Microsoft Windows: Using Windows Task Scheduler for Scheduled RAID Consistency Checks

A highly recommended routine maintenance operation is to perform a "Check Consistency" in Dell OpenManage Server Administrator every 30 days.

A consistency check is a manual operation which consumes a portion of the overall available bandwidth of the RAID controller. However, the consistency check can be scheduled for a time when it has the least impact on performance.
 

For more information, see PowerEdge: How to fix Double Faults and Punctures in RAID Arrays.
 

Prerequisites:

• Dell OpenManage Server Administrator 7.x or later with Storage Management option installed
• Administrative privileges to create scheduled tasks in Windows

Create Windows Scheduled Task:

• At the Windows desktop, click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools, then Task Scheduler.

Note: There are several methods of launching the Task Scheduler snap-in console; the above example is one of the methods. For other methods, see the Microsoft Technet Topic Start Task Scheduler.
 

• In the Task Scheduler console: Right-click Task Scheduler (Local), then click Create Task.

Figure 1: Click Create Task in the Task Scheduler console.
 

• In the "Create Task" panel, enter the pertinent information in the General tab. Be sure and select Run whether user is logged on or not.

 
Figure 2: Set the appropriate options for the task.
 

• Next, click the Triggers tab, then click New to create a new trigger schedule. At the New Trigger panel, select all the pertinent options and click OK to continue.

 
Figure 3: Configure the trigger for the task.
 

• Next, click the Actions tab and click New to create a new action. In the New Action panel, enter the "Program/Script" and "arguments," then click OK. For our intended purpose, use the following command and switch. When ready, click OK to continue.

Program/script: C:\Program Files\Dell\SysMgt\oma\bin\omconfig.exe

Arguments: omconfig storage vdisk action=checkconsistency controller=x vdisk=x

x = Component ID (Controller=0, vdisk=1)
 

Figure 4: Specify the program or script and optional arguments.
 

• In the "Create Task" panel, click OK to save the newly created task. If prompted, enter a user account with enough administrative privileges to run the program or script that was entered above.
• When feasible, test the new scheduled task to ensure that it starts the Consistency Check task. You can view the Consistency Check operation using OpenManage Server Administrator - Storage Management.

For more references, see the Server Administrator Storage Management Guide.