Reconfiguring storage drives into RAID volumes is an optional task. If you choose to reconfigure the drives, it is recommended that you use Oracle System Assistant. If your server does not have Oracle System Assistant, use the BIOS RAID configuration utilities to configure RAID on the server.
You have the following options for configuring your server storage drives:
Option 1 – If you ordered a preinstalled operating system or virtual machine software, the operating system or software was installed on a preconfigured drive. If you reconfigure the drives, you could erase the preinstalled operating system.
If you want to keep the preinstalled operating system on the preconfigured drive, skip this section and proceed to one of the following sections:
Option 2 – If you are going to do a fresh operating system installation and you want to configure multiple server storage drives into one or more RAID volumes, you must configure the server storage drives into RAID volumes before you install the operating system.
If your server is equipped with Oracle System Assistant, see Configuring Storage Drives Into RAID Volumes Using Oracle System Assistant and select the task that matches the internal HBA that is installed on your server.
If your server is not equipped with Oracle System Assistant, see Configuring RAID Using the BIOS RAID Configuration Utilities.
Option 3 – You are going to do a fresh OS install, but you do not want to configure multiple storage drives into RAID volumes.
If your server is equipped with Oracle System Assistant, see Configure RAID on Storage Drives and configure RAID on a single storage drive.
If your server is not equipped with Oracle System Assistant, see Configuring RAID Using the BIOS RAID Configuration Utilities and configure RAID on a single storage drive.
Option 4 – You are going to do a fresh OS install, but you do not want to configure the server's storage drives into RAID volumes.
Refer to the installation guide for the operating system you want to install:
Installing Oracle VM in Oracle Server X5-2L Installation Guide for Oracle VM
For VMware ESXi installation instructions, go to Installing VMware ESXi in Oracle Server X5-2L Installation Guide for VMware ESXi
For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server installation instructions, go to Installing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server OS on a Single System Manually in Oracle Server X5-2L Installation Guide for Linux Operating Systems
For information on creating RAID volumes after installing an operating system, refer to the Oracle X5 Series Servers Administration Guide at http://www.oracle.com/goto/x86admindiag/docs.