The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller is a high-performance Fibre Channel host to Fibre Channel disk array controller. The controller provides one Fibre host channel and two Fibre drive channels conforming to Fibre Channel standards. The logical protocol used for both host and disk communications is 100 MB/s Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) SCSI over fibre. The controller provides Fibre Channel host performance and fault-tolerant RAID disk operations for Fibre Channel disk environments. The controller is an intelligent, caching controller that supports RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5, and 0+1. The controller allows multiple hosts in a Storage Area NetWork (SAN) to access the array of physical disk drives (array disks), which can be configured as one or more virtual storage devices (virtual disks).
The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller also provides continuous access to data in the event of a controller failure. This capability comes with a redundant controller system, using two controllers that share access to the same disk array. In the event of a controller failure, controller operations are assumed by the surviving controller through a failover process. The failed controller can then be removed and replaced while the system is online. The new controller resumes processing array operations in a failback process. During failover and failback, write cache coherency is maintained with the array disks.
The controller supports a battery backup unit (BBU) for maintaining memory content in case of an AC power failure. The principal purpose of the BBU is to provide cache fault tolerance during a power glitch; however, the BBU is capable of sustaining memory content for hours at a time, depending on the type and size of the memory. The fault management features are based on the SCSI-3 Enclosure Services (SES) device interface.
The following features are available on the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller:
Drive Channel Failover — Provides support for using both ports of a dual-ported fibre disk drive in an active-inactive topology. Each controller can access any of the drives through either of the ports by using the dual fibre channels (loops) in the PowerVault 224F enclosure. When the channel between the controller and drive fails, the controller automatically fails over to the other channel.
Cache Coherency — Allows server access to a virtual disk (or LUN) through either controller when operating in an active-active mode. It achieves this by operating each controller in a mode in which virtual disks configured with the write-back caching policy are treated as though they were configured for write-through operation and the cache is flushed. Allows the two controllers to operate in an active-active mode without the requirement of a dedicated serial cable.
Memory DIMM Support — Additional support for memory DIMM sizes 128 MB, 256 MB, and 512 MB.
Enclosure Management — Provides notification of enclosure status changes for fans, power supplies, and temperature through Array Manager.
Conservative CacheMode — Provides a higher level of data protection after a critical system component has failed. It automatically switches virtual disks with a write-back cache policy to write-through cache policy and flushes their cache.
Enclosure Alarms — Enabling of enclosure alarms based on drive fault conditions.
Dell PowerVault 660F RAID Arrays — Manages one or more Dell PowerVault 660F arrays within a Fibre Channel zone in a Storage Area Network.
32 Virtual Disk (LUN) Support — Allows a maximum of 32 virtual disks.
Real-Time Online Virtual Disk Expansion — Allows for the expansion of a current virtual disk or adding a new virtual disk to a disk group while the system is online.
Background Initialization (Instant RAID Availability) — This is only available in version 7.7 or later of the controller firmware. This feature allows a virtual disk to be used while it is being initialized in the background. This feature allows host I/O operations to use a virtual disk immediately after the disk is created without waiting for the virtual disk initialization to complete.
112 Array Disk Support — Supports 112 Fibre Channel array disks assembled in a maximum of 8 enclosures containing a maximum of 14 array disks each.
16 Disks per Disk Group — Allows a maximum of 16 array disks per disk group.
Cluster Support — Supports clusters with the Microsoft Cluster Server.
The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller supports the following RAID levels:
Concatenation
RAID-0
RAID-1
RAID-3 and RAID-5
RAID-0+1
Supported RAID Levels
RAID Level
Description
# of Drives Min. Max.
Fault Tolerant
Concatenation
Storing data either on one disk (generally considered a simple volume) or on disk space that spans more than one disk (a spanned volume).
1
16
No
0
Block striping is provided, which yields higher performance than is possible with individual disk drives. No redundancy is provided.
2
16
No
1
Disk drives are paired and mirrored. All data is 100% duplicated on an equivalent disk drive.
2
2
Yes
3 and 5
Data is striped across several physical disk drives. Parity protection is used for data redundancy.
3
16
Yes
0+1
Combination of RAID levels 0 and 1. Data is striped across disks with mirrors of the stripes on adjacent disks. This can be configured to have an odd number of disks.
Conservative Cache mode is a feature of the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller. It is an operating mode in which virtual disks configured with the write-back caching policy are treated as though they were configured for write-through operation and the cache is flushed. Conservative Cache mode is entered to provide a higher level of data protection after a critical system component has failed. When the condition forcing Conservative Cache mode is resolved, the cache policies on the system drives are converted back to their original settings.
Conditions that cause Conservative Cache execution are:
The Conservative Cache Mode controller option is enabled for a redundant controller configuration, and a controller has either failed or is disabled.
A power supply has failed (not power supply removal or power supply not present).
An enclosure supporting redundant power (multiple power supply support) is operating on a single power supply.
An enclosure temperature exceeds the warning threshold.
SES monitoring has failed.
The Conservative Cache Mode controller option is enabled for a redundant controller configuration, and a controller has either failed or is disabled.
A power supply has failed (not power supply removal or power supply not present).
An enclosure supporting redundant power (multiple power supply support) is operating on a single power supply.
An enclosure temperature exceeds the warning threshold.
SES monitoring has failed.
For information on how to change the conservative cache mode setting, see Advanced Controller Options. By default, conservative cache mode is enabled.
Working with these controllers requires an understanding of the Array Manager storage model, which represents the Array Manager storage objects in an object hierarchy. Each object has a set of attributes and operations associated with it. Attributes describe the properties of the object, and operations allow you to create new objects and modify existing object attributes. See The Array Manager Storage Model section in the Storage Management Concepts chapter for more information about the Array Manager storage model.
Operations that are inactive (dimmed) in the console are not supported or not available at that time. To view attributes or to perform operations, right-click a given storage object. A context menu will appear with a list of commands available, including a Properties command.
This section summarizes the steps for configuring the storage attached to redundant Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controllers.
Determine requirements for disk groups, virtual disks, and hot spares, including the storage capacity and RAID type for each virtual disk. Make sure the requirements for operating system partitions, fault tolerance, and total capacity are considered during this determination. Note that hot spares are used both for recovery from disk failure and for future capacity expansion.
Identify requirements for future capacity expansion. Note that if a virtual disk is to be expanded, it must be the only virtual disk in its disk group. Keep this in mind when determining whether to create one or many virtual disks within a disk group.
Create required disk groups and virtual disks. Note the following considerations:
Each disk group's capacity must be completely consumed by one or more virtual disks before the next disk group can be created.
Although virtual disks can be added to a disk group at a later time, if the size of a virtual disk is to be expanded later, then the disk group can contain only a single virtual disk.
A virtual disk's RAID type must be defined at the time of creation.
Virtual disks must be initialized before they can be accessed by a host computer operating system. Begin initialization of each virtual disk before creating the next disk group and virtual disk to minimize initialization times. Background initialization can be used if the virtual disk is needed before initialization is complete.
The RAID types available depend on the number of array disks in the disk group.
The stripe size for all virtual disks managed by a PowerVault 660F controller is set to the same value. It is determined by the stripe size setting on the first virtual disk created. For the remaining virtual disks, the stripe size field is inactive (dimmed).
Assign one or more hot spares to enable auto-rebuild in the event of drive failure within a fault-tolerant virtual disk.
