Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 User’s Guide Regulatory Model: UCSA-801, UCSB-800, UCSM-800, UCPA-801, UCPB-800, UCPM-800, and UCPE-800
Notes, Cautions, and Warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. © 2013 Dell Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Contents 1 Overview.......................................................................................................................................9 Supported Operating Systems................................................................................................................................10 Getting Help............................................................................................................................................................ 10 Contacting Dell...........
Recovering Cache Data................................................................................................................................... 23 Battery Transparent Learn Cycle............................................................................................................................23 TLC Time Frame................................................................................................................................................23 Conditions For Replacing The Battery.
Break Mirror.....................................................................................................................................................46 Managing Preserved Cache.............................................................................................................................46 Managing Dedicated Hot Spares.....................................................................................................................47 Deleting Virtual Disks.........................
CacheCade Virtual Disk Management............................................................................................................. 62 Creating CacheCade Virtual Disks................................................................................................................... 62 Deleting CacheCade Virtual Disks................................................................................................................... 63 Reconfiguring CacheCade Virtual Disks...........................
Firmware Fault State Error Message............................................................................................................... 75 Foreign Configuration Found Error Message................................................................................................... 75 Foreign Configuration Not Found In Error Message...................................................................... 76 Previous Configuration Cleared Or Missing Error Message...............................
RAID Terminology................................................................................................................................................... 85 Disk Striping..................................................................................................................................................... 85 Disk Mirroring...................................................................................................................................................
1 Overview The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 family of storage controller cards has the following characteristics: • Complies with serial-attached SCSI (SAS) 2.0 providing up to 6 Gb/sec throughput. • Supports Dell-qualified serial-attached SCSI (SAS) hard drives, SATA hard drives, and solid-state drives (SSDs). NOTE: Mixing SAS and SATA drives within a virtual disk is not supported. Also, mixing hard drives and SSDs within a virtual disk is not supported.
Specification H310 H710 H710P H810 Maximum number of 8 spans per Disk Group 8 8 8 Maximum number of 16 Virtual Disks per Disk Group 16 16 16 Online Capacity Expansion Yes Yes Yes Yes Dedicated and Global Hot Spares Yes Yes Yes Yes Hot Swap Devices Supported Yes Yes Yes Yes Hardware XOR Engine Yes Yes Yes Yes Redundant Path Support Yes Yes Yes Yes Supported Operating Systems The PERC H310, H710, and H710P cards support the following operating systems: • Microsoft Window
Contacting Dell NOTE: Dell provides several online and telephone-based support and service options. If you do not have an active Internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell product catalog. Availability varies by country and product, and some services may not be available in your area. To contact Dell for sales, technical support, or customer-service issues: 1. Go to dell.com/contactdell. 2.
2 Features Some of the features discussed for PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards are: • Physical Disk Power Management • Types of Virtual Disk Initialization • Consistency Checks • Disk Roaming • Fast Path • Virtual Disk Migration • Reconfiguration Of Virtual Disks • Fault Tolerance • Patrol Read Physical Disk Power Management Physical disk power management is a power saving feature of the PERC H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards.
NOTE: There is a delay to I/O operations when a configured disk is being spun up. Types Of Virtual Disk Initialization You can initialize the virtual disks as described in the following sections: CAUTION: The initializing virtual disks task erases the files and file systems while keeping the virtual disk configuration intact. Initializing a virtual disk destroys all data on the virtual disk. NOTE: The initialization operations mentioned here are not applicable for Non-RAID disks.
Disk Roaming Disk roaming is moving the physical disks from one cable connection or backplane slot to another on the same controller. The controller automatically recognizes the relocated physical disks and logically places them in the virtual disks that are part of the disk group. You can perform disk roaming only when the system is turned off. CAUTION: Do not attempt disk roaming during RAID level migration (RLM) or online capacity expansion (OCE). This causes loss of the virtual disk.
