Dot Hill Systems RAIDCore User Manual Download

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P/N 83-00004638-12

Revision A

December 2009

RAIDCore User Manual

Summary of Contents for RAIDCore

Page 1: ...P N 83 00004638 12 Revision A December 2009 RAIDCore User Manual ...

Page 2: ...to their respective owners The material in this document is for information only and is subject to change without notice While reasonable efforts have been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy changes in the product design can be made without reservation and without notification to its users ...

Page 3: ...VST 26 Array Tasks Starting and Stopping Tasks 27 Understanding Disks 28 Disks States 28 RAID Minimum Disk Configurations 28 Rescanning Disks for Changes in State 29 Sparing Options Disks and Arrays 29 Distributed Sparing supported only by RAIDCore VST 30 Dedicated Sparing 30 Global Sparing 31 RAID Performance Considerations 31 Number and Organization of Disks 31 Caching Attributes 31 Application ...

Page 4: ...ss 57 Delete Arrays 58 Delete an Array 58 Swap Arrays 58 Before you begin 58 Swap Arrays 58 View Disk Details 59 View Array Details 60 Rescan All Channels 60 Change the Controller Options 60 Select a Boot Option 61 Change the Staggered Spinup Count 62 Continue Booting from the BIOS Configuration Utility 62 Chapter 6 RAIDConsole Graphical User Interface GUI 63 Start the RAIDConsole GUI 63 Start RAI...

Page 5: ...Prepare to Physically Remove an Array 84 Delete Arrays 85 Before you begin 85 Delete an array 85 Recreate a deleted array 85 Recover Arrays 85 Recover an array 85 Change Cache Settings for Arrays 86 Change cache settings 86 Change the Priority Level of a Task 87 To change a task priority 87 Interrupt or Cancel a Task 87 Interrupt or cancel a task 87 Check for Consistency 88 Before you begin 88 Man...

Page 6: ...emote System 101 Read SMART Information from Disks 102 Read SMART information from disks 102 Turn on Advanced Options 103 Recover an array 103 Stop and restart the RAIDCore Event Service program 103 Stop and Restart the RAIDCore Event Service 103 Stop the RAIDCore Event Service 103 Start the RAIDCore Event Service 103 Chapter 7 Troubleshooting 105 Troubleshooting 105 System Startup Problems 105 Wa...

Page 7: ...gin 123 Delete Arrays bcadm delete 123 Before you begin 123 Transform Arrays bcadm transform supported only by RAIDCore VST 124 Before you begin 124 Copy Arrays bcadm create copy supported only by RAIDCore VST 124 Before you begin 124 Legacy Disks bcadm create copy supported only by RAIDCore VST 125 Split Mirrored Arrays bcadm split supported only by RAIDCore VST 125 Before you begin 125 Follow or...

Page 8: ...RAIDCore User Manual 6 ...

Page 9: ... Properties Window typical 67 10 Sections of the Array Status Window typical 68 11 Icons of the Array View Section of the Array Status Window typical 69 12 Array View Array Status Window Select an Array to be Copied 80 13 Array View Un Link Command 83 14 RAIDConsole Event Service Window Rescan Button 84 15 RAIDConsole Window Task Pause and Task Remove Options 87 16 License Window showing the licen...

Page 10: ...8 Figures ...

Page 11: ...of the Array Status Window 69 28 Disk List Section of the Array Status Window 70 29 Array List Section of the Array Status Window 71 30 Event View Elements Array Status Window 72 31 I O Status Bar Elements Array Status Window 72 32 Restrictions and Conditions When Transforming a Legacy Disk 75 33 Issues and Recommendations for Creating and Formatting Arrays 76 34 Issues and Recommendations for Tra...

Page 12: ...oting Cannot Initialize a Disk 114 57 Modes for the bcadm Program 119 58 bcadm Controller List Elements 120 59 bcadm Disk List Elements 121 60 bcadm Array List Elements 122 61 Restrictions and Conditions When Transforming a Legacy Disk 125 ...

Page 13: ...t include familiarity with Servers and computer networks RAID and input output signal technology such as SCSI SAS or SATA Fibre Channel and Ethernet protocols Document conventions and symbols Table 1 Document Conventions Convention Element Navy blue text Figure 1 Cross reference links and e mail addresses Navy blue underlined text http www example com Web site addresses Bold font Key names Text ty...

Page 14: ...ld result in damage to equipment or data IMPORTANT Provides clarifying information or specific instructions NOTE Provides additional information TIP Provides helpful hints and shortcuts Customer Support For customer support contact your system or motherboard supplier ...

Page 15: ...ersion driver will not work with the latest version of the RAIDCore application and vice versa CAUTION If a disk has a RAID array on it it cannot be initialized To initialize the disk anyway delete the array Make sure this is what is desired Deleted data on a disk cannot be retrieved CAUTION Do not upgrade the system if there are any tasks such as a Transform or a Restore running on any of the arr...

Page 16: ...14 Chapter 1 Safety Precautions ...

Page 17: ...rs and experienced users System Requirements for Using RAIDCore Make sure the systems that use RAIDCore meet the requirements indicated in the following table Supported Controllers The following controllers are supported by the latest version of RAIDCore AMD SB0700 SP5100 Supported Operating Systems The following operating systems are supported by the current release of RAIDCore Microsoft Windows ...

Page 18: ...tain two SATA II HDDs a SAS HDD and a SATA SSD Migrating an existing array to another RAID level if the type of array being used is not the optimal type for the application This function depends on the array capacity and redundancy level A array refers to data storage created by RAIDCore from one or more disks Although an array can be created from several disks it is seen by the operating system a...