On a Windows system, if the PowerVault 660F controller is part of a SAN, you must first assign the virtual disk to a server by using the Dell OpenManage™ Storage Consolidation software. Once assigned to a server (or if configured in a "direct-attach" hardware configuration) you must perform a console rescan in Windows® 2000 or reboot the server in Windows NT® in order to access the virtual disk.
Create and format operating system partitions to complete the configuration. See the Disk Management and Volume Management chapters for details.
The remainder of this chapter provides detailed information on the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller commands and procedures and has the following main topics:
An array group contains array disks that are controlled by a particular array controller. An array group is named by the number of the array controller it is associated with. For example, array disks attached to Controller 0 belong to Array Group 0. Because the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller can support 112 array disks in a single array group, array disks must be further divided into disk groups with up to 16 disks each. You create virtual disks from a disk group.
You can perform the following operations from the Array Group context menu:
Create groups of array disks — Use the Create Disk Group function to select specific array disks to be configured as a disk group.
Add global hot spare disks — Use the Add Spares function to add global hot spare disks to the selected disk group.
Delete all information on the controller — Use the Reset Configuration function to clear the controller in order to create a fresh configuration.
Use this function to create a disk group from available physical array disks. The disk group of array disks will be used to create virtual disks. The full capacity of the disk group must be used before additional disk groups can be created. You can have up to 16 array disks per disk group. Before you create a disk group, consider the following items:
The number of disks needed for the RAID levels you want to implement.
The number of virtual disks to include in the disk group. Note that if a virtual disk is to be expanded later, it must be the only virtual disk in the disk group and use all the disk space of the member array disks.
Click Create Disk Group. The Create Disk Group dialog box appears.
Select one or more array disks from the Available Array Disks list. Drag the selected disk(s) to the Add Array Disks list or click Add Disk to add to the Add Array Disks list. Continue adding disks as required by your configuration.
Disks can be removed from the Add Array Disks list by selecting the specific disk and clicking on Remove Disk, or remove all disks from the Add Array Disks list by clicking on Remove All.
Verify that the Add Array Disks list contains the appropriate disks. Click OK to invoke the changes. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Use this function to create a global hot spare disk. This array disk will be used to rebuild disk groups containing redundant virtual disks.
Right-click an array group.
Click Add Spares. The Add Spares dialog box appears.
Select one or more array disks from the Available Array Disks list. Drag the selected disk(s) to the Add Array Disks list or click Add Disk to add to the Add Array Disks list. Continue adding spare disks as required by your configuration.
Disks can be removed from the Add Array Disks list by selecting the specific disk and clicking on Remove Disk, or remove all disks from the Add Array Disks list by clicking on Remove All.
Verify that the Add Array Disks list contains the appropriate disks. Click OK to make the changes. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
A specific array disk with Ready status can also be made a global hot spare by right clicking on it and selecting Make global hotspare.
Note If multiple array disks that are different sizes are configured as global hot spares, a
rebuild will choose the array disk that best fits the array disk that failed.
Use this function to delete all configuration information on the controller, so you can perform a fresh configuration.
Caution Resetting a configuration permanently destroys all data on the controller and
array disks. This operation is not recoverable.
Note It is strongly recommended that you first delete all the volumes (and unassign the
virtual disks using Dell OpenManage Storage Consolidation if the array is
configured in a Storage Area Network) before performing a Reset Configuration.
Right-click an array group.
Click Reset Configuration. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears warning that all virtual disks and data will be lost. The user is asked to confirm this operation.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)
The Properties command for a selected array group displays the following information:
Name — This field displays the array group number, which is equivalent to the controller number.
Controller — This field displays the number of the controller with which this array group is associated. There is one number for the pair of controllers.
Status — This field displays the current status of the array group. Possible values are:
Online — The array group has been configured and is functioning normally.
Offline — The array group has not been configured, or the configuration has just been cleared.
Failed — The array group has failed to operate properly.
Rebuild — The array group has been configured and is in the process of being rebuilt.
Note If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the
status to indicate a situation that requires attention.
Creating virtual disks allows you to choose from a variety of RAID configurations to make the best use of your array disk storage. You must create a disk group before creating a virtual disk, because the array disks for a virtual disk are selected from a disk group. See Create Disk Group in this chapter for details.
The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller supports the following RAID configurations: concatenation, RAID-0, RAID-1, RAID-3, RAID-5, and RAID-0+1. For more information about RAID configurations, see Choosing RAID Levels in the Storage Management Concepts chapter.
Note When you create virtual disks, you may want to consider how virtual disks must be
deleted. Because of hardware constraints, virtual disks must be deleted in reverse
order of their creation. In other words, you must delete the most recently created
virtual disk first and continue to delete in reverse order.
Right-click a disk group. For information on creating a disk group, see Create Disk Group.
Select Create Virtual Disk from the Task pulldown menu. The Welcome to the Create Virtual Disk Wizard screen appears.
Read the welcome screen and click Next to continue. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Select Virtual Disk Type screen appears.
Select the Type, Size, Stripe Size, and Write Policy for the virtual disk.
Supported virtual disk types or RAID levels are available in the drop-down menu of
the Type field. The choices shown in the drop-down menu depends on the number of
array disks in the disk group.
Note When creating virtual disks in a disk group, use non-redundant RAID levels (such
as concatenated or RAID 0) only when the disk group will not need hot-spare disk
replacement. If a disk group contains at least one non-redundant virtual disk, any
failed array disks in the disk group cannot be rebuilt with a hot-spare array disk.
The stripe size is selectable only on the first virtual disk created. Supported stripe size
values are available in the drop-down menu of the Stripe Size field. When you create
additional virtual disks, the stripe size setting is inactive (dimmed) because there can
be only one stripe size for all virtual disks on the same Dell PowerVault 660F
controller.
The Write Policy toggles between Write Cache Enabled and Write Cache Disabled.
When write cache is enabled, the controller returns a completion status to the host as
soon as the cache memory receives the data. The array disk receives the data at a more
appropriate time. When write cache is disabled, the controller writes data to the array
disk before returning completion status to the host.
When the virtual disk attributes are set appropriately, click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Completing the Create Virtual Disk Wizard screen appears.
Note Initializing the new virtual disk is strongly recommended and may take
approximately one hour to complete for foreground initialization, depending on the
size of the virtual disk. Multiple simultaneous disk foreground initializations are
supported, but having more than five virtual disk initializations running at the
same time can slow down the response time of commands from Array Manager to
that PowerVault 660F fibre channel array. Array Manager does not allow
initialization to immediately occur after virtual disk creation if five virtual disk
initializations are already ongoing. You will have to later manually start an
initialization when one or more of the current initializations are finished.
Check the Initialize Disk option if you want to perform a foreground initialization on the new virtual disk immediately, and click Finish to create the virtual disk as determined in the previous steps. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Note If you want, initialization can be performed later by choosing Initialize or
Background Initialize (if available) from the Virtual Disk context menu. Also, if the
Autostart Background Init controller option is set, the virtual disk is automatically
queued up for background initialization when it is created. The Background
Initialize controller option is only available when using PowerVault 660F controller
firmware 7.7 or later.
Note Starting a foreground initialization (by checking the Initialize Disk option) will
suspend any active background initializations on another virtual disk. The
background initialization will continue once all foreground initializations are either
completed or canceled.