Table 2. FastPath Eligibility Across Supported RAID Levels Read Write RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 6 Yes Yes Yes Yes (Optimal and Degraded) (Optimal and Degraded) (Optimal and Degraded) No No Yes No In addition, FastPath-capable virtual disks are characterized by the following: • The presence of CacheCade virtual disks on a controller disables the FastPath capability of all eligible HDD virtual disks. Eligible SSD virtual disks are still FastPath-capable.
3. Boot the system and import the foreign configuration that is detected. You can do one of the following: – Press to automatically import the foreign configuration. – Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility and navigate to the Foreign Configuration View. NOTE: For more information on accessing the BIOS Configuration Utility, see the topic Entering The BIOS Configuration Utility. NOTE: For more information on Foreign Configuration View, see the topic Foreign Configuration View. 4.
Virtual Disk Read Cache Policies The read policy of a virtual disk determines how the controller handles reads to that virtual disk. The read policies are: • Always Read Ahead—Allows the controller to read sequentially ahead of requested data and to store the additional data in cache memory, anticipating that the data is required soon. This speeds up reads for sequential data, but there is little improvement when accessing random data. • No Read Ahead—Disables the Read-Ahead capability.
Source RAID Level Target RAID Level Number of Physical Disks (Beginning) Number of Physical Disks (End) Capacity Expansion Possible Description disk into a mirrored virtual disk by adding one disk. RAID 0 RAID 5 1 or more 3 or more Yes At least one disk needs to be added for distributed parity data. RAID 0 RAID 6 1 or more 4 or more Yes At least two disks need to be added for dual distributed parity data. RAID 1 RAID 0 2 2 or more Yes Removes redundancy while increasing capacity.
Source RAID Level Target RAID Level Number of Physical Disks (Beginning) Number of Physical Disks (End) Capacity Expansion Possible Description disk space used for distributed parity data. RAID 6 RAID 5 4 or more 4 or more Yes Removes one set of parity data and reclaims disk space used for it. RAID 6 RAID 6 4 or more 5 or more Yes Increases capacity by adding disks. NOTE: The total number of physical disks in a disk group cannot exceed 32.
of a virtual disk. The target disk needs to be a hot spare that qualifies as a rebuild disk. The physical disk with the SMART error is marked as failed only after the successful completion of the Replace Member. This avoids putting the array in degraded status.
Physical Disk Failure Detection Failed physical disks are detected and rebuilds automatically start to new disks that are inserted into the same slot. Automatic rebuilds can also happen transparently with hot spares. If you have configured hot spares, the controllers automatically try to use them to rebuild failed physical disks. Using Persistent Hot Spare Slots NOTE: The persistent hot spare slot feature is disabled by default.
Controller Cache Preservation The controller is capable of preserving its cache in the event of a system power outage or improper system shutdown. The PERC H710, H710P, and H810 controllers are attached to a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) that provides backup power during system power loss to preserve the controller's cache data. Cache Preservation With Non-Volatile Cache (NVC) In essence, the NVC module allows controller cache data to be stored indefinitely.
Deploying The PERC Card 3 CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or telephone service and support team. Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty. Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the system.
Figure 1. Removing and Installing the PERC Adapter 1. 2. 3. 4. PCIe slot SAS cable connectors (2) PERC adapter screw (1) Figure 2.
1. 2. 3. 4. release lever (2) PERC stack-up connector PERC mini blade controller screws (2) Figure 3. Removing and Installing the PERC Mini Monolithic Controller 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. release lever (2) storage-controller card holder storage controller card battery heatsink 6. touch points (2) 7. storage-controller card connector on the system board 8. guide pins (2) Installing The PERC Controller To install the PERC controller: 1. Perform a controlled shutdown of the system and attached peripherals. 2.
3. Install the storage controller in the appropriate controller slot and connect all the cables to the storage controller. CAUTION: When removing or replacing the PERC Mini Monolithic Controller, hold the card by its edges marked by the blue touch points. Do not handle the card while holding the battery or the heatsink. For more information, see the relevant figures in Removing The PERC Controller. 4. Replace the system cover. 5.