Page 19: ... a background operation that verifies and corrects the mirror or parity data for fault tolerant disks It is recommended that a Consistency Check be run periodically on the disks By default a Consistency Check automatically corrects mirror or parity inconsistencies A Consistency Check can be scheduled or started manually by the system user Controller spanning A unique feature of RAIDCore that allow...

Page 20: ...s feature is available only with RAIDCore VST See Split Mirrored Arrays supported only by RAIDCore VST on page 90 Multiple RAID levels per disk Support for multiple array levels per disk allows the administrator to create arrays of different RAID levels using the same disks Native Command Queuing NCQ Native Command Queuing is a command protocol of disks that are supported by RAIDCore NCQ enables i...

Page 21: ...detect and report potential or impending failures Its purpose is to be proactive to allow the user to replace a disk before it degrades or fails This feature helps monitor disk performance and reliability and protects the data on the disk When problems are detected on a disk the user can replace or repair the disk without losing any data SMART compliant disks have attributes for which data attribu...

Page 22: ...DCore events License validation check A license validation check is done to ensure a valid license A successful license check results in a heartbeat message to the RAIDCore driver NOTE RAIDCore Event Service bc_service exe must be running during the license validation check RAIDCore heartbeat verification checks every hour to make sure that the services are running If the heartbeat message is miss...

Page 23: ...10n No No Yes 50 No No Yes Array creation No initialization Yes Yes Yes Foreground initialization Yes Yes Yes Background initialization Yes Yes Yes Array copying No No Yes Array deletion Yes Yes Yes Mirror splitting No No Yes Global Yes Yes Yes Sparing Dedicated Yes Yes Yes Distributed No No Yes Consistency check Background Yes Yes Yes Scheduled Yes Yes Yes Online capacity expansion OCE c No No Ye...

Page 24: ...gging areas of an array that have been written to In the event of a system crash the logged area s consistency is checked and or corrected Without this feature data corruption might occur g Arrays can be instantly created and used by skipping the background consistency check For certain types of redundant arrays this is a viable option and has no data integrity drawbacks A consistency check can al...

Page 25: ...RAID Levels General Characteristics RAID Level Main Characteristic Use Usefulness Volume JBOD RAIDCore treats one or more disks or the unused space on a disk as a single array 1 Concatenation provides the ability to link together storage from one or several disks regardless of the size of the space on those disks 2 Concatenation is useful in scavenging space on disks unused by other disks in the a...

Page 26: ... exact copies of an array s data using the Split command 2 Offers better random read performance than a RAID 10 array but uses more disk space RAID 5 stripe with parity Stripes data as well as parity across all disks in the array Parity information is interspersed across the disk array In the event of a failure RAIDCore can restore the lost data of the failed disk from the other surviving disks 1 ...

Page 27: ...l However the state of array 2 using disk 4 does not change to Critical until an I O error is reported If systems using array 1 are not communicating with failed disk 4 the state of array 1 still displays as Normal If a rescan of all channels is performed after disconnecting a disk the state of every array using the missing disk changes from Normal to either the Critical or Offline depending on th...

Page 28: ...y as the source array While the migration transformation is taking place data is accessible and protected to the lowest protection of either the source RAID level or the destination RAID level The Transform task can also be used to expand the capacity of an array by using OCE It can also be used as part of the system backup and recovery strategy through the use of the RAID 1 RAID 10 RAID 1n and RA...

Page 29: ...leting an array Data loss will occur Backup all data prior to deleting a task that involves a Transform or a Restore The tasks indicated in the following table can be displayed for each array Table 10 Types of Tasks per Array Task When Displayed Transform While an array is being transformed Create While an array is being created Copy While an array is being copied In a verbose query the array numb...

Page 30: ...isk that is disconnected but for which a rescan is not performed appears in the Disk List as Online However if a Background Array Scan or Consistency Check is performed the disk state changes to Offline and it is highlighted in the Disk List in red A disk that experiences a catastrophic failure appears in the Disk List as Offline and is highlighted in red A disk that has a SMART error appears in t...

Page 31: ...been connected Arrays associated with the disks that are not yet connected change state to either Critical or Offline In the example above if the state of the RAID 5 set changes to Offline data is lost This feature can also result in the state of a disk being reported differently in the Array View and the Disk List A disk within an array can have a state of Failed in the Array View field while at ...

Page 32: ...there is insufficient unused space on the disks in an array a distributed spare cannot be added without adding an additional disk and transforming it to an array with distributed sparing enabled The distributed spare option uses the equivalent storage of one of the disks in the array For example the total capacity of six disks is being used in a RAID 5 array and distributed sparing has been enable...

Page 33: ...e on the global spare and a disk failure occurs the restore process starts automatically For additional information see Add or Remove Global Spares on page 93 RAID Performance Considerations With RAID technology performance is based on the following considerations The number and organization of disks in an array Caching attributes used for the array Application workload Number and Organization of ...

Page 34: ... boot time to avoid boot time issues with duplicate labels Flexibility and Expansion Considerations Before configuring an array consider the following points to enhance the flexibility of the RAID system Multiple RAID Levels With RAIDCore different RAID levels can be created on the same disk to adapt each array to the I O that it processes Also more than one array can be created per disk Depending...

