Configure MegaRAID 3108/9361/9460 Controllers in Two-Socket UEFI Systems
This archived OEM guide preserves the original English firmware screenshots and their separate configuration examples. Menu availability depends on the actual controller, firmware and server; the title is not a support matrix. Identify the intended disks and protect required data before creating/deleting arrays, initializing disks, clearing metadata, changing modes or rebuilding. None of these operations was performed while preparing this article.
1. RAID Card Information View and Related Settings
1.1 Boot into the BIOS RAID Interface
Press the "Delete" key at the logo during boot to enter the BIOS operation interface, then select the "Advanced" option, as shown below:
Select "AVAGO MegaRAID ..." to enter the RAID configuration interface, as shown below:
Parameters to note on the start screen: BBU (Battery BackUp): Whether the RAID card has a battery; Set Factory Defaults: Reset to factory settings; Silence Alarm: Disable the RAID card alarm sound for this session; Select "Main Menu" to enter the main menu, as shown below:
1.2 Controller Management View RAID Card Product Information
Select "Controller Management" to view the RAID card product information, as shown below:
Product Name: RAID card name; Controller Status: Current status of the RAID card (Optimal indicates normal status); Select Boot Device: Set which virtual drive is the boot device / set which virtual drive is the system disk; Firmware Version: Firmware version; Select "Advanced Controller Management" to enter the following page:
Set Factory Defaults: Reset to factory defaults; Switch to JBOD Mode: Configure the RAID card control mode for JBOD/RAID; If configuring a RAID array, select RAID here; if connecting directly to physical disks, configure as JBOD.
Select "Advanced Controller Properties" to enter the following page:
Alarm Control: Set the RAID card buzzer to disable (inactive), enable (active), or silence (inactive for this session, clear current alarm); Boot Mode: Stop on errors (stop on self-test error) / Pause on errors (pause on self-test error) / Ignore on errors (ignore self-test error) / Safe mode on errors (enter safe mode on self-test error); ROC Temperature (C): ROC chip temperature of the RAID card; View the cache size and NVRAM size of the RAID card under "Advanced Controller Properties" - "Cache and Memory", as shown below:
Memory Size (MB) is controller cache capacity; NVRAM Size (KB) is configuration-related nonvolatile memory. The source shows 1024 MB and 32 KB. Emergency Spare / Unconfigured Good and Global Hotspare permits eligible disks in those states to be consumed for a supported rebuild, subject to disk compatibility and available redundancy; it does not guarantee every UG/GHS disk can replace every member.
Enter the Task Rates page under "Advanced Controller Properties", as shown below:
BGI, CC, Rebuild and Reconstruction Rate control resources/priorities for background initialization, consistency checks, rebuild and reconstruction. The source shows 30 for each. These are firmware scheduling settings, not measured fixed percentages of end-to-end throughput. Reconstruction is not the same as forcing a failed drive or array online.
2 Drive Management Physical Disk Management
The "Drive Management" page displays all recognized hard drives, as shown below:
Hard drive status: UG-Unconfigured Good: Hard drives recognized by the RAID card without configured RAID information.
UB—Unconfigured Bad: a disk marked unsuitable for normal configuration. Determine the actual cause before changing its state; the label alone does not mean that initialization is the correct repair.
Online: an active member of a configured array. Initialize Drive is a separate operation, not part of this state name; the source ran the labels together.
Hotspare: Global hot spare / Dedicated hot spare.
Foreign: Disks containing already configured RAID information; Select the target disk and press Enter to enter the operation interface, then press Enter on "Operation", as shown below:
Disks that have been configured in an array and are in an online state show the following operation interface:
Disks that have not been configured in an array and are in a UG state show the following operation interface:
Start Locate/Stop Locate controls the drive-identification light. Initialize Drive is a separate potentially destructive operation. The mere presence of that menu item does not mean every UG disk must be initialized before array creation, or that initialization repairs a faulty/foreign drive.
3 Configuration Management Configure RAID Interface
3.1 Configure RAID5
Enter the "Configuration Management" page and select "Create Virtual Drive", as shown below:
Select RAID5
In the RAID configuration page: Select RAID Level: RAID5; Select Drives From: For a new RAID logical volume, select "Unconfigured Capacity";
Free Capacity selects remaining capacity in an existing drive group for another virtual drive; it does not add a new physical volume group inside an existing virtual drive. Select Drives chooses the intended physical disks for Unconfigured Capacity.