If this is the first virtual disk created, a dialog box notifying the user that the controller
needs to reset appears. The reset operation may take more than 30 seconds to
complete.
After foreground initialization completes (or background initialization is running), do one of the following:
If the PowerVault 660F array is part of a SAN, assign the virtual disk to a server by using the Dell OpenManage Storage Consolidation software. If the virtual disk is assigned to a Windows NT server, you must reboot for the server to be able to access the virtual disk. For Windows 2000, you must perform an Array Manager console rescan.
If the PowerVault 660F controller is connected through direct attach configuration, you will need to perform an Array Manager console rescan in Windows 2000 or a reboot in Windows NT for the server to be able access the virtual disk.
Use this function to apply RAID policies to create virtual disks.
Note If you use this method, all your virtual disks will be in one disk group. You will not
be able to use the Expand Capacity command to add array disks in the future if the
policy contains more than one virtual disk.
Right-click a disk group.
Click Apply RAID Policy. The Welcome to the RAID Policy Wizard screen appears.
Read the welcome screen and click Next to continue. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Select RAID Policy screen appears.
Use the RAID Policy Browser to select a RAID policy to apply to the array disk group. Check the disk(s) for which this RAID policy is to be applied. Changes can be made to this policy's settings by double-clicking on any of the fields. These changes will be applied "on the fly" without editing or creating a new RAID policy. Click Revert to default to revert to the existing policy's default settings.
When the RAID policies are set appropriately, click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Completing the RAID Policy Wizard screen appears.
Note Initializing the new virtual disk is strongly recommended and may take
approximately one hour to complete for foreground initialization, depending on the
size of the virtual disk. Multiple simultaneous disk foreground initializations are
supported, but having more than five virtual disk initializations running at the
same time can slow down the response time of commands from Array Manager to
the PowerVault 660F fibre channel array. Array Manager will not allow initialization
to immediately occur after virtual disk creation if five virtual disk initializations are
already ongoing. You will have to later manually start a initialization when one or
more of the current initializations are finished.
Check the Initialize Disk option if you want to immediately perform a foreground initialization on the new virtual disk, and click Finish to create the virtual disk as determined by the RAID policy chosen. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Note If you wish, initialization can be performed later by choosing Initialize or
Background Initialize from the Virtual Disk context menu. Also, if the Autostart
Background Init controller option is set, the virtual disk is automatically queued up
for background initialization when it is created.
Note Starting a foreground initialization (by checking the Initialize Disk option) will
suspend any active background initialization occurring on another virtual disk. The
background initialization will continue once all foreground initializations are either
completed or canceled.
If this is the first virtual disk created, a dialog box notifying the user that the controller
needs to reset appears. The reset operation may take more than 30 seconds to
complete.
After the foreground initialization completes (or if initializing in the background), do the following:
If the PowerVault 660F controller is part of a SAN, assign the virtual disk to a server by using the Dell OpenManage Storage Consolidation software. If the virtual disk is assigned to a Windows NT server, you must reboot for the server to be able to access the virtual disk. For Windows 2000, you must perform an Array Manager console rescan to use the virtual disk.
If the PowerVault 660F controller is connected through direct attach, you must rescan in Windows 2000 or reboot the server for Windows NT for the server to be able access the virtual disk.
Use this function to increase the capacity of an existing disk group while the subsystem is online. The Expand Capacity command appends the added array disk's capacity to the existing virtual disk specified in the request. In contrast, the Add Virtual Disk command adds a new virtual disk, using the existing and added array disks.
The Expand Capacity command is not available (menu option is dimmed) unless the following conditions are met:
The PowerVault 660F controller is operating with the partner controller held in reset. Use the Disable Partner command to place the partner controller in reset before invoking Expand Capacity. This command can be performed only on disk groups with one virtual disk, which must not be configured as a concatenated RAID level.
The array disks to be added to the disk group are configured as hot spares.
Note that the following considerations apply when using the Expand Capacity command:
Starting an Expand Capacity suspends any background initialization occurring on another virtual disk. The background initialization will continue once the Expand Capacity is completed or canceled.
When you expand the capacity of a virtual disk with RAID level 0, the virtual disk's RAID level is automatically converted to RAID 0+1.
Use the following procedure to increase the capacity of an existing virtual disk in a disk group:
Right-click a disk group containing the virtual disk to be expanded.
Click Expand Capacity. The Expand Capacity dialog box appears.
Select one or more array disks from the Available Array Disks list. Drag the selected disk(s) to the Add Array Disks list or click Add Disk to add to the Add Array Disks list. Continue adding disks until you want to stop or you reach the 16 array disk limit.
Array disks can be removed from the Add Array Disks list by selecting the specific
disk and clicking on Remove Disk, or remove all disks from the Add Array Disks list
by clicking on Remove All.
Verify that the Add Array Disks list contains the appropriate disks. Click OK to make the changes. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
A temporary disk group appears that contains the selected array disks. This disk
group remains until the Expand Capacity procedure is completed. When the
procedure is finished, the temporary disk group will be removed and the selected
array disks are displayed under the disk group that contains the virtual disk that has
been expanded.
The Expand Capacity process may take 4 to 24 hours to complete, depending on the
number of disks involved and their capacity.
After the Expand Capacity process has completed, you MUST enable the partner controller to re-establish controller redundancy.
Note No rebuilds of redundant virtual disks will take place until after the Expand
Capacity operation is completed and the partner is enabled.
If the virtual disk is on a Windows NT server, you must first reboot to use the additional free space. For a Windows 2000 server, you must perform a console rescan for the server to recognize the additional space.
You are now ready to put a format and a file system on the free space.
The Add Virtual Disk command is not available (menu option is dimmed) unless the following conditions are met:
The PowerVault 660F controller is operating with the partner controller disabled. Use the Disable Partner command to hold the partner controller in reset before invoking Add Virtual Disk.
The array disks to be added to the disk group for the new virtual disk are configured as hot spares.
Note Starting an Add Virtual Disk suspends any background initialization occurring on
another virtual disk. The background initialization will continue once the Add
Virtual Disk is completed or canceled.
The Add Virtual Disk adds a new virtual disk, using the existing array disks.
Right-click a disk group.
Click Add Virtual Disk. The Welcome to the Add Virtual Disk Wizard screen appears.
Read the welcome screen and click Next to continue. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Select Virtual Disk Type screen appears.
Select the Type and Write Policy for the virtual disk.
Supported virtual disk types or RAID levels are available in the drop-down menu of
the Type field.
Supported RAID levels are described in the Supported RAID Levels table near the
beginning of this chapter.
Note When creating virtual disks in a disk group, use non-redundant RAID levels (such
as concatenated or RAID 0) only when the disk group will not need hot-spare disk
replacement. If a disk group contains at least one non-redundant virtual disk, any
failed array disks in the disk group cannot be rebuilt with a hot-spare array disk.
The Write Policy toggles between Write Cache Enabled and Write Cache Disabled.
When write cache is enabled, the controller returns a completion status to the host as
soon as the cache receives the data. The target device receives the data at a more
appropriate time. When write cache is disabled, the controller writes data to the target
device before returning completion status to the host.
When the virtual disk attributes are set appropriately, click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Select Disk screen appears.
Select one or more spare disks for this virtual disk by checking the appropriate disk(s).
When the spare disk or disks are selected, click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.) The Completing the Add Virtual Disk Wizard screen appears.