CAUTION: If you remove any cables other than the ones added to enable redundant path support, the enclosure and disks can get disconnected, and virtual disk may fail. Perform the following steps to configure the hardware to utilize redundant paths on the PERC H810 card: 1. Set up an enclosure on the PERC H810 card. 2. Connect two SAS cables from the Out ports on your PERC H810 card to the In ports of the external enclosure. For more information, see the following figure.
Driver Installation 4 The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards require software drivers to operate with the supported operating systems. This chapter contains the procedures for installing the drivers for the PERC H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards. NOTE: For more information on VMware ESX drivers, see the VMware ESX documentation at dell.com/support/ manuals. NOTE: To check operating system compatibility, see dell.com/support/manuals.
4. From the list of drivers displayed, select the driver you require. Select the self-extracting zip file and click Run. Copy the driver to a diskette drive, CD, DVD, or USB drive. Repeat this step for all the drivers you require. 5. During the operating system installation, use the media that you created with the Load Driver option to load mass storage drivers. For more information on reinstalling the operating system, see the relevant section for your operating system below.
9. Reboot the system when prompted. Updating Existing Windows Server 2008 Or Windows Server 2008 R2 NOTE: Close all applications on your system before you update the driver. 1. Insert the media (CD, DVD, or USB drive) containing the driver. 2. Select Start → Settings → Control Panel → System. The System Properties screen is displayed. NOTE: The path to System might vary depending on the operating system family. 3. Click on the Hardware tab. 4. Click Device Manager.
Installing Or Updating The RPM Driver Package With DKMS Support NOTE: This procedure is applicable for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 SP7 and SUSE Enterprise Linux 10 SP4. NOTE: For SUSE Enterprise Linux 10 SP4, immediately following the operating system installation, download the latest driver from dell.com/support, and update the driver using the procedures detailed in this section. Perform the following steps to install the RPM package with DKMS support: 1.
You see a message similar to the following one: , , : installed. 3. If the previous device driver is in use, you must reboot the system for the updated driver to take effect.
Management Applications For PERC Cards 5 Dell OpenManage Storage Management applications enable you to manage and configure the RAID system, create and manage multiple disk groups, control and monitor multiple RAID systems, and provide online maintenance.
A BIOS screen displays information about the controller and configuration. 2. During startup, press when prompted by the BIOS screen. 3. Use the arrow keys to select the RAID controller you want to configure, and press to access the management menus for the controller. If there is only one controller, the Virtual Disk Management screen for that controller is displayed. If there is more than one controller, the main menu screen is displayed. The screen lists the RAID controllers.
Notation Meaning and Use downarrow key Use the down-arrow key to move to the lower menu Virtual Disk 1 items within a menu or to a lower level menu. You ↓ can also use the down-arrow key to open a menu list Virtual Disk 4 in a popup window, such as the stripe element size menu, and select a setting. Word wrap is supported. After you highlight a menu item, press to Select Add New VD and press to create a select that item. An options menu for the menu item new virtual disk. opens.
For more information, see the topic Managing Dedicated Hot Spares. 3. Initialize the virtual disks. NOTE: When you use one physical disk group to create multiple virtual disks, all the virtual disks must be configured with the same RAID level.
Parameter Description No-Read-Ahead specifies that the controller does not use read ahead for the current virtual disk. 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 No-Read-Ahead; however, all requests are still evaluated for possible sequential operation.
15. Press the spacebar to make the settings active so that you can change them. An X is displayed beside Advanced Settings. The settings are the stripe element size, read policy, and write policy. You can also choose advanced options such as forcing the cache policy to Write-Back, initializing the virtual disk, and configuring a dedicated hot spare. The defaults parameters are displayed. You can accept the defaults or change them.
5. Press . Converting Physical Disk To Non-RAID For PERC H310 Conversion of a Physical Disk to Non-RAID allows direct operating system access to the drive. Non-RAID disks cannot be used within a Virtual Disk nor can they be used as Hot Spares. 1. Press to access the PD Mgmt screen. A list of physical disks is displayed. The status of the each disk is displayed under State. 2. Press the down-arrow key to highlight a physical disk. 3.
