SPARC Enterprise M3000/M4000/M5000/M8000/M9000 Servers Administration Guide

This section describes how to configure and manage hardware RAID volume using the M3000 server's on-board serial attached SCSI (SAS) controller, and how to hot-plug a disk drive that is configured as a hardware RAID volume.

This chapter contains these sections:

• Hardware RAID Support
• Creating Hardware RAID Volumes
• Deleting a Hardware RAID Volume
• Hot-Plugging a Mirrored Disk
• Disk Slot Numbers
• Related Information

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Hardware RAID Support

RAID technology enables the construction of a logical volume made up of several physical disks to provide data redundancy, improved performance, or both.

The M3000 server's on-board SAS controller supports RAID 1 (mirroring) volumes using the Oracle Solaris OS raidctl utility.

To configure and use hardware RAID volumes, you must install the appropriate patches. For the latest information about patches, see the SPARC Enterprise M3000/M4000/M5000/M8000/M9000 Servers Product Notes.

Volume migration (relocating all RAID volume disk members from one M3000 server to another) is not supported. If you must perform this operation, contact your service provider.

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Creating Hardware RAID Volumes

Caution - Creating RAID volumes using the on-board SAS controller destroys all data on member disks.

This section describes these procedures:

• To Create a Hardware Mirrored Volume
• To Create a Hardware Mirrored Volume of the Default Boot Device
• To Configure a Hardware RAID Volume for the Oracle Solaris OS
• To Delete a Hardware RAID Volume
• To Hot-Plug a Mirrored Disk

Creating a Hardware Mirrored Volume

The M3000 server's on-board SAS controller can configure as many as two RAID volumes. Prior to mirrored volume creation, ensure that the member disks are available and that RAID volumes do not already exist.

The status of the RAID volume might be:

• OPTIMAL - The RAID volume is online and fully synchronized.
• SYNC - The data between the primary and secondary member disks in an IM (Integrated Mirroring) volume are still synchronizing.
• DEGRADED - A member disk is failed or otherwise offline.
• FAILED - The RAID volume has failed and should be deleted and reinitialized. This failure can occur when both member disks in an IM volume are lost.

The Status column displays the status of each physical disk. Each member disk might be GOOD, indicating that it is online and functioning properly, or it might be FAILED, indicating that the disk has hardware or configuration issues that need to be addressed.

For example, an IM with a secondary disk that has been removed from the server appears as:

# raidctl -l c0t0d0
Volume                  Size    Stripe  Status   Cache  RAID
        Sub                     Size                    Level
                Disk
----------------------------------------------------------------
c0t0d0                  558.8G  N/A     DEGRADED OFF    RAID1
                0.1.0   558.8G          GOOD
                N/A     558.8G          FAILED

The display above shows that a single RAID volume (c0t0d0) has been enabled. See the raidctl(1M) man page for additional details regarding volume and disk status.

The disk controller synchronizes IM volumes one at a time. If you create a second IM volume before the first IM volume completes its synchronization, the first volume's RAID status will indicate SYNC, and the second volume's RAID status will indicate OPTIMAL. Once the first volume has completed, its RAID status changes to OPTIMAL, and the second volume automatically starts synchronizing, with a RAID status of SYNC.

Under RAID 1 (disk mirroring), all data is duplicated on both disk drives. If a disk drive fails, replace it with a working drive and restore the mirror. For instructions, see Hot-Plugging a Mirrored Disk.

1. Execute the raidctl command to verify which disk drive corresponds with which logical device name and physical device name:

# raidctl
Controller: 0
        Disk: 0.0.0
        Disk: 0.1.0
        Disk: 0.2.0
        Disk: 0.3.0

The preceding display indicates that no RAID volume exists. See Disk Slot Numbers.

2. Execute the raidctl command with its -c option:

# raidctl -c primary secondary

where primary is the device name of the primary member disk and secondary is the device name of the secondary member disk.

The creation of the RAID volume is interactive, by default. For example:

# raidctl -c c0t0d0 c0t1d0
Creating RAID volume c0t0d0 will destroy all data on member disks, proceed (yes/no)? yes
...
Volume c0t0d0 is created successfully!

As an alternative, you can use the -f option to force the creation, but do not do so unless you are certain about the member disks and that the data on both member disks can be lost. For example:

# raidctl -f -c c0t0d0 c0t1d0
Volume c0t0d0 is created successfully! 

When you create a mirrored volume, the secondary disk drive (in this case, c0t1d0) disappears from the Oracle Solaris device tree.

3. To check the status of the mirrored volume, execute the following command.

For example:

# raidctl 
Controller: 0
       Volume: c0t0d0
       Disk: 0.0.0
       Disk: 0.1.0
       Disk: 0.2.0
       Disk: 0.3.0

In the preceding example a single volume (c0t0d0) has been enabled.