Note Initializing the new virtual disk is strongly recommended and may take
approximately one hour to complete, depending on the size of the virtual disk.
Multiple simultaneous disk initializations are supported, but having more than five
virtual disk initializations running at the same time can slow down the response
time of commands from Array Manager to the PowerVault 660F fibre channel array.
Array Manager will not allow more than five simultaneous initializations.
Check the Initialize Disk option if you want to initialize the new virtual disk immediately, and click Finish to create the virtual disk as determined in the previous steps. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Note If you want, initialization can be performed later by choosing Initialize or
Background Initialize from the Virtual Disk context menu.
Note Starting a foreground initialization (by checking the Initialize Disk option) will
suspend any active background initialization occurring on another virtual disk. The
background initialization will continue once all foreground initializations are either
completed or canceled.
Click OK to continue.
After the Add Virtual Disk process has completed, you MUST enable the partner controller to re-establish controller redundancy.
Note No rebuilds of redundant virtual disks will take place until after the Add Virtual
Disk operation is completed and the partner is enabled.
If you are using a SAN, see the SAN Administrator's Guide for instructions on how to assign the new virtual disk to a server, using the Dell OpenManage Storage Consolidation software.
Use this function to remove the selected disk group from the array group.
Note Before you can delete a disk group, you must have deleted the virtual disks in the
disk group.
Right-click a disk group.
Click Delete Disk Group. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears notifying the user that the selected disk group will be deleted. The user is asked to confirm this operation.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)
Note After deleting the last disk group, you must reset the configuration. See Reset
Configuration in this chapter.
The Properties command for a disk group gives the following information on the selected disk group:
Group Size — This field displays the total size of the disk group. This is the sum of all selected disks' physical sizes configured in this disk group.
Used Space — This field displays the amount of used or configured space.
Free Space — This field displays the amount of free or unused space.
Minimum Stripe Size — This field displays the minimum stripe size capable by the controller.
Maximum Stripe Size — This field displays the maximum stripe size capable by the controller.
Default Stripe Size — This field displays the current stripe size being used. Supported stripe sizes are 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, and 64 KB.
Status — This field displays the current status of the disk group. Possible values are:
Online — The disk group has been configured and is functioning normally.
Offline — The disk group has not been configured or the configuration has just been cleared.
Failed — The disk group has failed to operate properly.
Rebuild — The disk group has been configured and is in the process of being rebuilt.
Note If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the
status to indicate a situation that requires attention.
You can perform the following operations from a virtual disk's context menu:
Change write caching policy — Use the Change Policy function to change the write caching policies of your virtual disk.
Delete a virtual disk — Use the Delete Virtual Disk function to delete the virtual disk. This is only selectable on the virtual disk that was created last.
Initialize a virtual disk in the foreground— Use the Initialize function to manually start a foreground initialization on the virtual disk.
Cancel a foreground initialization — Use the Cancel Initialize function to cancel all foreground initializations that are in progress.
Initialize a virtual disk in the background --- Use the Background Initialize function to perform a background initialization on the virtual disk. This allows the virtual disk to be immediately used while still being initialized by the controller.
Cancel a background initialization --- The Cancel Background Initialize function stops a background initialization on a virtual disk.
Check redundant data information — Use the Check Consistency function to verify the integrity of data on the virtual disk.
Cancel a check consistency — Use the Cancel Check Consistency function to cancel a consistency check that is in progress.
Force a virtual disk online — Use the Force Online function to force an failed virtual disk (due to offline array disks) to an online status.
To bring up a virtual disk's context menu, right-click the virtual disk object in the tree view. For more information why you would want to use virtual disks, see the section Create Virtual Disk in this chapter.
Use this function to change the write cache policy of a virtual disk. This setting will be used when the PowerVault 660F controller is not in Conservative Cache mode.
Right-click a virtual disk.
Click Change Policy. The Write Policy dialog box appears.
Select either Write Cache Enabled or Write Cache Disabled. The Write Policy toggles
between Write Cache Enabled and Write Cache Disabled. When write cache is
enabled, the controller returns a completion status to the host as soon as the cache
receives the data (improving write performance). The array disk receives the data at a
more appropriate time. When write cache is disabled, the controller writes data to the
array disk before returning completion status to the host.
Click OK to make the change. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Note If the controller is in conservative cache mode, the virtual disk will operate with
write cache disabled regardless of the write cache policy setting.
Caution Deleting a virtual disk permanently deletes all information contained on that
disk. Dell strongly recommends that you first delete the volumes from the
virtual disk (and offline the virtual disk from the server using Dell
OpenManage Storage Consolidation if the PowerVault 660F is part of a Storage
Area Network) before deleting the virtual disk.
Note This function is enabled only for the virtual disk that was created last. Because of
hardware constraints, virtual disks must be deleted in the reverse order of their
creation. In other words, you must delete the most recently created virtual disk first
and continue to delete in reverse order.
Use this function to delete the virtual disk that was created last.
Right-click the virtual disk that was created last.
Click Delete. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears warning that all data on the selected virtual disk will be lost. The user is asked to confirm the operation.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.) The virtual disk disappears from the left pane and the right pane in the Array Manager console if the array group is selected.
Use this function to manually start a foreground initialization of a virtual disk.
Note It is possible to have foreground initializations ongoing for multiple virtual disks,
but performing more than five simultaneous virtual disk initializations at the same
time can slow down the response time of commands between Array Manager and
the PowerVault 660F array where the storage is being initialized. Array Manager
will not allow more than four simultaneous foreground initializations on a
PowerVault 660F array.
Note Starting a foreground initialization will suspend any background initialization
occurring on another virtual disk. The background initialization will continue once
all foreground initializations are either completed or canceled.
Right-click a virtual disk.
Click Initialize. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears warning that all current data on the virtual disk will be lost and recommends that the user not perform any disk or volume operations on the virtual disk while the initialization is in progress.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.) The initialization progress is indicated in the right pane. The virtual disk status indicates "Initializing" and the progress indicates the percent completed.
Note The Background Initialize controller option is only available when using
PowerVault 660F controller firmware 7.7 or later.
Use this command to initialize a disk without interrupting the normal functioning of the virtual disk. The Background Initialize command enables a server to use a virtual disk while the background initialization process is active. Background initialization can only be used with virtual disks configured as redundant RAID levels.
While foreground initialization will zero out both the user data and redundancy regions of the virtual disk, background initialize will only set the redundancy data on the virtual disk without changing the user data. This means that for a newly created virtual disk that was background initialized, the data region of the virtual disk may contain "garbage data." In order to clear the user data regions in an initialization, you must use the foreground initialize function instead.
To manually start a background initialization:
Right-click on the virtual disk for which you want to start background initialization.
Click Background Initialize. A confirmation dialog box is displayed.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.) The background initialization process for that virtual disk will begin when the controller receives its next write request.
Note The Background Initialize menu will not be enabled if another virtual disk is
already being initialized (in foreground or background). To queue up virtual disks
for background initialization, you can set the Autostart Background Init option in
the Advanced Controller Options. See Advanced Controller Options for more
information on setting the Autostart Background Init option.
The following needs to be considered when using background initialization.
A background initialization will be suspended by the following operations:
Foreground initialization
Array disk rebuild
Check consistency
Expand Capacity
Add Virtual Disk
Background initialization will have a performance impact for virtual disks in the disk group that contains the virtual disk being background initialized.