The Consistency Check runs and checks the redundancy data in the virtual disks. 7. After you start the Consistency Check, press to display the previous menu if needed. Importing Or Clearing Foreign Configurations Using The VD Mgmt Menu When a foreign configuration exists, the BIOS screen displays the message Foreign configuration(s) found on adapter. In addition, a foreign configuration is displayed on the right side of the Ctrl Mgmt screen.
• The physical disks in a non-redundant virtual disk are removed. The following constraints apply to the physical disks that are considered for import: • The disk state of a physical disk can change from the time the foreign configuration is scanned to when the actual import occurs. The foreign import occurs only on disks that are in the Unconfigured Good state. • Disks in the failed or offline state cannot be imported.
Break Mirror A Break Mirror operation is an operation that can be performed only on RAID1 arrays. It provides a way to 'split' the mirror and spin-down one of the hard disks, which can then be imported into the configuration of a different PERC H310, H710, H710P, or H810 controller. This can be a useful way to: • Create a disk image that can be imported and booted on a different system.
Perform the following steps to select whether to import the virtual disk or discard the preserved cache: 1. On the VD Mgmt screen, click on a controller icon. 2. Press to display the available actions. 3. Select Manage Preserved Cache. A message is displayed advising you to import the foreign configuration before you discard the preserved cache to avoid losing data belonging to the foreign configuration. Confirm whether you want to continue.
Deleting Virtual Disks NOTE: You cannot delete a virtual disk during an initialization. NOTE: Warning messages appear stating the effect of deleting a virtual disk. Click OK twice to complete the virtual disk deletion. To delete virtual disks, perform the following steps in the BIOS Configuration Utility ( ): 1. Press to access the VD Mgmt screen. 2. Use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the Virtual Disks heading. 3. Press . The action menu is displayed. 4.
BIOS Configuration Utility Menu Options The first menu that is displayed when you access the BIOS Configuration Utility is the main menu screen. It lists the controller, controller number, and other information, such as the slot number. On the screen, you can use the arrow keys to select the RAID controller you want to configure.
Menu Item Selected in Left Panel Information Displayed in Right Panel • Virtual Disks Disk Group # Properties: • • • • • Virtual Disk # Security property of the Disk Group Number of virtual disks (VD) Number of physical disks (PD) Space available in the virtual disk Number of free segments Number of dedicated hot spares Virtual Disk # Properties: • • • RAID level (0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, or 60) RAID status of the virtual disk (Failed, Degraded, Partially Degraded, or Optimal) Operation currently in prog
Menu Item Selected in Left Panel Information Displayed in Right Panel • • • • Hot Spares Number of physical disks (PD) Space available on the physical disks Number of free segments Number of dedicated hot spares Physical Disk Properties: • • • • Vendor name Physical disk state Enclosure Position Slot Position Disk Group # Properties: • • • • • Number of virtual disks (VD) Number of physical disks (PD) Space available on the physical disks Number of free segments Number of dedicated hot spares Virtua
Physical Disk Management (PD Mgmt) The Physical Disk Management screen (PD Mgmt) displays physical disk information and action menus. The screen displays physical disk IDs, vendor names, disk size, type, state, and disk group (DG). You can sort the list of physical disks based on the headings.
Action Description Remove HS Removes a dedicated hot spare from its disk group or a global hot spare from the global pool of hot spares. Rebuild Select Rebuild to rebuild one or more failed physical disks. For information on performing a physical disk rebuild, see the topic Performing A Manual Rebuild Of An Individual Physical Disk. Several of the controller configuration settings and the virtual disk settings affect the actual rate of rebuild.
Option Description controller and disable it on the other controllers. The system can then boot from the BIOS-enabled controller. Enable BIOS Stop On Error Select the option to stop the system BIOS during bootup if there are BIOS errors. The option enables you to enter the configuration utility to resolve the problem. Select Bootable Device Select the option to specify a virtual disk as the boot disk on the controller. NOTE: For PERC H310 the option may be a Virtual Disk or Non-RAID drive.
