LSI 9361-8i: Configure RAID through the M5 BMC

This archived vendor walkthrough uses an Inspur M5 BMC to manage an LSI/Avago MegaRAID 9361-8i controller. English instructional reconstructions replace its Chinese screenshots. Repeated equivalent UI excerpts share figures, while different RAID levels and disk selections remain distinct. The source mixes existing-array properties, new-creation dialogs and contradictory disk selections; these are documented examples, not a verified continuous configuration session.

Use this workflow only for an approved new configuration or planned destructive reconfiguration with recoverable backups. Deleting a logical drive, changing an active member to Unconfigured Good, creating a virtual drive and initializing it can change metadata or make existing data inaccessible. They are not routine data-recovery steps. Do not apply them to a production member merely because the source clicks those controls.

1. Review existing logical and physical drives

Sign in to the actual server BMC using authorized credentials. Open Storage > Logical Disks and select the intended controller. Review the virtual-drive identity, capacity, RAID level and state. Optimal describes the controller-reported array state; it does not independently validate file-system consistency, backups or application data.

Fresh English M5 BMC navigation excerpt replacing the source dashboard; live account details and hardware-health indicators are omitted.

English existing-array example: Virtual Drive 0, RAID5, 1116.81 GB, Optimal, drives 8/9/10. Read Ahead and Write Through are source settings.

Open Storage > Physical Disks to review the drives recognized by the controller. The source listing shows slot 4 / drive 9 and slot 5 / drive 8 at 558.41 GB, plus slot 6 / drive 10 at 1862.50 GB, all Online. Online indicates participation/state as reported by the controller, not that a disk is unused or safe to overwrite. Match enclosure, slot and device identities against the actual intended hardware.

English physical-drive listing retaining the original three HDD rows and Online states. Other source creation dialogs label the same entries SSD; verify actual media independently.

2. Delete a logical drive only when intended

For a specifically approved deletion, return to Logical Disks, select the exact virtual drive and review its properties and slot/member list. The source example is the existing RAID5 virtual drive, not a blank new array. Select Delete LogicalDrive and apply Set. Review the confirmation before choosing OK; Cancel leaves that confirmation unaccepted.

Repeated English existing-RAID5 properties at the source deletion step; the virtual-drive target must be checked first.

English deletion-action excerpt: Delete LogicalDrive selected for the historical RAID5 target; the change has not yet been confirmed.

English deletion confirmation: Confirm this operation?, with OK and Cancel. This does not establish deletion already completed.

The source then displays Operation executed successfully. Its background still contains the previous RAID5 properties, so refresh and inspect the actual resulting configuration. The acknowledgement alone neither proves every old drive became reusable nor verifies preserved/recoverable data.

3. Shared settings for new virtual drives

The source repeats the same creation workflow for RAID0, RAID1 and RAID5. On an actual new/reusable disk set, confirm eligibility and supported media, sector format and controller limits. An Online disk already assigned to an active virtual drive is not automatically a creation candidate. If unexpected configurations or recovery requirements exist, stop and resolve them with the applicable controller procedure.

Its example offers Unconfigured Good in a physical-disk Actions panel, applies Set, confirms, then shows an acknowledgement. That is a historical state-change demonstration, not an instruction to force every recognized disk to that state. Verify the intended reusable device and its final state separately.

Creation field	Source example and interpretation
Controller Id	Controller 0 — AVAGO MegaRAID; select the actual intended controller.
RAID Level	RAID0, RAID1 or RAID5 according to the planned layout and supported disk count.
Strip Size	64K in the pictured examples. Strip size is a data-unit size, not a bandwidth setting; choose an appropriate supported value.
Access Policy	Read Write.
Read Policy	Read Ahead in the figures. The source prose says Read Back in one battery-related sentence; that is not the illustrated read-policy name.
Write Policy	Write Through in the figures, including the misspelled label Write Throgh in the old UI. Write Back eligibility depends on the supported cache-protection policy and its health.
IO Policy	Direct IO.
Drive Cache	Unchanged. This setting does not certify that every drive cache is power-loss protected.
Init State	Quick Init in the example. Initialization changes on-disk information; it does not preserve an existing installation for recovery.
Select Size	100% in the pictured forms; select the intended supported virtual-drive size. It is a percentage field, not a verified usable-capacity result.

Read-ahead policy and write-cache policy are different controls. A battery does not select a read policy. Broadcom documents optional CVM02 CacheVault protection for the 9361 series, using a flash module and a supercapacitor; do not reduce protection checks to the source’s simple BBU-present/absent rule. Use the controller’s supported policy and current protection state, including fallback behavior. Do not force unprotected Always Write Back merely to follow a performance example.

4. Source RAID0 example

Open the M5 BMC, inspect Physical Disks and confirm the actual reusable disk set. If a planned state change is genuinely required, review the selected device and apply only the approved action. The following source sequence starts from Online examples; it is not evidence that these were safely unused drives.

Repeated English navigation excerpt at the RAID0 section; it does not imply a new verified login or healthy server.

Repeated English Online physical-drive listing before the source state-change demonstration.