While a background initialization is running, a partner controller cannot be enabled.
Use this function to begin a consistency check. A consistency check verifies that mirror or parity information matches the stored data on the redundant RAID configured virtual disk (RAID-1, RAID-3, RAID-5, or RAID-0+1). If the parity block information is inconsistent with the data blocks, events will be generated in the event log showing this.
Note If a consistency check fails for a virtual disk, it will be necessary to initialize the
virtual disk and restore the data from backup to correct the virtual disk.
Note Starting a check consistency will suspend any background initialization occurring
on another virtual disk. The background initialization will continue once the check
consistency is either completed or canceled.
Right-click a virtual disk.
Click Check Consistency. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears warning that other disk or volume operations on the corresponding disks not be performed while the consistency check is in progress. The user is asked to confirm this operation.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)
Use this function to force a failed virtual disk to online status. This command is needed to recover a failed virtual disk after one or more failed array disks are replaced.
Note If a failed redundant RAID configured virtual disk is forced online, you must
initialize the virtual disk to establish consistency. Data previously on the virtual
disk will be lost (since the virtual disk did suffer a failure).
Right-click the offline virtual disk.
Click Force Online. The status change is indicated in the right pane. The virtual disk status indicates a change from offline to online.
The Properties command for a virtual disk gives the following information on the selected virtual disk:
RAID Level — This field displays the RAID level of the virtual disk. Refer to Supported RAID Levels for more information.
Target ID — This field displays the target ID for this virtual disk.
Cache Policy — This field displays the write cache policy assigned to this virtual disk. Refer to Change Policy for more information. This setting is used when the controller is not in Conservative Cache mode.
LUN — This field displays the Logical Unit Number (LUN) assigned to this virtual disk.
Physical Size — This field displays the configured size of the virtual disk.
Used Array Capacity — This field is not applicable at this time and always displays 0.00 MB.
Cache Line — This field is not applicable at this time and is always equal to the Stripe Size.
Stripe Size — This field displays the stripe size of the virtual disk. Refer to Create Virtual Disk for more information.
Status — This field displays the current status of the virtual disk. Possible values are:
Online — The virtual disk has been configured and is functioning normally.
Offline — The virtual disk has not been configured or the configuration has just been cleared.
Failed — The virtual disk has failed to operate properly.
Rebuild — The virtual disk has been configured and is in the process of being rebuilt.
Note If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the
status to indicate a situation that requires attention.
Array disks are the physical hard drives connected to the controller through the enclosure. The array disks are configured into disk groups to be configured as one or more virtual disks. You can perform the following operations from the Array Disk context menu:
Locate a specific array disk — Use the Blink Disk function to blink the LED on the enclosure for the selected array disk.
Rebuild a failed array disk — Use the Rebuild function to return a degraded virtual disk to online status by rebuilding the redundant data on a hot spare or replacement array disk.
Cancel a rebuild operation — Use the Cancel Rebuild function to cancel a rebuild that is in progress.
Prepare an array disk for removal — Use the Prepare to Remove function to spin down the array disk in preparation for removal from the enclosure.
Define an array disk as a global hot spare disk — Use the Make Global Hot Spare function to assign a selected array disk to act as a backup hot spare.
Unassign a hot spare disk — Use the Unassign Global Hot Spare function to remove the hot spare status from the selected array disk.
Force an array disk to Offline state — Use the Make Offline function to force the selected array disk to offline state.
The Blink Disk command allows you to find an array disk within an enclosure by blinking one of the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on the disk. This command automatically cancels after a short duration such as 60 seconds. You may want to use this command to locate an array disk that has failed.
Use the following steps to blink an array disk:
Right-click an array disk.
Click Blink Disk. The Locate Disk dialog box appears.
Click Blink to activate the LED for the selected array disk. The LED on the hard-disk carrier may take 30 seconds to start blinking.
Click Done when finished. The LED may continue blinking for another 30 seconds.
The Rebuild function uses a hot spare to rebuild a degraded virtual disk. You can do only one rebuild at a time.
Right-click an array disk.
Click Rebuild.
A warning/confirmation dialog box appears recommending that you not perform
any disk or volume operations on the corresponding disks while the rebuild is in
progress, and asking whether you want to rebuild this array disk.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)
The status and progress are indicated in the right pane. The array disk status indicates "Rebuilding."
Note Starting a rebuild will suspend any background initialization occurring on another
virtual disk. The background initialization will continue once the rebuild is either
completed or canceled.
This command spins an array disk down to prepare it for removal. Only array disks that have a hardware failure or that have been brought offline can be prepared for removal.
Note Unused array disks that are not part of a virtual disk and that are already spun
down can be removed at any time.
Right-click an array disk.
Click Prepare to Remove.
A confirmation dialog box appears asking whether you want to prepare this array
disk for removal.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)
The array disk will spin down so that it can be removed.
Use this function to designate the selected array disk as a global hot spare disk.
Right-click an array disk.
Click Make Global Hot Spare. The array disk is labeled as a hot spare in the left pane. The information in the right pane is updated to indicate that the array disk status is Ready and the type is Spare Array Disk.
Use this function to force the selected disk to Offline status.
Right-click an array disk.
Click Make Offline. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears warning that loss of data may occur. The user is asked to confirm this operation.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.) The status change is indicated in the right pane. The array disk status indicates a change from Online to Offline
Note Forcing an array disk that is part of a disk group offline may start a rebuild or may
fail one or more virtual disks in the disk group.
The Status field indicates the array disk's current status. The possible values are:
Online — The array disk is powered on, part of a configuration, and functioning normally.
Offline — The array disk has been inserted, powered on into an unconfigured slot, or the configuration has just been cleared. The array disk is not part of a configuration.
Failed — The array disk has failed to operate properly.
Rebuild — The array disk is powered on, part of a configuration, and in the process of being rebuilt.
Note If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the
status to indicate a situation that requires attention.
You can perform the following controller operations, which gives you the ability to configure and manage your system:
Modify controller parameters — Use the Controller Options function to customize the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller parameters and features to meet the specific needs of your operating environment.
Add drive enclosures — Use the Add Enclosure option to add additional PowerVault 224F drive enclosures while the subsystem is still active.
Change firmware versions — Use the Download function to upgrade the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller firmware or the SES Processor firmware when new versions are available.
Force the partner controller to be held in reset (i.e., offline partner controller) — Use the Disable Partner function to hold the partner controller in reset.
Revive the partner controller held in reset — Use the Enable Partner function to return the partner controller to full functionality.
Perform a reboot of the controllers — Use the Reset function to reboot the controllers.
Prepare the controller for shutdown — Use the Disable BBU function to disable the write cache and prepare the controller for shutdown in order to move to another location.
Return the controller to normal operation — Use the Enable BBU function to return the controller to normal operation.
Monitor battery functionality on both controllers — Use the C0 Battery and C1 Battery menu to manage battery functionality.
To view the properties of the battery — Use the Battery Properties command.
Each Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller is shipped from the factory with initial settings that have been found to work well in a majority of applications and environments. These settings are listed as the controller options and vary depending on product and user requirements. You can customize controller options and features to meet the specific needs of your operating environment. The Controller Options dialog box has the following tabs:
Click Controller Options. The Controller Options multi-tabbed dialog box appears with the Advanced tab open.
