ASRock X99 Extreme11 LSI SAS3 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide - Page 6

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Integrated RAID Solution

|

Benefits and Features

SAS

3

Integrated RAID Solution User Guide

Page 6

LSI Corporation Confidential

|

August 2010

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 SAS

3

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 online capacity expansion (OCE) for RAID 1 volumes. OCE allows you to

increase the size of a RAID 1 volume by replacing the disk drives with

higher-capacity drives.



Low-cost RAID volume creation, which meets the needs of most internal RAID

installations



Easy installation and configuration



Support for booting from any kind of Integrated RAID volume



Ability to operate without special operating system-specific software



High reliability and data integrity

—

Nonvolatile write journaling

—

Physical disks in a volume are not visible to the operating system (OS) or to

application software



Low host CPU and PCI bus utilization



Processing power provided by Fusion-MPT architecture

—

Shared-memory architecture minimizes external memory requests

—

Device hardware and firmware contain the functionality

1.2.1

Host Interface

The Integrated RAID host interface uses the message-passing interface, as described in

the

Fusion-MPT Message Passing Interface Specification

. The Fusion-MPT interface gives

the host OS access to the RAID volumes as well as to additional non-RAID physical disks.

1.2.2

Metadata Support

The Integrated RAID firmware supports metadata, which describes the logical drive

configuration stored on each member disk of a volume. After initialization, the

firmware queries each member disk to read the metadata and verify the configuration.

The firmware reduces the usable disk space for each member disk when it creates the

the volume, which makes room for the metadata.

1.2.3

SMART Support

The Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) monitors disk drives

for signs of future disk failure and generates an alert if it detects such signs. The

Integrated RAID firmware polls each physical disk in the volume at regular intervals. If

the firmware detects a SMART ASC/ASCQ code on a physical disk in the volume, it

processes the SMART data and stores it in a log. The volume does not support SMART

directly because it is only a logical representation of the physical disks in the volume.

1.2.4

Fusion-MPT Support

The Integrated RAID BIOS uses the LSI Fusion-MPT interface to communicate to the

SAS

3

controller and firmware. This process includes reading the Fusion-MPT

configuration to access the parameters that define behavior between the SAS

3

controller and the devices that connect to it. The Fusion-MPT drivers for all supported

operating systems implement the Fusion-MPT interface to communicate with the

controller and firmware.

Section	Page
SAS3 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 SAS3 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 X99 Extreme11 LSI SAS3 Integrated RAID Solution User Guide - Page 6

Benefits and Features

Page 6 highlights