Technical information

ManualsBrandsHP ManualsComputer equipmentdx7300 - Microtower PC

Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) on HP Compaq

dc7700 and dx7300 Business PCs

Using Intel Matrix Storage Manager

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Mirroring and Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Disk Striping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Basics of RAID Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Basic RAID Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

RAID 0 with two hard drives (Striped) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

RAID 1 with two hard drives (Mirror) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

RAID 5 with three hard drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Intel Matrix Storage Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Recommended configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

HP Backup and Recovery interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Other supported configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Unsupported configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Configuring RAID on non-factory preinstalled configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Enabling RAID through F10 System BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Configuring RAID Option ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Configuring RAID Volume using the Option ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Notes for operating system installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Intel Matrix Storage Manager software installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Console Software Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Using the Intel Matrix Storage Console interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

RAID migrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Summary of content (42 pages)

PAGE 1
Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) on HP Compaq dc7700 and dx7300 Business PCs Using Intel Matrix Storage Manager Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Mirroring and Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Disk Striping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PAGE 2
Migration to RAID 1 from two non-RAID hard drives using Intel Matrix Storage Console . . . 20 Degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Migration to RAID 0 from two non-RAID hard drives using Intel Matrix Storage Console . . . 23 Migration to RAID 0 from three non-RAID hard drives using Intel Matrix Storage Console . . . 24 Migration to RAID 5 from three non-RAID hard drives using Intel Matrix Storage Console . . .
PAGE 3
Introduction RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a category of hard drives that employ two or more drives in combination for fault tolerance and performance. Initially used with servers, desktop PCs are increasingly using RAID by adding a RAID controller and extra IDE or SCSI disks. Newer system boards often have RAID controllers. RAID technology takes advantage of Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) and the integration of RAID into the Intel Q965/ICH8-D0 chipset.
PAGE 4
INF Information file (.inf) used by Microsoft operating systems that support the Plug & Play feature. When installing a driver, this file provides the operating system needed information about driver filenames, driver components, and supported hardware. Migration Term used to describe the movement of data from one configuration or usage model to another. NCQ Native Command Queuing.
PAGE 5
NOTES: The following notes are important for RAID configuration: • RAID 1 is the only RAID configuration that HP Compaq dc7700 and dx7300 Business PC products offer as factory configurations. • The preconfigured systems: - Are complete RAID systems. - Have both drives installed. - Have the necessary Option ROM configuration. - Are preloaded and preinstalled with all required Intel software. - Include a preinstalled operating system that is mirrored mode out of the box.
PAGE 6
Figure 1 Performance - RAID 0 with two hard drives At a higher reliability cost with faster performance, HP Compaq dc7700 Business PC Convertible Minitower and dx7300 Microtower also allow for RAID 0 with three hard drives. RAID 0 with two or three hard drives is a supported configuration.
PAGE 7
