Performing a Break-Mirror Operation Using Lifecycle Controller This Dell Technical White Paper provides the procedure to perform Break-Mirror operation using Lifecycle Controller on the 12th Generation servers and later of Dell. Dell Engineering November 2013 Aruna Jayaprakash Balaji K Bala Gupta Vinod P S Sheshadri P.R.
Revisions Date Description Nov 2013 Initial release THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. © 2013 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell.
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Contents Revisions ..................................................................................................................................................................................................2 Executive Summary ...............................................................................................................................................................................5 Introduction .......................................................................................
Executive Summary This whitepaper provides the procedure to perform Break-Mirror operation using Lifecycle Controller on the 12th generation servers and later of Dell. Introduction Break-Mirror is a feature in the Lifecycle Controller of the 12th generation servers and later of Dell that is used to replicate the data from one server to another by safely breaking or isolating a RAID1 virtual disk. This feature enables easy operation by providing an intuitive, user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI).
Performing Break-Mirror Operation Using Lifecycle Controller 1. To start Lifecycle Controller, press during POST. 2. In the left pane, click Hardware Configuration.
3. In the left pane, click Hardware Configuration, and then click Configuration Wizards.
4. On the Hardware Configuration: Configuration Wizards page, click Break Mirror.
5. On the Break Mirror page, a list of all the virtual disks that are RAID1 break-mirror—capable is displayed. In the Controller column, select the option corresponding to the virtual disk on which you want to apply the break-mirror feature, and then click Finish.
After the break-mirror operation is successfully completed, a message is displayed to indicate that the server will be automatically turned off. 6. Click Yes. Figure 6 Break Mirror Confirmation The break-mirror operation is completed successfully, and the LEDs corresponding to the HDDs start blinking.
7. Click Shut down. 8. Wait for the server to automatically turn off, remove the HDDs, and then turn on the server.
When you restart the server, Power-On-Self-Test (POST) indicates the status (of those virtual disks on which the break-mirror operation was performed) as Degraded Virtual Disk. The broken virtual disks are identified as Degraded.
On the Raid Configuration page of Lifecycle Controller, these virtual disks are indicated as Degraded (in the State column).
Pre-requisites 1. Break-Mirror operation can be performed only on RAID1 virtual disks. 2. System must have atleast one RAID1 virtual disk to enable the Break-Mirror feature.
Notes: The time required to complete a Break-Mirror operation varies on the basis of number of virtual disk(s) selected for the Break Mirror operation. A Break-Mirror operation is not allowed when the initialization of virtual disk is in progress in the back-end. The Time required to complete the Background initialization process varies on the basis of size of the virtual disk.
