Dell iDRAC Service Module 5.3.0.0 User’s Guide
Software RAID configuration
Using the Software RAID feature on iDRAC Service Module (iSM), you can enable the configuration of PERC S140, S150, and S160 software RAID controllers on Dell PowerEdge 14G and later generation of PowerEdge servers. Software RAID configuration enables creation and deletion of virtual disks of software RAID volumes RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 on Microsoft Windows operating systems.
The operating system administrator can run the dcismcfg commands on the host operating system to create and delete virtual disks. To notify the successful creation and deletion of the virtual disks, iSM sends the configuration events to iDRAC from the host operating system. The following table lists the dcismcfg CLI options for configuration software RAID:
| iSM utility name | CLI option | Description |
|---|---|---|
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -getctrl | To display the software RAID controller properties. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -ctrlID=0/1 -getpd | To display the physical disk properties that are managed by the controller 0 or 1. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -ctrlID=0/1 -getvd | To display the virtual disk properties that are managed by the controller 0 or 1. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -getpd | To display the physical disk properties. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -getvd | To display the virtual disk properties. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -getSWRAIDfeatureState | To display the current software RAID feature status. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -ctrlID=0/1 -createVD/-cvd -raidlevel/-rl -pdisk/-pd=<Disk ID> -vdName/-vdn -size/-s -rwpolicy/-rp -wpolicy/-wp -diskCachePolicy/-dcp | Ensure to split the IDs of multiple physical disks with a comma.
Virtual disk name (-vdName), virtual disk size (-size), read policy (-rwpolicy), write policy (-wpolicy), disk cache policy (-diskCachePolicy), global and dedicated hot spare are optional parameters. NOTE: The
-vdName or
-vdn commands support a maximum of 32 characters.
NOTE:Configuring the virtual disk read policy, write policy, and disk cache policy are supported only on SATA drives.
|
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -ctrlID=0/1 -deleteVD/-dvd -vdisk/-vd=<Disk ID> | To delete a virtual disk. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -ctrlID=<ctrlID> -adhs=<Comma separated physical disks ID> -vd=<Disk ID> | To assign a dedicated hot spare. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -ctrlID=<ctrlID> -udhs=<Comma separated physical disks ID> -vd=<Disk ID> | To unassign a dedicated hot spare. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -ctrlID=<ctrlID> -aghs=<Comma separated physical disks ID> | To assign a global hot spare. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | -ctrlID=<ctrlID> -ughs=<Comma separated physical disks ID> | To unassign a global hot spare. |
| dcismcfg.exe -swraid | ctrlID=<ctrlID> -cvd -rl=<raid level> -pdisk/-pd=<Comma separated physical disk ID> -adhs=<Comma separated physical disks> | To create a virtual disk with one or more dedicated hot spares. |
The following table lists the software RAID controllers and RAID level specifications that are supported for the software RAID configuration:
| Specification | S140 | S150 | S160 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SATA | NVMe | SATA | NVMe | SATA | NVMe | |
| Maximum number of virtual disks supported | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Minimum virtual disk size | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 10 GB | 10 GB |
| Maximum number of physical disks per virtual disk | 12 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Maximum number of virtual disks per physical disk | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Maximum number of physical disks in a volume | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Maximum number of physical disks in a RAID 0 | 12 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Maximum number of physical disks in a RAID 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Maximum number of physical disks in a RAID 5 | 12 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Maximum number of physical disks in a RAID 10 | 12 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Minimum number of physical disks in a volume | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Minimum number of physical disks in a RAID 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Minimum number of physical disks in a RAID 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Minimum number of physical disks in a RAID 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Minimum number of physical disks in a RAID 10 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Software-based RAID for SATA drives | Volume, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 | Volume, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 | Volume, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 | |||
| NVMe support | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
NOTE:The maximum number of virtual disks that are supported for software RAID configuration is 30. When the maximum virtual disk limit exceeds, the following error may be displayed:
Error on IOCTL_SCSI_GET_INQUIRY_DATA.
Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
Please select whether the article was helpful or not.
Comments cannot contain these special characters: <>()\