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Configuring the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID Controller

  Controller Description

  Array Manager Storage Model

  Dell PowerVault 660F RAID Controller Configuration Overview

  Dell PowerVault 660F RAID Controller Commands and Procedures Summary

  Array Group Commands

  Disk Group Commands

  Virtual Disk Commands

  Array Disk Commands

  Controller Commands

  Subsystem Commands

  Enclosure Management Overview and Commands

  Controller Battery and Battery Backup Unit (BBU)

This chapter describes how to configure and manage arrays with the Dell PowerVault™ 660F RAID controller.

Note: A Dell PowerVault 660F controller should be managed by only one Array Manager managed node. See Adding and Removing Components in the Service Manager chapter for details.

Controller Description

The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller is a high-performance Fibre Channel host to Fibre Channel disk array controller. The controller provides one Fibre host channel and two Fibre drive channels conforming to Fibre Channel standards. The logical protocol used for both host and disk communications is 100 MB/s Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) SCSI over fibre. The controller provides Fibre Channel host performance and fault-tolerant RAID disk operations for Fibre Channel disk environments. The controller is an intelligent, caching controller that supports RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5, and 0+1. The controller allows multiple hosts to access the array of physical disk drives (array disks), which can be configured as one or more virtual storage devices (virtual disks).

The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller also provides continuous access to data in the event of a controller failure. This capability comes with a redundant controller system, using two controllers that share access to the same disk array. In the event of a controller failure, controller operations are assumed by the surviving controller through a failover process. The failed controller can then be removed and replaced while the system is online. The new controller resumes processing array operations in a failback process. During failover and failback, write cache coherency is maintained with the array disks.

The controller supports a battery backup unit (BBU) for maintaining memory content in case of an AC power failure. The principal purpose of the BBU is to provide cache fault tolerance during a power glitch; however, the BBU is capable of sustaining memory content for hours at a time, depending on the type and size of the memory. The fault management features are based on the SCSI-3 Enclosure Services (SES) device interface.

The following features are available on the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller:

Supported RAID Levels

The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller supports the following RAID levels:

Supported RAID Levels 

RAID
Level


Description

# of Drives
Min. Max.

Fault
Tolerant

Concatenation

Storing data either on one disk (generally considered a simple volume) or on disk space that spans more than one disk (a spanned volume).

1

16

No

0

Block striping is provided, which yields higher performance than is possible with individual disk drives. No redundancy is provided.

2

16

No

1

Disk drives are paired and mirrored. All data is 100% duplicated on an equivalent disk drive.

2

2

Yes

3 and 5

Data is striped across several physical disk drives. Parity protection is used for data redundancy.

3

16

Yes

0+1

Combination of RAID levels 0 and 1. Data is striped across disks with mirrors of the stripes on adjacent disks. This allows the benefits of RAID 10, but the configuration can have an odd number of disks.

3

16

Yes

Maximum Virtual Disks per Controller

You can create a maximum of 32 virtual disks on a Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller.

Conservative Cache Mode

Conservative Cache mode is a feature of the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller. It is an operating mode in which virtual disks configured with the write-back caching policy are treated as though they were configured for write-through operation and the cache is flushed. Conservative Cache mode is entered to provide a higher level of data protection after a critical system component has failed. When the condition forcing Conservative Cache mode is resolved, the cache policies on the system drives are converted back to their original settings.

Conditions that cause Conservative Cache execution are:


Array Manager Storage Model

Working with these controllers requires an understanding of the Array Manager storage model, which represents the Array Manager storage objects in an object hierarchy. Each object has a set of attributes and operations associated with it. Attributes describe the properties of the object, and operations allow you to create new objects and modify existing object attributes. See The Array Manager Storage Model section in the Storage Management Concepts chapter for more information about the Array Manager storage model.

Operations that are grayed out in the console are not supported or not available at that time. To view attributes or to perform operations, right-click on a given storage object. A context menu will appear with a list of commands available, including a Properties command.


Dell PowerVault 660F RAID Controller Configuration Overview

This section summarizes the steps for configuring the storage attached to redundant Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controllers.

  1. Determine requirements for disk groups, virtual disks, and hot spares, including the storage capacity and RAID type for each virtual disk. Make sure the requirements for operating system partitions, fault tolerance, and total capacity are considered during this determination. Note that hot spares are used both for recovery from disk failure and for future capacity expansion.

  2. Identify requirements for future capacity expansion. Note that if a virtual disk is to be expanded in size at a later time, it must be the only virtual disk in its disk group. This consideration will be helpful when determining whether to create one or many virtual disks within a disk group.

  3. Create required disk groups and virtual disks. Note the following considerations:

  4. Assign one or more hot spares to enable auto-rebuild in the event of drive failure within a fault-tolerant virtual disk.

  5. If your PowerVault 660F controller is connected through "direct attach," you must rescan in Windows® 2000 or reboot in Windows NT®. If the PowerVault 660F controller is part of a SAN, you must first assign the virtual disk to a server by using the Dell OpenManage™ Storage Consolidation software.

  6. Create and format operating system partitions to complete the configuration. See the Disk Management and Volume Management chapters for details.


Dell PowerVault 660F RAID Controller Commands and Procedures Summary

The remainder of this chapter provides detailed information on the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller commands and procedures and has the following main topics:


Array Group Commands

An array group contains array disks that are controlled by a particular array controller. An array group is named by the number of the array controller it is associated with. For example, array disks attached to Controller 0 belong to Array Group 0. Because the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller can support 112 array disks in a single array group, array disks must be further divided into disk groups with up to 16 disks each. You create virtual disks from a disk group.