Page 35: ... SATA mode per the type of chipset For supported AMD chipsets set the SATA mode as RAID for use with RAIDCore 3 Enable the applicable chipset Refer to the BIOS configuration procedure in the motherboard s instruction manual 4 Initialize the disks See Initialize Disks on page 54 5 Create arrays using the RAIDCore BIOS Configuration Utility See Create Arrays on page 55 6 Copy the drivers to removabl...

Page 36: ...the following table NOTE If the drivers are being installed on a system that has an existing operating system skip step 4 and proceed to Install Drivers Configuration Devices and the Management Suite Windows on page 37 Use the storage medium and its copied files to install the drivers See Install Drivers on a System at the Same Time That the Windows Operating System is Installed on page 36 Table 1...

Page 37: ... SMP date time i686 GNU Linux 5 From the cd mount point linux vendor version driver folder select the distribution version of Linux 6 Copy the iso image file which match the distribution of Linux to the desktop For Red Hat Linux Copy the iso file from the desktop to the USB flash drive For SUSE Linux Mount the iso image file For example mount o loop the name of the iso file media Navigate to media...

Page 38: ... make sure that INT13 support is ON for RAIDCore See Change the Controller Options on page 60 At the BIOS Configuration Utility make sure that the boot array is the first array listed in the Arrays list Use the Swap Two Arrays task to place the boot array first See Swap Arrays on page 58 Install the drivers 1 Follow Microsoft procedures to install the applicable Windows operating system NOTE At st...

Page 39: ...ral components are installed See Table 17 on page 39 2 Dot Hill window Select Install Windows Management Suite See Figure 1 on page 40 3 InstallAnywhere window Wait while it prepares for the installation Other windows appear momentarily during the preparation process 4 Introduction window a Read the text carefully b To proceed with the installation click Next NOTE A Previous Version found dialog b...

Page 40: ...008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 only a This window might appear for the Dot Hill Systems Corp system devices Read the text carefully b Click Install 15 Windows Security Would you like to install this device software Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 only a This window might appear for the Dot Hill Systems Corp storage controllers Read the text carefully b Click Install 16 Activation Need...

Page 41: ...ead the text carefully at the window and decide whether to return to the previous window or click Next When Next is selected the installation process advances to the Install Complete window See step 20 20 Install Complete window Click Done to restart the system 21 RAIDCore Media CD ROM Remove the RAIDCore Media CD ROM from the CD ROM or DVD drive Component Description For More Information RAIDCons...

Page 42: ...40 Chapter 4 Installing Software Figure 1 Dot Hill window showing Install Windows Management Suite selected Figure 2 License Agreement window showing I accept the terms of the License Agreement selected ...

Page 43: ...software drivers can be installed at the same time There are separate procedures in this section for Red Hat Linux SUSE Linux Follow these important functions If the installation is to a bootable array the boot priority list must be modified in the motherboard BIOS See the motherboard manual for more information Make sure that the RAIDCore bootable array is included in the boot priority list Disab...

Page 44: ...stem s Power On Self Test POST screen click Ctrl R 4 Create a bootable array a Use the Create Array command in the Main Menu b Make sure the bootable array is listed first in the Array section of the BIOS Configuration Utility 5 Boot the system Scroll to Continue to Boot and click Enter 6 Insert a USB drive which contains the drivers and the rc ks cfg file At Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 window type...

Page 45: ...n Number window a Choose one of the following Enter Installation Number Skip entering Installation Number b Click OK 15 Skip dialog box Click Skip 16 Warning dialog box If the text is OK click Yes NOTE If No is selected the bootable array created in step 3 will not be used 17 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 window Choose Remove all partitions on selected drivers and create default layout from the pull ...

Page 46: ...ended selection but is not required 23 USB flash drive When the installation is finished remove the USB flash drive and Red Hat operating system CD or DVD from the system 24 Reboot the system a At the system s POST screen use Ctrl R to access the BIOS Configuration Utility b Make sure that the bootable array is the first array listed in the Array section of the BIOS Configuration Utility c Select ...

Page 47: ...Menu b Make sure bootable array is listed first in the Array section c Scroll to Continue to Boot and click Enter 5 Insert the USB flash drive which contains the drivers a At the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server window scroll down to Installation b At Boot Options type brokenmodules ahci oem modules 1 NOTE Type the command line within 3 to 5 seconds of the window appearing c Click Enter NOTE It might ...

Page 48: ... 17 Boot Loader Settings window a Click the Boot Loader Installation tab b Change the setting from Boot from Boot Partition to Boot from Master Boot Record c Click Finish 18 Installation Settings window a Click Accept 19 Confirm Installation window Click Install 20 Perform Installation process Wait while the Perform Installation process runs 21 Finish the installation Finish the installation proce...

Page 49: ...ndow appearing c Click Enter NOTE It might be necessary to press F3 to change the Video Mode to VESA if no video appears on the monitor 6 Welcome window a Check the I Agree to the License Terms box b Make sure that the Language and Keyboard Layout categories are at English US As desired choose a different language c Click Next 7 Media Check window a Make sure that the CD or DVD Drive setting is co...

Page 50: ...oot from Boot Partition to Boot from Master Boot Record Click OK e At the main menu of the Installation Settings window Verify that they are correct f If the settings are OK click Install 19 Confirm installation At the YaST2 Confirm Installation window a Review the text b Click Install 20 Perform Installation process Wait while the Perform Installation process runs 21 Finish the installation Finis...