Position the cursor on the required disk and select enabled.
After selection, choose Save Changes.
Virtual Drive Name: Name of the logical volume; Virtual Drive Size: Set the logical volume size, defaulting to the maximum configurable value.
Strip Size is the per-member strip unit used by the RAID layout, not a universal filesystem allocation or minimum I/O unit. The source shows 256 KB. Choose a supported value for the actual layout/workload.
Read Policy / Read Ahead prefetches subsequent data into cache to serve anticipated reads. It does not predict and perform application writes. Read prefetch and the protection of acknowledged write-back data are separate policies.
Write Through acknowledges a write after the disk subsystem receives it. It does not mean every form of cache, including read caching or the drive’s own cache, is disabled. Check the complete controller/drive policy and power-loss protection.
Write Back acknowledges writes in controller cache and normally falls back to Write Through when required backup protection is unavailable. Always Write Back forces write-back behavior despite absent backup protection and can lose acknowledged writes on power loss. Several source screens select Always Write Back although the initial BBU field is No; preserve these as historical examples, not a recommended default.
Finally select "Save Configuration", set Confirm to Enable, and finally select Yes
View the created virtual volume Enter "Virtual Drive Management" - The page displays information about all created arrays (logical volume name, RAID type, available capacity, status), as shown in the figure:
3.2 Configure RAID0
Enter the "Configuration Management" page and select "Create Virtual Drive", as shown in the figure:
Select RAID0
Move the cursor to the required hard drive and select enabled
After selection is complete, select Save Changes
View the created virtual volume Enter "Virtual Drive Management" - The page displays information about all created arrays (logical volume name, RAID type, available capacity, status), as shown in the figure:
3.3 Configure RAID1
Enter the "Configuration Management" page and select "Create Virtual Drive", as shown in the figure:
Select RAID1
Move the cursor to the required hard drive and select enabled
After selection is complete, select Save Changes
View the created virtual volume Enter "Virtual Drive Management" - The page displays information about all created arrays (logical volume name, RAID type, available capacity, status), as shown in the figure:
3.4 Global Hot Spare Drive
Enter the "Drive Management" page, select a hard drive with status Unconfigured Good to enter the hard drive operation interface. In the Operation option, select "Assign Global Hot Spare Drive", as shown in the figure:
Move the cursor to the required hard drive and press Enter
Select Assign Global Hot Spare Drive
Select Go
Enter the "Configuration Management" page and select "View Global HotSpare Drives", as shown in the figure:
3.5 Dedicated Hot Spare Drive
After entering the hard drive operation interface Operation option, select "Assign Dedicated Hot Spare Drive", as shown in the figure:
Move the cursor to the required hard drive and press Enter
Select Assign Dedicated Hot Spare Drive
Select Go
Change the status of the required array to Enabled
After configuring the hot spare drive, the hard drive status in the hard drive list changes to Hot Spare, as shown in the figure:
3.6 Configure JBOD
Method to enable JBOD function in RAID mode: Enter "main menu" —> "controller management" —> "advanced controller properties" — > enable "JBOD mode" —> "apply changes"
JBOD Mode: Select Enabled/Disabled to turn on or off the JBOD function accordingly. Note: This enables the JBOD function in RAID mode;
After setting is complete, Apply Changes to make the settings take effect.
After the JBOD function mode is enabled, view the hard drive status via Physical Disks: Main Menu-Drive Management
In the source’s separate JBOD example, eligible unconfigured disks are shown as JBOD after applying the option. Actual conversion behavior depends on controller/firmware and existing disk state; this setting is distinct from changing the controller personality via Switch to JBOD Mode.
3.7 Configure RAID10
Raid10 requires at least 4 drives; here we use 6 drives as an example for configuring raid10: Enter the "Configuration Management" page and select "Create Virtual Drive", as shown in the figure:
Select Raid level, RAID10:
Select disks for the first span; after selecting Select Drives, choose the disks
Set two disks to Enabled here:
Then select Apply Changes to apply the configuration:
Select ok:
Select Add More Spans to add additional spans
Select disks for the second span: after selecting Select Drives, choose the disks:
Set both drives to Enabled here:
Select Apply Changes to apply the configuration:
Select OK:
If configuring RAID 10 with four disks, you can select Save Configuration here to save the settings. Taking six-disk RAID 10 configuration as an example, select Add More Spans to add more spans:
Select disks for the third span: after selecting Select Drives, choose the disks:
Set both hard drives to Enabled:
Select Apply Changes to apply the configuration:
Select OK:
Select Save Configuration to save the configuration.