You can perform the following operations from the Array Group context menu:

To bring up an array group's context menu, right-click the array group object in the tree view.

Create Disk Group

Use this function to create a disk group from available physical array disks. The disk group of array disks will be used to create virtual disks. The full capacity of the disk group must be used before additional disk groups can be created. You can have up to 16 array disks per disk group. Before you create a disk group, consider the following items:

To create a disk group:
  1. Right-click on an array group.

  2. Click on Create Disk Group. The Create Disk Group dialog box appears.

  3. Select one or more array disks from the Available Array Disks list. Drag the selected disk(s) to the Add Array Disks list or click Add Disk to add to the Add Array Disks list. Continue adding disks as required by your configuration.

  4. Disks can be removed from the Add Array Disks list by selecting the specific disk and clicking on Remove Disk, or remove all disks from the Add Array Disks list by clicking on Remove All.

  5. Verify that the Add Array Disks list contains the appropriate disks. Click OK to invoke the changes. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Add Spares

Use this function to create a global hot spare disk.

  1. Right-click on an array disk group.

  2. Click Add Spares. The Add Spares dialog box appears.

  3. Select one or more array disks from the Available Array Disks list. Drag the selected disk(s) to the Add Array Disks list or click Add Disk to add to the Add Array Disks list. Continue adding spare disks as required by your configuration.

  4. Disks can be removed from the Add Array Disks list by selecting the specific disk and clicking on Remove Disk, or remove all disks from the Add Array Disks list by clicking on Remove All.

  5. Verify that the Add Array Disks list contains the appropriate disks. Click OK to make the changes. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Reset Configuration

Use this function to delete all configuration information on the controller, so you can perform a fresh configuration.

CAUTION! Resetting a configuration permanently destroys all data on the controller and array disks. This operation is not recoverable.
  1. Right-click on an array disk group.

  2. Click Reset Configuration. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears warning that all virtual disks and data will be lost. The user is asked to confirm this operation.

  3. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)

Array Group Properties

The Properties command for a selected array group displays the following information:

Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Disk Group Commands

You can perform the following operations from the Disk Group context menu:

To bring up a disk group's context menu, right-click the disk group object in the tree view.

Create Virtual Disk

Creating virtual disks allows you to choose from a variety of RAID configurations to make the best use of your array disk storage. You must create a disk group before creating a virtual disk, because the array disks for a virtual disk are selected from a disk group. See Create Disk Group in this chapter for details.

The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller supports the following RAID configurations: concatenation, RAID-0, RAID-1, RAID-3, RAID-5, and RAID-0+1. For more information about RAID configurations, see Choosing RAID Levels in the Storage Management Concepts chapter.

Note: When you create virtual disks, you may want to consider how virtual disks must be deleted. Because of hardware constraints, virtual disks must be deleted in reverse order of their creation. In other words, you must delete the most recently created virtual disk first and continue to delete in reverse order.
  1. Right-click on a disk group.

  2. Click on Create Virtual Disk. The Welcome to the Create Virtual Disk Wizard screen appears.

  3. Read the welcome screen and click Next to continue. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Select Virtual Disk Type screen appears.

  4. Select the Type, Size, Stripe Size, and Write Policy for the virtual disk. Supported virtual disk types or RAID levels are available in the drop-down menu of the Type field.

Supported stripe size values are available in the drop-down menu of the Stripe Size field. The stripe size is selectable only on the first virtual disk created. When you create additional virtual disks, the stripe size setting is grayed out because there can be only one stripe size for all virtual disks on the same Dell PowerVault 660F controller.

The Write Policy toggles between Write Cache Enabled and Write Cache Disabled. When write cache is enabled, the controller returns a completion status to the host as soon as the cache receives the data. The target device receives the data at a more appropriate time. When write cache is disabled, the controller writes data to the target device before returning completion status to the host.

  1. When the virtual disk attributes are set appropriately, click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Completing the Create Virtual Disk Wizard screen appears.

Note: Initializing the new virtual disk is strongly recommended and may take approximately one hour to complete, depending on the size of the virtual disk.
  1. Check the Initialize Disk option if you want to initialize the new virtual disk immediately, and click Finish to create the virtual disk as determined in the previous steps. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Note: If you wish, initialization can be performed later by choosing Initialize from the Virtual Disk popup menu.

If this is the first virtual disk created, a dialog box notifying the user that the controller needs to reset appears. The reset operation may take more than 30 seconds to complete.

  1. Click OK to continue.

Apply RAID Policy

Use this function to apply RAID policies and create virtual disks.

Note: If you use this method, all your virtual disks will be in one disk group. You will not be able to use the Expand Capacity command to add disks in the future.
  1. Right-click on a disk group.

  2. Click Apply RAID Policy. The Welcome to the RAID Policy Wizard screen appears.

  3. Read the welcome screen and click Next to continue. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Select RAID Policy screen appears.

  4. Use the RAID Policy Browser to select a RAID policy to apply to the array disk group. Check the disk(s) for which this RAID policy is to be applied. Changes can be made to this policy's settings by double-clicking on any of the fields. These changes will be applied "on the fly" without editing or creating a new RAID policy. Click on Revert to default to revert to the existing policy's default settings.

  5. When the RAID policies are set appropriately, click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Completing the RAID Policy Wizard screen appears.

Note: Initializing the new virtual disk is strongly recommended and may take approximately one hour to complete, depending on the size of the virtual disk.
  1. Check the Initialize Disk option if you want to initialize the new virtual disk immediately, and click Finish to create the virtual disk as determined by the RAID policy chosen. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Note: If you wish, initialization can be performed later by choosing Initialize from the Virtual Disk popup menu.

