Installing and Using RAID Storage Manager
Accessing RAID Storage Manager
Choosing Between Express and Custom Configuration
Dell Precision™ Workstation 470 and 670 Computers User's Guide
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Adaptec Embedded HostRAID supports:
(Install the RAID Storage Manager as described in "Installing and Using RAID Storage Manager.")
When you install a driver in a new computer or update a driver in an existing computer, you need a driver disk. To obtain drivers:
Your installation is complete. If you want to create an array from the BIOS, see "Creating an Array." If you want to create an array from the operating system, see "Installing and Using RAID Storage Manager."
With the RAID Storage Manager, you can locally manage a computer containing a supported RAID controller that has the Windows operating system installed. See the online help for information about creating, configuring, and managing arrays.
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NOTE: Your controller may not support all of the features described. In most cases, if a feature is not supported by your controller, the feature does not appear in the interface. |
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NOTE: When you are installing the RAID Storage Manager on a FAT 32 file system, the folder being installed is automatically hidden. |
The action buttons are:
The remaining buttons open additional windows that provide more detailed information, and allow you to perform actions or change settings of a specific aspect of your storage subsystem.
Immediately following the header frame is a controller information line including the model number of the first RAID controller found in the computer.
Beneath the controller information are Physical Devices and Logical Devices views that show connected devices and existing arrays on this controller. Controller information and device views are repeated for each additional RAID controller in the computer.
Select the controller by clicking anywhere on the controller information. When you select the controller, the Events, Properties, and Tasks buttons change from blue to amber, indicating that clicking any of them displays an additional window with information and options specific to this controller.
If you position the cursor over a device or button, a pop-up tool tip appears. For buttons, the tips contain helpful information about the function of the button, while for devices the tips display additional information.
The Physical Devices view displays information about the drives attached to the RAID controller. The devices shown are organized by the channel or port to which they are connected and they are listed in numerical order.
The display for each channel includes information on maximum speed capability, the number of the channel on the controller, and the number of devices found (excluding the SCSI controller).
Selecting a channel or device turns the Events, Properties, and Tasks buttons amber. The amber color indicates that clicking any of these buttons displays an additional window with information and options specific to that device or channel.
At the top of the Physical Devices view, grouped to the right of View, are three view selection buttons. These buttons select the physical devices connected to the controller.
By default, the Physical Devices view displays a condensed snapshot of the controller configuration that hides detailed information about the drives. More information is available by either positioning the mouse pointer over the device or clicking the arrow to the left of a row of devices.
The selected display mode button appears in a lighter shade of blue than the other two buttons. The default display is the Text Description View, but in the condensed view that is used when the RAID Storage Manager is loaded, the display is the same in all three modes.
If you change the display mode by selecting one of the other view buttons, a yellow arrow flashes to the left of any devices where the condensed display hides information.
An icon is always the first entry on each device line. If a + symbol appears with the hard drive icon, the drive is a hot spare. Different icons are used to represent other devices.
When you expand the default display mode, the following information about each device appears:
When you expand them, the Full Size Capacity View button and the Relative Size Capacity View button represent each drive as a bar. A drive that is not used as part of any array is blue and is surrounded by a dotted line.
The Full Size Capacity View button displays a full-length bar for each drive, regardless of capacity. The Relative Size Capacity View button displays a bar for each drive, with the largest capacity drive full-length and the other drives proportional to the drive capacity, relative to the largest drive.
Any part of a drive used in an array is shown as a gray segment within the bar. Selecting any gray segment highlights it in amber, and in the Logical Devices view.
In either the Full Size Capacity View or the Relative Size Capacity View, a small portion at each end of the drive may be shown in dark gray.
The segment at the end of the drive may vary in size from drive to drive because, in addition to the RAID signature, the controller may also limit the usable capacity of each drive.
This is done because hard drives that appear to have the same capacity and that are made by different manufacturers, or even different models from the same manufacturer, actually vary slightly in the true capacity available. In normal operation, this is not an issue, it can be when assigning hot spares or replacing a failed drive.