RAID 1 with two hard drives (Mirror) Because it is a very cost-effective way to increase system storage reliability and a great value proposition, RAID 1 is the only RAID configuration that HP preconfigures for HP Compaq dc7700 and dx7300 Business PCs. RAID 1 provides high availability with minimal performance impact, as well as greater reliability compared to a single hard drive configuration. RAID 1 has redundancy and hence is a true RAID.
PAGE 8
Figure 3 Reliability: RAID 1 - Mirroring RAID 5 with three hard drives RAID 5 has been used in servers for many years and is one of the most common types of RAID. RAID 5 uses striping with parity data in distributed blocks across all member disks.
PAGE 9
Table 5 RAID 5 with 3 hard drives (Parity) First Disk Second Disk Third Disk Data Segment 1 Data Segment 2 Parity for 1 and 2 Data Segment 3 Parity for 3 and 4 Data Segment 4 Parity for 5 and 6 Data Segment 5 Data Segment 6 Data Segment 7 Data Segment 8 Parity for 7 and 8 Data Segment 9 Parity for 9 and 10 Data Segment 10 Parity for 11 and 12 Data Segment 11 Data Segment 12 Data Segment 13 Data Segment 14 Parity for 13 and 14 Data Segment 15 Parity for 15 and 16 Data Segment 16 P
PAGE 10
Intel Matrix Storage Technology This technology provides protection against data loss from a hard drive failure and faster access to digital photo, video, and music files by supporting NCQ as well as RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10. Matrix RAID enables two RAID levels to be combined for data loss protection plus performance. Intel Matrix Storage Technology was previously known as Intel Application Accelerator 4.x and Intel Application Accelerator RAID Edition 3.x.
PAGE 11
Figure 6 Matrix RAID combining reliability and performance with same three hard drives Configurations Recommended configurations HP recommends factory configurations of the preinstalled RAID offerings for the HP Compaq dc7700 and dx7300 Business PCs. The preinstalled RAID offering is a RAID 1 volume of two identical SATA hard drives, and either two SATA 80GB/8MB cache or two SATA 160GB/8MB cache drives.
PAGE 12
troller allows all drives to operate in IDE or RAID SATA modes. Each mode of the controller means a different PCI controller, with different device ID, class code, and driver support. NOTE: HP recommends and only supports Microsoft’s IDE driver stack based on the ATAPI.SYS driver for HP Compaq Business PC products including all supported RAID configurations. WARNING: The PCI Device ID of the mass storage controller changes after changing IDE mode.
PAGE 13
• Old and new technologies (SATA 1.5 GB and SATA 3.0 GB) • NCQ hard drives and non-NCQ drives. • Different cache size • RAID combinations of hard drives with any operating system other than Microsoft XP Pro (SP2) using Microsoft’s IDE driver stack based on ATAPI.SYS Configuring RAID on non-factory preinstalled configurations The remaining sections of this white paper describe steps to set up supported RAID configurations where customers have not purchased factory preinstalled RAID configurations.
PAGE 14
• To reset to factory settings, select Set Defaults and Exit. This option restores the original factory defaults. CAUTION: Do NOT turn the computer power off while the ROM is saving the F10 Computer Setup changes as the CMOS could become corrupted. Only turn the computer off after exiting the F10 Setup screen. Configuring RAID Option ROM You can only access Computer Setup at system startup. To access the Computer Setup Utilities menu and enable RAID: 1.
PAGE 15
Configuring RAID Volume using the Option ROM 1. Once you are in the Option ROM, if there are no previous RAID member hard drives, press Ctrl + I to enter the RAID configuration utility.
PAGE 16
2. With Create RAID Volume selected, press Enter to access the Create Volume screen. 3. Select or enter the desired RAID Level. Use the information on the bottom half of the screen if necessary.
PAGE 17
4. Use the arrow keys to scroll to Create Volume, and press Enter. The following screen appears. CAUTION: All data on the selected disk will be deleted. Notes for operating system installation • After creating a RAID disk volume in the option ROM, you can install the operating system. • HP provides a download for the required F6 disk for Windows XP CD installation. • Customer-created images MUST account for the RAID controller.
PAGE 18
Intel Matrix Storage Manager software installation This section of the paper focuses on how to configure RAID using Intel Matrix Storage Manager software. The configuration steps are for application usage and supported RAID migrations. Console Software Installation The Intel Matrix Storage Manager Software has been preloaded in all HP Compaq dc7700 and dx7300 Business desktops at “C:\COMPAQ\Intel MSM”. To execute the software, run the setup.exe file.