Click Revert. The Revert to Factory Defaults dialog box appears.
Select either Current Page Only or All Controller Options.
Current Page Only returns the controller options on this page only to the factory default values.
All Controller Options returns all controller options to the factory default values.
Click OK to make the changes. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
A controller reset is required when making certain controller option changes. Controller options requiring a controller reset are indicated with a fly-by dialog when the mouse cursor moves over the controller option. A controller reset is recommended after making any changes to the controller configuration. If a dialog box does NOT appear with the warning that a controller reset will occur, refer to the Reset command for controller reset instructions.
Click the Advanced tab to continue. The Advanced tab opens.
Note Checking a specific option activates that option, either enabling or disabling the
option as stated in the dialog box. No check indicates that the option is disabled.
Make changes to the following Advanced controller options as required by your operating environment:
Customizations
Conservative Cache Mode—Default=Enabled. This function is provided to allow a controller an extra degree of data safety when operating in a degraded state. This function switches write-back caching to write-through operation after a partner controller fails or is disabled. When the partner controller is back online, write-back caching operations resume. Conservative Cache mode is entered automatically when a power supply failure, over-temperature condition, Expand Capacity operation, or SES failure exists.
Restrict Reassign to One Block—Default=Disabled. This function limits reassigning failures to the single failed block. This option is limited to recovered errors and medium errors. If the sense on the error does not indicate one of these errors, then this setting does not apply. When Restrict Reassign to One Block is disabled, all reassigns are allocated to the entire I/O process. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
Smart Large Host Transfers—Default=Disabled. This function allows selection of Coalesce (fewer disconnects on large transfers) or As Available (more disconnects) on host data transfers. This function is most effective on SCSI but has some benefit on Fibre Channel systems. The Smart Large Host Transfers function takes effect for transfers larger than the stripe size.
True Verification Of Data—Default=Disabled. If this option is disabled, the verify command returns a status without data checking. If this option is enabled, the verify command checks data before returning a status. Enabling this option compromises performance. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
Write Through Verify—Default=Disabled. This function enables Force Unit Access for reads and writes during error handling. Force Unit Access bypasses the cache and forces all reads and writes directly to or from the disk. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option. For some devices, enabling Force Unit Access reduces sequential write performance by up to 86%.
Autostart Background Init—Default=Disabled. This controller option is only available on version 7.7 of the controller firmware or later. This function enables you to automatically start a background initialization for a newly created virtual disk . A virtual disk normally must be initialized after you create it and before using it. The normal initialization process is time consuming (perhaps an hour). When using background initialization, you can use the virtual disk immediately without waiting for the initialization process to complete. When you enable the Autostart Background Init function, background initialization is automatically initiated for uninitialized virtual disks when the controller receives a write request. The background initialization tasks are queued in the numerical order of the virtual disks. For example, virtual disk 0 is initialized first, followed by virtual disk 1 and so forth. Background initialization can only be used with virtual disks configured as redundant RAID levels. See the Background Initialize section for details on the background initialize function.
Internals
Enclosure Management—Default=Enabled. This function allows the controller to take autonomous actions when a failure occurs. Actions that the Enclosure Management function monitors and reports include array disk failures, background activity completion status, and enclosure events. This function should remain enabled during normal controller operation. Do not disable this function unless specifically instructed to do so as part of a troubleshooting diagnostic activity (such as upgrading the array disk firmware). The Enclosure Management function works in conjunction with Automatic Rebuild Management features in the PowerVault 224F disk array enclosures to detect the removal of a failed array disk. The Enclosure Management option must be enabled to allow the PowerVault 660F controller to exercise its full array of management capabilities.
Automatic Rebuild Management—Default=Enabled. This function allows the controller to take autonomous actions when a failed array disk is replaced or a configured global hot spare disk drive is present. The Automatic Rebuild Management function works in conjunction with Enclosure Management features in the PowerVault 224F disk array enclosures to detect the removal of a failed array disk. The Automatic Rebuild Management function also performs an automatic rebuild after a replacement array disk is installed into a redundant (fault tolerant) virtual disk (RAID-1, RAID-3, RAID-5, and RAID-0+1).
Coalesce Device Queues—Default=Enabled. This function provides device queuing coalescing optimization. The function enables data traffic coalescing (combining of address adjacent I/Os) on the traffic of each device. This joins the data from adjacent I/Os into a single I/O to improve performance.
Queue Limit—Default=32. This option specifies the allowed queue depth for tagged commands to all attached array disks. This value is further limited to the array disk's own tag limit. Allowed values are 1 to 230. A setting of 1 is similar to no tags. If using coalescing, set the queue tag limit to 2.
When the Advanced controller options are set appropriately, click OK to make the changes. (Click Revert to revert controller options to factory default values. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Click the Expert tab to continue. The Expert window opens.
Note Checking a specific option either enables or disables the option as stated in the
dialog box. No check indicates that the option is disabled.
Make changes to the following Expert controller options as required by your operating environment:
On Q Full Give Busy—Default=Disabled. Enabling this option sets the controller to return a Busy status when a Queue Full condition is detected. Disabling this option sets the controller to return a Queue Full status. When a command is received and the controller detects a Queue Full condition, it normally returns Queue Full status. This option is intended to help hosts that are confused by Queue Full. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
Disable Busy Status During Failback—Default=Disabled. The Disable Busy Status During Failback function allows the controller to disregard new requests without returning a Busy status. If enabled, during failback, the surviving controller ignores all new requests and does not return any status. If disabled, the surviving controller returns a Busy status to new commands received from the host during the cache flush operation. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
Vendor Unique Test Unit Ready Status—Default=Disabled. This function enables a vendor unique TUR response sent to an offline LUN. If disabled, a Hard Error status is returned. If enabled, a Not Ready status is returned. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
No Pause On Controller Not Ready—Default=Disabled. This option turns the pause off or on for certain commands when the controller is not ready. Normally, when the controller is starting up, certain commands encounter a pause. This happens only when the controller has not reached Startup Complete. The pause lasts one second. The commands affected are: Prefetch, Read/write, Read/write Extended, Tur, Verify, and Write Verify. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
DisableCC For Invalid LUN—Default=Enabled. When this option is enabled, the controller disables Check Condition for an invalid LUN. This affects the handling of the Inquiry command when the referenced LUN is invalid. If enabled, the Inquiry command returns data with the peripheral qualifier indicating that the peripheral device is not connected. If disabled, the Inquiry command will be failed with a check condition of "Illegal Request, LUN Not Supported." A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
Auto Restore (automatic failback)—Default=Enabled. When enabled in a redundant controller system, Auto Restore allows automatic recovery of a partner controller when a replacement is inserted. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
Reset Propagation—Default=Disabled. This function allows a port to issue an internal reset without causing a reset event to occur on its attached interface. If enabled, a port that issues an internal reset propagates the reset by causing a reset event to occur on its attached interface. If disabled, a port will not cause a reset event on its attached interface as part of issuing an internal reset.
Multi-port Reset—Default=Disabled. This function restricts internal resets to ports that have logical devices reserved through that port. If enabled, an internal reset is executed by a port only if a logical device has been reserved through that port. If disabled, internal resets are not qualified by logical device reservations.
Rebuild Rate—Default=50. Change the default Rebuild Rate to less than or equal to 50. A rate of 50 devotes the maximum allowable resources to a drive rebuild or array expansion, allowing the Rebuild or Expand to proceed at its fastest. Lowering the number devotes more resources to I/Os and consequently slows the Rebuild or Expand process.