If the controller uses the maximum capacity of each drive and a hot spare or replacement drive is just a few megabytes smaller, it is not possible to replace the failed drive. By rounding drive capacities down to the nearest 2 MB, this possibility is effectively eliminated.
As described earlier, when the RAID Storage Manager loads, the Logical Devices view is expanded and you can see the arrays present on the controller.
At the top of this view are the following buttons: Create, Modify, and Delete. Each button opens a wizard for the corresponding function.
Modify allows you to:
The main area of the Logical Devices view is used to display the arrays on this controller. It defaults to a condensed view of top-level arrays.
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NOTE: The Options button allows you to display second-level arrays if your controller supports them. |
In this condensed view, the RAID level of each device, as well as whether it is protected by a hot spare, is visible. If a global hot spare exists, all arrays that the hot spare is large enough to protect shows as protected.
In the expanded view, the icons for the arrays are arranged vertically and next to them are the capacity, name, and type of arrays.
Selecting an array by clicking on it highlights the following in amber:
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NOTE: Your RAID Storage Manager permissions vary according to your operating system permissions: |
Administrator: The Administrator log in allows you to view and modify the RAID configuration. You can create and delete logical devices, add and remove hot-spare drives, and verify logical devices. To log in as Administrator, you must be a member of the Administrator group for your operating system. Use the Administrator user name and password or your own user name and password if you are a member of the Administrator group.
User: The User log in allows you to view the RAID configuration, verify logical devices, and add and remove hot-spares. You cannot create or delete logical devices. To log in as User, use your normal network user name and password.
Guest: The Guest log in allows you to view the RAID configuration only. You cannot change or modify any information. To log in as Guest, click Cancel when the RAID Storage Manager Log in window opens.
To create an array:
If you select Express configuration, the RAID Storage Manager automatically:
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NOTE: For HostRAID controllers, Express configuration creates a single RAID Level-1 logical device; it does not create a hot spare drive. |
If you select Custom configuration, the RAID Storage Manager guides you through:
In the Configuration wizard, you can choose from two methods to configure your controller:
Click the Express configuration for a quick and easy method to automatically configure your controller. This path creates the most efficient configuration based on the number and capacity of the ready physical drives available in your computer. If four or more ready drives of the same capacity are available, this choice also defines a hot-spare drive for the controller. If four or more ready drives are available, the largest drive is designated as the hot-spare drive.
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NOTE: For HostRAID controllers, Express configuration creates a RAID level-1 logical drive. |
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NOTE: When you choose Express configuration, you have the opportunity to review and approve the configuration before the RAID Storage Manager applies the configuration. If you need to modify the configuration, you can do so from the configuration summary. |
Click the Custom configuration for a method that lets you manually configure your controller.
Choose this method to do any of the following:
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NOTICE: Deleting an array destroys all data on the array. Deleting the array on which the operating system resides destroys the operating system and all data, and the computer no longer boots. Only delete data arrays, or backup data before deleting the boot array. For some operating systems, deleting a disk group and its associated logical drives might change the drive-letter assignments of the remaining drives when you restart the computer. |
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NOTICE: If you delete a disk group, you delete all logical devices that are defined in that disk group. All data and programs on the logical devices in the disk group are lost during this procedure. |
To delete a disk group:
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NOTICE: Before proceeding, ensure that you have backed up any data and programs that you want to save. |
Use this action to rebuild a degraded logical device when a physical drive in the disk group is failed. Normally, the controller rebuilds a logical device when it detects the removal and reinsertion of a drive that is part of a disk group. Use this operation to force the rebuild to begin immediately, without physically removing and replacing the disk drive.
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NOTE: The controllers can rebuild RAID level-1 logical devices. They cannot, however, rebuild RAID level-0 logical devices because RAID level-0 is not redundant. |
To manually rebuild a failed drive:
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NOTE: During the rebuild operation, the failed drive enters the rebuild state and the logical device remains degraded until the rebuild operation is completed. |
When a hot-spare drive is available, the rebuild operation begins automatically without the need to replace the failed drive. If more than one drive fails within the same disk group, no rebuild takes place. If multiple drives fail in separate disk groups (one physical drive per array), the controller initiates a rebuild operation for the logical devices within the disk group containing the first failed physical drive. The rebuild operation is performed on the first hot-spare drive of sufficient size to become a valid member of the disk group.
