will pass a consistency check. Arrays can work without initializing, but they can fail a consistency check because the parity fields have not been generated. Logical Disk—A set of contiguous chunks on a physical disk.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Parity—Parity is an extra bit added to a byte or word to reveal errors in storage (in random access memory, RAM, or disk) or transmission. Parity is used to generate a set of redundancy data from two or more parent data sets. The redundancy data can be used to reconstruct one of the parent data sets. However, parity data does not fully duplicate the parent data sets.
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RAID Levels—A style of redundancy applied to a logical drive. It can increase the performance of the logical drive and can decrease usable capacity. Each logical drive must have a RAID level assigned to it. The RAID level drive requirements are: RAID 0 requires one to eight physical drives, RAID 1 requires exactly two physical drives, RAID 5 requires three to eight physical drives and RAID 10 requires four, six or eight physical drives. RAID 10 results when a RAID 1 logical drive spans arrays.
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w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m Replacement Unit—A component or collection of components in a disk subsystem that are always replaced as a unit when any part of the collection fails. Typical replacement units in a disk subsystem includes disks, controller logic boards, power supplies, and cables. Also called a hot spare. SCSI—Small Computer System Interface.
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Stripe Size—The amount of data contiguously written to each disk. You can specify stripe sizes of 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB, and 128 KB for each logical drive. For best performance, choose a stripe size equal to or smaller than the block size used by the host computer. Stripe Width—The number of hard drives across which the data are striped. Striping—Segmentation of logically sequential data, such as a single file, so that segments can be written to multiple physical devices in a round-robin fashion.
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246 Gl os s a r y w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l .
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Index A Arrays, 92-93, 109, 125-126, 142, 170, 176 BIOS Configuration Utility, 72, 81, 115-116, 147, 149-159, 163, 167, 173, 178-185, 188-193, 199, 206, 208 Check Consistency Menu, 159 Configure Menu, 152 Format Menu, 158 Initialize Menu, 153 Menu Options, 151, 153 Objects Menu, 153 Rebuild Menu, 158 Starting, 150 Asynchronous Operations, 237 BIOS Error Messages, Other, 208 Array, 237 Array Configuration Planner, 98 Array Management Software, 237 Array Performance Features, 56, 67, 76 Array Spanning,
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248 Index Optimizing, 96 Data Transfer Capacity, 238 Degraded, 238 Firmware, 239 I FlexRAID Power Fail Option, 240 I/O Driver, 240 Dell Manager, 61-62, 72, 8182, 187-190, 194-195, 197-202 Check Consistency, 195 Format Menu, 194 Initialize Menu, 190 Objects Menu, 190 Rebuild Menu, 195 Starting, 188 Format, 240 Disk, 238 G Disk Array, 238 GB, 240 Formatting, 100, 158, 179181, 194, 198-200 Batch, 180-181, 200 Individual, 181, 200 Media Errors, 180, 199 Physical Drives, 180, 199 Disk Duplexing, 23
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249 Index L Partition, 242 Logical Disk, 241 PCI Bridge, 59, 69, 79 Logical Drives, 115, 130, 147, 150, 159, 205, 207, 241 Configuring, 96 Creating, 93 Definition, 183 Initializing, 178, 197 Spanning, 35 States, 40 PERC, 24-27, 30-33, 37-40, 42-43, 45, 47, 53-84, 9293, 96-97, 101-105, 108109, 111-113, 115-122, 125-128, 130-131, 133137, 139-141, 143-144, 146-147, 149-155, 157, 159, 161-163, 166-168, 170, 173, 176, 178-185, 189-191, 195, 199, 201, 204-210 BIOS, 58, 60-61, 72 Features, 53 M Mapping, 24
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250 Index Replacement Unit, 244 Spanning, 244 Return Policy, 213, 234 Spare, 244 Stripe Size, 33, 57, 61, 67, 71, 81, 87, 161, 166, 196, 245 S Stripe Width, 245 Safety Instructions, 1 Striping, 245 SCSI, 24-27, 30-31, 39, 54, 56, 59-61, 64, 66, 69-71, 74, 76, 79-81, 84-87, 89, 102-109, 113-115, 118, 120-122, 124-126, 128130, 134, 136-138, 140142, 145-147, 153, 156158, 166, 171, 177, 180, 183-184, 190, 193-194, 196, 199, 204-205, 207208, 211, 244 Bus, 26, 59-61, 69-71, 79-81 Bus Widths and Maximum
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Printed in the U.S.A. P/N 5C229 Rev. A04 w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l .