When the Expert controller options are set appropriately, click OK to make the changes. (Click Revert to revert controller options to factory default values. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Click the Fibre tab to continue. The Fibre tab opens.
Note Checking a specific option either enables or disables the option as stated in the
dialog box. No check indicates that the option is not enabled.
Make changes to the following Fibre controller options as required by your product and configuration:
Node Name Retention—Default=Enabled. This option disables/enables a failed controller's node name to be retained through a controller failure. When disabled, each controller shares its node name with its partner controller through failover; however, when failback occurs, the replacement controller uses its own node name. When enabled, each controller shares its node name with its partner controller and those names are used through all phases of failover and failback. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
PCI Latency Control—Default=Short. This function allows adjustment of the Fibre Channel chip's use of the PCI bus. This function controls the amount of data each processor can burst across the primary bus before relinquishing bus ownership to the next device. PCI Latency Control takes effect only when both ports are active and are arbitrating for the bus. PCI Latency Control allows the integrator to tune the controller's operating options for specific applications. Possible settings are Long, Medium, and Short; and these can be selected from the drop-down menu. For maximum throughput, Long is recommended and is equivalent to the time necessary to transfer 1024 bytes; Medium is equivalent to 684 bytes, and Short is equivalent to 512 bytes. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
Frame Control—Default=2KB. This option sets the host Fibre Channel data frame size. Possible settings are 512 bytes, 1 KB or 2 KB; and these can be selected from the drop-down menu. A frame size of 2 KB is recommended since it provides the largest packet transfers and the most throughput. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
Set Hard Loop IDs—Default is the following: Controller 0 Port 0=Enabled, Loop ID=2; Controller 1 Port 0=Enabled, Loop ID=4. This option allows you to enable or disable use of the controller/host port and, if enabled, to define the hard loop ID. Specifying a hard loop ID means that the same ID will always be requested. The valid range for loop IDs is from 0 to 125. A controller reset is required when making changes to this controller option.
When the Fibre controller options are set appropriately, click OK to make the changes. (Click Revert to revert controller options to factory default values. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
A controller reset is required when making some controller option changes. Controller options requiring a controller reset are indicated with a popup window when the mouse cursor moves over the controller option. A controller reset is recommended after making any changes to the controller configuration. If a dialog box does NOT appear warning that a controller reset will occur, refer to the Reset command for the controller reset instructions.
The Add Enclosure command allows users to add device enclosures (one or more) to a configured system while the system continues to operate. After the enclosure or enclosures have been added to the system, the Add Enclosure command initiates the SES monitoring process for the added enclosure(s). The user can configure the additional disk drive capacity without rebooting the system through Array Manager.
Attach the new enclosure(s) to the system, checking for and resolving any ID conflicts. Refer to the appropriate documentation for enclosure installation.
Power on the new enclosure(s).
Wait for all the drives to complete the spin-up process.
Right-click the corresponding controller object in the Array Manager console's left pane.
Select Add Enclosure.
Right-click the PowerVault 660F subsystem and select Rescan.
The Download command allows you to download controller firmware or SES firmware. To use the command, right-click the controller object. Then select the Download command from the context menu that comes up. A submenu appears for selecting either of the two download options. For details, see:
Note Upgrading to PowerVault 660F RAID controller firmware version 7.7 or higher can
change the controller's World Wide Name (WWN) if the controller is at a version
prior to 7.7. When the WWN changes, you may not be able to see the storage with
Array Manager or another management application. Resolving this problem can
include updating pathing of the FC HBA, as well as FC switch zoning configuration
if zoning is being performed by WWN. See the latest SAN or PowerVault 660F
documentation that came with your system or that is available from the Dell
support document library at http://support.dell.com for information on editing the
FC switch zone table and resolving problems associated with a new WWN.
Note Before downloading firmware, be sure to suspend all I/O (including Virtual Disk
initializations and check consistencies) to the PowerVault 660F controller.
Select Controller Firmware.
The Download Firmware dialog box appears. The dialog box provides a standard
browser for locating the appropriate firmware image file.
Click Browse to locate the file and enter the path and filename. Information about the selected file displays.
Verify that the selected file is correct. If a valid file is not selected, the command is not executed.
Click Apply to begin the download process. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Note If downloading to a redundant controller system, both controllers will receive the
firmware simultaneously.
Use this function to upgrade enclosure SES firmware as new versions become available. Array Manager allows you to download new SES firmware to the SES device. You will be able to download to all SES devices associated with the PowerVault 660F array. The SES Download wizard guides you through the process.
Note If downloading SES firmware to a PowerVault 660F array that has multiple
PowerVault 224F disk enclosures, this process updates all SES devices of all the
enclosures. This can be time consuming.
Select SES Firmware.
Read the welcome screen and click Next to continue. (Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
The Select Enclosures screen appears.
Select the enclosures for which you want to download SES firmware. Click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Click Browse to locate the file and enter the path and filename. Information about the selected file displays.
Verify that the selected file is correct. If the correct file is not selected, the command is not executed.
The Completing the SES Download Wizard screen appears. Click Next to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Click Finish to continue. (Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.)
Use this function to hold the partner controller in reset and initiate the failover process. If you are planning to use the Expand Capacity or Add Virtual Disk commands, those commands are not available unless you use this command first to hold the partner controller in reset and transfer control to a single controller. After the Expand Capacity or Add Virtual Disk command is completed, you need to use the Enable Partner command to return to a redundant controller configuration with both controllers operating.
Note Disabling the partner controller forces all I/O to the subsystem to go through the
surviving controller. Any servers connected to the Fibre Channel fabric may
experience an HBA failover (depending on the fabric configuration) in order to
redirect I/O to the surviving controller.
Click Disable Partner. This command is invoked immediately; no warning or confirmation screen appears. The partner controller is held in reset. The surviving controller operates as a failed-over redundant controller.
Use this function to return the partner controller to full functionality. Enable the partner controller following an Expand Capacity or Add Virtual Disk operation to return the system to a redundant controller configuration.
Note Enabling the partner controller allows I/O to be processed by both controllers. For a
SAN environment, manual HBA failovers may be necessary to have servers use the
newly enabled controller.
Click Enable Partner. This command is invoked immediately; no warning or confirmation screen appears. The failback process begins, and the partner controller resumes full functionality.
Note If a virtual disk is being initialized in the background, the Enable Partner function
will fail. You must either wait until background initialization is complete or
canceled before successfully performing an Enable Partner.
Use this function to cycle power on the controllers. After creating a new configuration or making changes to controller options, a controller reset is recommended. The controller reset usually occurs without user intervention; however, occasions may arise when resetting the controllers manually is required.
Right-click a controller.
Click Reset. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears notifying the user that a controller reset will take 30 seconds or longer. The user is asked to confirm this operation.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.) A warm power cycle occurs immediately on the controllers.
Note A reset can be done only when the following two conditions both exist: 1) There is
no I/O to or from the controllers, and 2) No initializations or rebuilds are in
progress.
Use this feature to prepare the controller for removal in order to move it to another location. This procedure forces the controller into Conservative Cache mode, flushes the cache, and electronically disconnects the battery.
Right-click a controller.