If this is the first virtual disk created, a dialog box notifying the user that the controller needs to reset appears. The reset operation may take more than 30 seconds to complete.

  1. Click OK to continue.

Note: If your PowerVault 660F controller is connected through direct attach, you must rescan in Windows 2000 or reboot in Windows NT. If the PowerVault 660F controller is a part of a SAN, you must first assign the virtual disk to a server by using the Dell OpenManage Storage Consolidation software.

Edit RAID Policy

Use this function to create, edit, or delete RAID policies.

To create a new RAID policy:

  1. Right-click on a disk group.

  2. Click Edit RAID Policy. The RAID Policy Editor screen appears.

  3. Click New Policy. An empty secondary RAID Policy Editor screen appears.

  4. Click Add Disk. A disk with empty attribute fields appears on the screen.

  5. Edit the fields by typing the appropriate information, or double-click in the field for a popup menu of possible settings.

  6. Add more disks as required for your configuration.

The last disk in the list can be removed from the configuration by clicking Remove Disk.

  1. Enter a name in the Policy Name field.

  2. When all settings are correct, click OK to return to the main RAID Policy Editor screen. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

  3. Click OK to save the configuration. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

To edit an existing RAID policy

  1. Right-click on a disk group.

  2. Click Edit RAID Policy. The RAID Policy Editor screen appears.

  3. Select the RAID policy you wish to modify.

  4. Click Modify Policy. A secondary RAID Policy Editor screen appears showing the attributes of the selected RAID policy.

  5. Edit the fields by typing the appropriate information, or double-click in the field for a popup menu of possible settings.

  6. Add or delete disks as required by your configuration.

  7. When all settings are correct, click OK to return to the main RAID Policy Editor screen. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

  8. Click OK to save the configuration. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

To delete a RAID policy

  1. Right-click on a disk group.

  2. Click Edit RAID Policy. The RAID Policy Editor screen appears.

  3. Select the RAID policy you wish to delete.

  4. Click Delete Policy.

  5. Click OK to save the configuration. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Expand Capacity

Note: The Expand Capacity command is not available unless the PowerVault 660F controller is operating with the partner controller held in reset. Use the Disable Partner command to place the partner controller in reset before invoking Expand Capacity. This command can be performed only on disk groups with one virtual disk.

Use this function to increase the capacity of an existing disk group while the controller is online. The Expand Capacity command appends the added array disk's capacity to the existing virtual disk specified in the request. In contrast, the Add Virtual Disk command adds a new virtual disk, using the existing array disks.

  1. Right-click on a disk group containing the virtual disk to be expanded.

  2. Click on Expand Capacity. The Expand Capacity dialog box appears.

  3. Select one or more array disks from the Available Array Disks list. Drag the selected disk(s) to the Add Array Disks list or click Add Disk to add to the Add Array Disks list. Continue adding disks until you want to stop or you reach the limit.

Array disks can be removed from the Add Array Disks list by selecting the specific disk and clicking on Remove Disk, or remove all disks from the Add Array Disks list by clicking on Remove All.

  1. Verify that the Add Array Disks list contains the appropriate disks. Click OK to make the changes. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

A temporary disk group appears that contains the selected array disks. This disk group remains until the Expand Capacity procedure is completed. When the procedure is finished, the temporary disk group goes away and the selected array disks are displayed under the disk group that contains the virtual disk that has been expanded.

The Expand Capacity process takes approximately 4 to 12 hours to complete, depending on the number of disks involved and their capacity.

  1. After the Expand Capacity process has completed, you MUST enable the partner controller and reset the controller.

See the Enable Partner and Reset commands.

Note: No rebuilds will take place until after the Expand Capacity operation is completed and the partner is enabled.
  1. If the virtual disk is on a Windows NT server, you must first reboot to use the free space.

  2. You are now ready to put a format and a file system on the free space.

Refer to Working with Dynamic Volumes in the Volume Management chapter.

Add Virtual Disk

Note: The Add Virtual Disk command is not available unless the PowerVault 660F controller is operating with the partner controller held in reset. Use the Disable Partner command to place the partner controller in reset before invoking Add Virtual Disk.

The Add Virtual Disk adds a new virtual disk, using the existing array disks.

  1. Right-click on a disk group.

  2. Click on Add Virtual Disk. The Welcome to the Add Virtual Disk Wizard screen appears.

  3. Read the welcome screen and click Next to continue. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Select Virtual Disk Type screen appears.

  4. Select the Type and Write Policy for the virtual disk.

Supported virtual disk types or RAID levels are available in the drop-down menu of the Type field.

Supported RAID levels are described in the Supported RAID Levels table near the beginning of this chapter.

The Write Policy toggles between Write Cache Enabled and Write Cache Disabled. When write cache is enabled, the controller returns a completion status to the host as soon as the cache receives the data. The target device receives the data at a more appropriate time. When write cache is disabled, the controller writes data to the target device before returning completion status to the host.

  1. When the virtual disk attributes are set appropriately, click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Select Disk screen appears.

  2. Select one or more spare disks for this virtual disk by checking the appropriate disk(s).

  3. When the spare disk or disks are selected, click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Completing the Add Virtual Disk Wizard screen appears.

Note: Initializing the new virtual disk is strongly recommended and may take approximately one hour to complete, depending on the size of the virtual disk.
  1. Check the Initialize Disk option if you want to initialize the new virtual disk immediately, and click Finish to create the virtual disk as determined in the previous steps. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Note: If you wish, initialization can be performed later by choosing Initialize from the Virtual Disk popup menu.
  1. Click OK to continue.

  2. After the Add Virtual Disk process has completed, you MUST enable the partner controller and reset the controller.

See the Enable Partner and Reset commands.

