ASRock X79 Extreme11 LSI SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide - Page 7

SAS2 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide

Chapter 2: Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes

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Introduction

LSI Corporation Confidential

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August 2010

Page 7

Chapter 2

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, high-density, rack-mountable servers. The mirroring features of

the LSI Integrated RAID solution provide data protection for the system boot volume,

which safeguards the operating system and other critical information on servers and

high-performance workstations. The Integrated RAID solution supports the following

types of mirrored arrays:



The Integrated Mirroring solution, which provides features of RAID 1



The Integrated Mirroring + Striping solution, which provides features of RAID 10



The Integrated Mirroring Enhanced

solution, which provides features of RAID 1

Enhanced (RAID 1E)

These three mirroring solutions provide a robust, high-performance, fault-tolerant

solution to data storage needs at a lower cost than a dedicated RAID controller.

Mirrored volumes may have from two-to-ten disks to provide fault-tolerant protection

for critical data. Mirrored volumes also support one or two global hot spare drives, with

a maximum of 14 drives on each LSI SAS2 controller.

NOTE:

Fourteen drives is the

theoretical

upper limit for a single LSI SAS2 controller,

although the controller itself may support fewer than 14 drives. You can also configure

one mirrored volume and one Integrated Striping volume on the same LSI SAS

controller.

Each SAS2 controller can have two global hot spare disks available to automatically

replace a failed disk in the one or two mirrored volumes configured on the controller.

The hot spares make the mirrored volumes even more fault-tolerant.

2.2

Integrated Mirroring and

Integrated Mirroring Enhanced

Features

Integrated Mirroring, Integrated Mirroring + Striping, and Integrated Mirroring

Enhanced volumes support the following features:



Configurations of one or two mirrored volumes on each LSI SAS2 controller. Each

volume can consist of two mirrored disks for an Integrated Mirroring volume;

three-to-ten mirrored disks for an Integrated Mirroring Enhanced volume; or four,

six, eight, or ten mirrored disks for an Integrated Mirroring + Striping volume.



(Optional) Two global hot spare disks per LSI SAS2 controller to automatically

replace failed disks in mirrored volumes.

Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes

This chapter provides an overview of the LSI Integrated RAID features that support the

creation of mirrored arrays.

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 7

Overview of Integrated RAID Mirrored Volumes

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