Summary of the content on the page No. 1
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution
User Guide
Version 2.0
August 2010
Summary of the content on the page No. 2
Revision History Version and Date Description of Changes Version 2.0, August 2010 Added new models of supported controllers. Version 1.1, August 2009 Applied extensive general editing improvements. Version 1.0, July 2009 Initial release of this document. LSI, the LSI logo, Fusion-MPT are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other brand and product names may be trademarks of their respective companies. LSI Corporation reserves the right to make changes t
Summary of the content on the page No. 3
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Table of Contents Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction to the Integrated RAID Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 1.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Summary of the content on the page No. 4
Table of Contents SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Chapter 5: Creating Integrated Striping Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 5.1 Integrated Striping Configuration Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Summary of the content on the page No. 5
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Chapter 1: Introduction to the Integrated RAID Solution | Overview Chapter 1 Introduction to the Integrated RAID Solution This chapter provides an introduction to the features and benefits of the LSI Integrated RAID solution for LSI SAS2 controllers. 1.1 Overview The LSI Integrated RAID solution provides cost benefits for the server or workstation market that requires the extra performance, storage capacity, and/or redundancy of a RAID configuration.
Summary of the content on the page No. 6
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Integrated RAID Solution | Benefits and Features SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide 1.2 Benefits and Features The LSI Integrated RAID solution has the following benefits and features: Support for up to 10 disks per Integrated RAID volume, with one or two volumes on each SAS2 controller. Each controller can support can support 14 volume drives, including one or two hot spare disks. Support for two-disk Integrated Mirroring volumes (RAID 1) Support for
Summary of the content on the page No. 7
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Chapter 2: Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes | Introduction Chapter 2 Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes This chapter provides an overview of the LSI Integrated RAID features that support the creation of mirrored arrays. 2.1 Introduction As a result of the shift towards network-attached storage (NAS), Internet service providers need a cost-effective, fault-tolerant solution to protect the operating systems on small form-factor, hi
Summary of the content on the page No. 8
Chapter 2: Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes | Operation of Mirrored Volumes SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Ability of mirrored volumes to run in optimal mode or in degraded mode if one mirrored disk in an Integrated Mirroring volume fails or if one or more mirrored disks fail in an Integrated Mirroring + Striping volume or Integrated Mirroring Enhanced volume. Support for hot swapping. Support for online capacity expansion (OCE) for RAID 1 volumes. OCE allows you t
Summary of the content on the page No. 9
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Chapter 2: Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes | Operation of Mirrored Volumes Integrated Mirroring Volume Primary Mirror SAS NVSRAM (For Write Journaling) Memory Bus LSI Fusion-MPT SAS2 Controller FLASH (For Configuration) 3_00006-00 Figure 1: Typical Integrated Mirroring Implementation The following figure shows the logical view and physical view of an Integrated Mirroring volume. Each logical block address (LBA) is mirrored on the second disk
Summary of the content on the page No. 10
Chapter 2: Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes | Operation of Mirrored Volumes SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Logical View Physical View Mirrored Stripe 1 Mirrored Stripe 1 Mirrored Stripe 1' Mirrored Stripe 2 Mirrored Stripe 2 Mirrored Stripe 2' Mirrored Stripe 3 Mirrored Stripe 3' Mirrored Stripe 3 Mirrored Stripe 4 Mirrored Stripe 4' Mirrored Stripe 5 + + Mirrored Stripe 4 Mirrored Stripe 5' Mirrored Stripe 6 Mirrored Stripe 6' Mirrored Stripe N Mirrored Stripe N-1' Mirrore
Summary of the content on the page No. 11
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Chapter 2: Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes | Mirrored Volume Features 2.4 Mirrored Volume Features This section describes features of Integrated Mirroring, Integrated Mirroring + Striping, and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced volumes. You can configure one or two mirrored volumes on each LSI SAS2 controller. 2.4.1 Resynchronization with The Integrated RAID firmware allows host I/O transactions to continue on a mirrored Concurrent Host I/O Op