Note: No rebuilds will take place until after the Add Virtual Disk operation is completed and the partner is enabled.
  1. If you are using a SAN, see the SAN Administrator's Guide for instructions on how to assign the new virtual disk to a server, using the Dell OpenManage Storage Consolidation software.

Delete Disk Group

Use this function to remove the selected disk group from the array group.

Note: Before you can delete a disk group, you must have deleted the virtual disks in the disk group.
  1. Right-click on a disk group.

  2. Click Delete Disk Group. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears notifying the user that the selected disk group will be deleted. The user is asked to confirm this operation.

  3. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)

Note: After deleting the last disk group, you must reset the configuration. See Reset Configuration in this chapter.

Disk Group Properties

The Properties command for a disk group gives the following information on the selected disk group:

Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Virtual Disk Commands

You can perform the following operations from a virtual disk's context menu:

To bring up a virtual disk's context menu, right-click the virtual disk object in the tree view. For more information why you would want to use virtual disks, see the section Create Virtual Disk in this chapter.

Change Policy

Use this function to change the read and write cache policies of a virtual disk. This setting can be used only when the PowerVault 660F controller is not in Conservative Cache mode.

  1. Right-click on a virtual disk.

  2. Click Change Policy. The Write Policy dialog box appears.

Select either Write Cache Enabled or Write Cache Disabled. The Write Policy toggles between Write Cache Enabled and Write Cache Disabled. When write cache is enabled, the controller returns a completion status to the host as soon as the cache receives the data. The target device receives the data at a more appropriate time. When write cache is disabled, the controller writes data to the target device before returning completion status to the host.

  1. Click OK to make the change. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Delete Virtual Disk

Note: This function is enabled only for the virtual disk that was created last. Because of hardware constraints, virtual disks must be deleted in the reverse order of their creation. In other words, you must delete the most recently created virtual disk first and continue to delete in reverse order.

Use this function to delete the virtual disk that was created last.

  1. Right-click on the virtual disk that was created last.

  2. Click Delete. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears warning that all data on the selected virtual disk will be lost. The user is asked to confirm the operation.

CAUTION! Deleting a virtual disk permanently deletes all information contained on that disk.
  1. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.) The virtual disk disappears from the left pane and the right pane in the Array Manager console if the array group is selected.

Initialize

Use this function to manually start initializing a virtual disk.

  1. Right-click on a virtual disk.

  2. Click Initialize. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears warning that all current data on the virtual disk will be lost and recommends that the user not perform any disk or volume operations on the corresponding disks while the initialization is in progress.

  3. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.) The initialization progress is indicated in the right pane. The virtual disk status indicates "Initializing" and the progress indicates the percent completed.

Cancel Initialize

Use this function to manually stop an initialization that is in progress.

  1. Right-click on a virtual disk.

  2. Click Cancel Initialize. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears asking the user to confirm the operation.

  3. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)

Check Consistency

Use this function to begin a consistency check. A consistency check verifies that mirror or parity information matches the stored data on the redundant arrays (RAID-1, RAID-3, RAID-5, or RAID-0+1). If the parity block information is inconsistent with the data blocks, the controller has the ability to correct the inconsistencies.

  1. Right-click on a virtual disk.

  2. Click Check Consistency. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears warning that other disk or volume operations on the corresponding disks not be performed while the consistency check is in progress. The user is asked to confirm this operation.

  3. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)

Cancel Check Consistency

Use this function to manually stop a consistency check that is in progress.

  1. Right-click on a virtual disk.

  2. Click Cancel Check Consistency. A confirmation dialog box appears asking whether you want to cancel the consistency check.

  3. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)

Force Online

Use this function to force an offline virtual disk to online status. This command is needed to recover a failed virtual disk after one or more failed array disks are replaced.

  1. Right-click on the offline virtual disk.

  2. Click Force Online. The status change is indicated in the right pane. The virtual disk status indicates a change from offline to online.

Virtual Disk Properties

The Properties command for a virtual disk gives the following information on the selected virtual disk:

Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Array Disk Commands

Array disks are the physical hard disk drives attached to the controller through the enclosure. The array disks are configured into virtual disks to become members of a disk group. You can perform the following operations from the Array Disk context menu:

To bring up an array disk's context menu, right-click the array disk object in the tree view.

Blink Disk

Use this function to locate the selected array disk.

  1. Right-click on an array disk.

  2. Click Blink Disk. The Locate Disk dialog box appears.

  3. Click Blink to activate the LED for the selected array disk. The LED on the hard-disk carrier may take 30 seconds to start blinking.

Click Done when finished. The LED may continue blinking for another 30 seconds.

Rebuild

The Rebuild function uses a hot spare to rebuild a degraded virtual disk. You can do only one rebuild at a time.

  1. Right-click on an array disk.

  2. Click Rebuild.

A warning/confirmation dialog box appears recommending that you not perform any disk or volume operations on the corresponding disks while the rebuild is in progress, and asking whether you want to rebuild this array disk.

  1. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)

The status and progress are indicated in the right pane. The array disk status indicates "Rebuilding."

Cancel Rebuild

Use this function to manually stop a rebuild that is in progress.

  1. Right-click on an array disk.

  2. Click Cancel Rebuild. A confirmation dialog box appears asking whether you want to cancel the array disk rebuild.

Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)

Prepare to Remove

This command spins an array disk down to prepare it for removal. Only array disks that have a hardware failure or that have been brought offline can be prepared for removal.

Note: Unused array disks that are not part of a virtual disk and that are already spun down can be removed at any time.
  1. Right-click on an array disk.

