Configure 3108, 9361 and 9460 RAID Controllers in UEFI Mode on Eight-Socket Servers
I. RAID Array Configuration
1.1 Entering the Array Controller in UEFI Mode
1) Enter the boot interface in BIOS and modify the boot type to UEFI boot type.
2) Save and restart the machine. When the following interface appears, press ESC to enter the BIOS Front Page interface.
3) Select Device Management.
4) Select the AVAGO text shown in the image to enter the RAID card.
1.2 Check RAID Status
1) When the following interface appears, press ESC to enter the BIOS Front Page interface.
2) Select Device Management.
3) Select the AVAGO text shown in the image to enter the RAID card.
4) Select Main Menu to enter the RAID card configuration interface.
5) Select Virtual Drive Management to view the array status.
Cropped English explanatory illustration of array name, RAID level, size and state; the original test1 RAID1 example is retained.
6) Select the array and press Enter. Then select View Associated Drives to check the status of member disks belonging to this array.
7) Select Drive Management to view the status of all hard disks.
Cropped English explanatory illustration. Online and Unconfigured Good drive states are retained.
1.3 Delete RAID Array
1) When the following interface appears, press ESC to enter the BIOS Front Page interface.
2) Select Device Management.
3) Select the AVAGO text shown in the image to enter the RAID card.
4) Select Main Menu to enter the RAID card configuration interface.
5) Select Virtual Drive Management, then select the existing array.
6) After entering the array, move the cursor to Operation, press Enter, and select Delete Virtual Drive to delete the array.
7) Move the cursor to Go and press Enter to confirm the deletion of the array.
8) First select Confirm to confirm, then select Yes to confirm deletion.
1.4 RAID 5 Configuration
1) After entering the RAID configuration interface, select Main Menu to enter the RAID card configuration interface.
2) Select Configuration Management to enter.
3) Select Create Virtual Drive to create an array.
4) Select Select RAID Level and choose RAID 5.
5) Select Select Drives to choose the hard disks.
6) Select Virtual Drive Name to name the array; no specific requirements apply to the name.
7) Select Virtual Drive Size to input the array size; the default indicates the maximum capacity of the array.
8) Select Strip Size to set the stripe value. Based on business requirements, keep the default if none are specified.
9) Write Policy: Write strategy used to determine whether the currently configured VD has write cache enabled. There are 1-3 options, including:
Policy labels and battery handling vary by controller and firmware. The following descriptions follow the English help visible in these AVAGO screenshots: Write Through, Write Back and Always Write Back.
① Write Through: Write cache is not enabled; data is written directly to the disk, resulting in lower array write performance.
② Write Back: Enables write caching. In the displayed AVAGO firmware, this policy falls back to Write Through if the battery is absent.
③ Always Write Back: Forces write caching even without a battery. Unprotected cached writes may be lost on unexpected power failure. A healthy BBU/ZMM protects cached data when used with a supported protected-cache policy.
10) Default initialization: Select hard disk initialization option
① No: Skip initialization;
② Fast: Quick initialization, faster speed; initializes only the first 100MB of space of the virtual disk;
③ Full: Complete initialization, slower speed.
11) Save configuration
12) After saving, check the array status. You will see the array is initializing. Once the initialization progress reaches 100%, the process is complete.
1.5 RAID 0 Configuration
1) Enter the RAID configuration interface and select Configuration Management to enter.
2) Select Create Virtual Drive to create an array.
3) Select Select RAID Level and choose RAID 0.
4) Select Select Drives to choose the hard disks.
5) Select Virtual Drive Name to name the array; no specific name requirement.
6) Select Virtual Drive Size to input the array size; default indicates maximum array capacity.
7) Select Strip Size to set the stripe value; keep default if not required by business needs;
8) Write Policy: Write strategy used to configure whether the current VD has write cache enabled. There are 1-3 options, including:
① Write Through: Do not enable write cache; data is written directly to the disk, resulting in lower array write performance;
② Write Back: Enables write caching. In the displayed AVAGO firmware, this policy falls back to Write Through if the battery is absent.