Page 51: ...ify that the Setup bin file is executable by right clicking on the Setup bin icon that is on the desktop b From the pop up menu select the Properties category c Click the Permissions tab 6 Permissions tab a Make sure that the Execute or Executable box es is are check marked b Click Close 7 Setup bin icon Perform one of the following procedures depending on the Linux software Red Hat Linux a Double...

Page 52: ...the selections b If they are OK click Install NOTE Wait until the functions at the Install RAIDCore tm Management Suite window are completed 15 Enter Activation ID window Perform one of the following For a licensed version of the RAIDCore software enter an Activation ID number Click Next For a trial version of the RAIDCore software check I do not have an Activation ID Click Next 16 Activation was ...

Page 53: ...r More Information bcadm A command line alternative for managing the controller disks and arrays See Appendix B bcadm Command Line Tool RAIDConsole A management application that has a graphical user interface GUI and an array maintenance service application See Chapter 6 RAIDConsole Graphical User Interface GUI ...

Page 54: ...tialize disks or create arrays when installing the controller drivers 5 Boot the system NOTE The legacy array should now exist in the RAIDCore BIOS and the system should be booting from the legacy disk Supplemental Linux Information Manually Install RAIDCore Drivers on an Existing Installation of Linux If Linux has already been installed on the system you need only to install the drivers for the R...

Page 55: ...nitialize a new disk To initialize a new disk drive for data storage Initialize Disks on page 54 Create or delete arrays Create arrays at different RAID levels depending on the license level for the system Create Arrays on page 55 Delete Arrays on page 58 Swap arrays Change the array order especially for the bootable array Swap Arrays on page 58 View disk and array details View information about e...

Page 56: ...ected for initialization To initialize this disk anyway delete the array Be sure this is what is desired because the data on the disk will be deleted 1 Power up the system to start booting 2 When prompted press the Ctrl R keys to access the RAIDCore BIOS Configuration Utility The RAIDCore tm Array Configuration window is displayed NOTE If the BIOS is not displayed contact Support at Dot Hill Syste...

Page 57: ...e labeling feature At any point in the this procedure return to a prior window by pressing Esc If the created array will be the RAIDCore bootable array it must be the first array listed in the Arrays section of the BIOS Configuration Utility As necessary use the Swap Two Arrays feature to swap arrays and place the boot array in the first position Create An Array 1 From the Main Menu of the RAIDCor...

Page 58: ... Press Enter 2 199 TB 1 Press the Page Up or the up arrow key to increase the array size 2 When an array size of 2 1 TB is reached a message states that a size greater than the maximum is being attempted and whether the size of the array should be limited Press Esc to create an array larger than 2 TB 3 Press Page Up or the up arrow until either the desired size or the maximum available size is rea...

Page 59: ...the user is installing the operating system to a bootable array modify the boot priority list in the motherboard BIOS See the motherboard s user documentation for more information Ensure that the RAIDCore bootable array is included in the boot priority list Also make sure that INT13 support is enabled on the RAID controller as described in Change the Controller Options on page 60 NOTE A RAIDCore b...

Page 60: ... any of them However a small amount of boot information is always written to a disk s in the first array Array 1 of the array list regardless on which array the operating system is installed If anything happens to a disk in Array 1 the system might not be able to boot It is recommended that the user install the operating system on an array at a redundant RAID level such as RAID 1 or RAID 5 and swa...

Page 61: ...at the RAID 5 bootable array is the first array listed View Disk Details This option allows the user to view details about the disk Nothing can be changed from this menu option it is for informational purposes only 1 From the Main Menu select View Disk Details 2 Use the arrow keys to choose a disk 3 Information about the disk is displayed in the Information field across the top Disk Number Control...

Page 62: ... Options Selecting Controller Options allows the user to configure whether RAIDCore arrays might be bootable as well as other aspects of the boot process The default is to configure an array An operating system can boot from RAIDCore If an error occurs an error message is displayed However the user might be booting from the motherboard IDE or another SCSI device in the system If this is the case d...

Page 63: ...ns section of the RAIDCore tm Array Configuration window as shown in the figure below Figure 5 Controller Options Section of the RAIDCore tm Array Configuration Window typical 2 Use the up or down arrow keys to select a boot option See the choices in Table 26 on page 62 NOTE By default all options are turned on It is recommended that options remain enabled ...

Page 64: ...ess Esc to return to the Main Menu Continue Booting from the BIOS Configuration Utility After arrays have been created continue booting the system from the point where the RAIDCore BIOS Configuration Utility was entered To resume the boot process select Continue to Boot in the Main Menu Press Enter A system reboot is not required Table 26 Choices for Selecting a Boot Array To Accomplish This Do Th...

Page 65: ...directory from a console window Type the following For bc_service bcserviced start stop For bcapiservice bcapid start stop 2 If you want a pop up message to appear on the desktop when an event is detected by bc_service and reported to the log run the bcpopup application Open a command prompt and type usr bin bcpopup 3 Open the Security Level Configuration window by clicking Desktop at the menu bar...

Page 66: ... the application can be enabled or disabled the first time it is started using the First Time Run dialog box If the user chooses not to protect the application with a password at this time the user can do it later from the Options menu Figure 6 First Time Run Dialog Box typical ...

Page 67: ...m box 3 Click Continue The Array Status window opens Disable Password Protection from the First Time Run Dialog Box 1 Select Disable Password Protection 2 Click Continue The Array Status window displays NOTE If Disable Password Protection is selected the next time RAIDConsole is started a small dialog box appears without spaces for entering choices for Password and Confirm Enable Password Protecti...

