C H A P T E R  1

Introduction to Integrated RAID

This chapter provides an overview of the LSI Integrated RAID solution for LSI SAS integrated disk controllers and adapters usesd in Sun servers. The chapter includes these sections:

You can use the LSI Integrated RAID solution with the following LSI SAS controllers that have MPT firmware that supports IR (integrated RAID):



Note - If your LSI controller uses MPT firmware that supports IT (initiator-target) technology, this manual does not apply to you. For more on how to find out your MPT firmware version, see Does Your LSI Controller Support Integrated RAID?.



Does Your LSI Controller Support Integrated RAID?

This document describes how to use your LSI-based integrated disk controller or adapter to configure integrated RAID (IR) volumes on your storage. In order to use integrated RAID, your controller firmware must support it.

To find out if your LSI controller supports integrated RAID, do the following:

1. Boot the system.

As the BIOS loads you will see a message about the LSI Configuration Utility.


Figure showing the LSI BIOS message.

2. Press Ctrl-C to start the LSI Configuration Utility.

You will see the following message as the utility starts:

Please wait, invoking SAS Configuration Utility...

After a brief pause, the main menu (Adapter List Screen) appears.


Graphic showing an example LSI Congifuration Utility Main Menu.

In the example above, there are two SAS adapters listed. Under the FW Revision column, you see the following firmware versions for each adapter’s LSI controller:


Integrated RAID Features

The components of Integrated RAID are:

Integrated RAID has the following features:


Using this Manual

Chapters 2 and 3 of this User’s Guide list IM/IME features and explain how to create IM/IME volumes and optional hot-spare disks.

Chapters 4 and 5 of this User’s Guide list IS features and explain how to create IS volumes and optional hot-spare disks.