Background operations
Background initialization
Background Initialization (BGI) is an automated process that writes the parity or mirror data on newly created virtual disks. BGI does not
run on RAID 0 virtual disks. You can control the BGI rate in the Dell OpenManage storage management application. Any change in the BGI
rate does not take effect until the next BGI run.
NOTE:
You cannot disable BGI permanently. If you cancel BGI, it automatically restarts within five minutes.
NOTE:
Unlike full or fast initialization of virtual disks, background initialization does not clear data from the physical disks.
NOTE:
Consistency Check (CC)/BGI typically causes some loss in performance until the operation completes.
Consistency Check (CC) and BGI perform similar functions in that they both correct parity errors. However, CC reports data
inconsistencies through an event notification, but BGI does not. You can start CC manually, but not BGI.
Consistency checks
Consistency Check (CC) is a background operation that verifies and corrects the mirror or parity data for fault tolerant virtual disks. It is
recommended that you periodically run a consistency check on virtual disks.
You can manually start a CC using the
HII Configuration Utility
or the Dell OpenManage storage management application. You can
schedule a CC to run on virtual disks using the Dell OpenManage storage management application. To start a CC using the
HII
Configuration Utility
.
NOTE:
CC/BGI typically causes some loss in performance until the operation completes.
Consistency Check (CC) and BGI both correct parity errors. However, CC reports data inconsistencies through an event notification, but
BGI does not. You can start CC manually, but not BGI.
Hard drive features
This section lists the following hard drive features supported on PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) 10 cards in detail:
•
Self-Encrypting Disks (SED)
•
Instant Secure Erase (ISE)
•
4KB block size disk drives
Self-Encrypting Disks
The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) 10 series of cards support Self-Encrypting Disks (SED) for protection of data against loss or
theft of SEDs. Protection is achieved by the use of encryption technology on the drives. There is one security key per controller. You can
manage the security key under Local Key Management (LKM). The security key is used by the controller to lock and unlock access to
encryption-capable physical disks. In order to take advantage of this feature, you must:
•
Have SEDs in your system.
•
Create a security key.
For more information, see the
Security key and RAID management
section.
24
Features