Page 68: ...ss the Help drop drop menu and select About The RAIDConsole Dot Hill window appears See the figure below Figure 7 RAIDConsole Dot Hill Window typical To view detailed software release and component version information at the RAIDConsole perform the following 1 Access RAIDConsole using one of the three methods indicated at Start the RAIDConsole GUI on page 63 ...

Page 69: ...right click Select Properties See the following figure Figure 8 Array Status Window Accessing Array Properties 3 The RAIDConsole Properties window appears with information about component versions license level and firmware See the figure below Figure 9 RAIDConsole Properties Window typical ...

Page 70: ...erial numbers of the disk drives in the system which are listed by the disk controller channel Reviewing the GUI The Array Status Window Figure 10 Sections of the Array Status Window typical NOTE Certain languages do not display correctly in the Array View section English other languages that use the Roman alphabet and numerous other languages do display properly NOTE To refresh the array and disk...

Page 71: ...e 11 Icons of the Array View Section of the Array Status Window typical Table 27 Elements at the Array View Section of the Array Status Window Element Description Controller Group The RAIDCore controller for the arrays displayed below it Array The array number assigned to created or creating arrays Array name The name assigned to an array Task Percent Complete and ETA The progress of a current arr...

Page 72: ...on see Rescan Disks on page 73 Table 28 Disk List Section of the Array Status Window Element Description Ctrl Chan Disk controller and channel number State State of the disk Online Offline SMART Error WB Cache Enabled or Disabled Read Ahead Enabled or Disabled Type Disk type Disk Legacy New ATAPI Port Type The negotiated speed not the speed of the port type In Use Indicates that the disk is In Use...

Page 73: ...pace appears if the array has not been partitioned NOTE If a dynamic volume is created on an array RAIDConsole cannot retrieve the volume s drive letter Array Name User created name for the array Type RAID level RAID type or Legacy Total Capacity Total capacity 1MB 1 000 000 bytes 1GB 1 000 000 000 bytes State State of the array Normal Critical Offline Task Task type if in progress Transform Copy ...

Page 74: ...e on which the event occurred Time The time at which the event occurred System The system on which the event occurred CG The controller group to which the event applies Event The RAIDCore Asynchronous Event Notification AEN number of the event Priority The notification priority of the event Low Informational Warning Critical or Fatal Text A brief description of the event Table 31 I O Status Bar El...

Page 75: ...y arrays in the Array View and Array List until they are initialized To initialize disks 1 From the Disk drop down menu select Initialize The Initialize Disk window is displayed 2 Select the disk s to be initialized by clicking on the box next to the disk s 3 Click Initialize Selected TIP See also Initialize Disks on page 54 Rescan Disks The Rescan Disks option Rescans the SATA channels that searc...

Page 76: ...is provided but any JPEG jpg image can be inserted and edited to match the configuration of the disks in the system Operations Available at the Physical View The following operations can be performed at the Physical View Create a Dedicated Spare Right click on a disk identifying box to assign it as a dedicated spare or to assign it as a global spare View the Disk Status View the disk status as con...

Page 77: ...en Transforming a Legacy Disk Action Result Transform a legacy disk Transforming cannot be undone Copying a legacy disk moves the data to a new array The array on the legacy disk is gone The legacy disk is initialized automatically and displays in the RAIDConsole Disk List as Disk It is no longer displayed as legacy Copy a legacy disk When copying a legacy disk the legacy disk cannot be used in th...

Page 78: ...ed the RAID level and the sparing option that is chosen TIP For creating volumes larger than 2 TB see Table 51 on page 112 5 Select a cache option for the array The default is Read Write Back Cache TIP Also see Create New Arrays bcadm create on page 123 Table 33 Issues and Recommendations for Creating and Formatting Arrays Issues Recommendations Access to arrays The creation of arrays even redunda...

Page 79: ...hen writing new configuration information check Leave Existing Data Intact 5 Choose whether to use the Zero Create option which writes the created array with zeros If the Zero Create option is used the array is not immediately available that is the array being created is hidden from the operating system during the Create process 6 Name the array if desired 7 Click Create to create the array Partit...

Page 80: ...dynamically even under I O load Before you begin Review the issues and recommendations indicated in the following table Table 34 Issues and Recommendations for Transforming Arrays Issues Recommendations Array size An array cannot be transformed to a smaller sized array New arrays must be either the same capacity or larger Array size limits The array size of the transformed array is limited to 2 19...

Page 81: ...ient available space 6 Click Commit NOTE If the system is not licensed for RAIDCore VST a License Issue message appears when the user clicks Commit NOTE Unless the transformation is instantaneous the Array Status window updates to show the source and destination arrays along with the progress of the transformation Task control commands When using task control commands a Transform task can only be ...

Page 82: ... Array View section of the Array Status window select the array to be copied 2 From the Array menu select Copy See the following figure Figure 12 Array View Array Status Window Select an Array to be Copied Table 35 Issues and Recommendations for Copying Arrays Issues Recommendations Array destination The destination array is hidden at the completion of the copy After the arrays are unlinked the RA...

Page 83: ...he Copy task has completed click the Unlink on copy finished option NOTE If the Unlink on copy finished option is not selected the two arrays will be unlinked when the system is rebooted This has the benefit of capturing any changes to the source array at the last moment before the system shuts down after any cleanup operations have occurred The copy array remains hidden after the unlink To access...

Page 84: ...data to be accessed NOTE The destination array is automatically unlinked when the copy is complete Unlink on copy finished was not selected Reboot and the two arrays will be unlinked Unhide the destination array using the Un Hide command in order to access the data NOTE When this method is used all active data is flushed to the copy before the unlink This ensures that all the data is captured from...