# raidctl -l c0t0d0
Volume                  Size    Stripe  Status   Cache  RAID
        Sub                     Size                    Level
                Disk
----------------------------------------------------------------
c0t0d0                  558.8G  N/A     SYNC     OFF    RAID1
                0.0.0   558.8G          GOOD
                0.1.0   558.8G          GOOD

The preceding example indicates that the mirrored volume is still resynchronizing with the backup drive.

The following example shows that the mirrored volume is synchronized and online.

# raidctl -l c0t0d0
Volume                  Size    Stripe  Status   Cache  RAID
        Sub                     Size                    Level
                Disk
----------------------------------------------------------------
c0t0d0                  558.8G  N/A     OPTIMAL  OFF    RAID1
                0.0.0   558.8G          GOOD
                0.1.0   558.8G          GOOD

For more information about the raidctl utility, see the raidctl(1M) man page.

Creating a Hardware Mirrored Volume of the Default Boot Device

Due to the volume initialization that occurs on the disk controller when a new RAID volume is created, the RAID volume must be configured and labeled using the format(1M) utility prior to use with the Oracle Solaris (see Configuring a Hardware RAID Volume for the Oracle Solaris OS). Because of this limitation, raidctl(1M) blocks the creation of a hardware RAID volume if any of the member disks currently have a file system mounted.

This section describes the procedure required to create a hardware RAID volume containing the default boot device. Since the boot device always has a mounted file system when booted, an alternate boot medium must be employed, and the volume created in that environment. One alternate medium is a network installation image in single-user mode. (Refer to the Oracle Solaris 10 Installation Guide for information about configuring and using network-based installations.)

1. Determine which disk is the default boot device.

From the OpenBoot PROM ok prompt, execute the printenv command and, if necessary, the devalias command, to identify the default boot device. For example:

ok printenv boot-device
boot-device             disk
 
ok devalias disk
disk                     /pci@0,600000/pci@0/pci@0/scsi@0/sd@0,0

2. Execute the following command:

ok boot net -s

3. Once the system has booted, use the raidctl(1M) utility to create a hardware mirrored volume, using the default boot device as the primary disk.

See Creating a Hardware Mirrored Volume. For example:

# raidctl -c c0t0d0 c0t1d0
Creating RAID volume c0t0d0 will destroy all data on member disks, proceed (yes/no)? yes
...
Volume c0t0d0 is created successfully!

4. Install the volume with the Oracle Solaris OS using any supported method.

The hardware RAID volume c0t0d0 appears as a disk to the Oracle Solaris installation program.

Configuring a Hardware RAID Volume for the Oracle Solaris OS

After creating a RAID volume using raidctl, use format(1M) to configure and label the volume before attempting to use it in the Oracle Solaris OS.

1. Start the format utility:

# format

The format utility might generate messages about corruption of the current label on the volume, which you are going to change. You can safely ignore these messages.

2. Select the disk name that represents the RAID volume that you have configured.

In this example, c0t2d0 is the logical name of the volume.

# format
Searching for disks...done
 
c0t2d0: configured with capacity of 558.47GB
 
 
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
       0. c0t0d0 <FUJITSU-MBD2300RC-3702 cyl 46873 alt 2 hd 20 sec 625>
          /pci@0,600000/pci@0/pci@0/scsi@0/sd@0,0
       1. c0t1d0 <FUJITSU-MBD2300RC-3702 cyl 46873 alt 2 hd 20 sec 625>
          /pci@0,600000/pci@0/pci@0/scsi@0/sd@1,0
       2. c0t2d0 <LSILOGIC-LogicalVolume-3000 cyl 65533 alt 2 hd 16 sec 1117>
          /pci@0,600000/pci@0/pci@0/scsi@0/sd@2,0
Specify disk (enter its number): 2
selecting c0t2d0
[disk formatted]
Disk not labeled.  Label it now?

3. Write a new label following the message shown in Step 2:

Disk not labeled.  Label it now? y
 
 
FORMAT MENU:
        disk       - select a disk
        type       - select (define) a disk type
        partition  - select (define) a partition table
        current    - describe the current disk
        format     - format and analyze the disk
        repair     - repair a defective sector
        label      - write label to the disk
        analyze    - surface analysis
        defect     - defect list management
        backup     - search for backup labels
        verify     - read and display labels
        save       - save new disk/partition definitions
        inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
        volname    - set 8-character volume name
        !<cmd>     - execute <cmd>, then return
        quit
format>

4. Verify that the new label has been written in the disk list displayed by the disk command:

format> disk
 
 
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
       0. c0t0d0 <FUJITSU-MBD2147RC-3702 cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 848>
          /pci@0,600000/pci@0/pci@0/scsi@0/sd@0,0
       1. c0t1d0 <FUJITSU-MBD2300RC-3702 cyl 46873 alt 2 hd 20 sec 625>
          /pci@0,600000/pci@0/pci@0/scsi@0/sd@1,0
       2. c0t2d0 <LSILOGIC-LogicalVolume-3000 cyl 65533 alt 2 hd 16 sec 1117>
          /pci@0,600000/pci@0/pci@0/scsi@0/sd@2,0
Specify disk (enter its number)[2]:

In the example above, verify the information shown for Disk 2.