Creating Global Hot Spares You can use a global hot spare to replace a failed physical disk in any redundant array as long as the capacity of the global hot spare is equal to or larger than the coerced capacity of the failed physical disk. Perform the following steps to create global hot spares: 1. Press the down-arrow key to highlight a physical disk to change to a global hot spare. 2. Press to display the menu of available actions. 3.
NOTE: The replacement disk must be a hot spare or an unconfigured disk without a foreign configuration. It must have the same or greater capacity and should be of the same type as the disk it is replacing. Restrictions and Limitations The following restrictions and limitations apply to the Replace Member operation: • The Replace Member functions are restricted to one per array for RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5, and two per array for RAID 6.
Controller Management Enabling Boot Support NOTE: See your system documentation to ensure the proper boot order is selected in the system BIOS. In a multiple controller environment, you can enable BIOS on multiple controllers. However, if you want to boot from a specific controller, enable the BIOS on that controller and disable it on the other controllers. The system can then boot from the BIOS-enabled controller. Perform the following steps to enable the controller BIOS: 1.
NOTE: The controller automatically imports every optimal and degraded foreign configuration without enabling the feature if there is no native configuration on the controller. To enable Auto Import: 1. Press to access the Ctrl Mgmt menu screen. 2. Press to move the cursor to Enable Auto Import in the Settings box. 3. Press the spacebar to select Enable Auto Import. An X is displayed beside Enable Auto Import. 4.
3. From System Setup Main Menu, enter Device Settings. Device Settings lists all the RAID controllers in the system. Use the arrow keys or mouse to select the RAID controller you want to configure/mange and press or click on the mouse to access the management menus for the controller. NOTE: The help information for all of the options within the UEFI RAID Configuration Utility can be viewed by clicking on Help at the top right-hand corner of the browser screen.
* Safe mode on errors: The system will continue booting as long as the boot volume is not on this controller. Drives connected to the controller will be reported as unconfigured good drives to the RAID management utilities upon a successful boot. No configuration changes will be allowed, except to clear the controller configuration if desired. Rebooting the system will exit safe mode, and drives will appear as foreign on the next boot; if problems remain the system will enter safe mode again.
CacheCade 6 The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H710, H710P, and H810 cards support CacheCade, a feature that can improve application performance by increasing read caching capacity. The CacheCade feature makes use of high performing solid state disks (SSDs) as a secondary tier of cache. CacheCade provides faster reads and maximizes transactional I/O performance. NOTE: PERC H310 does not support Cachecade.
CacheCade Virtual Disk Management The Virtual Disk Management screen is the first screen that is displayed when you access a RAID controller from the main menu screen on the BIOS Configuration Utility. The following are CacheCade-related actions you can perform through the virtual disk management menu: • Create CacheCade virtual disk • Assign CacheCade virtual disk name • Delete virtual disk Creating CacheCade Virtual Disks NOTE: Only SSDs can be used to create CacheCade virtual disks.
Deleting CacheCade Virtual Disks To delete CacheCade virtual disks, perform the following steps in the BIOS Configuration Utility: 1. Press to access the Virtual Disk Management screen. 2. Use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the CacheCade Disk Group or Virtual Disks heading. 3. Press . The Action menu is displayed. 4. Select Delete VD and press . NOTE: Warning messages are displayed stating the effect of deleting a virtual disk.
• Any number of SSDs can be added to a CacheCade virtual disk. • There is no SAS and SATA mixing allowed within a CacheCade virtual disk, so SATA SSDs cannot be added to a SAS CacheCade virtual disk and vice versa. • HDDs cannot be added to a CacheCade virtual disk. NOTE: Capacity of drives added to a CacheCade volume must be equal to or greater than the smallest contributing drive in the virtual disk.
Security Key And RAID Management 7 NOTE: PERC H310 does not support any security implementations. Security Key Implementation The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H710, H710P, and H810 cards support Self-Encrypting Disks (SED) for protection of data against loss or theft of SEDs. Protection is achieved by the use of encryption technology on the drives. There is one security key per controller. You can manage the security key under Local Key Management (LKM).