③ Always Write Back: Forces write caching even without a battery. Unprotected cached writes may be lost on unexpected power failure. A healthy BBU/ZMM protects cached data when used with a supported protected-cache policy.
9) Default initialization: Select hard disk initialization option
① No: Skip initialization;
② Fast: Quick initialization, faster speed; initializes only the first 100MB of space of the virtual disk;
③ Full: Complete initialization, slower speed.
10) Save configuration
11) After saving, check the array status. You will see the array is initializing. Once the initialization progress reaches 100%, the process is complete.
1.6 RAID 1 Configuration
1) Enter the RAID configuration interface and select Create Virtual Drive to create an array.
2) Select Select RAID Level and choose RAID 1.
3) Select Select Drives to choose the hard disks.
4) Select Virtual Drive Name to name the array; no specific name requirement.
5) Select Virtual Drive Size to input the array size; default indicates maximum array capacity.
6) Select Strip Size to set the stripe value; keep default if not required by business needs;
7) Write Policy: Write strategy used to configure whether the current VD has write cache enabled. There are 1-3 options, including:
① Write Through: Do not enable write cache; data is written directly to the disk, resulting in lower array write performance;
② Write Back: Enables write caching. In the displayed AVAGO firmware, this policy falls back to Write Through if the battery is absent.
③ Always Write Back: Forces write caching even without a battery. Unprotected cached writes may be lost on unexpected power failure. A healthy BBU/ZMM protects cached data when used with a supported protected-cache policy.
8) Default initialization: Select hard disk initialization option
① No: Skip initialization;
② fast indicates a quick initialization, which is faster; it initializes only the first 100MB of space within the virtual disk;
③ Full indicates a complete initialization, which is slower.
9) Save configuration
10) After saving, check the array; you will see the array is initializing. Once the initialization progress reaches 100%, the array setup is complete.
1.7 RAID 10 Configuration
1) Enter the RAID configuration interface and select Create Virtual Drive to create an array.
2) Select select raid level to choose RAID 10.
3) Select Add More Spans to add groups.
4) Select Select Drives under each group to assign hard drives to each group.
5) Select virtual drive name to name the array; no specific requirement for the name.
6) Select virtual drive size to input the array size; the default represents the maximum capacity of the array.
7) Select strip size to set the stripe value; based on business requirements, keep the default if none specified;
8) Write Policy: Write policy used to set whether the currently configured VD has write caching enabled; there are 1-3 options, among them:
① Write Through: Write cache disabled; data is written directly to the disk, resulting in lower array write performance;
② Write Back: Enables write caching. In the displayed AVAGO firmware, this policy falls back to Write Through if the battery is absent.
③ Always Write Back: Forces write caching even without a battery. Unprotected cached writes may be lost on unexpected power failure. A healthy BBU/ZMM protects cached data when used with a supported protected-cache policy.
9) Default initialization: Selection for hard drive initialization
① No indicates skipping initialization;
② fast indicates a quick initialization, which is faster; it initializes only the first 100MB of space within the virtual disk;
③ Full indicates a complete initialization, which is slower.
10) Save configuration
11) After saving, check the array; you will see the array is initializing. Once the initialization progress reaches 100%, the array setup is complete.
1.8 JBOD Configuration
1) Enter the RAID configuration interface and follow the path below to enable the JBOD function.
2) Select drive management to enter the disk management interface.
3) Select hard drives with status Unconfigured Good to enter.
4) After entering the hard drive, move the cursor to operation, press Enter, and select Make JBOD.
5) Select go to confirm and save.
6) Check the hard drive status again; you will see the hard drive has changed to JBOD.
1.9 Hot Spare Drive Configuration
1) Enter the configuration interface, select drive management to enter the disk management interface.
2) Select hard drives with status Unconfigured Good to enter.
3) After entering the hard drive, move the cursor to operation, press Enter, and select
Assign Global Hot Spare Drive: Indicates global hot spare
Assign Dedicated Hot Spare Drive: Indicates dedicated hot spare
Cropped English explanatory illustration of global and dedicated hot-spare actions; the global option remains selected.