5. Use the partition command to change partitions according to your requirements.

For more information, see the format(1M) man page.

6. Exit the format utility.

The volume can now be used in the Oracle Solaris OS.

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Deleting a Hardware RAID Volume

To delete a hardware RAID volume, follow these steps.

1. Execute the following command to determine the name of the RAID volume:

# raidctl
Controller: 0
        Volume:c0t2d0
        Disk: 0.0.0
        Disk: 0.1.0
        Disk: 0.2.0
        Disk: 0.3.0

In this example, the RAID volume is c0t2d0.

See Disk Slot Numbers.

2. Execute the following command to delete the volume:

# raidctl -d mirrored-volume

For example:

# raidctl -d c0t2d0
Deleting RAID volume c0t2d0 will destroy all data it contains, proceed (yes/no)? y
Volume c0t2d0 is deleted successfully!

3. Execute the following command to confirm that you have deleted the RAID volume:

# raidctl

For example:

# raidctl
Controller: 0
        Disk: 0.0.0
        Disk: 0.1.0
        Disk: 0.2.0
        Disk: 0.3.0

For more information, see the raidctl(1M) man page.

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Hot-Plugging a Mirrored Disk

To hot-plug a mirrored disk, follow these steps.

1. Execute the raidctl command to verify which disk drive corresponds with which logical device name and physical device name:

# raidctl
Controller: 0
        Volume:c0t0d0
        Disk: 0.0.0
        Disk: 0.1.0
        Disk: 0.2.0
        Disk: 0.3.0

See Disk Slot Numbers.

2. Execute the raidctl command with its -l option to confirm a failed disk.

If the Status column shows a disk as FAILED, the drive can be removed and a new drive inserted. Upon insertion, the new disk should be GOOD and the volume should be SYNC.

For example:

# raidctl -l c0t0d0
Volume                  Size    Stripe  Status   Cache  RAID
        Sub                     Size                    Level
                Disk
----------------------------------------------------------------
c0t0d0                  558.8G  N/A     DEGRADED OFF    RAID1
                0.0.0   558.8G          GOOD
                0.1.0   558.8G          FAILED

This example indicates that the mirrored volume has degraded due to a failure in the member disk c0t1d0 (0.1.0).

3. Remove the disk drive.

For detailed instructions, see the SPARC Enterprise M3000 Server Service Manual.

There is no need to use a software command to bring the drive offline when the drive has failed.

4. Install a new disk drive.

For detaied instructions, see the SPARC Enterprise M3000 Server Service Manual.

The RAID utility automatically restores the data to the disk.

5. Execute the raidctl command to check the status of a RAID rebuild.

For example:

# raidctl -l c0t0d0
Volume                  Size    Stripe  Status   Cache  RAID
        Sub                     Size                    Level
                Disk
----------------------------------------------------------------
c0t0d0                  558.8G  N/A     SYNC     OFF    RAID1
                0.0.0   558.8G          GOOD
                0.1.0   558.8G          GOOD

This example indicates that RAID volume c0t0d0 is resynchronizing.

If you type the command again once synchronization has completed, it indicates that the RAID mirror is finished resynchronizing and is back online:

# raidctl -l c0t0d0
Volume                  Size    Stripe  Status   Cache  RAID
        Sub                     Size                    Level
                Disk
----------------------------------------------------------------
c0t0d0                  558.8G  N/A     OPTIMAL  OFF    RAID1
                0.0.0   558.8G          GOOD
                0.1.0   558.8G          GOOD

For more information, see the raidctl(1M) man page.

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Disk Slot Numbers

To perform a disk hot-plug procedure, you must know the physical or logical device name for the drive that you want to install or remove. If your system encounters a disk error, often you can find messages about failing or failed disks in the system console. This information is also logged in the /var/adm/ messages files.

These error messages typically refer to a failed disk drive by its physical device name (such as /pci@0,600000/pci@0/pci@0/scsi@0/disk@0) or by its logical device name (such as c0t0d0). In addition, some applications might report a disk slot number (0 through 3).

You can use the following table to associate internal disk slot numbers with the logical and physical device names for each disk drive.

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Related Information

For additional information on this chapter's topics, see:

^{1 (TableFootnote) The logical device names might appear differently on your system, depending on the number and type of add-on disk controllers installed.}

SPARC Enterprise M3000/M4000/M5000/M8000/M9000 Servers Administration Guide

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