  2. Click Prepare to Remove.

A confirmation dialog box appears asking whether you want to prepare this array disk for removal.

  1. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)

The array disk will spin down so that it can be removed.

Make Global Hotspare

Use this function to designate the selected array disk as a global hot spare disk.

  1. Right-click on an array disk.

  2. Click Make Global Hotspare. The array disk is labeled as a hot spare in the left pane. The information in the right pane is updated to indicate that the array disk status is Ready and the type is Spare Array Disk.

Unassign Global Hotspare

Use this function to unassign the selected array disk as a global hot spare disk.

  1. Right-click on an array disk.

  2. Click Unassign Global Hotspare. The type change is indicated in the right pane. The array disk status indicates Ready and the type is Array Disk.

Make Offline

Use this function to force the selected disk to Offline status.

  1. Right-click on an array disk.

  2. Click Make Offline. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears warning that loss of data may occur. The user is asked to confirm this operation.

  3. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.) The status change is indicated in the right pane. The array disk status indicates a change from Online to Offline

Note: Forcing an array disk that is part of a disk group offline may start a rebuild or may fail one or more virtual disks in the disk group.

Array Disk Properties

The Properties command for an array disk gives the following information on the selected array disk:

Disk Properties
Disk
Size
Status
Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Controller Commands

You can perform the following controller operations, which enhance your ability to configure and manage your system:

To bring up a controller's context menu, right-click the controller object in the tree view.

Controller Options

Each Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller is shipped from the factory with initial settings that have been found to work well in a majority of applications and environments. These settings are listed as the controller options and vary depending on product and user requirements. You can customize controller options and features to meet the needs of your system. The Controller Options dialog box has the following tabs:

You can also revert any settings you make to the default factory options.

Revert to Factory Controller Options

Use the revert function to return to the Dell PowerVault 660F Controller factory default values at any time from any controller option page.

To revert to factory default values:
  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on Controller Options. The Controller Options multi-tabbed dialog box appears with the Advanced tab open.

  3. Click Revert. The Revert to Factory Defaults dialog box appears.

  4. Select either Current Page Only or All Controller Options.

  5. Current Page Only returns the controller options on this page only to the factory default values.

All Controller Options returns all controller options to the factory default values.

  1. Click OK to make the changes. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

  2. A controller reset is required when making some controller option changes. Controller options requiring a controller reset are indicated with a popup window when the mouse cursor moves over the controller option. A controller reset is recommended after making any changes to the controller configuration. If a dialog box does NOT appear with the warning that a controller reset will occur, refer to the Reset command for controller reset instructions.

Advanced Controller Options

To make changes to the Advanced controller options settings:
  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on Controller Options.

  3. Click the Advanced tab to continue. The Advanced tab opens.

Note: Checking a specific option activates that option, either enabling or disabling the option as stated in the dialog box. No check indicates that the option is not activated.
  1. Make changes to the following Advanced controller options as required by your product and configuration:

  2. When the Advanced controller options are set appropriately, click OK to make the changes. (Click Revert to revert controller options to factory default values. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Expert Controller Options

To make changes to the Expert controller options:
  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on Controller Options.

  3. Click the Expert tab to continue. The Expert tab opens.

Note: Checking a specific option activates that option, either enabling or disabling the option as stated in the dialog box. No check indicates that the option is not activated.
  1. Make changes to the following Expert controller options as required by your product and configuration:

  2. When the Expert controller options are set appropriately, click OK to make the changes. (Click Revert to revert controller options to factory default values. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Fibre Controller Options

To make changes to the Fibre controller options:
  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on Controller Options.

  3. Click the Fibre tab to continue. The Fibre tab opens.

Note: Checking a specific option activates that option, either enabling or disabling the option as stated in the dialog box. No check indicates that the option is not activated.
  1. Make changes to the following Fibre controller options as required by your product and configuration:

  2. When the Fibre controller options are set appropriately, click OK to make the changes. (Click Revert to revert controller options to factory default values. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

  3. A controller reset is required when making some controller option changes. Controller options requiring a controller reset are indicated with a popup window when the mouse cursor moves over the controller option. A controller reset is recommended after making any changes to the controller configuration. If a dialog box does NOT appear warning that a controller reset will occur, refer to the Reset command for the controller reset instructions.

Add Enclosure

The Add Enclosure command allows users to add device enclosures (one or more) to a configured system while the system continues to operate. After the enclosure or enclosures have been added to the system, the Add Enclosure command initiates the SES monitoring process for the added enclosure(s). The user can configure the additional disk drive capacity without rebooting the system through Array Manager.

To add enclosures:
  1. Attach the new enclosure(s) to the system, checking for and resolving any ID conflicts. Refer to the appropriate documentation for enclosure installation.

  2. Power on the new enclosure(s).

  3. Wait for all the drives to complete the spin-up process.

  4. Right-click on a controller.

  5. Click on Add Enclosure only after all disk drives have completed the spin-up process.

  6. Perform a rescan.

Download

The Download command allows you to download controller firmware or SES firmware. To use the command, right-click the controller. Then select the Download command from the popup menu that comes up. A submenu appears for selecting either of the two download options. For details, see:

Controller Firmware

Note: Before downloading firmware, be sure to suspend all I/O to the PowerVault 660F controller.
  1. Select Controller Firmware.

The Download Firmware dialog box appears. The dialog box provides a standard browser for locating the appropriate firmware image file.

  1. Click Browse to locate the file and enter the path and filename. Information about the selected file displays.

  2. Verify that the selected file is correct. If the correct image file is not selected, the command is not executed.

  3. Click Apply to begin the download process. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Note: If operating a redundant controller system, both controllers will receive the firmware simultaneously.

