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Configuring the Disk Array
The information contained in this section applies only to disk array
models. This section provides step-by-step procedures to perform
the tasks necessary to configure, add, change, or delete one or more disk
arrays.
Subtopics:
Before You Begin
RAID
Technology
Hard
Disk Drive Capacities
Additional
Storage Capacity
The
RAID Configuration Program Screens
Starting the RAID Configuration
Program
Viewing the RAID Configuration
Performing
Common Tasks
Defining
a Hot-Spare Drive
Deleting
a Disk Array
Creating
a Disk Array
Adding
Drives to Create an Additional Array
Defining
Logical Drives
Drive
Maintenance
Obtaining
Drive Status
Bay/Array
Selection List (List of
all Drive Status Codes)
Blank
Status
Results
of a Hard Disk Drive Failure
Logical
and Hard Disk Drive Status Indications
Replacing
a Faulty Drive
Redefining
Space in an Array
Advanced
Functions
Backing
Up Your Disk-Array Configuration
Restoring
the Disk-Array Configuration
Using
the Advanced Functions
Changing
the Write Policy
Formatting
Drives
Changing
the RAID Parameters
Administration
Monitoring Utilities
o Drivers
Before
You Begin
o If you did not create an IBM RAID controller diskette,
o Familiarize yourself with the information contained in this section
and the RAID information in the User's Reference.
o Verify the disk-array configuration. Your disk-array model
comes configured as one logical drive.
- To view disk-array configuration, go to Viewing
the RAID Configuration and select View Configuration from the Main
Menu.
- To create a disk array, go to Creating
a Disk Array.
o Backup the disk-array configuration. See Backing
Up Your Disk-Array Configuration.
After you configure the disk array, you can complete setup
by installing your operating system (from the diskettes that came with
your operating system).
Subtopics:
o RAID Technology
o Hard Disk Drive Capacities
o Additional Storage Capacity
o The RAID Configuration Program Screens
RAID Technology
RAID is the technology of grouping several hard disk drives in a server
into an array that can be defined as a single logical drive. This
logical drive then appears to the operating system as a single physical
drive. This grouping technique greatly enhances logical-drive capacity
and performance. In addition, if one of the hard-disk drives fails
(becomes defunct) the system continues to run, with no operator intervention
required, at reduced performance. The defunct drive can be replaced
without turning off the server (hot-swap). For more information about
hot-swappable hard disk drives, see Installing Internal Drives.
Hard Disk Drive
Capacities
With a server, it is important to understand the implications of hard
disk drive capacities and how they influence the way you create disk arrays.
Drives in the disk array can be of different capacities.
For example, if your model came with two 1GB hard disk drives and you install
a 2GB hard disk drive to create a RAID 5 disk array, the total capacity
of the array is 3GB instead of 4GB. Therefore, when creating arrays
it is wise to add drives of equal capacity.
Additional Storage
Capacity
When you add hard disk drives to your server, you must configure a
new disk array before you can use the drives. You can either reconfigure
the existing disk array to include the capacity offered with the added
drives, or group the added drives into their own array (see Adding Drives
to Create an Additional Array). You also can create an array with
only one drive.
The RAID Configuration
Program Screens
When you configure your disk array, or even just view its configuration,
you will be using the IBM RAID configuration program on the IBM SCSI-2
Fast/Wide Streaming-RAID Adapter/A Option Diskette (also called the IBM
RAID controller diskette). The following figure is a compilation
of many of the IBM RAID Controller Disk Array Configuration (also called
the IBM RAID configuration program) screens. The list below the figure
gives explanations of the numbered areas of the figure.
1. This pop-up allows you to select the RAID level you want to
assign to the logical drive you are defining, and it allows you to select
the logical drive size. You can enter the size, in megabytes, or
you can accept the default value shown.
When you need to confirm an action, the Confirm
pop-up appears in this area.
2. You can select any of the choices that appear on the menus.
3. The Bay/Array selection list shows each bay in the server
(for each channel) numbered 1 through 7. The abbreviation in the
bay indicates the status of the drive installed in the bay. Selections
are made from this list to determine which bays (hard disk drives) are
in your arrays. The letter to the right of the bay, identifies the
array in which the hard disk drive in that bay is grouped.
