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Dell PowerEdge R7525 EMC PowerEdge RAID Controller S150 Users Guide - Page 13

Virtual Disks, Virtual disk features, TRIM for SATA SSDs, To perform TRIM on the pass-through SSDs

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3 Virtual Disks A logical grouping of physical disks attached to a PERC S150 allows you to create multiple virtual disks of the same RAID levels, without exceeding a maximum of 30 virtual disks. The PERC S150 controller allows: • Creating virtual disks of different RAID levels on a S150 controller. NOTE: Ensure that you do not mix RAID levels on the same physical disks. • Building different virtual disks with different characteristics for different applications. • Creating virtual disks from a mix of NVMe PCIe SSD 2.5-inch SFFs and NVMe PCIe SSD adapters. The PERC S150 controller does not allow: • Creating a virtual disk from a mix of different types of physical disks. For example, a RAID 10 virtual disk cannot be created from two SATA HDD physical disks and a SATA SSD physical disk. All the physical disks must be of the same drive type (HDD/SSD/NVMe PCIe SSDs). • Selecting a physical disk as a dedicated hot spare if the physical disk is a different type from the physical disk of the virtual disks. A virtual disk refers to data storage which a controller creates using one or more physical disks. NOTE: A virtual disk can be created from several physical disks; the operating system considers it a single disk. The capacity of a virtual disk can be expanded online for any RAID level without rebooting the operating system. NOTE: If the boot VD is spanned across different SATA controllers, then Windows Hardware Quality Labs testing (WHQL), DF - Reinstall with I/O Before and After (Reliability) fails in a server having two SATA controllers. Topics: • Virtual disk features • Disk initialization • Background Array Scan • Checkpointing • Virtual disk cache policies • Virtual disk migration • Expanding virtual disk capacity Virtual disk features TRIM for SATA SSDs The TRIM command allows an operating system to delete a block of data that is no longer considered in use from the SATA SSDs. TRIM resolves the Write Amplification issue for supported operating systems. When an operating system deletes a file, the file is marked for deletion in the file system, but the contents on the disk are not actually erased. As a result, the SSDs do not know that the Logical Block Addressing (LBA) file previously occupied can be erased. With the introduction of TRIM, when a file is deleted, the operating system sends a TRIM command along with the LBAs that do not contain valid data. NOTE: The TRIM feature is supported only on pass-through SSDs. NOTE: The TRIM feature is not supported on NVMe PCIe SSDs. To perform TRIM on the pass-through SSDs 1. Create a volume on a pass-through SSD drive. 2. In the Windows operating system, navigate to the Defragmentation and Optimize Drive tool. Virtual Disks 13