Page 85: ...tination array and unhide the destination array perform the following 1 Select the source or the destination array in the Array view and right click 2 From the pop up menu select the Un Link command The source and destination are now unlinked See the figure below Figure 13 Array View Un Link Command 3 Select the destination array in the Array View and right click it 4 From the pop up menu select t...

Page 86: ...ersions of Windows or at the Microsoft website http www microsoft com for others Use the correct version for the operating system For arrays formatted with FAT32 use a third party application such as PartitionMagic from PowerQuest Corporation Prepare to Physically Remove an Array To prepare an array for physical removal 1 In the Array View section click the array to be removed 2 From the Array dro...

Page 87: ...AIDCore Recover an array 1 From the Options drop down menu select Advanced Options 2 Select the failed array to recover 3 From the Array drop down menu select Recover 4 Read the message at the Warning window To proceed click Continue NOTE The status of the array might remain as failed Offline after this option is used Table 37 Issues and Recommendations for Deleting Arrays Issue Recommendation Dri...

Page 88: ...ad Cache Write Back Cache or Read Write Back Cache 4 The new cache setting displays in the Array List Cache information Table 38 Cache Array Options Option Description No Cache When the No Cache option is selected for an array I O requests are translated and passed to the disks without keeping a cached copy of the data available for future requests Read Cache When selected the Read Cache option ca...

Page 89: ... performed on arrays Full task control can be used on Create Copy Consistency Check and Bitmap_Check tasks On Restores with dedicated or global spares the task can be removed but the array will return to the Critical state NOTE Task control can only be used when a task is running on the array Interrupt or cancel a task 1 Select the array upon which a task is being performed and right click If the ...

Page 90: ...cy Check has been started adjust the priority of the Consistency Check task relative to user I O activity Use the Task Priority option see Change the Priority Level of a Task on page 87 A Consistency Check task can be scheduled with the Schedule Consistency Check task see Schedule a Consistency Check on page 89 Before you begin A Consistency Check task can be started at any time on a redundant typ...

Page 91: ...y and right clicking select Check Consistency 3 Click Schedule 4 At the Check Consistency dialog box select the frequency day and time 5 Click Confirm Delete a scheduled Consistency Check 1 Click the array on which to delete the Consistency Check 2 From the Array drop down menu or by selecting an array and right clicking select Check Consistency 3 Click Schedule 4 At the Consistency Check dialog b...

Page 92: ... copied Split Mirrored Arrays supported only by RAIDCore VST A mirrored array can be split into separate arrays using either of the following procedures The default settings see below Split a mirror using default settings The advanced settings which allows the user to specify which disks to keep as part of the original array see Split a mirror using the advanced split option on page 91 Split a mir...

Page 93: ...0 1 Click the array to be split 2 From the Array menu or by right clicking the array select Mirror 3 Click Split 4 Click Default NOTE By default the split off array is hidden Split a mirror using the advanced split option For mirrors of RAID level RAID 1n or RAID 10n various split combinations are possible using the Advanced Split option With the Advanced Split option select the disks to keep as p...

Page 94: ...dicated spare while creating an array 1 From the Array drop down menu or by right clicking the array select Create 2 Select the disks for the array NOTE The first disk selected becomes the dedicated spare 3 Select the array type capacity and cache options 4 Check the Dedicated Spare box 5 Click Create 6 At the Array View field expand the array Notice that the array being created includes the dedic...

Page 95: ...menu select Remove Spares 3 Click OK TIP For additional information see Sparing Options Disks and Arrays on page 29 Add or Remove Global Spares If a global spare is being added make sure there is adequate space on the global spare Add a global spare 1 In the Disk List section right click the disk that will be the global spare 2 At the Options dialog box select Assign as Global Spare 3 Click OK Rem...

Page 96: ...lidates the product warranty and might be considered theft NOTE RAIDCore is shipped with a 30 day trial license After the trial period expires RAIDCore runs with extremely degraded performance NOTE Features that are not licensed for example when a license expires will be disabled Certain features will not be available and array types that are not licensed will go offline This situation can be reme...

Page 97: ... contains the Activation ID 3 Click Apply NOTE The issued license key Activation ID only works with the system for which the original license key Activation ID was issued A license key Activation ID and upgrade license key Activation ID are unique for the system and cannot be used to upgrade other systems NOTE To inquire about RAIDCore licensing and license keys visit the Dot Hills Systems Web sit...

Page 98: ...cons in the Array View section Use small icons when there are large numbers of drives or if the window resolution of the system is low NOTE The View task is unavailable while editing the Physical View of the disks 1 From the Options drop down menu select View 2 Click Small Icons to check enable or clear disable the feature Use Expand On Click When Expand On Click is enabled clicking an array in th...

Page 99: ...ed or hidden using the Edit Columns feature 1 From the Options drop down menu select View 2 Click Edit Columns See the following figure Figure 18 Select Display Columns Window Edit Columns 3 To show or hide a column highlight its name and use the or buttons to move it into or out of the Show These Fields list ...

Page 100: ...EG Click OK NOTE Resize the JPEG image to fit the rectangular space of the Edit Physical View screen The default image is 551 x 187 pixels 3 If needed drag drop disk boxes from the list at the top onto or from the image For example choose to position a disk in place of an empty bay in the enclosure or remove disk boxes that are not controlled by RAIDCore NOTE Any disks from the top not used within...