SES Firmware

Use this function to upgrade enclosure SES firmware as new versions become available. The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller supports pass-through commands used to download new SES firmware to the SES Processor. This mechanism allows a host utility to communicate SCSI commands directly with a device that is visible only to the controller. Array Manager allows the user to download new SES firmware to the SES device. The user will be able to download only to the primary SES device associated with the primary controller. The SES Download wizard guides the user through the process.

  1. Select SES Firmware.

  2. Read the welcome screen and click Next to continue. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

The Select Enclosures screen appears.

  1. Select the enclosures for which you want to download SES firmware. Click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

  2. Click Browse to locate the file and enter the path and filename. Information about the selected file displays.

  3. Verify that the selected file is correct. If the correct file is not selected, the command is not executed.

  4. The Completing the SES Download Wizard screen appears. Click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

  5. Click Finish to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Disable Partner

Use this function to hold the partner controller in reset and initiate the failover process. If you are planning to use the Expand Capacity or Add Virtual Disk commands, those commands are not available unless you use this command first to hold the partner controller in reset and transfer control to a single controller. After the Expand Capacity or Add Virtual Disk command is completed, you need to use the Enable Partner command to return to a redundant controller configuration with both controllers operating.

Note: Disabling the partner controller forces all I/O to the subsystem to go through the surviving controller. Any servers connected to the Fibre Channel fabric may experience an HBA failover (depending on the fabric configuration) in order to redirect I/O to the surviving controller.
To use the Disable Partner command:
  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on Disable Partner. This command is invoked immediately; no warning or confirmation screen appears. The partner controller is held in reset. The surviving controller operates as a failed-over redundant controller.

Enable Partner

Use this function to return the partner controller to full functionality. Enable the partner controller following an Expand Capacity or Add Virtual Disk operation to return the system to a redundant controller configuration.

Note: Enabling the partner controller allows I/O to be processed by both controllers. For a SAN environment, manual HBA failovers may be necessary to have servers use the newly enabled controller.
To use the Enable Partner command:
  1. Right-click on the active controller.

  2. Click on Enable Partner. This command is invoked immediately; no warning or confirmation screen appears. The failback process begins, and the partner controller resumes full functionality.

Reset

Use this function to cycle power on the controllers. After creating a new configuration or making changes to controller options, a controller reset is recommended. The controller reset usually occurs without user intervention; however, occasions may arise when resetting the controllers manually is required.

  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on Reset. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears notifying the user that a controller reset will take 30 seconds or longer. The user is asked to confirm this operation.

  3. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.) A warm power cycle occurs immediately on the controllers.

Disable BBU

Use this feature to prepare the controller for removal in order to move it to another location. This procedure forces the controller into Conservative Cache mode, flushes the cache, and disconnects the battery.

  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on Disable BBU. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears notifying the user that the controller will be prepared for removal. The Disable BBU procedure flushes the cache, shifts to Conservative Cache mode (if the Conservative Cache Mode controller option is enabled), and electrically disconnects the BBU. The user is asked to confirm this operation.

  3. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)

Enable BBU

Use this function to return the controller to normal operation.

  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on Enable BBU. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears notifying the user that the controller will return to normal operation. The user is asked to confirm this operation.

  3. Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)

C0 Battery and C1 Battery

Use these menu items to manage the following battery functions:

Recondition

A full battery recondition cycle consists of discharging and recharging the battery. The recondition cycle must start with a fully charged battery. If the battery needs charging, use the Fast Charge function. Normally the battery is automatically recharged, but in a new system or a system that has been subjected to a power outage, recharging may be necessary and may take several hours.

The recondition cycle must be initiated manually and must complete without an interruption of power. In addition, the operator must not interrupt the cycle by initiating a fast charge or another recondition cycle. If the cycle is interrupted for any reason, the batteries must be recharged and the recondition process must be restarted.

Note: During the reconditioning, write back cache mode will be disabled. This may slow normal operations. Therefore, schedule this operation accordingly.
  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on C0 Battery or C1 Battery for the battery associated with the selected controller.

  3. Click on Recondition. The recondition cycle begins immediately and must not be interrupted.

Cancel Recondition

  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on C0 Battery or C1 Battery for the battery associated with the selected controller.

  3. Click on Cancel Recondition. The recondition cycle is cancelled immediately.

Fast Charge

  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on C0 Battery or C1 Battery for the battery associated with the selected controller.

  3. Click on Fast Charge. The Fast Charge procedure begins immediately. A fast charge also occurs when the controller is powered on.

Cancel Fast Charge

  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on C0 Battery or C1 Battery for the battery associated with the selected controller.

  3. Click on Cancel Fast Charge. The Fast Charge procedure is cancelled immediately.

Change Low Threshold

Use this function to modify the power level used to trigger an alarm when the battery power level drops below the set value.

  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click on C0 Battery or C1 Battery for the battery associated with the selected controller.

  3. Click on Change Low Threshold. The Change BBU Low Threshold dialog box appears. The current value is shown.

  4. Enter the new value. Click OK to make the changes. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)

Battery Properties

This command includes the following battery properties information:

General Characteristics
Power
Attributes

This is an informational field describing the current attribute(s), for example, Fast Charge is not active or Recondition is not active.

States

This field provides a status icon and information about the current state of the battery. A blue check indicates good status, and a red X indicates a problem or poor status.

Status

This field displays the current status of the battery. Possible values are:

Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Controller Properties

This command displays the following categories of properties for the controller:

General Controller Characteristics
Dual Controller Status
Host Connection Information
Port
Status
Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Subsystem Commands

The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller subsystem consists of physical and logical arrays. The physical arrays include two Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controllers, enclosures, disks, fans, power supplies, and temperature probes. The logical arrays include the virtual disks on the controller(s). The logical arrays are created, monitored, and maintained by Array Manager.

