Need help setting up RAID for Dell Poweredge 2600

When you use the Dell installation utility, it will configure the most common RAID configuration, based on the disks in the system.  In this case, a RAID 5, using all disks would likely have been the default.  This will appear to Windows as a single drive.  You can configure RAID first, then skip that step during the setup.  Using the installation utility is the only way to get the Dell Utility Partition.  Is there a specific reason you have to have the Utility Partition?  You can always run diagnostics from a CD, USB, and/or network.  Anyway ...

I will first tell you how to make each drive appear individually in Windows, but then I will propose another idea that will better suit your goal.

In order for a drive that is connected to a RAID controller to be seen in Windows, it has to be configured by the controller first.  The only RAID level that will take a single drive is a RAID 0.  So, if you set each drive up as a single-disk RAID 0, then you will see all the drives in Windows Disk Management.  You cannot leave them unconfigured and have them available in Windows. 

Alternatively, you could turn the RAID controller off - put it in SCSI mode, so that each hard drive is seen individually, however, as you will see in the next paragraph, this is not the best way to do what you wish to do.

Here is what I propose you do, based on your wish to have a backup ("exact copy") of the OS and Website:

Configure drives 1 and 2 as a RAID 1, and drives 3 and 4 as RAID 1, then, if you need individual drives then you can configure them as single-disk RAID 0 so they show in Windows as individual disks.  However, you have in your configuration as having these drives "blank".  Do you have a plan for your "blank" drives?  There are many other things you could do with these drives if you don't have a plan for them.

By configuring your disks in RAID 1, an "exact copy" is made by the RAID hardware, leaving the system resources to run the OS.  RAID 1 is also called "mirroring".  Having them in a mirror, if one disk in the RAID 1 fails, then the array will stay running on the remaining drive as if nothing had happened (although it will of course tell you that a drive failed, but there will be no disruption in it).

Do what you like, but I would recommend configuring a RAID 1 for your OS, a RAID 1 for your Website, then configuring another RAID 1 with the remaining two drives.  If you don't need any extra storage space, you can configure the other two as Hot Spares, to automatically take the place of any drive that might fail.

Thank you for your help.

I am always open to new suggestions and I think I like yours better than what I was trying to do.

I like the idea of the hot spares and will defiantly look into this.

After having this crash I’m trying to find new ways to not only prevent this from happening again, but if it does happen again to reduce the amount of down time.

Once again, I am not an expert in this field of RAID, so any ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I am trying to read as much documentation as I can about RAID, so if you have any you would like to recommend, please do.

That sounds logical and is exactly why RAID was invented and why it is used.  When you lose a drive, there IS no downtime.  (EDIT: In most cases there is no downtime.  In a situation where the drives are cabled instead of attached to a hot-swap backplane, then the system would have to be powered down to replace the failed drive, but at least will stay running and it can be taken down on your own terms.)

There are lots of places that will explain the basics of what RAID is, why it is used, different RAID levels, but here is a very basic run-down of the main RAID levels you will probably ever need:

RAID 0 - Performance configuration, stripes data across all disks in the array, one disk minimum is required, fast disk access because controller can read data from multiple disks at once, NO redundancy so if one drive fails then the array is gone, storage space is equal to the number of disks times the size of the smallest disk (4x500GB=2000GB).

RAID 1 - Disk mirroring, each disk holds identical data so that if one drive fails, the other will automatically - and seamlessly - take over until the other drive is rebuilt, very common RAID level for an OS volume, requires two disks, storage space is equal to the size of the smallest disk (2x500GB=500GB).

RAID 5 - Very common for data volumes when more space is required, data and parity (used to calculate missing data when a drive fails) are striped across all disks, minimum of 3 disks is required, because of parity, storage space is equal to the number of disks times the smallest disk MINUS one (n-1), one disk can fail and the array will still be operational.

RAID 10 - Very common for databases as there is good read/write performance, this is also called RAID 1+0 as it is a RAID 0 with a RAID 1 for each leg of the RAID 0, minimum of 4 disks is required and must contain even numbers of disks, storage space is equal to the number of drives times the size of the smallest drive DIVIDED by 2 (an expensive configuration), the array will stay operational with up to two drives failed (in a 4-disk config) - as long as you don't have both members of a RAID 1 fail.

Dell PERC 6 and newer/higher can also do RAID 6 and 60, but I don't know why anyone would use them (RAID 6 is RAID 5 with the ability to lose two disks, storage space is equal to n-2).

You can read about these and more at the link below, or go to wikipedia or webopedia for even more information.

http://www.acnc.com/04_01_00.html

There are a lot of real-world information about RAID that is hard to come by without experience (rebuilds, stripe size, reconfigures, errors).  If you have questions beyond the basics of most reference material, or if you encounter problems or questions while working with a RAID array, the best thing to do is ask an expert.  Here is a good place to find answers to those types of questions/problems.

To set things up like this, you will need to reinstall, go to CTRL-M and configure drives 1 and 2 (they are actually labeled drives 0 and 1) as a RAID 1, Initialize the array, then install the OS.  Once installed, you can use Dell's management utility to set up all the remaining drives.

I fully understand what you are saying, and the logic of setting it up. But what i lack is the knolege of  how to use this program once you press Crtl+M. could you give me some detaild information on how to use this program or tutorials.


This would be usefull information.

If you can just get the to the starting line i can figure it out from their.

I know that you have given me more information than i have asked for and i am truly happy for this, in the last few minutes i have learned a ton on information about RAID. I just dont know how to use this program.


its called;

PERC/CERC BIOS Configuration Utility U827

Thank you so much for everything..

