Disk Management

C H A P T E R 3

Disk Management

This chapter describes the disk management and BIOS configuration software.

This chapter contains the following sections:

RAID Support

SAS BIOS Overview

Starting the SAS BIOS Configuration Utility

Creating a RAID 0 Volume

Creating a RAID 1 Volume

Creating a RAID 1E Volume

Synchronizing an Array

Activating an Array

Deleting an Array

Locating a Disk Drive

3.1 RAID Support

The LSISAS1068e controller supports the Integrated RAID hardware solution, which is a highly integrated, low-cost RAID solution. It is designed for systems requiring redundancy and high availability, but not requiring a full-featured RAID implementation.

Integrated RAID includes Integrated Mirroring (IM or RAID 1), Integrated Mirroring Extended (IME), and Integrated Striping (IS or RAID 0) technology. Integrated RAID is OS independent, easy to install and configure, and does not require a special driver. A RAID Volume is seen as a single drive by the host BIOS and OS.

The LSISAS1068e controller is based on the Fusion-MPT (Message Passing Technology) architecture. The Fusion-MPT architecture requires only a thin device driver that is independent of the I/O bus. LSI Logic provides the device drivers for various operating environments.

3.2 SAS BIOS Overview

The SAS BIOS is the bootable ROM code that manages SAS hardware resources. It is specific to a family of LSI Logic Fusion-MPT SAS controllers or processors. The Fusion-MPT SAS BIOS integrates with a standard system BIOS, extending the standard disk service routine provided through INT13h.

During the boot time initialization, the SAS BIOS determines whether the system BIOS has already installed other hard disks, such as an IDE drive. If such drives are already installed, the SAS BIOS maps any SAS drives it finds behind these drives. Otherwise, the SAS BIOS installs drives starting with the system boot drive. In this case, the system boots from a drive controlled by the SAS BIOS.

The Fusion-MPT SAS BIOS features include:

Configuration for up to 256 adapters; any four can be chosen for INT13 (bootrom) support

Support for Message Passing Technology (MPT)

Support for LSI53C1064 devices

Support for SAS devices

Support for Integrated RAID initialization (with proper firmware)

3.3 Starting the SAS BIOS Configuration Utility

If you have SAS BIOS version 6.x.x with the Fusion-MPT SAS BIOS Configuration Utility, you can change the default configuration of the SAS host adapters. You may decide to change these default values if there is a conflict between device settings or if you need to optimize system performance.

The version number of the SAS BIOS appears in a banner displayed on the computer monitor during bootup. If the utility is available, this message also appears during bootup:

Press Ctrl+C to start LSI Logic Configuration Utility...

This message remains on the screen for about five seconds, giving you time to start the utility. If you press Ctrl+C, the message changes to:

Please wait, invoking LSI Logic Configuration Utility...

After a brief pause, the computer monitor displays the Main menu of the Fusion-MPT SAS BIOS Configuration Utility. These messages may appear during the boot process:

Adapter removed from boot order!

This message appears when an adapter has been removed from the system or has been relocated behind a PCI bridge.

Adapter configuration may have changed, reconfiguration is suggested!

This message appears if none of the information in the NVRAM is valid.

Updating Adapter List!

This message appears when fewer than four adapters are in the boot order and more adapters exist than are shown.

Caution - The SAS BIOS Configuration Utility is a powerful tool. If, while using it, you disable the controller, press Ctrl+E (or Ctrl+A on versions earlier than 5.00) after memory initialization during reboot to reenable and reconfigure the controller.

Note - The RAID firmware needs at least 64 Mbytes of unused disk space at the end of each drive to store metadata.

3.4 Creating a RAID 0 Volume

A RAID 0 volume, also referred to as Integrated Striping (IS), offers the ability to stripe data across multiple hard disks. This can increase storage capacity and performance by combining multiple disks into one logical volume.

Note - Use RAID 0 with caution. The only advantage of RAID 0 is to improve the overall disk performance by striping data over several disk drives. By doing this, it decreases reliability because the failure of any drive within the striped volume results in a complete loss of data. In addition, any disk drive included in a RAID 0 volume becomes non-hot-plugable.

Follow these steps to create a RAID 0 volume on an adapter that does not currently have a volume configured.

1. In the Configuration Utility, select an adapter from the Adapter List screen.

2. Select the RAID Properties option.

3. When you are prompted to create either an IS volume, an IME volume, or an IM volume, select Create IS Volume.

The next screen shows a list of disks that can be added to a volume.

4. Move the cursor to the RAID Disk column. To add a disk to the volume, change the “No” to “Yes” by pressing the + key, - key, or space bar.

As disks are added, the Array Size field changes to reflect the size of the new volume. There are several limitations when creating a RAID 0 volume:

All disks must be SAS (with SMART support).

Disks must have 512-byte blocks and must not have removable media.

There must be at least two drives in a valid volume.

Hot spare drives are not allowed for RAID 0 volumes.

Note - RAID 0 does not provide any data protection in the event of disk failure. It is primarily used to increase speed.

Note - Once the number of disks in a RAID volume is set, it cannot be changed.

5. When the volume has been fully configured, press C and select Save Changes, then exit this menu to commit the changes.

The Configuration Utility will pause while the array is being created.

