Users Guide

Table Of Contents
On controller reset
When unconfigured disks are hot-inserted
NOTE: Creating or importing RAID 5, 6, 50, or 60 virtual disks is not supported. Also, in enhanced HBA mode, non-RAID
disks are enumerated first in ascending order, while RAID volumes are enumerated in descending order.
Before you change the mode of the controller from RAID to HBA, ensure that:
The RAID controller supports the controller mode change. The option to change the controller mode is not available on
controllers where the RAID personality requires a license.
All virtual disks must be deleted or removed.
Hot spares must be deleted or removed.
Foreign configurations must be deleted or cleared.
All physical disks that are in a failed state, must be removed or the pinned cache needs to be cleared.
Any local security key that is associated with SEDs must be deleted.
The controller must not have preserved cache.
You have server control privileges to switch the controller mode.
NOTE: Ensure that you back up the foreign configuration, security key, virtual disks, and hot spares before you switch the
mode as the data is deleted.
NOTE: Ensure that a CMC license (not applicable for MX platforms) is available for PERC FD33xS and FD33xD storage
sleds before you change the controller mode. For more information on CMC license for the storage sleds, see the Dell
Chassis Management Controller Version 1.2 for PowerEdge FX2/FX2s User's Guide available at dell.com/cmcmanuals .
Exceptions while switching the controller mode
The following list provides the exceptions while setting the controller mode using the iDRAC interfaces such as web interface,
RACADM, and WSMan:
If the PERC controller is in RAID mode, you must clear any virtual disks, hot spares, foreign configurations, controller keys, or
preserved cache before changing it to HBA mode.
You cannot configure other RAID operations while setting the controller mode. For example, if the PERC is in RAID mode and
you set the pending value of the PERC to HBA mode, and you try to set the BGI attribute, the pending value is not initiated.
When you switch the PERC controller from HBA to RAID mode, the drives remain in Non-RAID state and are not
automatically set to Ready state. Additionally, the RAIDEnhancedAutoImportForeignConfig attribute is automatically set
to Enabled.
The following list provides the exceptions while setting the controller mode using the Server Configuration Profile feature using
the WSMan or RACADM interface:
Server Configuration Profile feature allows you to configure multiple RAID operations along with setting the controller mode.
For example, if the PERC controller is in HBA mode, you can edit the export Server Configuration Profile (SCP) to change
the controller mode to RAID, convert drives to ready and create a virtual disk.
While changing the mode from RAID to HBA, the RAIDaction pseudo attribute is set to update (default behavior). The
attribute runs and creates a virtual disk which fails. The controller mode is changed, however, the job is completed with
errors. To avoid this issue, you must comment out the RAIDaction attribute in the SCP file.
When the PERC controller is in HBA mode, if you run import preview on export SCP which is edited to change controller
mode to RAID, and try creating a VD, the virtual disk creation fails. Import preview does not support validating stacking RAID
operations with changing controller mode.
Switching the controller mode using the iDRAC web interface
To switch the controller mode, perform the following steps:
1. In the iDRAC web interface, click Storage > Overview > Controllers.
2. On the Controllers page, click Action > Edit.
The Current Value column displays the current setting of the controller.
3. From the drop-down menu, select the controller mode you want to switch to, and click At Next Reboot.
Reboot the system for the change to take effect.
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Managing storage devices