Home » Dell Manuals » Servers » Dell PowerEdge XE2420 » Manual Viewer

Dell PowerEdge XE2420 EMC PowerEdge RAID Controller S140 Users Guide - Page 14

Physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives, Linux RAID

View all Dell PowerEdge XE2420 manuals

Add to My Manuals
Save this manual to your list of manuals

Page 14 highlights

NOTE: In UEFI HII mode, you can use the NVMe PCIe SSD option on the Device Settings page to view NVMe physical disk properties and perform blink/unblink operations. NOTE: RAID configuration and boot from NVMe virtual disk is supported only in UEFI boot mode. NOTE: RAID configuration using Option ROM (OPROM) is not supported on systems with the NVMe PCIe SSD. Physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives The physical disk write cache policy feature enables the disk to cache the data first, and then the cached data is written to the storage device in the background. For more information about managing the physical disk write cache policy, see Managing the physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives on page 35. NOTE: You can use UEFI or Option ROM (OPROM) to configure the physical disk write cache policy. NOTE: You cannot configure a physical disk write cache policy on a non-RAID disk. NOTE: Linux RAID does not support configuring physical disk write cache policy, or virtual disk write cache policy. Linux RAID The Linux RAID feature is supported on all PowerEdge 14th generation systems. You can use Linux RAID to protect data across multiple devices. The S140 configuration utility supports configuring RAID 1 virtual disk in UEFI mode. The Linux operating system can be installed on that virtual disk, and once the system boots to the Linux environment, the Linux native RAID driver manages the virtual disk. For information about configuring Linux RAID, see Configuring Linux RAID on page 30. NOTE: Ensure that your system has the latest BIOS firmware. You can download the latest BIOS firmware from dell.com/support. NOTE: Ensure that you use only the S140 UEFI configuration utility to configure Linux RAID feature during pre-boot. NOTE: Ensure that the boot virtual disks are configured in RAID 1, using two physical disks of identical drive type (HDD or SSD) and sector size. However, you can also configure nonboot virtual disks in any of the supported RAID levels in the Linux operating system. 14 Physical Disks