Section	Page
Dell EMC PowerEdge RAID Controller S150 User’s Guide	3
Overview	6
PERC S150 specifications	6
Supported operating systems	8
Supported PowerEdge systems	9
Supported physical disks	9
Management applications for the PERC S150	9
Physical Disks	10
Physical disk features	10
Physical disk roaming	10
Physical disk hot-swapping	10
Physical disk power management	10
Physical disk failure detection	10
Mirror rebuilding	11
Fault tolerance	11
Self-Monitoring And Reporting Technology	11
Native Command Queuing	11
NVMe PCIe SSD support	11
Physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives	12
Linux RAID	12
Virtual Disks	13
Virtual disk features	13
TRIM for SATA SSDs	13
To perform TRIM on the pass-through SSDs	13
Disk initialization	14
Background Array Scan	14
Checkpointing	14
Consistency check	14
Background initialization	14
Automatic virtual disk rebuild	14
Virtual disk cache policies	14
Virtual disk migration	15
Migrating a virtual disk	15
Expanding virtual disk capacity	15
Cabling the drives for the S150	17
Disk connectivity for AHCI devices	19
BIOS Configuration Utility	20
Entering the BIOS configuration utility	20
Exiting the BIOS Configuration Utility	21
Initializing the physical disks	21
Converting to RAID disks	21
Converting to Non-RAID disks	21
Creating the virtual disks	22
Selecting virtual disk sizes while creating a virtual disk	22
Deleting the virtual disks	22
Swapping two virtual disks	22
Managing the hot spare disks	23
Assigning the global hot spare disks	23
Unassign hot spare disks	23
Viewing the physical disks details	23
Viewing the virtual disks details	24
Rescan disks	24
Controller Options	24
Continue to boot	25
UEFI RAID configuration utility	26
Entering the DELL PERC S150 Configuration Utility	26
Exiting the DELL PERC S150 Configuration Utility	27
Controller management	27
Viewing the controller properties	27
Changing the boot order of the virtual disks	28
Stopping the system from booting if there is a critical BIOS error	28
Converting a physical disk to a Non-RAID disk	29
Converting physical disk to RAID capable disk	29
Rescan disks	29
Virtual disk management	29
Configuring Windows RAID	29
Configuring Linux RAID	30
Mixed RAID configuration	31
Manage virtual disk properties	31
Viewing virtual disks properties and policies	32
Deleting a virtual disk	33
Physical disk management	34
Viewing physical disk properties	34
Managing the physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives	35
Assigning the global hot spare	36
Unassign a global hot spare	36
Assigning the dedicated hot spare	36
Cryptographic erase	37
Viewing global hot spares	37
Installing the drivers	38
Pre-installation requirements	38
Setting the SATA controller to RAID mode	38
Setting the NVMe PCIe SSDs to RAID mode	38
Creating a virtual disk	39
Checking PERC S150 options and the boot list priority.	39
Creating the device driver media for Windows driver installation	40
Downloading drivers for PERC S150 from the Dell support website for all operating systems	40
Downloading drivers from the Dell Systems Service and Diagnostic Tools media for Windows	40
Accessing ZP files	40
Troubleshooting your system	42
Precautions for hot removal or hot insertion of NVMe drives	42
Unable to configure Linux RAID using UEFI Configuration Utility	42
Performance degradation after disabling SATA physical disk write cache policy	42
Unable to modify any feature settings in UEFI or OPROM	43
Extra reboot during OS installation	43
OS installation failing on NVMe PCIe SSD with third-party driver	43
Server performance is slow and crashes during OS installation on the SATA configuration	43
Server performance is slow during OS installation on the NVMe configuration	43
System startup issues	43
System does not boot	44
Controller mode is set incorrectly at System Setup	44
Boot mode, boot sequence, and or boot sequence retry are set incorrectly	44
Bootable virtual disk is in a failed state	44
The boot order is incorrect for a bootable virtual disk	44
A Non-RAID virtual disk is no longer in first position in the BIOS configuration utility list after a system reboot	45
The BIOS configuration utility option does not display	45
Configuring RAID using the Option ROM Utility is disabled	45
Warning Messages	45
WARNING- Found virtual disks that are degraded	45
WARNING - Found virtual disks that are failed	46
WARNING - Found virtual disks that are degraded and failed	46
Offline status of SAMSUNG 1733 or 1735 drives	46
Other errors appearing on the BIOS screen	47
BSOD is observed while booting on the NVMe configuration server	47
Failure of dump file creation	47
S150 controller lists M.2 drives	47
Error in displaying the CD/DVD-ROM while in legacy mode	47
Unavailable error under UEFI boot settings	47
S150 does not display greater than ten virtual disks in the BIOS Configuration Utility or CTRL R	47
Unable to delete virtual disks when there are more than 30 virtual disks present in the system	47
Virtual disk rebuild status in the BIOS Configuration Utility (<CTRL><R>) or in UEFI HII	48
Physical disk - related errors	48
The physical disk fails	48
A physical disk is not visible in the BIOS Configuration Utility or is offline	48
A physical disk is highlighted red at the BIOS Configuration Utility or Ctrl R	48
Cannot initialize a physical disk	48
Status LED is not working	49
Cannot update NVMe PCIe SSD firmware by using Dell Update Package or DUP	49
NVMe drive error when inserted for the first time	49
Third-party driver installation for NVMe PCIe SSD failing	49
Unable to find the NVMe PCIe SSD for operating system installation	49
Virtual disks - Related errors	49
S150 displays 22 virtual disks on POST instead of 30 virtual disks	50
S150 displays 43 virtual disks on POST instead of 30 virtual disks	50
Display of failed virtual disk in HII	50
Virtual disk size in decimals is not supported while creating a VD	50
Cannot create a virtual disk	50
The physical disk is not displayed	50
Insufficient free space available on the selected physical disks	51
Incorrect number of physical disks selected for the desired RAID level	51
The desired physical disk is unavailable	51
The system already has a maximum of 30 virtual disks	51
A virtual disk is in a degraded state	51
Virtual disks are degraded on migrating the physical drives	51
A physical disk was removed	51
Physical or mechanical problems with the physical disk	51
The virtual disk has lost redundancy	51
Corrupted metadata in the virtual disk	52
Cannot assign a dedicated hot spare to a virtual disk	52
The RAID level does not allow a dedicated hot spare to be created	52
The designated physical disk does not have sufficient capacity to be a dedicated hot spare	52
The physical disk is already part of a virtual disk	52
The physical disk are of different types	52
Cannot create a global hot spare	52
There are no empty physical disks available or the physical disks have not been converted to RAID-capable disks	52
The physical disk is already part of a virtual disk	53
The physical disk assigned as the global hot spare has failed	53
The physical disk assigned as the global hot spare is missing	53
A dedicated hot spare fails	53
The controller cannot communicate with the hot spare	53
The dedicated spare is not visible in the BIOS Configuration Utility or is offline	53
Failed or degraded virtual disk	53
Cannot create a virtual disk on selected physical disks	53
RAID disk created from the NVMe PCIe SSDs not appearing in operating system environment, showing as partitioned disks	54
Cannot perform an Online Capacity Expansion or Reconfigure on a virtual disk	54
Unable to configure RAID on NVMe PCIe SSD using a third party RAID configuration utility	54
Getting help	55
Contacting Dell	55
Locating the Express Service Code and Service Tag	55
Related documentation	56