PAGE 19
6. The Select Program Folder window suggests a program folder with Intel Matrix Storage Manager highlighted to add the program icons. 7. Click Next to finish the installation. 8. Click Finish to close the setup. Using the Intel Matrix Storage Console interface 1. Click Start > All Programs > Intel Matrix Storage Manager/Intel Matrix Storage Console to open the Intel Matrix Storage Console application. The Intel Matrix Storage Console starts in basic mode by default and has three main menus.
PAGE 20
2. Select View > Hard Drive and RAID Status. 3. For a more detailed view of the RAID controller, click View > Advanced Mode. In Advanced Mode, the Intel Matrix Storage Console also includes the Actions menu. Use this menu to access the advanced features of the RAID solution.
PAGE 21
1. Open the Intel Matrix Storage Console and in the left pane select either Protect data from a hard drive failure with RAID 1 or Improve storage performance with RAID 0. 2. In the right pane, select Protect data from a hard drive failure with RAID 1. 3. Click Create a RAID 1 volume to open a verification window. 4. Select Yes to begin the migration process. 5. Click OK after the migration completes.
PAGE 22
Degradation In the unlikely event that one of your hard drives malfunctions, you will be notified with the following message: 1. Run the Intel Matrix Storage Console application on the system experiencing a degradation to identify the hard drive that failed and to which port it is connected. 2. After identifying the hard drive, close all applications, shut down the operating system, power down the unit, unplug the power cord, and replace the defective hard drive.
PAGE 23
3. After replacing the hard drive, automatic rebuild of the redundancy begins immediately after the system is powered up and operating system starts. The following message appears: Migration to RAID 0 from two non-RAID hard drives using Intel Matrix Storage Console NOTE: The HP Compaq dc7700 and dx7300 Business PC products only support RAID based on two identical SATA hard drives in either RAID 0 or RAID 1 or Matrix Mode of RAID 0 and RAID 1. 1.
PAGE 24
3. Click Yes to begin the migration process. 4. Click OK after the migration completes. Migration to RAID 0 from three non-RAID hard drives using Intel Matrix Storage Console NOTE: Back up all data before proceeding. NOTE: HP Compaq dc7700 and dx7300 Business PC products support only RAID based on three identical SATA hard drives RAID in either RAID 0 or RAID 5 or Matrix Mode of RAID 0 and RAID 5. 1. Open the Intel Matrix Storage Console and select Switch to Advanced Mode View. 2.
PAGE 25
3. Click Next. 4. Type the RAID Volume Name, select the RAID Level (for three hard drive RAID 0 or RAID 5 only), and select the Strip Size. NOTE: HP currently supports only the default Strip Size (in this case 128KB). There is a performance relation between the type of data and the strip sizes.
PAGE 26
5. Click Next to display the selection of hard drives that will be part of this RAID volume. 6. Select all three hard drives (Port 0, Port 1, and Port 2), and then click the right arrow to place them in the Selected box. 7. Click Next.
PAGE 27
8. Selection all hard drive members of the RAID volume, and then click the right arrow to place all three hard drives in the Selected box. 9. Click Next. 10. Complete the volume size selection screen, and then click Next. NOTE: If users consume all available storage for this RAID volume, there will be no space to create another RAID volume for this hard drive, thereby not allowing for Matrix mode RAID. Note the size if you want to create a second RAID volume in this set of hard drives. 11.
PAGE 28
12. Select Finish to start the migration process, which can take a few hours. After you click Finish, the migration starts and the following screen displays: 13. Reboot the system after the migration finishes. Migration to RAID 5 from three non-RAID hard drives using Intel Matrix Storage Console NOTE: Back up all data before proceeding.
PAGE 29
2. Click Actions/Create RAID Volume from Existing Hard Drive to open a verification window. 3. Click Next. 4. Type the RAID Volume Name, select the RAID Level (for three hard drive RAID 0 or RAID 5 only), and select the Strip Size. NOTE: HP currently supports only the default Strip Size (in this case 64KB).
PAGE 30
5. Click Next to see the selection of hard drives that will be part of this RAID volume. 6. Select all three hard drives (Port 0, Port ,1 and Port 2), and then click on the arrow to move them to the Selected window. 7. Click Next.