Change the Confirm option to Enabled, then select Yes to confirm.
Select OK.
RAID 10 configuration is now complete. You can check the configured RAID in the Virtual Drives Management interface:
3.8 Configure RAID 50
RAID 50 requires at least 6 disks. Using 6 disks for RAID 50 configuration as an example: enter the Configuration Management page and select Create Virtual Drive, as shown below:
Select the RAID level, RAID 50:
Select disks for the first span: after selecting Select Drives, choose the disks.
Set three disks to Enabled here:
Then select Apply Changes to apply the configuration:
The source displays a warning that mixed-capacity drives leave some capacity unusable. Review compatibility and capacity consequences before confirming an intended configuration; do not automatically accept it. Its RAID 10/50 illustrations mix 893.750 GB SSD and 1.818 TB HDD examples. They explain the menu and do not establish a recommended supported mixed-media design for another controller.
Select OK after checking the preceding operation result:
Select Add More Spans to add additional spans
Select disks for the second span: after selecting Select Drives, choose the disks:
Set three disks to Enabled here:
Select Apply Changes to apply the configuration:
Select OK:
Select Save Configuration to save the configuration.
Change the Confirm option to Enabled, then select Yes to confirm.
Select OK
RAID 50 configuration is now complete. You can check the configured RAID in the Virtual Drives Management interface:
3.9 Delete RAID
Select Main Menu.
Select Virtual Drive Management.
Select the array to be deleted, and choose Delete Virtual Drive under Operation.
Select Go.
A prompt asking to confirm whether to delete the array will appear. Select Confirm and Yes.
4 Troubleshooting
4.1 Single Disk Failure Resolution
After configuring RAID 1, the array status is normal:
All member disks are in the online state:
One disk has failed in the array, and the array is now in a "Degraded" state, as shown below:
The RAID card emits an alarm (interval of 1 second), and the fault indicator light on the hard drive remains solid red. If the replacement hard drive contains RAID configuration information, it will appear as "Unconfigured Bad" in the disk list, as shown below:
Press Enter to enter the UB management page. In the Operation project, select "Make Unconfigured Good", as shown below:
Select Go to execute.
In this particular replacement example, changing UB to UG reveals Foreign metadata. Clearing foreign configuration is appropriate only after establishing that it is obsolete on a disk intended for reuse, not needed original array metadata. If the foreign configuration may contain required data, inspect and preserve it and determine the appropriate import/recovery path instead.
Navigate to Configuration Management – Manage Foreign Configuration (this menu appears only for drives in Foreign status), as shown below:
Select Clear Foreign Configuration.
Select Drive Management to view the hard drive status.
The hard drive status changes to UG.
On the hard drive in UG status, press Enter and select Replace Missing Drive.
Select Go to execute.
Select Replace Drive.
The hard drive status changes to Offline.
In Offline status, press Enter and select Rebuild.
Select Go to execute.
The hard drive status changes to Rebuilding.
After an actual successful rebuild, verify the logical drive has returned to Optimal. The last distinct source image still shows Rebuilding 0%; it is not a pictured completed rebuild or data-integrity test.
Verify the rebuilt member returns to Online and check the actual events/data as required. The source prose states this endpoint but does not supply a corresponding final Online screenshot.
English references and source scope
- https://www.ieisystem.com/qa/raid/14544.html
- https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12353347
- https://docs.broadcom.com/wcs-public/user-guide/products/design--reference-guides/user-guide/574/208/pub-005110_db15-001199-08_2017-06-09_mr-6.14-sw-ug.pdf
The original OEM article has no verified matching English page: its English-language navigation did not establish an English edition of this QA. The original figures already use English, so they are retained rather than replaced by a different model’s screens. Broadcom’s earlier WebBIOS guide and 2017 MegaRAID/HII guide corroborate terminology and policy distinctions; they do not certify the exact OEM firmware, licensing or hardware combination.