Match case Limit results 1 per page

Virtual Disks

A logical grouping of physical disks attached to a PERC S150 allows you to create multiple virtual disks of the same RAID levels, without

exceeding a maximum of 30 virtual disks.

The PERC S150 controller allows:

•

Creating virtual disks of different RAID levels on a S150 controller.

NOTE:

Ensure that you do not mix RAID levels on the same physical disks.

•

Building different virtual disks with different characteristics for different applications.

•

Creating virtual disks from a mix of NVMe PCIe SSD 2.5-inch SFFs and NVMe PCIe SSD adapters.

The PERC S150 controller does not allow:

•

Creating a virtual disk from a mix of different types of physical disks. For example, a RAID 10 virtual disk cannot be created from two

SATA HDD physical disks and a SATA SSD physical disk. All the physical disks must be of the same drive type (HDD/SSD/NVMe PCIe

SSDs).

•

Selecting a physical disk as a dedicated hot spare if the physical disk is a different type from the physical disk of the virtual disks.

A virtual disk refers to data storage which a controller creates using one or more physical disks.

NOTE:

A virtual disk can be created from several physical disks; the operating system considers it a single disk.

The capacity of a virtual disk can be expanded online for any RAID level without rebooting the operating system.

NOTE:

If the boot VD is spanned across different SATA controllers, then Windows Hardware Quality Labs testing

(WHQL), DF - Reinstall with I/O Before and After (Reliability) fails in a server having two SATA controllers.

Topics:

•

Virtual disk features

•

Disk initialization

•

Background Array Scan

•

Checkpointing

•

Virtual disk cache policies

•

Virtual disk migration

•

Expanding virtual disk capacity

Virtual disk features

TRIM for SATA SSDs

The TRIM command allows an operating system to delete a block of data that is no longer considered in use from the SATA SSDs. TRIM

resolves the Write Amplification issue for supported operating systems. When an operating system deletes a file, the file is marked for

deletion in the file system, but the contents on the disk are not actually erased. As a result, the SSDs do not know that the Logical Block

Addressing (LBA) file previously occupied can be erased. With the introduction of TRIM, when a file is deleted, the operating system sends

a TRIM command along with the LBAs that do not contain valid data.

NOTE:

The TRIM feature is supported only on pass-through SSDs.

NOTE:

The TRIM feature is not supported on NVMe PCIe SSDs.

To perform TRIM on the pass-through SSDs

Create a volume on a pass-through SSD drive.

In the Windows operating system, navigate to the

Defragmentation and Optimize Drive

tool.

Virtual Disks