(EDIT) I Figured out how to make the HotSpare. I just have not figured out how to move the drives 0 an 1 from raid ch0 to ch1. and so on.

it seems that drives 0,1,2 are on raid ch0 and drives 3,4,5 are on ch1.

How do i move the drives around?

I believe you have the daughterboard installed that "splits" the backplane into two channels.  You can take it out, but it really doesn't make any difference ... the controller can manage drives on different channels in the same array.  If you didn't want to split array drives across channels, you could do a RAID 1 with 0,1 and set 2 as its HS, then 3,4 as RAID 1 with 5 as its hotspare.

As far as using CTRL-M ... you will go to Configure, View/Add Configuration to create an array (Configure, Clear Configuration to clear - before you create).  Once it shows you the drives, hit Space Bar to select (it will start to blink) all the drives that will be in the array, then hit Enter (they will stop blinking), then hit F10, then Space Bar to select the Logical Disk to be created and F10 again.  Select your options, like RAID 1 (don't change Stripe Size or other default settings unless you know what you're doing).  Then Accept.  After the message about initializing newly created Logical Drives, then go to Initialize on the main menu, select the Logical Drive by hitting Space Bar, then F10 to Initialize.  Here is a guide on setting up an array:

http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/07/step-by-step-guide-to-configure-hardware-raid-on-dell-servers-with-screenshots/

Let us know if you have specific questions along the way.

That would do it :)

I figured out what i was doing wrong, i was trying to select all 4 drives and turn it into raid 1.

Question, when installing the OS, Should i install from the dell server assistant cd or from the Original Microsoft Server 200 cd. If i do need to install from the original cd, could you direct me to the raid drivers.

EDIT, i also have a blinking orange light above my drives, is this bad?.

Yes, blinking orange is bad.  Do they all have flashing LED's?  Is it alternating green/orange, or is it just orange?  If it is just orange, you won't be able to install an OS anyway - that means that the drive is OFFLINE (no longer participating in the array).  If they are alternating green/amber, then you might be able to install an OS, but they are showing Predictive Failure, which means it is only a matter of time before they go offline too.  Describe exactly what happened - from how you set up the RAID to when they started blinking amber.

I am the same guy as Patrick_004, I forgot my password and my account got locked.

Anyways.

So let me start from the beginning from what all I did.

At first I had all the drives seen on the server as separate drives, I had my OS on one drive and my website on the other, the other 4 drives where not being used for anything. My OS got a viruses witched required a reinstall of the OS. When this happened I decided to start my RAID over along with my OS. Foolishly I jumped into messing with thing on the RAID without having full knowledge of what I was doing. What I did first was clear all the drives and start the RAID over as a RAID 0, I was then able to install an OS with Server Assistant. After seeing that I had made OS see all the drives as one, I decided to come to you about help with setting up the mirror drives.

Now, about the blinking Orange light, that all started when I reinstalled the OS. ALL the drive lights are blinking green, the orange light is coming from a symbol that looks like a upside down (!), right above the top set of drives, and it’s the second light from the right of the power button.

This is what I did with the instructions you gave me.

Drives 0 and 1 I made as RAID 1

Drives 2 and 3 I made as RAID 1

Drives 4 and 5 I made as HOT SPARES

After initializing the drives I installed the OS using Dell Server Assistant and this is how my drives came out.

I feel like this is wrong... What do you think?

Ok ... the amber light is not on the drives then.  That is ok (probably) ... at least it is not your drives.  You can install OpenManage Server Administrator (Managed Node from the downloads page for your 2600), and check the ESM/Hardware Logs to see what the error/warning is.  Do you have the cover or bezel off?  That would do it.

That doesn't look right to me either ... 

How big are your drives?  Are they all the same size?  In your screenshot of Disk Management, Disk 0 could be a RAID 1 if using 36GB drives.  Disk 1 could be a RAID 1 only if using 73GB drives.  If all drives are 36GB, then a 68GB Disk 1 represents a RAID 0 not RAID 1.

Did you mean to only create a 4GB OS partition?  That is an option (however sometimes overlooked) during the setup using Server Assistant.  Unless you know for sure that 4GB will work for you, I would make it at least 12GB - up to you.

Installing OpenManage will also let you see how the disks are arranged and configured by the RAID controller - if you are unsure, then install that and see what it says for Virtual Disks and its members.

Making the OS was done on purpose to see how the RAID would react with the Server Assistant. After I get this all figured out I am going to do a full reinstall the right way.

I did everything you told me to with making the RAID (Although I am human and do make mistakes). I dint think it looked right ether; it all looked like a RAID 0.

I installed Open Manage from the Dell disk that came with the server, and I took a few screen shots.

When I get home tonight I am going to redo the RAID and make a videos showing you step by step what I am doing.

I truly want to learn this and learn it the right way.

Array Manager, which is what you installed is much more difficult and limited than Server Administrator.  The Storage Management portion of Server Administrator (that latest of which you can get from the support site) replaces Array Manager and cannot co-exist with Array Manager.  You might be using a really old version by installing that that was on the Server Assistant disk - it looks different, however, you should be able to right-click on the Virtual Disk (as in your first screenshot) and go to Properties and it will show you the RAID level that makes up that Virtual Disk.  If it does not show you that, then try closing this that you are using and opening Windows Disk Management (right-click My Computer, Manage, Storage) - Array Manager usually installs itself as a replacement for Disk Management - see if this gives you a "tree" view of your controller, Virtual Disks, and hard drives.  Then try the right-click, Properties thing.  This would really only be for confirmation of how it was configured anyway.  If you can make a video of exactly what happens from start to finish, then it would be really easy to go through and "critique" it and/or explain what is happening and why do this or that.

Yes, tonight i will make a video for you to critique. It will be up later on in the day.

Thanks for all the help.