Right-clicking a Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller subsystem object in the tree view brings up a context menu with subsystem commands. Similarly, right-clicking a physical or logical array object also brings up a context menu.

You can perform the following operations from the Subsystem context menu:

The physical array object context menu allows you to:

The logical array object context menu allows you to:

Note: Commands related to the enclosure, fans, power supply, and enclosure temperature are covered in the next major section, Enclosure Management Overview and Commands.

Rescan Subsystem

You can scan for newly created virtual disks from the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller subsystem context menu. Use the Rescan function to scan the subsystem for newly created virtual disks, physical disk drives, or enclosures.

  1. Right-click on a subsystem.

  2. Click on Rescan. This command is invoked immediately; no warning or confirmation screen appears. The added components appear in the left pane.

Subsystem Properties

The Properties command for the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller subsystem provides the name, vendor, and status of the subsystem. Possible values for status are:

Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Physical Array Properties

The Physical Array Properties dialog box displays the name, vendor, and status of the physical array. Possible values of the status field are:

Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Logical Array Properties

The Logical Array Properties dialog box displays the name and status of the logical array. Possible values of the status field are:

Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Enclosure Management Overview and Commands

Dell PowerVault 224F enclosures have enclosure management capability. This section describes how enclosure management works and then details the specific enclosure management commands. The specific topics in the section are:

Enclosure Management Overview

Array Manager allows you to view all the external Fibre Channel system probes within the same integrated Array Manager console. You are notified of any enclosure status changes while the console is open, and logged events appear in the Events tab as well as in the Windows NT/2000 Event Log.

The Fibre Channel subsystem of Array Manager provides direct support for the display of instrumentation of Fibre Channel enclosures. No other software is required to be installed.

The storage objects associated with enclosures and enclosure management are:

Enclosures

When you expand the PowerVault 660 subsystem storage object in the tree view, you will see one or more controllers attached to the subsystem along with one or more enclosures that are attached to each controller. As shown in the sample screen below, an enclosure has Disks, Fans, Power Supplies and Temperature Probes storage objects associated with it.

In the above screen, the enclosure is identified as "Enclosure 0:1." The zero refers to the number of the controller the enclosure is attached to. The "1" means that it is the first enclosure attached to that controller. If there were a second and a third enclosure attached to Controller 0, they would be called "Enclosure 0:2" and "Enclosure 0:3," respectively. If you right-click an Enclosure storage object, you will get a context menu with enclosure commands. For details, see the section Enclosure Commands in this chapter. Also, when an enclosure is selected in the left-pane tree view, the right-pane panel of the console window lists that enclosure along with its operating status and other properties.

In the tree view, the same Enclosure storage objects with their subordinate objects also appear under a section of the tree that is called "Dell Enclosures," which contains a list of all the enclosures attached to the selected computer you are viewing in the Array Manager console.

The subordinate Enclosure storage objects—Disks, Fans, Power Supplies, and Temperature Probes—are described in the sections that follow.

Disks

The enclosure's array disks are displayed under the Disks storage object. When the Disks storage object is highlighted in the left-pane tree view, the right-pane panel of the console window lists these disks along with their operating status and other properties. If you right-click the Disks storage object or any of its subordinate disks, the Array Disks context menu will come up. See Array Disk Commands for details on these commands.

Fans

The enclosure's fans are displayed under the Fans storage object. When the Fans storage object is highlighted in the left-pane tree view, the right-pane panel of the console window lists the enclosure's fans along with their operating status and other properties. If you right-click the Fans storage object, a context menu comes up with a Fan Properties command.

Power Supplies

The power supplies that are installed in the enclosure are displayed under the Power Supplies storage object. When the Power Supplies storage object is highlighted in the left-pane tree view, the right-pane panel of the console window lists the enclosure's power supplies along with their operating status and other properties. If you right-click the Power Supplies storage object, a context menu comes up with a Power Supply Properties command.

Temperature Probes

The temperature probes that are installed in the enclosure are displayed under the Temperature Probes storage object. When the Temperature Probes storage object is highlighted in the left-pane view, all of the enclosure's temperature probes are displayed along with their operating status and other properties. The categories are Status, Current Value, Minimum Warning Limit, Maximum Warning Limit, Minimum Error Limit, Maximum Error Limit, and Unit of Measurement. The unit of measurement will always be degrees Celsius. If you right-click the Temperature Probes storage object, a context menu comes up with two commands, Temperature Properties and Set Thresholds for Temperature. The Set Thresholds for Temperature command displays the enclosure temperature and the thresholds for critical and warning temperature events. It allows you to set the temperature threshold for warning temperature levels.

Enclosure Commands

This section describes the commands associated with the Enclosure storage object and its subordinate storage objects. Right-clicking a Dell PowerVault 224F RAID enclosure in the tree view brings up a context menu with enclosure commands. Under each enclosure are objects in the tree view for fans, power supplies, and temperature. Right-clicking each of these subordinate objects brings up a context menu as well.

The Enclosure context menu commands are:

The context menu commands for fans, power supplies, and temperature are:

Alarm Enabled

Use this function to enable the alarm when the enclosure exceeds a warning threshold for temperature or battery power; when a disk drive, power supply, fan, or controller fails; and during the controller boot-up process. Once the alarm is enabled, the audible alarm sounds whenever the fault LED lights. To invoke the command, right-click the enclosure and select Alarm Enabled from the context menu that appears.

