Server Administrator Storage Management 8.2 User’s Guide

On PERC controllers, background initialization of a redundant virtual disk begins automatically within 0 to 5 minutes after the virtual disk is created. The background initialization of a redundant virtual disk prepares the virtual disk to maintain redundant data and improve write performance. For example, after the background initialization of a RAID 5 virtual disk completes, the parity information is initialized. After the background initialization of a RAID 1 virtual disk completes, the physical disks are mirrored.

The background initialization process helps the controller identify and correct problems that may occur with the redundant data later. In this regard, the background initialization process is similar to a check consistency.

The background initialization should be allowed to run to completion. If canceled, the background initialization automatically restarts within 0 to 5 minutes. Some processes such as read and write operations are possible while the background initialization is running. However, other processes such as creating a virtual disk, cannot be run concurrently with background initialization. These processes cause the background initialization to cancel.