Use this action to check redundant logical drives for inconsistent or bad data. Verification is similar to Verify with Fix, except that the RAID Storage Manager does not repair the drive if bad data is found. Verification can be a lengthy operation. You cannot perform any other actions on the controller until the verification is completed. You can verify the logical drive immediately or schedule it for another time. You can also schedule the verification as a recurring task. A recurring task starts at the initial start time, then runs periodically according to the given interval: the same time each day, the same time each week, or the same time each month.
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NOTE: You cannot perform any other actions on the controller until the verification is completed. For example, you cannot schedule a verification if another logical drive verification is in progress. |
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NOTE: Do not turn off the computer while verification is in progress. |
To verify a logical drive:
With the Adaptec RAID Configuration Utility (ACU), you can create and manage RAID arrays with drives connected to a SATA controller. This section explains how to use ACU and two host RAID levels to provide the proper level of fault tolerance and event notification. See "SCSI Host RAID."
HostRAID supports the following RAID levels:
Before creating arrays, make sure the disks for the array are connected and installed in your computer. Note that disks with no usable space, or disks that are part of the RAID array are shown in gray and cannot be used. See "Configuring Drives."
To create an array:
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NOTE: Once the array is created and its properties are assigned, you cannot change the array properties using the ACU. |
Tips for assigning an array:
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NOTICE: Do not interrupt the creation of a RAID 0 using the Migrate option. If you do, there is no way to restart, and no way to recover the data that was on the source drive. |
To assign properties to the new array:
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NOTE: It is recommended that you do not change the default. |
You can select between the different creation methods for RAID 0 and RAID 1. The following table gives examples of when each is appropriate.
If an installed disk does not appear in the disk selection list for creating a new array, or if it appears grayed out, you may have to initialize it before you can use it as part of an array. Drives attached to the controller must be configured before they can be used in an array.
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NOTE: Rebuilding applies to Fault Tolerant arrays (RAID 1) only. |
If an array Build process (or initialization) is interrupted or critical with one member missing, you must perform a Rebuild to get the array to Optimal status. For a critical array Rebuild operation, the optimal drive is the source drive.
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NOTE: If no spare exists and a hard disk drive fails, you need to create a spare before you can rebuild an array. See "Add/Delete Hotspares" before continuing your Rebuild. |
If you are notified of a mismatch of data during a build of RAID 1, you have an option of synchronizing your drives.
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NOTE: You only have the synchronize option available if the array is Optimal. If the array has failed, you need to rebuild the array. |
Do you want utility to automatically fix errors? (Yes/No)
When the synchronization is complete, you are notified with a fix message.
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NOTICE: Back up the data on an array before you delete it. Otherwise, all data on the array is lost. Deleted arrays cannot be restored. |
To delete an existing array:
Warning!! Deleting the array will render array unusable. Do you
want to delete the array?(Yes/No):
RAID 1 only—the following prompt is also displayed:
Deleting the partition will result in data loss! Do you also want
to delete the partition? Choose which member:
[NONE] [MEMBER #0] [MEMBER #1] [BOTH]
Select the Add/Delete Hotspares option to add, delete, or view hotspares.
Do you want to create spare? (Yes/No)
The Spare you have selected appears in the Assigned Hot Spare Drive menu.
To view the properties of an existing array:
The Array Properties dialog box appears, showing detailed information on the array. The physical disks associated with the array are displayed here.
The Controller Configuration and SATA Configuration menu options are displayed.
You can modify the following Controller Interface options:
If Runtime BIOS is enabled and the Array-based BBS Support option is disabled, the controller BIOS is enabled and post to the first array (or drive) attached to the controller as a bootable hard disk drive.