PAGE 31
8. After the selection of the all hard drive members of the RAID volume, complete the volume size selection screen, and then click Next. NOTE: If users consume all available storage for this RAID volume, there will be no space to create another RAID volume for this hard drive, thereby not allowing for Matrix mode RAID. Note the size if you want to create a second RAID volume in this set of hard drives. 9.
PAGE 32
10. Select Finish to start the migration process, which can take a few hours. The following screen displays. 11. Reboot the system after the migration finishes. Migration to Matrix RAID 5 and RAID 0 from three non-RAID hard drives using Intel Matrix Storage Console NOTE: Back up all data before proceeding. NOTE: HP Compaq dc7700 and dx7300 Business PC products support only RAID based on three identical SATA hard drives in either RAID 5 or RAID 0 or Matrix Mode of RAID 0 and RAID 5. 1.
PAGE 33
2. Click Actions/Create RAID Volume from Existing Hard Drive to open a verification window. 3. Click Next. 4. Type the RAID Volume Name, select the RAID Level (for three hard drive RAID 0 or RAID 5 only), and select the Strip Size. NOTE: HP currently supports only the default Strip Size (in this case 128KB).
PAGE 34
5. Click Next to see the selection of hard drives that will be part of this RAID volume. 6. Select all three hard drives (Port 0, Port ,1 and Port 2), and then click on the arrow to move them to the Selected window. 7. Click Next.
PAGE 35
8. After the selection of the all hard drive members of the RAID volume, complete the volume size selection screen, and then click Next. NOTE: If users consume all available storage for this RAID volume, there will be no space to create another RAID volume for this hard drive, thereby not allowing for Matrix mode RAID. Note the size if you want to create a second RAID volume in this set of hard drives. 9.
PAGE 36
11. Click Finish to start the migration process, which can take a few hours. 12. Reboot the system after the migration finishes. NOTE: Back up all data before proceeding. 13. After the first RAID volume has been created, create the second RAID volume by opening the Intel Matrix Storage Console, clicking Switch to Advanced Mode View, and then clicking Actions/ Create RAID Volume from Existing Hard Drive.
PAGE 37
14. Click Next. 15. Use the same values you entered in the previous RAID volume confirmation and type the RAID Volume Name, select the RAID Level (for three hard drive RAID 0 or RAID 5 only), and select the Strip Size. NOTE: HP currently supports only the default Strip Size (in this case 64KB). 16. Click Next to see the selection of hard drives that will be part of this RAID volume.
PAGE 38
17. Because this is the second volume for this set of hard drives, select the existing name in the Available box (Array 0000), and then click the right arrow to move this array into the Selected box. 18. Click Next. The Specify Volume Size screen is grayed out because the second volume of this matrix mode takes the remaining space. After the selection of the all hard drive members of this RAID volume, follow the volume size selection screen.
PAGE 39
20. Select Finish to start the migration process, which can take a few hours. The following screen appears.
PAGE 40
21. Reboot the system after the migration finishes. After the second reboot and both migrations are complete, you can see the state of the Matrix mode created by opening the Intel Matrix Storage Console and clicking Switch to Advanced Mode View. The matrix mode of three hard drives is illustrated in the following image.
PAGE 41
Migration to RAID Matrix Mode (0 + 1) from two non-RAID hard drives using Matrix Storage Console The migration process for two hard drives to RAID Matrix Mode (0 + 1) is a very similar to the process described in the section about migration of three hard drives to matrix mode RAID ( 0 + 5 ). The difference in the process is selecting two hard drives as part of the volume created and selecting RAID 5 instead of RAID 1.
PAGE 42
Language support table ara Arabic (Saudi Arabia) (0401) chs Chinese (Simplified) (0804) cht Chinese (Traditional) (0404) csy Czech (0005) dan Danish (0006) nld Dutch (0013) enu English (United States) (0009) fin Finnish (000B) fra French (International) (040C) deu German (0007) ell Greek (0008) heb Hebrew (040D) hun Hungarian (000E) ita Italian (0010) jpn Japanese (0011) kor Korean (0012) nor Norwegian (0014) plk Polish (0015) ptb Portuguese (Brazil) (