Alarm Disabled

Use this function to disable the alarm. To invoke the command, right-click the enclosure and select Alarm Disabled from the context menu that appears.

Asset Settings

The Asset Settings command brings up a dialog box that allows you to enter or change the asset tag and asset name for the enclosure that contains the controllers. To perform the command:

  1. Right-click on an enclosure.

  2. Click on Asset Settings.

The Asset Information dialog box appears with two entry boxes, Asset Tag and Asset Name.

  1. If the values shown need to be changed, enter a new value for the asset tag and a new asset name.

The asset name for the selected enclosure will be added to the controller name in the object tree; for example, Controller 1 (Enclos53), where "Enclos53" is the asset name for the first enclosure attached to Controller 1. The first enclosure attached to a controller is the enclosure in which the pair of redundant controllers are installed.

Note: The asset tag is limited to 10 characters, and the asset name is limited to 32 characters.
  1. Click Set to make the changes. Click Cancel to exit the function without accepting the changes.

Enclosure Properties

Use this function to view the following information about the selected enclosure:

Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Fan Properties

Use this command to view the following fan properties:

Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Power Supply Properties

Use this command to view the following power supply properties:

Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Set Thresholds for Temperature

This command displays the enclosure temperature and the thresholds for critical and warning temperature levels. All values are expressed in degrees Celsius. To perform the command:

  1. Right-click the temperature object in the tree view.

  2. Select Set Thresholds for Temperature from the context menu that appears.

A dialog box comes up that displays the following temperature-related information:

High or 55 degrees Celsius: This value is the high critical limit. If this value is exceeded, the system will shut down.

Low or 1 degree Celsius: This value is the low critical limit. If this value is exceeded, the system will shut down.

High: When this value is exceeded, a warning alarm sounds, if the alarm is turned on. The upper limit for the high warning threshold is 35 degrees Celsius.

Low: When this value is exceeded, a warning alarm sounds, if the alarm is turned on. The lower limit is 20 degrees Celsius.

  1. Make any necessary changes to the Warning Threshold values.

Note: Thresholds are set based on room temperature expectations. The temperatures reported by the subsystem are actual values. The subsystem automatically adjusts the entered thresholds to account for internal temperature limitations.
  1. Click OK to make the changes. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.

Temperature Properties

Use this command to view the following temperature-related properties:

Note: All values are expressed in degrees Celsius.
Note: Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.

Controller Battery and Battery Backup Unit (BBU)

The battery of the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller preserves the contents of its nonvolatile cache memory in the event of power loss.

The battery provides a minimum of 72 hours protection for DIMMs up to 64 MB and 48 hours protection for 128 MB DIMMs. However, the duration of protection, or holdover time, depends on the battery's charge level.

Battery Recharging

The battery is fully discharged when you first install the controller. The controller detects this condition and automatically begins charging the battery. This charging process takes approximately six hours. The controller can be used during this time; however, the battery is unable to meet the specified holdover time until the battery is fully charged. The battery is still able to handle brief power losses during the initial charge cycle.

Battery Reconditioning

The battery will need to be reconditioned after six months of service. The reconditioning cycle requires a full discharge and recharge of the battery. It ensures that the battery's capacity is being measured correctly and that the battery's full holdover time is maintained.

A full battery recondition cycle consists of discharging and recharging the battery. The recondition cycle must start with a fully charged battery. Normally the battery is automatically recharged, but in a new system or a system that has been subjected to a power outage, recharging may be necessary and may take several hours.

The recondition cycle must be initiated manually and must complete without an interruption of power. In addition, the operator must not interrupt the cycle by initiating a fast charge or another recondition cycle. If the cycle is interrupted for any reason, the batteries must be recharged and the recondition process must be restarted.

To recondition the battery:
  1. Right-click on a controller.

  2. Click C0 Battery or C1 Battery.

  3. Click Recondition.

The reconditioning cycle takes approximately 8 to 10 hours. During this time, the battery's holdover time is reduced to zero (during discharge) and then restored (during full charge). To ensure that no data is lost from nonvolatile cache memory, the controller automatically disables cache (both read and write) during a reconditioning cycle. When the cache is disabled, performance is degraded for the reconditioning period. Once the reconditioning cycle is complete, the cache is restored to its original settings.

It is highly recommended that battery reconditioning be done during off-peak times.

Advanced Battery Backup Unit (BBU)

The Advanced BBU (Battery Backup Unit) on the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller maintains memory content during an AC power failure. The principal purpose of the BBU is to provide AC power glitch ride-through; however, the BBU is capable of sustaining memory content for an extended period. Using 512 MB of cache memory, the advanced BBU has been shown to sustain memory content for 68 hours under worst-case conditions and 109 hours under typical operating conditions.

The BBU provides protection to data currently stored in the on-board cache memory during intermittent power loss to the controller. This protection is important when write-back cache is enabled and data is waiting to be flushed to the disk drive. A warm start is required in the presence of a BBU that is supplying power to the cache memory and holding data to be flushed to the disk drive as soon as the system is operational. The data will be lost if the controller is removed and a replacement controller is inserted in the removed controller's location. The BBU guarantees memory retention only when the power loss is the result of AC loss or power supply shutdown, and for as long as the batteries remain viable. Memory retention is not guaranteed if power loss is the result of removing the controller from the system while power is supplied to the system.

The battery pack for the advanced BBU can be removed independent of the BBU circuitry. The controller detects the loss of the battery pack and enters into Conservative Cache mode when the battery pack is removed.

The BBU requires a reconditioning cycle before first time use. This reconditioning process may take several hours and cannot be interrupted. Refer to the topic Recondition in this chapter for detailed instructions on performing a BBU recondition.


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