Note:
The Channel/Bay/Array area on the screen does not reflect the physical
configuration of the server. In your server, the hard disk drives
are installed in horizontal banks of bays (in banks C, D, and E there are
6 bays, numbered 1 through 6 from left to right). See Installing
Internal Drives to see the physical location of the hard disk drives.
4. The Array list shows you the array ID and the size (in megabytes)
of the array.
Note:
The capacity (size) is shown in binary equivalent. When a drive is being
rebuilt, this area, along with the Logical Drive list area, shows the progression
of the rebuilding process.
5. The Logical Drive list identifies the logical drive (for example,
A1), the size of the logical drive, the RAID level assigned to the logical
drive, the date it was created, and the write policy.
The status of the logical drive also is shown.
Good means that all is well with the drive; Critical means that you must
replace the drive or do a rebuild operation. (You will have received
a message telling you the drive is in a Critical state.) Offline
means that the logical drive is nonrecoverable; the data in that drive
is lost.
When a drive is being rebuilt, this area, along
with the Array list area, shows the progression of the rebuilding process.
Note:
The capacity (size) is shown in binary equivalent. During an initialization
process, the Write Policy area displays the percent initialized; during
a synchronization process, it displays the percent synchronized.
6. The information area tells you the action you can perform
on this screen or pop-up.
Starting
the RAID Configuration Program
You can run the IBM RAID configuration program from diskette or from
the ServerGuide CD. It will be invoked automatically from the ServerGuide
CD if the disk array has never been partitioned and if there is no user
data present. However, updated configuration information must be
written to diskette. If you have not yet created the IBM SCSI-2 Fast/Wide
Streaming-RAID Adapter/A Option Diskette (RAID controller diskette), go
to Starting the Server.
To start the RAID configuration program, insert the IBM RAID controller
diskette into the primary drive and turn on the system. If the system
already is on, press Ctrl+Alt+Del.
If you have more than one RAID adapter, you will get an adapter selection
screen. Otherwise, the Main Menu appears.
You can select Help from any menu. To return to
the previous screen or to the previous work area of a screen, press Esc.
To select a menu item, press the number of the item or use the Up Arrow
or Down Arrow to highlight the item, then press Enter.
The Main Menu contains the following choices:
o Help: Select this choice
when you need additional information.
o View configuration:
Select
this choice to see the existing disk array configuration.
o Create/delete array: Select
this choice to define a hot-spare drive, select the drives for an array
you want to create, or to delete an existing array. This choice also
has choices for defining a logical drive and formatting a drive.
Whenever you make changes to the disk-array configuration and
select Exit, the Confirm pop-up window will appear. You must select
Yes to save and activate the changes.
o Initialize/synchronize array:
Select this choice after creating an array to:
- Set the drive to a predetermined value. For proper
operation of RAID levels 1 or 5, you must select Initialize/synchronize
array. Any data existing on the drive is overwritten with zeros,
and the corresponding parity information is initialized to the correct
value. You can choose to initialize more than one logical drive at a time.
Also, you can interrupt the initialization process at any time by pressing
Esc. Then, you can either restart the initialization process by pressing
Enter, or you can end the process by pressing Esc again.
- Synchronize logical drive: This selection recomputes
and rewrites the parity data on the drive. You can select this choice
to recompute parity data for RAID levels 1 or 5. This selection does
not alter data on the drive. The synchronization process can be done
on multiple logical drives.
o Rebuild device: Select
this to rebuild logical drives. The rebuild operation is supported
only for RAID levels 1 and 5.
o Advanced functions: Select
this choice to change the write policy (the way data is written to the
drive), to save your configuration information to a diskette, to restore
it from a diskette, or to change RAID parameters. This choice also
allows you to do a low-level format.
o Drive information: Select
this choice to view information about the SCSI devices (hard disk, CD-ROM,
tape, and so on) connected to the RAID adapter.
o Exit: Select this choice
to leave the Main Menu.
Viewing
the RAID Configuration
Before creating or changing a disk array, you can look at the current
configuration by selecting View Configuration from the Main Menu of the
RAID configuration program.
To view the disk-array configuration:
1. Start the RAID configuration program by inserting the IBM
RAID controller diskette into the primary drive and turning on the system.
If the system already is on, press Ctrl+Alt+Del.
2. Select View configuration. The current disk-array configuration
information appears on the screen.
3. Press Enter to see the stripe order in the Bays Occupied (Ch:Bay)
field.
4. Press any key to continue.
5. Press Esc to return to the Main Menu.
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