HP A9890A Smart Array 6402 Controller Installation Guide

Smart Array 6402 Controller Linux Installation

Using ORCA

Chapter 2

Using ORCA

This section describes how to use ORCA, a simple ROM-based configuration utility that runs on all operating

systems.

ORCA Limitations

For the most efficient use of drive space, do not mix drives of different capacities within the same array. The

configuration utility treats all physical drives in an array as if they have the same capacity as the smallest

drive in the array. The excess capacity of any larger drives is wasted because it is unavailable for data

storage.

The probability that an array will experience a drive failure increases with the number of physical drives in

the array. If you configure a logical drive with RAID 5, keep the probability of failure low by using no more

than 14 physical drives in the array.

Configuring Your Logical Boot Drive

When using an HP Smart Array controller as your boot controller, use the Option Rom Configuration for

Arrays (ORCA) utility to configure your logical boot drive. The ORCA utility can only be accessed when the

system is booting.

Step 1. Press the

F8 key when the prompt appears on the screen during boot to start ORCA and configure

your logical boot drive.

Step 2. Select the

Create Logical Drive

Step 3. Use the Arrow keys, Spacebar, and Tab key to navigate around the screen and set up the logical

drive, including an online spare drive if one is required.

NOTE You cannot use ORCA to configure one spare drive to be shared among several

arrays.

Step 4. Press the

Enter key to accept the settings

Step 5. Press the

F8 key to confirm the settings and save the new configuration. After several seconds, the

Configuration Saved screen is displayed.

NOTE Newly created logical drives are invisible to the operating system. To make the new

logical drives available for data storage, format them using the instructions given in

the operating system documentation.