Section	Page
Dell EMC PowerEdge RAID Controller S140 User’s Guide	3
Overview	7
PERC S140 specifications	7
Supported operating systems	10
Supported PowerEdge systems	10
Supported physical disks	10
Management applications for the PERC S140	11
Physical Disks	12
Physical disk features	12
Physical disk roaming	12
Physical disk hot-swapping	12
Physical disk power management	12
Physical disk failure detection	12
Mirror rebuilding	13
Fault tolerance	13
Self-Monitoring And Reporting Technology	13
Native Command Queuing	13
NVMe PCIe SSD support	13
Physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives	14
Linux RAID	14
Virtual Disks	15
Virtual disk features	15
TRIM for SATA SSDs	15
To perform TRIM on the pass-through SSDs	15
Disk initialization	15
Background Array Scan	16
Checkpointing	16
Consistency check	16
Background initialization	16
Automatic virtual disk rebuild	16
Virtual disk cache policies	16
Virtual disk migration	17
Migrating a virtual disk	17
Expanding virtual disk capacity	17
Cabling the drives for S140	18
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
Assigning the dedicated hot spare disks	23
Unassign hot spare disks	24
Viewing the physical disks details	24
Viewing the virtual disks details	24
Rescan disks	24
Controller Options	25
Continue to boot	25
UEFI RAID configuration utility	26
Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility	26
Exiting the DELL PERC S140 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	28
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 S140 options and the boot list priority.	39
Creating the device driver media for Windows driver installation	40
Downloading drivers for PERC S140 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
After enabling Hypervisor, system displays Blue Screen of Death	43
After enabling node interleaving in BIOS, system displays Blue Screen of Death	43
OS installation failing on NVMe PCIe SSD with third-party driver	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	44
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	45
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	46
BSOD is observed while booting on the NVMe configuration server	46
Failure of dump file creation	47
S140 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	47
Physical disk - related errors	47
The physical disk fails	47
A physical disk is not visible in the BIOS Configuration Utility or is offline	47
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	48
Blinking and unblinking feature not working on PowerEdge R740	48
Cannot update NVMe PCIe SSD firmware by using Dell Update Package or DUP	48
Third-party driver installation for NVMe PCIe SSD failing	48
Unable to find the NVMe PCIe SSD for operating system installation	49
Virtual disks - Related errors	49
Virtual disk size in decimals is not supported while creating a VD	49
Cannot create a virtual disk	49
The physical disk is not displayed	49
Insufficient free space available on the selected physical disks	49
Incorrect number of physical disks selected for the desired RAID level	49
The desired physical disk is unavailable	50
The system already has a maximum of 30 virtual disks	50
A virtual disk is in a degraded state	50
A physical disk was removed	50
Physical or mechanical problems with the physical disk	50
The virtual disk has lost redundancy	50
Corrupted metadata in the virtual disk	50
Cannot assign a dedicated hot spare to a virtual disk	50
The RAID level does not allow a dedicated hot spare to be created	50
The designated physical disk does not have sufficient capacity to be a dedicated hot spare	51
The physical disk is already part of a virtual disk	51
The physical disk are of different types	51
Cannot create a global hot spare	51
There are no empty physical disks available or the physical disks have not been converted to RAID-capable disks	51
The physical disk is already part of a virtual disk	51
The physical disk assigned as the global hot spare has failed	51
The physical disk assigned as the global hot spare is missing	51
A dedicated hot spare fails	52
The controller cannot communicate with the hot spare	52
The dedicated spare is not visible in the BIOS Configuration Utility or is offline	52
Failed or degraded virtual disk	52
Cannot create a virtual disk on selected physical disks	52
RAID disk created from the NVMe PCIe SSDs not appearing in operating system environment, showing as partitioned disks	52
Cannot perform an Online Capacity Expansion or Reconfigure on a virtual disk	52
Unable to configure RAID on NVMe PCIe SSD using a third party RAID configuration utility	52
Getting help	53
Contacting Dell	53
Locating your system Service Tag	53
Related documentation	53

Match case Limit results 1 per page

NOTE:

In UEFI HII mode, you can use the NVMe PCIe SSD option on the Device Settings page to view NVMe physical

disk properties and perform blink/unblink operations.

NOTE:

RAID configuration and boot from NVMe virtual disk is supported only in UEFI boot mode.

NOTE:

RAID configuration using Option ROM (OPROM) is not supported on systems with the NVMe PCIe SSD.

Physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives

The physical disk write cache policy feature enables the disk to cache the data first, and then the cached data is written to the storage

device in the background. For more information about managing the physical disk write cache policy, see

Managing the physical disk write

cache policy for SATA drives

on page 35.

NOTE:

You can use UEFI or Option ROM (OPROM) to configure the physical disk write cache policy.

NOTE:

You cannot configure a physical disk write cache policy on a non-RAID disk.

NOTE:

Linux RAID does not support configuring physical disk write cache policy, or virtual disk write cache policy.

Linux RAID

The Linux RAID feature is supported on all PowerEdge 14th generation systems. You can use Linux RAID to protect data across multiple

devices. The S140 configuration utility supports configuring RAID 1 virtual disk in UEFI mode. The Linux operating system can be installed

on that virtual disk, and once the system boots to the Linux environment, the Linux native RAID driver manages the virtual disk. For

information about configuring Linux RAID, see

Configuring Linux RAID

on page 30.

NOTE:

Ensure that your system has the latest BIOS firmware. You can download the latest BIOS firmware from

dell.com/support.

NOTE:

Ensure that you use only the S140 UEFI configuration utility to configure Linux RAID feature during pre-boot.

NOTE:

Ensure that the boot virtual disks are configured in RAID 1, using two physical disks of identical drive type (HDD

or SSD) and sector size. However, you can also configure nonboot virtual disks in any of the supported RAID levels in

the Linux operating system.

Physical Disks