3.5 Creating a RAID 1 Volume

A RAID 1 volume, also referred to as Integrated Mirroring (IM), offers the ability to mirror data from one hard disk onto another one. This can increase reliability by combining multiple disks into one logical volume. Follow these steps to create a RAID 1 volume on an adapter that does not currently have a volume configured.

1. In the Configuration Utility, select an adapter from the Adapter List screen.

2. Select the RAID Properties option.

3. When you are prompted to create either an IS volume, and IME volume, or an IM volume, select Create IM Volume.

The next screen shows a list of disks that can be added to a volume.

4. Move the cursor to the RAID Disk column. To add a disk to the volume, change the “No” to “Yes” by pressing the + key, - key, or space bar.

When the first disk is added, the utility will prompt you to keep existing data or overwrite existing data.

5. Press M to keep the existing data on the first disk or press D to overwrite it.

If you keep the existing data, this is called a migration. The first disk will be mirrored onto the second disk, so the data you want to keep must be on the first disk added to the volume. Data on all other disks will be lost.

As disks are added the Array Size field will change to reflect the size of the new volume. There are several limitations when creating a RAID 1 volume:

All disks must be SAS (with SMART support).

Disks must have 512-byte blocks and must not have removable media.

There must be two drives in a valid volume.

6. (Optional) Add a hot spare to the volume by moving the cursor to the Hot Spare column and pressing the + key, - key, or space bar.

7. When the volume has been fully configured, press C and select Save Changes, then exit this menu to commit the changes.

The Configuration Utility will pause while the array is being created.

Note - RAID 1 provides protection against the failure of a single disk. When a disk fails, it is rebuilt to a hot spare if one is available. This can greatly increase the level of protection that RAID 1 provides.

Note - Even though multiple volumes can be created, the hot spare is a global hot spare. Only one active hot spare is allowed for all volumes.

3.6 Creating a RAID 1E Volume

A RAID 1E volume, also referred to as an Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME), combines the ability of RAID 0 to stripe data and the ability of RAID 1 to mirror the now-striped data. This can increase reliability of RAID 0 by adding the mirroring feature of RAID 1. Use RAID 1E for arrays with an odd number of disks. A minimum of three disks are needed to configure RAID 1E. Follow these steps to create a RAID 1E volume on an adapter that does not currently have a volume configured.

1. In the Configuration Utility, select an adapter from the Adapter List screen.

2. Select the RAID Properties option.

3. When you are prompted to create either an IS volume, and IME volume, or an IM volume, select Create IME Volume.

The next screen shows a list of disks that can be added to a volume.

4. Move the cursor to the RAID Disk column. To add a disk to the volume, change the “No” to “Yes” by pressing the + key, - key, or space bar.

When the first disk is added, the utility will prompt you to keep existing data or overwrite existing data.

5. Press M to keep the existing data on the first disk or press D to overwrite it.

As disks are added the Array Size field will change to reflect the size of the new volume. There are several limitations when creating a RAID 1E volume:

All disks must be SAS (with SMART support).

Disks must have 512-byte blocks and must not have removable media.

There must be three drives in a valid volume.

6. (Optional) Add a hot spare to the volume by moving the cursor to the Hot Spare column and pressing the + key, - key, or space bar.

7. When the volume has been fully configured, press C and select Save Changes, then exit this menu to commit the changes.

The Configuration Utility will pause while the array is being created.

3.7 Viewing RAID Volume Properties

Follow these steps to view the properties of RAID volumes.

1. In the Configuration Utility, select an adapter from the Adapter List screen.

2. Select the RAID Properties option.

The properties of the current volume are displayed.

3. If more than one volume is configured, press Alt+N to view the next array.

4. To manage the current array, press Enter when the Manage Array item is selected.

3.8 Synchronizing an Array

Synchronizing an array means that the firmware synchronizes the data on the secondary disk(s) with the data on the primary disk of the mirror. Follow these steps to start a synchronization for a RAID 1 volume.

1. Select Synchronize Array.

2. Press Y to start the synchronization, or N to cancel it.

Note - If the server is rebooted before the volume synchronization is completed, the resync resumes when the server boots.

3.9 Activating an Array

An array can become inactive if, for example, it is removed from one controller or computer and moved to another one. The Activate Array option enables you to reactivate an inactive array that has been added to a system. This option is only available when the selected array is currently inactive.

1. Select Activate Array.

2. Press Y to proceed with the activation, or press N to abandon it.

After a pause, the array becomes active.

3.10 Deleting an Array

Caution - Before deleting an array, back up all data on the array that you want to keep.

Follow these steps to delete a selected array.

1. Select Delete Array.

2. Press Y to delete the array, or press N to abandon the deletion.

After a pause, the firmware deletes the array.

Note - Once a volume has been deleted, it cannot be recovered. When a RAID 1 volume is deleted, the data is preserved on the primary disk. The master boot records (MBR) of other disks in the array are deleted. For other RAID types, the master boot records of all disks are deleted.

3.11 Locating a Disk Drive

There are several ways to physically locate a disk drive, as long as the firmware is correctly configured and the drives support disk location.

During RAID creation, when a disk is set to Yes as part of a RAID volume, its Locate LED is enabled. When it is set back to No or the RAID volume is created, the Locate LED is cleared.

Disks can also be located from the SAS Topology screen. To locate a disk, move the cursor to the disk and press Enter. The Locate LED on the disk remains lit until the next key is pressed.