Creating A Security Key Perform the following steps to create a security key on the controller: NOTE: There is no passphrase backup option when you create a security key; you need to remember your passphrase. 1. During the host system boot up, press when the BIOS screen is displayed. The Virtual Disk Management screen is displayed. If there is more than one controller, the main menu screen is displayed. 2. Select a controller, and press .
NOTE: If there is an existing configuration on the controller, it is updated with the new security key. If you had previously removed any secured disks, you still need to supply the old passphrase to import them. Deleting A Security Key NOTE: Delete Key is active if there is a security key present on the controller. NOTE: Delete Key can only be performed when there are no secured virtual disks present. NOTE: After the Delete Key operation, all unconfigured, secured SEDs are secure-erased.
5. Highlight the Secure Disk Group option and press . NOTE: If you select to secure a Disk Group, all VDs part of the Disk Group are secured. Securing Pre-Existing Virtual Disks If an unsecured virtual disk was created on a controller, you can secure the virtual disk as long as the following conditions are met: • The controller has a security key present. • All the physical disks in the virtual disk are SED.
3. Press to display a menu of available actions. 4. Select Import to import the foreign configuration or Clear to delete the foreign configuration. Press . NOTE: To Clear, you need to Instant Secure Erase foreign configurations secured with a different security key. 5. If you select to Import the configuration, the Secure Foreign Import screen is displayed.
there is a security key present. Select the Secure VD option as No in the Create New VD menu. See the topic Creating Virtual Disks for steps on how to create an unsecured virtual disk. Failure To Delete Security Key A security key is used to lock or unlock access to a security-enabled component. This key is not utilized in the actual encryption of data. If a security key is present, both secured and unsecured virtual disks may exist.
Troubleshooting 8 To get help with your Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P and H810, you can contact your Dell Technical Service representative or see dell.com/support. BIOS Error Messages The controller BIOS read-only memory (ROM) provides Int 13h functionality (disk I/O) for the virtual disks connected to the controller. You can boot from or access the physical disks without a driver.
Corrective Action: • The controller detects an Error-Correcting Code (ECC) error while performing its cache checking routine during initialization. • The controller discards the cache rather than sending it to the disk subsystem because the data integrity cannot be guaranteed. To resolve this issue, allow the battery to charge fully. If the problem persists, the battery or controller memory may be faulty; contact Dell Technical Support.
Corrective Action: Check the cable connections and fix any issues. Restart the system. If there are no cable problems, press any key or to continue. Dirty Cache Data Error Message Error Message: The following virtual disks are missing: (x). If you proceed (or load the configuration utility), these virtual disks will be removed from your configuration. If you wish to use them at a later time, they will have to be imported.
Corrective Action: Check the cable connections and fix any problems before restarting the system. If there are no cable problems, press any key or to continue. Adapter At Baseport Not Responding Error Message Error Message: Adapter at Baseport xxxx is not responding, where xxxx is the baseport of the controller. Corrective Action: Contact Dell Technical Support.
Virtual Disks Partially Degraded Error Message Error Message: x Virtual Disk(s) Partially Degraded, where x is the number of virtual disks partially degraded. Probable Cause: This message is displayed when the BIOS detects a single disk failure in a RAID 6 or RAID 60 configuration. Corrective Action: You must check why the member disk is not present to correct the problem. The BIOS does not take any action. Memory Or Battery Problem Error Message Error Message: Memory/Battery problems were detected.
Foreign Configuration Not Found In Error Message Error Message: The foreign configuration message is present during POST but no foreign configurations are present in the foreign view page in . All virtual disks are in an optimal state. Corrective Action: Corrective Action: Ensure all your PDs are present and all VDs are in optimal state. Clear the foreign configuration using or Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Storage Management.