Summary of the content on the page No. 12
Chapter 2: Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes | Mirrored Volume Features SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide 2.4.6 Disk Write Caching By default, the Integrated RAID firmware disables disk write caching for mirrored volumes. It does this to ensure that the write journal entry stored in nonvolatile static RAM (NVSRAM) is always valid. If you enable disk write caching (not recommended), you may cause the disk write log to be invalid. 2.4.7 NVSRAM Usage The Integrated RAID firmw
Summary of the content on the page No. 13
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Chapter 3: Creating Mirrored Volumes | Mirrored Volume Configuration Overview Chapter 3 Creating Mirrored Volumes This chapter explains how to create Integrated Mirroring, Integrated Mirroring + Striping, and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced volumes with the LSI SAS2 BIOS Configuration Utility (SAS2 BIOS CU). 3.1 Mirrored Volume The LSI SAS2 BIOS CU is a menu-driven utility program that enables you to easily Configuration Overview configure and manage In
Summary of the content on the page No. 14
Chapter 3: Creating Mirrored Volumes | Creating Mirrored Volumes SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Disks must have 512-byte blocks and must not have removable media. Integrated mirroring volumes must have two disks, Integrated Mirroring Enhanced volumes can have three-to-ten disks, and Integrated Mirroring + Striping volumes can have an even number of disks ranging from four-to-ten disks. NOTE: LSI strongly recommends that you create global hot spare disks for all mirrored volumes
Summary of the content on the page No. 15
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Chapter 3: Creating Mirrored Volumes | Creating Mirrored Volumes 4. Move the cursor to the RAID Disk column and select a line that has a No entry in this column, indicating that the disk is not already part of the volume you are creating. To add the disk to the new array, change the No to Yes by pressing the space bar. This is the Primary disk in the array. CAUTION: The SAS2 BIOS CU deletes all existing data from the disks drives when you select them t
Summary of the content on the page No. 16
Chapter 3: Creating Mirrored Volumes | Creating Mirrored Volumes SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide 4. Move the cursor to the RAID Disk column and select a line that has a No entry in this column, which indicates that the disk is not already part of the volume you are creating. To add the disk to the new array, change the No to Yes by pressing the space bar. CAUTION: The SAS2 BIOS CU deletes all existing data from the disks drives when you select them to use for a mirrored volume. 5. M
Summary of the content on the page No. 17
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Chapter 3: Creating Mirrored Volumes | Managing Hot Spare Disks 4. Again, wait until synchronization completes on the new disk and the volume returns to the Optimal state. 5. In the Adapter List window of the SAS2 BIOS CU, use the arrow keys to select the LSI SAS adapter with the RAID 1 volume, and then press Enter. The Adapter Properties window appears. 6. Use the arrow keys to select RAID Properties, and then press Enter. The Select New Array Type win
Summary of the content on the page No. 18
Chapter 3: Creating Mirrored Volumes | Managing Hot Spare Disks SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Figure 6: Manage Array Window The Manage Hot Spares window appears. 6. Identify a disk that is not part of a RAID volume (i.e., the value in the Drive Status column is not RAID) and that is not already identified as a hot spare disk. A global hot spare disk must have 512-byte blocks and nonremovable media. The disk type must be either SATA with extended command set support or SAS with SMAR
Summary of the content on the page No. 19
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide Chapter 3: Creating Mirrored Volumes | Other Configuration Tasks 3.4 Other Configuration Tasks This section explains how to perform other configuration and maintenance tasks for mirrored volumes. 3.4.1 Viewing Volume Properties Follow these steps to view the RAID properties of the mirrored volume(s): 1. In the SAS2 BIOS CU, select an LSI SAS2 adapter from the Adapter List. The Adapter Properties window appears. 2. Select RAID Properties. The Select New
Summary of the content on the page No. 20
Chapter 3: Creating Mirrored Volumes | Other Configuration Tasks SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide 3.4.3 Activating an Array A volume (array) can become inactive if, for example, you remove it from one controller or computer and install it on a different one. The Activate Array option allows you to reactivate an inactive volume. This option is available only when the selected volume is currently inactive. Follow these steps to activate a selected volume: 1. In the Adapter List window,
