HP 273914-B21 HP Smart Array Controller technology, 3rd edition - Page 16

Drive roaming HP Smart Array controllers support drive roaming, which allows administrators to move disk drives and arrays while maintaining data availability. Drive roaming allows administrators to move one or more disk drives that are members of a configured logical drive to a different bay position as long as the new bay position is accessible by the same controller. In addition, it allows administrators to move a complete array from one controller to another, even if controllers are in different servers. Drive roaming is supported as an offline feature. There is no current support for "ejecting" an array while the server is online and then importing it into a new physical location, whether it is attached to the same array, or migrated to a separate online array. Mirror splitting and recombining Mirror splitting is a task that splits an array with one or more RAID 1 or RAID 1+0 logical drives into two identical new arrays with RAID 0 logical drives. This is useful for administrators who want to replicate a configuration or need to build a backup before performing a risky operation. Using the ACU, administrators can also recombine a split mirrored array. Beginning with the present generation of SAS-based Smart Array controller controllers, the Smart Array Advanced Pack (SAAP) is required to use the mirror splitting and recombining functions. For support information regarding mirror splitting on specific controllers, see the controller QuickSpecs. More information about mirror splitting can be found in the technology brief "RAID 1(+0): breaking mirrors and rebuilding drives" at http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00378986/c00378986.pdf NOTE: An array cannot be split if it contains logical drives in RAID 0, RAID 5, or RAID 6 configurations. An array can be split or re-mirrored only when the server is offline and operating in the standard configuration mode of the ACU. When a split mirrored array is recombined, all data on the second array is destroyed. For more information, refer to the product documentation. Online drive flash Serial-based Smart Array controllers support online drive flashing, which saves time when updating firmware. Instead of taking the hard disk drive (HDD) offline before loading a new firmware image, administrators can download an updated HDD firmware image to the supported Smart Array controller and update all of the HDDs the next time the server is rebooted. This greatly reduces the time involved in updating disk drive firmware. Recovery ROM HP Smart Array controllers store a redundant copy of the controller firmware image to protect against data corruption. If the active firmware image becomes corrupt, Smart Array controllers use the redundant firmware image and continue operating. The recovery read-only memory (ROM) provides protection against power outages during firmware flashing. Pre-Failure Warranty using S.M.A.R.T technology HP (then Compaq) pioneered failure prediction technology for disk disk drives by developing monitoring tests run by Smart Array controllers. Called monitoring and performance (M&P), or drive parameter tracking, these tests externally monitor disk drive attributes such as seek times, spin-up times, and media defects to detect changes that could indicate potential failure. 16