4) For global hot spare, select Assign Global Hot Spare Drive and click go to confirm.
5) Check the hard drive status again; you will see the hard drive has changed to Hot Spare.
6) For dedicated hot spare, select Assign Dedicated Hot Spare Drive and click go to confirm.
7) Select which array needs to have the hot spare.
8) Select the array and click OK to confirm.
9) Check the hard disk status again; you will see the hard disk has changed to Hot Spare.
10) To delete the hot spare, select the hard disk that is acting as a hot spare, move the cursor to Operation, press Enter, and select Unassign Hot Spare Drive.
11) Select Go to confirm and save.
1.10 Introduction to Common Control Management Interfaces
1) Explanation of Main Interface Fields
Status: RAID card status
BBU: Whether it has a BBU battery
Silence Alarm: Disable buzzer alarm
2) Select Main Menu to enter the RAID card configuration interface
3) Select controller management to enter controller management
Product Name: RAID card model
Select Boot Device: Boot device options
Firmware Version: Firmware version
4) Select advance controller properties to enter
Alarm Control: Set buzzer status
Enable: Enable fault buzzer
Disable: Disable fault buzzer
Boot Mode: System mode when RAID card fails
ROC Temperature (C): RAID card temperature
JBOD Mode: Whether JBOD mode is supported
5) Select spare to enter
Emergency Spare: Selection of hot spare drives under emergency conditions
1) None: No emergency spare drive
2) Unconfigured Good: All disks with status UG serve as emergency spare drives
3) Global Hotspare: All disks with status Global Hot Spare serve as emergency spare drives
4) Unconfigured Good & Global Hotspare: All disks with status Unconfigured Good and Global Hot Spare serve as emergency spare drives
6) Select cache and memory
Memory Size: RAID card cache
II. Fault Recovery for Common Issues
2.1 Single Disk Offline and Processing Steps
1) When a hard disk goes offline, you can see the array is in a degraded status
2) Enter disk management to see that the hard disk in SLOT0 slot cannot be recognized
3) After reinserting the hard disk in slot0, you can see the hard disk is in unconfigured bad status
4) Select the hard disk in unconfigured bad status, move the cursor to Operation, press Enter, and select make unconfigured good
5) Select Go to confirm
6) Check the hard disk status again; you will see the hard disk has changed to unconfigured good status, but there is foreign information that needs to be cleared
7) Select configuration management to enter array configuration
8) Select manage foreign configuration
9) Select clear foreign configuration to clear foreign information
10) Check the hard disk status again; it has changed to unconfigured good status. The hard disk will synchronize automatically at this time. If it does not synchronize automatically, reseat the hard disk.
11) The disk rebuild status is as follows. Once the rebuild progress reaches 100%, the array returns to normal operation.
2.2 Multi-disk Failure and Handling Steps
When multiple disks fail, consider a scenario where five disks form a RAID 5 array and two disks go offline, causing the array to enter an OFFLINE state. Data recovery is not guaranteed in this situation; it is recommended to contact a professional data recovery company. Note that RAID 5 tolerates only one disk failure; if multiple disks fail, recovery may be impossible. Prioritize contacting a data recovery service. The following provides an example.
1) Check the array status to confirm the array is OFFLINE and that disks in slot 0 and slot 1 are no longer detected.
2) Re-seat the two failed disks. After detection, navigate to the Disk Management interface to observe that both disks now show UNCONFIGURED BAD status.
3) Select the disks with UNCONFIGURED BAD status, move the cursor to Operation, press Enter, and choose MAKE UNCONFIGURED GOOD.
4) Select GO to confirm.
5) After processing both disks, check the disk status again. The disks should now show UNCONFIGURED GOOD status but display foreign configuration information.
6) Select Configuration Management to access array configuration.
7) Select Preview Foreign Configuration to preview imported foreign settings.
8) Select Import Foreign Configuration to import the foreign settings.
9) Verify the array status, which should now show DEGRADED. Check the disk status to confirm the newly failed disks are online while previously failed disks are syncing. Once the rebuild progress reaches 100%, the array will return to normal operation.