Page 101: ...alarm from a system speaker if applicable to notify the user of Critical or Fatal events E mail Sends notification events to the specified e mail address Also allows the user to specify a known user s e mail address as the sender the mail server and e mail address must be configured The system name is automatically placed in the subject line of the message and is included in the body of the e mail...

Page 102: ...ifications By default the system on which RAIDCore is installed is used 4 Click Send Test Message to verify that the e mail notification works 5 Choose the types of notification events to use pop up audible alarm e mail event log for each event priority low informational warning critical fatal by clicking the appropriate options NOTE If the user wants to disable messaging do not check the Enable M...

Page 103: ...elect Enable Remote Management 4 Establish authorization for incoming connects by specifying the user name and password 5 Confirm the password by typing it again in the Confirm field 6 Click OK Add a Remote System Remote management of a RAIDCore storage system can be added using the RAIDConsole Add Remote System option 1 From the Options drop down menu select Add Remote System The Manage Remote Sy...

Page 104: ...ty in streaming applications some users might want to disable SMART monitoring for the appropriate disks Read SMART information from disks 1 From the Disk drop down menu select SMART Data The SMART Information window opens 2 Select a disk under Devices to view the SMART options for that disk 3 From the Options drop down menu at the SMART Information window enable or disable a variety of SMART opti...

Page 105: ...g As Start Service when the RAIDCore Event Service is not running See Stop and Restart the RAIDCore Event Service below for more information Stop and Restart the RAIDCore Event Service The Stop Service and Start Service advanced options are used to stop and restart the RAIDCore Event Service Stopping the RAIDCore Event Service does not damage arrays or data Stop the RAIDCore Event Service This adv...

Page 106: ...104 Chapter 6 RAIDConsole Graphical User Interface GUI ...

Page 107: ... the system s boot settings Make sure that the boot order is correct 3 Press the applicable key to exit and continue booting to the operating system A bootable array is in a Offline state 1 Press Ctrl Alt Del to restart the system 2 After the system restarts press Ctrl R to access the BIOS Configuration Utility O ROM 3 Check the state of the bootable array at the Arrays field or by selecting View ...

Page 108: ...Critical is set to ON at the BIOS Configuration Utility Press CTRL R to enter into the BIOS Configuration Utility to investigate the cause of the Critical array Check for the following Whether a disk in the array has failed or has gone offline missing Check the disk state at the Disks field The Critical state of an array depends on the RAID level of the array and the number of disks that have fail...

Page 109: ...l in one of the mirrored sets the redundant array goes to an Offline state and data is lost NOTE A bootable array that is in an Offline state prevents the operating system from booting Check if a disk s in the bootable array is incorrectly seated in the backplane or if cables are disconnected from the disk s Do a rescan after the check and determine the state of the bootable array If the state of ...

Page 110: ... the array is in Critical state because one of the disks of a RAID 1 or RAID 5 array has failed or one of the disks of a RAID 10 array has failed Remove and replace a failed disk A second disk failure could cause a Critical array to change to Offline state BIOS NOT INSTALLED User Disabled INT13 BIOS Load or equivalent This warning message appears when the INT13 Boot Support option has been set to ...

Page 111: ...if the array is created in the BIOS Configuration Utility RAIDConsole cannot be used to create an array with a disk that has SMART errors The system already has a maximum of eight arrays Delete unused arrays CAUTION Deleting an array destroys all data on the array Table 47 Troubleshooting An Array is in an Offline State Possible Causes Corrective Actions The array has lost one or more disks Replac...

Page 112: ...dedicated or global spare Determine if the array can be restored and if the disk returns to an Online state If the array cannot be restored remove and replace the disk If a disk was recently removed and replaced check that it is correctly positioned in the backplane or bay and that the latch of the disk tray frame if applicable is closed Check the cable connections at the disk and at the motherboa...

Page 113: ... spare cannot be selected if it is already part of an existing array The disk assigned as the global hot spare has failed When prompted at system startup press Ctrl R to access the BIOS Configuration Utility At the BIOS Configuration Utility select View Array Details and press Enter Determine whether the disk that is designated as the global hot spare has a state of Offline Check to see if the dis...

Page 114: ... create a volume larger than 2 TB with Windows Server 2003 1 At RAIDConsole create an array using the Create command Choose sufficient capacity for an array greater than 2 TB 2 For the Type field select a desired array type NOTE To create arrays larger than 2 TB on 32 bit Windows Server 2003 make sure that Service Pack 1 has been installed in the system 3 From the desktop right click My Computer C...

Page 115: ... being created check the following That the recreated array has the same drive letter as the deleted array That the recreated array is the same RAID type RAID level as the deleted array That the recreated array uses the same disks as the deleted array That the recreated array has the same capacity as the deleted array That the recreated array has the same cache option as the deleted array Check th...

Page 116: ...from the ports on the motherboard to the disk are connected properly Make sure that the disk is still assigned as a global or dedicated hot spare Check if the disk assigned as the hot spare has failed The dedicated spare is not visible in the BIOS Configuration Utility or is offline RAIDCore cannot communicate with the hot spare Check if the disk has been removed or has failed Check for a loose or...

Page 117: ...ed from copying and or distributing the Software in whole or in part from using the Software to provide consulting or other services to third parties and from distributing the Software in any form or format other than as specifically authorized by such Authorized Distributors applicable written agreement s with Dot Hill Authorized Distributors are also subject to all other terms and conditions of ...