CAUTION: When removing or replacing the PERC Mini Monolithic Controller, hold the card by its edges marked by the blue touch points. Do not handle the card while holding the battery or the heatsink. For more information, see figure “Removing and Installing the PERC Mini Monolithic Controller” in Removing The PERC Controller. CAUTION: Multi-bit ECC errors cause data corruption and data loss. In case of MBE errors, contact Dell Technical Support.
To recover a virtual disk from a degraded state, you must replace the failed physical disk and rebuild it. Once the rebuilding process is complete, the virtual disk state changes from degraded to optimal. For information on rebuilding the disk, see the topic Performing A Manual Rebuild Of An Individual Physical Disk. Memory Errors Memory errors can corrupt cached data, so the controllers are designed to detect and attempt to recover from the memory errors.
Corrective Action: The issue occurs because of any of the following causes: • The driver is not native in the operating system. To resolve the issue, press to install the RAID device driver during installation. • The virtual disks are not configured properly. To resolve the issue, enter the BIOS Configuration Utility ( ) to configure the virtual disks. For procedures to configure the virtual disks, see the topic Management Applications For PERC Cards. • The controller BIOS is disabled.
Multiple Disks Become Inaccessible Issue: Rebuilding the physical disks after multiple disks become simultaneously inaccessible. Corrective Action: Multiple physical disk errors in a single array typically indicate a failure in cabling or connection and could involve the loss of data. You can recover the virtual disk after multiple physical disks become simultaneously inaccessible.
Physical Disk Fails During Reconstruction On Redundant Virtual Disk Issue: A physical disk fails during a reconstruction process on a redundant virtual disk that has a hot spare. Corrective Action: The dedicated hot spare goes to Ready state and the virtual disk goes to Failed state. Virtual Disk Fails Rebuild Using A Dedicated Hot Spare Issue: A virtual disk fails during rebuild while using a dedicated hot spare.
Smart Error Detected On A Physical Disk In A Non-Redundant Virtual Disk Issue: A SMART error is detected on a physical disk in a redundant virtual disk. Corrective Action: Perform the following steps: 1. Back up your data. 2. Use Replace Member or set up a global hot spare to replace the disk automatically. NOTE: For more information about the Replace Member feature, see the topic Using Replace Member And Revertible Hot Spares. 3.
Corrective Action: The error message is displayed when the Linux Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) midlayer asks for physical disk cache settings. The controller firmware manages the virtual disk cache settings on a per controller and a per virtual disk basis, so the firmware does not respond to this command. The Linux SCSI mid-layer assumes that the virtual disk's cache policy is Write-Through. SDB is the device node for a virtual disk. This value changes for each virtual disk.
Disk Carrier LED Indicators The LED on the physical disk carrier indicates the state of each physical disk. Each disk carrier in your enclosure has two LEDs: an activity LED (green) and a status LED (bicolor, green/amber). The activity LED is active whenever a disk is being accessed while the status LED indicates when a disk is being spun up, is rebuilding, or is in a fault state. Figure 5. Disk Carrier LED Indicators 1. activity LED 2.
Appendix: RAID Description 9 RAID is a group of independent physical disks that provides high performance by increasing the number of disks used for saving and accessing data. CAUTION: In the event of a physical disk failure, a RAID 0 virtual disk fails, resulting in data loss. A RAID disk subsystem offers the following benefits: • Improved I/O performance and data availability. • Improved data throughput because several disks are accessed simultaneously.
For example, in a four-disk system using only disk striping (used in RAID 0), segment 1 is written to disk 1, segment 2 is written to disk 2, and so on. Disk striping enhances performance because multiple physical disks are accessed simultaneously, but disk striping does not provide data redundancy. Figure 6. Example of Disk Striping (RAID 0) Disk Mirroring With mirroring (used in RAID 1), data written to one disk is simultaneously written to another disk.
RAID 6 combines dual distributed parity with disk striping. This level of parity allows for two disk failures without duplicating the contents of entire physical disks. Figure 8. Example of Distributed Parity (RAID 5) NOTE: Parity is distributed across multiple physical disks in the disk group. Figure 9. Example of Dual Distributed Parity (RAID 6) NOTE: Parity is distributed across all disks in the array.