RAID1 with SAS5IR

The SAS5/iR is capable of creating hardware RAID levels 0 & 1, see below for steps on how to do this;

1. While the system is booting, press to enter the SAS5/iR controller BIOS.
2. Press to select the desired controller/adapter - in this case it's the SAS5/iR.
3. Select "RAID Properties" and press .
4. Select "Create IM Volume" and press .
5. Use the spacebar to change the RAID Disk selection to "Yes" for both hard drives and press to create the mirrored volume.
6. Select Save Changes then exit this menu, and press .
7. Verify that this is your desired selection by pressing to confirm
 The volume will now be created.
8. Verify that the volume was created successfully by selecting "SAS Topology" on the "Adapter Properties" screen and pressing .
9. Make sure the new virtual mirrored disk appears on the screen.

Thank you Gary,

thank you for your answer.

in fact, after

- pressing ctrl+c

- selecting the controller and press enter,

i did not see "RAID properties".

instead, i can see SAS Topology & Adapter Advanced properties.

even after looking the help, i did see any solution.

is there any requirements before following this procedure?

regards

B

Sounds like you have a SAS5i & not a SAS5/iR - the SAS5i does not offer any type of RAID support & the BIOS is similar to the SAS5/iR, except you will not have an option for "RAID Properties".  You can check this by logging into the BIOS of the SAS HBA & on the initial BIOS screen where you select the controller, the letters "IR" should be listed at the end of the Firmware revision.

The only other thing that I can think of is that there are 2 physical SAS HBAs in the system & you are selecting the wrong BIOS with ! To the best of my knowledge the PE1950 was never shipped with a SAS5/iR only a SAS5i - you need a PERC5/i for hardware RAID in this server

Hi gary,

it looks like i don't have a SAS5i/R.

on the first BIOS Screen, i can see that its firmware revision is "0.10.51.00-IT" - no "IR".

i use the default bios. is it necessary to update the biOs?

BD

I will yield to others over this - but I think you're out of options without changing the controller.

If you had bought this server new, the RAID controller offered would have been the PERC 5/i. Currently, the 1950 - which is now up to the 1950 III - is sold with SAS 6/iR or PERC 6/i. The SAS 6/iR has the functionality you need without the expensive of a 'full' RAID controller like the PERC 5/i or PERC 6/i.

Does anyone know if a SAS 6/iR would work on this older machine? If so, maybe buying one of those makes sense - though with only four slots in the backplane, a SAS 5/iR would be just as good if you can obtain one of those.

If the BIOS revision states "IT" at the end of the sequence of numbers then you only have a SAS5i - the "IR" indicates a SAS5/iR. It is not possible to configure hardware RAID using the SAS5i.

Your options for hardware RAID for the PE1950 are the PERC5/i or PERC5/E which may also require a backplane upgrade if you only have 4 slots. The SAS5/iR will also support RAID0 & 1 at a hardware level.

To answer David's query, the SAS6/iR, PERC6/i & PERC6/E are only available on the MLKIII versions of the PE1950.

David,

i bought the server on january this year (2008) but did not use it until now. i think its a 1950 II as i can see a"II" on the front - left side of the server.

Very stange that this server could not implement RAID1. is 'nt ist a standard feature on almost all servers?

BD

You have a 1950 II. The later mark III versions have III in a circle at the top right of the front panel, and would have a sixth generation storage controller.

You will need to change the storage controller for RAID 1 support; the server was bought with a particularly low end controller. SAS 5/iR or PERC 5/i would have been the alternatives when new.

Gary - I was wondering whether it was possible to use a SAS 6/iR with an older 1950; the BIOS is the same for all hardware revisions after all. The big advantage of the SAS 6/iR is that it supports backplanes with more than four drives - though that's less likely to be of concern in a 1U 1950 than some other servers. (For reference, the big advantage of PERC 6/i over PERC 5/i is that the 6/i supports RAID 6).

The official answer to this would be "NO", purely because Dell do not support/sell the PERC6 or SAS6 in a PE1950 unless it's a MLKIII revision.  The BIOS package for all PE1950s is indeed the same if downloaded from the Dell Support site, however there are different features added when applied to a MLKIII revision of the motherboard.

Physically, there is probably no reason why the SAS6/iR will not fit in a PE1950 - be carefull though, the SAS6/iR still only supports RAID levels 0 & 1 (there is however a 2nd port to add an additional 4 disks). The PERC6 will offer support for RAID levels 6 & 60.