The Disk Utilities enable you to format or verify the media of your Serial ATA hard disks.
The following options appear:
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NOTICE: Formatting destroys all data on the drive. Be sure to back up your data before performing this operation. |
With the SCSISelect utility, you can create and maintain RAID arrays with drives connected to a SCSI controller.
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NOTE: Only the Dell Precision® 670 computer has RAID arrays with drives connected to a SCSI controller on the system board. You cannot use the SCSISelect utility with the Dell Precision 470 computer. |
This section explains how to use the SCSISelect utility to create and manage RAID arrays on your computer. Use HostRAID to provide the proper level of fault tolerance and event notification.
HostRAID supports the following RAID levels:
To select a SCSISelect menu option, move the cursor to the option with the arrow keys and then press <Enter>. In some cases, selecting an option displays another menu. You can return to the previous menu at any time by pressing <Esc>.
During the startup process, pay careful attention to the messages that appear on your screen.
Press <Ctrl><A> for SCSI Select (TM) Utility!
After scanning the device is completed, the Main menu appears. The Main menu displays the following information:
To view an array, select the array and press <Enter>. A detailed view of the hard drives appears. From this window you can see the status of the individual hard drives. The status levels you might see are:
Missing drive information indicates that a member is missing and the array is not optimal
Before creating the array, make sure that the disks for the array are connected and installed in your computer, and then follow these steps:
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NOTE: You must have at least two hard drives to create an array. |
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NOTE: If the hard drive you select is already part of an array configuration, it will not be available for selection. |
The allowance messages for the different RAID types are as follows:
Min 2 drives
Min 2 drives, max 2 drives
Do you want to make this array bootable?
There are two ways to create a RAID 1 array. You can create a new RAID 1 array or you can migrate from an existing single drive to a RAID 1 array. To create a RAID 1 array using either option:
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NOTE: If a valid partition table or boot block is detected in the target drive, you receive a warning that that the information will be destroyed. |
After your array is created, the progress bar appears showing the percentage completed in the creation process. If for any reason you want to stop the build process and return to the Main menu, press <Esc>. You may continue the build process by selecting the Rebuild function later.
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NOTE: You might not be able to use the array if the build has not been entirely completed. |
To add a spare to an existing RAID 1 array, see "Adding a Spare Drive."
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NOTE: If a valid partition table or boot block is detected in the target drive, you get a warning message that the dynamic partition disk(s) will be converted to the basic partition disk(s). |
With RAID 1 you have the option to create a maximum of 2 spare drives. You can create a spare before you define your RAID or you can add a spare later to an existing RAID 1 array.
Are you Sure?
Yes/No
After you select your spare drive, it appears as a spare in the Main menu.
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NOTE: Rebuilding applies to Fault Tolerant arrays (RAID 1) only. |
If an array Build process (or initialization) is interrupted or critical with one member missing, you must perform a Rebuild to get the array to Optimal status. For a critical array Rebuild operation, the optimal drive is the source drive.
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NOTE: If no spare exists and a hard disk drive fails, you need to create a spare before you can rebuild an array. See "Adding a Spare Drive" before continuing your Rebuild. |
To rebuild an array for RAID 1:
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NOTE: During the Rebuild process, you can stop the Rebuild by pressing <Esc>. You get a pop-up window displaying Stop Build? If you select Yes, you return to the Main menu. |
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NOTE: To verify data integrity, your RAID 1 must be at Optimal status. |
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NOTE: During the Verify process, you can stop the Verify by pressing <Esc>. You get a pop-up window displaying Stop Verify? If you select Yes, you return to the Main menu. |
If you select No, this executes a comparison of mirrored drives, a log of errors, and a report at the end of the verification process.
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NOTE: To fix errors found (if any), run Verify again with Autofix=Yes. |
After you select your verification option, the following message appears: Depending on your disk capacity, verifying may take several minutes to several hours. Are you sure?
If your Verify is unsuccessful, you get the following message: WARNING: Failed !!!
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NOTE: Mark Bootable gives boot priority to the array regardless of the SCSI ID priority. |