Page 118: ...e fails to comply with any provision of this Agreement Upon termination Licensee shall discontinue use of the Software and either destroy erase or return to Dot Hill all copies of the Software in Licensee s possession or control 7 No Warranty UNLESS DOT HILL HAS OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING DIRECTED SPECIFICALLY TO YOU THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EXPRESS OR IMPLI...

Page 119: ...are is strictly prohibited NOTE THAT NOTWITHSTANDING THIS SECTION 9 ANY DOT HILL WARRANTIES ON HARDWARE ARE NOT TRANSFERABLE 10 Export Controls Licensee agrees to comply fully with all relevant export laws regulations treaties and orders Export Laws to assure that neither the Software nor any components thereof are i exported directly or indirectly in violation of Export Laws or ii are intended to...

Page 120: ...118 Appendix A Software License EULA ...

Page 121: ...n are indicated in the following table Follow these instructions to issue the command on the operating system To Use bcadm with a Linux OS By default bcadm is installed in bin To Use bcadm with a Windows OS Change directories to Program Files RAIDCore Run the bcadm exe command from there or Add Program Files RAIDCore to the system or user path environment variables Table 57 Modes for the bcadm Pro...

Page 122: ...ollers disks and arrays for the system is displayed To see information about a specific controller disk or array use the bcadm manage query command in conjunction with the appropriate options bcadm Controller List Elements Table 58 bcadm Controller List Elements Item Description Number Controller number assigned by RAIDCore Type Model number of the controller Serial Number Serial number of the con...

Page 123: ...0 000 000 bytes NOTE Because the ATA storage industry has standardized the meanings of MB as 1 000 000 bytes and GB as 1 000 000 000 bytes RAIDCore reports the same units Free Space Total amount of space unused on the disk Largest Free Space Largest contiguous unused space on the disk GS Indicates if the disk is assigned as a global spare Ca Current disk cache setting NC No Cache R Read Cache W Wr...

Page 124: ...k Task type Transform Copy Check Check_Bitmap Not_Active Create Restore With the verbose qualifier the Copy task type displays the source and destination array numbers NOTE See Array Tasks Starting and Stopping Tasks on page 27 for detailed definitions Task State The state of the task Started Paused Completed The progress of a current array task such as a Create or Transform shown as percent compl...

Page 125: ...only for a given boot and might be different in the BIOS Configuration Utility and drivers If a permanent label is required use the labeling feature provided by the name option CAUTION In some circumstances more than eight arrays are possible They might appear to function properly but are not supported by Dot Hill Systems Corp NOTE The array size of the new array is limited to 2 199 TB with Window...

Page 126: ...e array The array size of the transformed array is limited to 2 199 TB on Windows Server 2003 Refer to the operating system documentation for details on maximum array sizes Copy Arrays bcadm create copy supported only by RAIDCore VST The bcadm create copy or bcadm CC command allows the user to create a new array that contains an exact copy of the data on a source array Essentially the Create Array...

Page 127: ...adm transform supported only by RAIDCore VST on page 124 If the original source mirrored array is hidden the resulting copy after a split is also hidden For mirrors of type RAID 1n or RAID 10n various split combinations are possible by specifying the disk option Using this option select the drives to keep as part of the original array Disks that are not selected are split to the second array For e...

Page 128: ...low at the same time If the user runs more than one instance of the command each instance captures some of the events but none will capture all Any command line arguments for the bcadm follow command override the configuration that has been set up in the etc bcadm cfg file View or Change License Levels bcadm license The bcadm license or bcadm L command allows the user to view current license infor...

Page 129: ... RAIDCore Legacy disks appear in the BIOS Configuration Utility and in RAIDConsole as legacy arrays When the legacy disk is initializing RAIDCore RAIDCore configuration data is written to the disk The legacy array then becomes an online disk that can be used in a RAIDCore array OCE Online Capacity Expansion A feature available with a RAIDCore VST license that allows users to add up to 32 disks to ...

Page 130: ...128 Glossary ...

Page 131: ...ks starting and stopping 27 tasks starting and stopping 26 transform using bcadm 124 transforming 78 understanding their purpose 23 using the Un Link command 83 Arrays Status section Array Status window 71 audience intended 11 audience who should use this user manual 15 B backup strategy 32 bcadm array list elements 122 change license levels 126 controller list elements 120 copy arrays 124 create ...

Page 132: ... copying drivers to removable storage media 34 E errors arrays Offline status 109 errors physical disks cannot initialize a disk 114 dedicated hot spare has failed or is in error 114 Failed status is displayed 114 the wrong disk was removed 114 event notifications setting 99 Event View section Array Status window 72 expanding disk capacity online OCE 26 expansion future arrays 26 F First Time Run ...

Page 133: ...BGI 17 cache support for arrays 17 cache support for disks 17 consistency check 17 controller spanning 17 disk roaming 17 fault tolerance 18 license features by license level 21 licensing features 20 main features 16 mirror rebuilding 18 mirror splitting 18 multiple RAID levels per disk 18 Native Command Queuing NCQ 18 Online Capacity Expansion OCE 18 Online RAID Level Migration ORLM 19 RAID level...

Page 134: ...tem does not boot 105 system startup problems 105 the wrong disk was removed 114 warning messages POST screen 106 107 108 U Un Link command using 83 user manual who should use it 15 V view help from the bcadm Command Line 123 view license levels using bcadm 126 view settings changing 74 virtual disks errors 109 troubleshooting 109 volumes larger than 2 TB with Windows Server 2003 112 W warning mes...

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