ASRock X79 Extreme11 LSI SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide - Page 11

SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide

Chapter 2: Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes

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Mirrored Volume Features

LSI Corporation Confidential

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August 2010

Page 11

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

Concurrent Host I/O Operation

The Integrated RAID firmware allows host I/O transactions to continue on a mirrored

volume while it resynchronizes the volume in the background. The firmware

automatically starts resynchronizing data after a disk failure activates a hot spare, or

after a disk in a mirrored volume has been

hot swapped

.

2.4.2

Hot Swapping

The Integrated RAID firmware supports hot swapping, and it automatically

resynchronizes the hot-swapped disk in the background without any host or user

intervention. The firmware detects hot-swap removal and disk insertion.

Following a hot-swap event, the firmware verifies that the new physical disk has

enough capacity for the mirrored volume. The firmware resynchronizes all replaced

hot-swapped disks, even if the same disk is re-inserted. In a mirrored volume with an

even number of disks, the firmware marks the hot-swapped disk as a secondary disk

and the other disk with data as the primary disk. The firmware resynchronizes all data

from the primary disk onto the new secondary disk. In a mirrored volume with an odd

number of disks, primary and secondary sets include three disks instead of two.

2.4.3

Hot Spare Disk

You can configure two disks as

global hot spare

disks to protect data on the mirrored

volumes configured on the SAS2 controller. If the Integrated RAID firmware fails one of

the mirrored disks, it automatically replaces the failed disk with a hot spare disk and

then resynchronizes the mirrored data. The firmware automatically receives a

notification when a hot spare replaces the failed disk, and it then designates that disk

as the new hot spare.

2.4.4

Online Capacity Expansion

The OCE feature enables you to expand the capacity of an existing two-disk Integrated

Mirroring (RAID 1) volume by replacing the original disk drives with higher-capacity

drives that have the same protocol (SAS or SATA).

NOTE:

The new drives must have at least 50 GB more capacity than the original drives

of the volume.

After you replace the disk drives and run the OCE command, you must use a

commercial tool specific to the operating system to move or increase the size of the

partition on the volume.

2.4.5

Media Verification

The Integrated RAID firmware supports a background

media verification

feature that

runs at regular intervals when the mirrored volume is in the Optimal state. If the

verification command fails for any reason, the firmware reads the other disk’s data for

this segment and writes it to the failing disk in an attempt to refresh the data. The

firmware periodically writes the current media verification logical block address to

nonvolatile memory so that the media verification can continue from where it stopped

prior to a power cycle.

Section	Page
SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide	1
Introduction to the Integrated RAID Solution	5
1.1 Overview	5
1.2 Benefits and Features	6
1.2.1 Host Interface	6
1.2.2 Metadata Support	6
1.2.3 SMART Support	6
1.2.4 Fusion-MPT Support	6
Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes	7
2.1 Introduction	7
2.2 Integrated Mirroring and Integrated Mirroring Enhanced Features	7
2.3 Operation of Mirrored Volumes	8
2.4 Mirrored Volume Features	11
2.4.1 Resynchronization with Concurrent Host I/O Operation	11
2.4.2 Hot Swapping	11
2.4.3 Hot Spare Disk	11
2.4.4 Online Capacity Expansion	11
2.4.5 Media Verification	11
2.4.6 Disk Write Caching	12
2.4.7 NVSRAM Usage	12
2.4.8 Background Initialization	12
2.4.9 Consistency Check	12
2.4.10 Make Data Consistent	12
Creating Mirrored Volumes	13
3.1 Mirrored Volume Configuration Overview	13
3.2 Creating Mirrored Volumes	13
3.2.1 Creating an Integrated Mirroring Volume	14
3.2.2 Creating an Integrated Mirroring Enhanced or Integrated Mirroring + Striping Volume	15
3.2.3 Expanding an Integrated Mirroring Volume with OCE	16
3.3 Managing Hot Spare Disks	17
3.3.1 Creating Hot Spare Disks	17
3.3.2 Deleting Hot Spare Disks	18
3.4 Other Configuration Tasks	19
3.4.1 Viewing Volume Properties	19
3.4.2 Running a Consistency Check	19
3.4.3 Activating an Array	20
3.4.4 Deleting an Array	20
3.4.5 Locating Disk Drives in a Volume	21
3.4.6 Selecting a Boot Disk	21
Overview of Integrated Striping	23
4.1 Introduction	23
4.2 Integrated Striping Features	23
4.3 Integrated Striping Description	24
Creating Integrated Striping Volumes	25
5.1 Integrated Striping Configuration Overview	25
5.2 Creating Integrated Striping Volumes	25
5.3 Other Configuration Tasks	27
5.3.1 Viewing Volume Properties	27
5.3.2 Activating an Array	27
5.3.3 Deleting an Array	28
5.3.4 Locating Disk Drives in a Volume	28
5.3.5 Selecting a Boot Disk	29
Using the SAS2 Integrated RAID Configuration Utility	31
A.1 Hardware and Software Requirements	31
A.1.1 Controller Support	31
A.1.2 Operating System and Software Support	32
A.2 Interface Description	32
A.3 Commands	32
A.3.1 Common Command-Line Parameters	33
A.3.2 CREATE Command	33
A.3.3 DELETE Command	35
A.3.4 DISPLAY Command	35
A.3.5 HOTSPARE Command	37
A.3.6 STATUS Command	38
A.3.7 LIST Command	39
A.3.8 MFGPAGE Command	40
A.3.9 CONSTCHK Command	40
A.3.10 ACTIVATE Command	40
A.3.11 LOCATE Command	41

ASRock X79 Extreme11 LSI SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide - Page 11

Mirrored Volume Features

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