English physical-disk operation excerpt: current state Online and Unconfigured Good action selected. Changing active array members is not a routine creation prerequisite.

English state-change confirmation excerpt; device eligibility must be established before accepting.

Under Logical Disks, choose Create Virtual Drive. Select the actual controller and RAID0, then review the shared settings above. RAID0 has no redundancy. Select the intended eligible drive(s), respecting the controller’s RAID0 limits and planned capacity. An intermediate checkbox screen is not the final configuration.

English Logical Disks excerpt with Create Virtual Drive, replacing the source’s blank controller list view.

English blank creation form: fields remain empty or Please select; this is before choosing RAID0.

English RAID0 settings: controller 0, 64K, Read Write, Read Ahead, Write Through, Direct IO, Unchanged, Quick Init, 100%. These are historical examples.

English intermediate RAID0 disk-selection excerpt: only slot 5 / drive 8 is checked; drives 9 and 10 are unchecked, as in that source image.

The next source confirmation differs: all three listed drives are checked. Review the complete final selection before applying Set and accepting OK. The source’s success popup is over the existing 1116.81-GB RAID5 properties, not a verified new RAID0 property page. Do not infer the new RAID0 capacity, level or successful data access from that reused background.

English creation confirmation with all three source rows checked. It differs from the preceding one-drive intermediate selection; no resulting RAID level or capacity is invented.

English source operation acknowledgement after the RAID0 submission step. The original background still shows the old RAID5 example, so it is not proof of a new RAID0.

Repeated English Online physical-drive listing after the source RAID0 sequence; membership in the intended new layout still requires verification.

5. Source RAID1 example

Review the actual controller and reusable disks again. The source repeats the Online-to-Unconfigured-Good action and confirmation; the same limitations apply. For a conventional two-drive mirror, select the intended compatible pair. The source’s selection screen checks the two 558.41-GB entries and leaves the 1862.50-GB entry unchecked.

Repeated English M5 navigation excerpt at the source RAID1 section.

Repeated source Online HDD listing before its RAID1 state-change steps.

Repeated English Unconfigured Good action illustration; an active member must not be repurposed without the approved reconfiguration plan.

Repeated English confirmation for the proposed disk-state change; not a successful-state result.

Repeated English source acknowledgement; verify the actual physical-drive state separately.

Repeated English Logical Disks creation entry at the RAID1 section.

Repeated English blank virtual-drive creation form before choosing RAID1.

English RAID1 settings with the same source-era policy values. No resulting mirror size is fabricated.

English RAID1 source selection: drives 8 and 9 checked, drive 10 unchecked. This preserves the two-drive selection visible in that image.

However, the following source confirmation shows all three entries checked, and its success background again shows the old RAID5 properties. Three selected drives in that reused confirmation do not validate a conventional two-drive RAID1 plan. Correctly review the actual controller-supported mirror membership and selected level before applying changes. After creation, refresh Logical Disks, verify RAID1, capacity, members and state, then review initialization status and host visibility. The source does not independently establish those results.

Shared English confirmation preserving the source’s three checked drives. This contradicts its preceding RAID1 pair selection and is not a validated RAID1 layout.

English operation acknowledgement at the RAID1 submission position; the source’s reused RAID5 background does not verify RAID1 creation.

Repeated English source Online physical-drive listing, without a claim that the intended mirror or application data was verified.

6. Source RAID5 example

Repeat the inventory and approved reusable-disk checks. Under Create Virtual Drive select RAID5, not RAID1: the source’s RAID5 prose contains a copy/paste error, while its actual form clearly displays RAID5. Use the supported minimum of three member drives for this layout and review usable capacity, including the smallest participating member and controller overhead. Unequal sizes do not imply that all raw capacity can be used in this single RAID5 set.

Repeated English M5 navigation excerpt at the RAID5 section.

Repeated English Online physical-drive listing; actual reusable eligibility is still a separate requirement.

Repeated English historical disk-state action; not a repair or recovery procedure.

Repeated English confirmation of the proposed Unconfigured Good action.

Repeated English source action acknowledgement; refresh to determine the resulting state.

Repeated English Logical Disks page with Create Virtual Drive.

Repeated English initially unselected creation form.

English RAID5 settings, correcting the paragraph’s RAID1 typo according to the source form.

English RAID5 selection: all three source rows checked, with source SSD labels. The other listing calls the same entries HDD; this does not resolve the actual media type.

Review the final controller, level, eligible members, policies, initialization and intended size. Apply Set and accept only the correct confirmation. Inspect the actual resulting virtual-drive properties and physical membership afterward. Optimal and Online are reported configuration states; they are not proof of successful OS installation, file-system consistency or verified application data.

Shared English creation confirmation with all three source entries checked at the RAID5 step; no new capacity or completed initialization is invented.

Repeated English Online physical-drive listing at the end of the source RAID5 sequence; final intended membership and logical-drive properties require a separate check.

Source and official English references

The original article’s English switch leads to the vendor English home page; a matching public English M5 BMC article and screenshot set were not established. Broadcom’s English documentation verifies controller concepts and cache-protection support, but its Ctrl-R and management-tool screenshots are different interfaces and are not substituted as identical BMC screens.