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iDRAC 8/7 v2.40.40.40 User’s Guide

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Managing storage devices

Beginning with iDRAC 2.00.00.00 release, iDRAC expands its agent-free management to include direct configuration of the new PERC9 controllers. It enables you to remotely configure the storage components attached to your system at run-time. These components include RAID and non-RAID controllers and the channels, ports, enclosures, and disks attached to them.

The complete storage subsystem discovery, topology, health monitoring, and configuration are accomplished in the Comprehensive Embedded Management (CEM) framework by interfacing with the internal and external PERC controllers through the MCTP protocol over I2C interface. For real-time configuration, CEM supports PERC9 controllers. The firmware version for PERC9 controllers must be 9.1 or later.

Using iDRAC, you can perform most of the functions that are available in OpenManage Storage Management including real-time (no reboot) configuration commands (for example, create virtual disk). You can completely configure RAID before installing the operating system.

You can configure and manage the controller functions without accessing the BIOS. These functions include configuring virtual disks and applying RAID levels and hot spares for data protection. You can initiate many other controller functions such as rebuilds and troubleshooting. You can protect your data by configuring data-redundancy or assigning hot spares.

The storage devices are:
  • Controllers — Most operating systems do not read and write data directly from the disks, but instead send read and write instructions to a controller. The controller is the hardware in your system that interacts directly with the disks to write and retrieve data. A controller has connectors (channels or ports) which are attached to one or more physical disks or an enclosure containing physical disks. RAID controllers can span the boundaries of the disks to create an extended amount of storage space— or a virtual disk — using the capacity of more than one disk. Controllers also perform other tasks, such as initiating rebuilds, initializing disks, and more. To complete their tasks, controllers require special software known as firmware and drivers. In order to function properly, the controller must have the minimum required version of the firmware and drivers installed. Different controllers have different characteristics in the way they read and write data and execute tasks. It is helpful to understand these features to most efficiently manage the storage.
  • Physical disks or physical devices — Reside within an enclosure or are attached to the controller. On a RAID controller, physical disks or devices are used to create virtual disks.
  • Virtual disk — It is storage created by a RAID controller from one or more physical disks. Although a virtual disk may be created from several physical disks, it is viewed by the operating system as a single disk. Depending on the RAID level used, the virtual disk may retain redundant data if there is a disk failure or have particular performance attributes. Virtual disks can only be created on a RAID controller.
  • Enclosure — It is attached to the system externally while the backplane and its physical disks are internal.
  • Backplane — It is similar to an enclosure. In a Backplane, the controller connector and physical disks are attached to the enclosure, but it does not have the management features (temperature probes, alarms, and so on) associated with external enclosures. Physical disks can be contained in an enclosure or attached to the backplane of a system.

In addition to managing the physical disks contained in the enclosure, you can monitor the status of the fans, power supply, and temperature probes in an enclosure. You can hot-plug enclosures. Hot-plugging is defined as adding of a component to a system while the operating system is still running.

The physical devices connected to the controller must have the latest firmware. For the latest supported firmware, contact your service provider.

Storage events from PERC are mapped to SNMP traps and WSMAN events as applicable. Any changes to the storage configurations are logged in the Lifecycle Log.

PERC Capability CEM configuration Capable Controller (PERC 9.1 or later) CEM configuration Non-capable Controller (PERC 9.0 and lower)
Real-time If there is no existing pending or scheduled jobs for the controller, then configuration is applied.

If there are pending or scheduled jobs for that controller, then the jobs have to be cleared or you must wait for the jobs to be completed before applying the configuration at run-time. Run-time or real-time means, a reboot is not required.

 Configuration is applied. An error message is displayed. Job creation is not successful and you cannot create real-time jobs using Web interface.
Staged If all the set operations are staged, the configuration is staged and applied after reboot or it is applied at real-time. Configuration is applied after reboot

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