Click Disable BBU. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears notifying you that the controller will be prepared for removal. You are asked to confirm this operation.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)
Use this function to return the controller to normal cache operation. This enables the BBU to protect the write-cache. If the array is in an optimal state, this operation sets the controller to normal cache mode.
Right-click on a controller object.
Click Enable BBU. A warning/confirmation dialog box appears notifying the user that the controller will return to normal operation. The user is asked to confirm this operation.
Click Yes to continue. (Click No to exit the function.)
Certain conditions require that the BBU needs to be reconditioned before it can be used. If the power went off or if you are installing a new controller with a new BBU, then the BBU needs to be reconditioned.
A full battery recondition cycle consists of discharging and recharging the battery. The recondition cycle must start with a fully charged battery. If the battery needs charging, use the Fast Charge function. Normally the battery is automatically recharged, but in a new system or a system that has been subjected to a power outage, recharging may be necessary and may take several hours.
The recondition cycle must be initiated manually and must complete without an interruption of power. In addition, the operator must not interrupt the cycle by initiating a fast charge or another recondition cycle. If the cycle is interrupted for any reason, the batteries must be recharged and the recondition process must be restarted.
Note During the reconditioning, write back cache mode will be disabled. This may slow
normal operations. Therefore, schedule this operation accordingly.
Right-click a controller.
Click C0 Battery or C1 Battery for the battery associated with the selected controller.
Click Recondition. The recondition cycle begins immediately and must not be interrupted.
For more information about the BBU, see the following:
Click C0 Battery or C1 Battery for the battery associated with the selected controller.
Click Fast Charge. The Fast Charge procedure begins immediately. A fast charge also occurs when the controller is powered on.
Note After initiating a fast charge, you may notice that the Fast Charge option on the
controller's context menu is still active while the Cancel Fast Charge option
remains inactive. Perform a rescan to enable the Cancel Fast Charge option and
disable the Fast Charge option.
Battery Type — The battery pack type. Currently, NiMH is the only battery pack type supported.
Hardware Revision — Version number for the controller. Version numbers are from 0 to 255. The version number used for the first release is 1 for the controller production release.
Maximum Power — The highest level that the battery can be charged, expressed as hours or minutes of charge. This value will change as the battery ages and is reconditioned. The older the battery gets, the less maximum charge it can contain.
Current Power — The current power level of the battery, expressed as hours or minutes of charge. This value will change as the battery is discharged or charged.
% Charge Level — The battery's charge level, where 100% means the battery has been charged up to its maximum level.
Low Threshold — This is a preset or modifiable power level used to trigger an event when the battery power level drops below the set value. When the battery falls below this threshold, the controller will switch over to Conservative Cache Mode. Refer to Change Low Threshold for information on setting this value.
Threshold Unit — The threshold level is expressed in hours or minutes.
This field provides a status icon and information about the current state of the battery. A blue check indicates good status, and a red X indicates a problem or poor status.
Reconditioning — This field monitors the reconditioning status and indicates whether the battery has or has not been reconditioned within 30 discharge/charge cycles.
Reconditioned — This field indicates whether or not the battery has been fully discharged before it was charged up. A new battery indicates Never Reconditioned until it has been fully discharged and then charged by the Recondition procedure.
Power — This field indicates the current power value.
OS Controller — This field displays the controller's identification number assigned by the operating system. This value is based on the number of peripheral devices recognized by the operating system, including controllers and HBAs.
Channel — This field displays the channel number on which this controller is located.
Target — This field displays the target ID for this controller.
The Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller subsystem consists of physical and logical arrays. The physical arrays include two Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controllers, enclosures, disks, fans, power supplies, and temperature probes. The logical arrays include the virtual disks on the controller(s). The logical arrays are created, monitored, and maintained by Array Manager.
Right-clicking a Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller subsystem object in the tree view brings up a context menu with subsystem commands. Similarly, right-clicking a physical or logical array object also brings up a context menu.
You can perform the following operations from the Subsystem context menu:
Scan for a newly created virtual disk — Use the Rescan Subsystem command.
View information on a selected subsystem — Use the Subsystem Properties command.
The physical array object context menu allows you to:
The Properties command for the Dell PowerVault 660F RAID controller subsystem provides the name, vendor, and status of the subsystem. Possible values for status are:
Ready — The subsystem is functioning normally.
Degraded — The subsystem has suffered a failure of a component and is operating in a degraded state.
Failed — The subsystem has suffered a failure of more than one component and is no longer functioning.
Note If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of the
status to indicate a situation that requires attention.
Dell PowerVault 224F enclosures have enclosure management capability. This section describes how enclosure management works and then details the specific enclosure management commands. The specific topics in the section are:
Array Manager allows you to view all the external Fibre Channel system probes within the same integrated Array Manager console. You are notified of any enclosure status changes while the console is open, and logged events appear in the Events tab as well as in the Windows NT/2000 Event Log.
The Fibre Channel subsystem of Array Manager provides direct support for the display of instrumentation of Fibre Channel enclosures. No other software is required to be installed.
The storage objects associated with enclosures and enclosure management are:
When you expand the PowerVault 660 subsystem storage object in the tree view, you will see one or more controllers attached to the subsystem along with one or more enclosures that are attached to each controller. As shown in the sample screen below, an enclosure has Disks, Fans, Power Supplies and Temperature Probes storage objects associated with it.
In the above screen, the enclosure is identified as "Enclosure 0:1." The zero refers to the number of the controller the enclosure is attached to. The "1" means that it is the first enclosure attached to that controller. If there were a second and a third enclosure attached to Controller 0, they would be called "Enclosure 0:2" and "Enclosure 0:3," respectively. If you right-click an Enclosure storage object, you will get a context menu with enclosure commands. For details, see the section Enclosure Commands in this chapter. Also, when an enclosure is selected in the left-pane tree view, the right-pane panel of the console window lists that enclosure along with its operating status and other properties.
In the tree view, the same Enclosure storage objects with their subordinate objects also appear under a section of the tree that is called "Dell Enclosures," which contains a list of all the enclosures attached to the selected computer you are viewing in the Array Manager console.
The subordinate Enclosure storage objects—Disks, Fans, Power Supplies, and Temperature Probes—are described in the sections that follow.
The enclosure's array disks are displayed under the Disks storage object. When the Disks storage object is highlighted in the left-pane tree view, the right-pane panel of the console window lists these disks along with their operating status and other properties. If you right-click the Disks storage object or any of its subordinate disks, the Array Disks context menu will come up. See Array Disk Commands for details on these commands.
The enclosure's fans are displayed under the Fans storage object. When the Fans storage object is highlighted in the left-pane tree view, the right-pane panel of the console window lists the enclosure's fans along with their operating status and other properties. If you right-click the Fans storage object, a context menu comes up with a Fan Properties command.
The power supplies that are installed in the enclosure are displayed under the Power Supplies storage object. When the Power Supplies storage object is highlighted in the left-pane tree view, the right-pane panel of the console window lists the enclosure's power supplies along with their operating status and other properties. If you right-click the Power Supplies storage object, a context menu comes up with a Power Supply Properties command.
The temperature probes that are installed in the enclosure are displayed under the Temperature Probes storage object. When the Temperature Probes storage object is highlighted in the left-pane view, all of the enclosure's temperature probes are displayed along with their operating status and other properties. The categories are Status, Current Value, Minimum Warning Limit, Maximum Warning Limit, Minimum Error Limit, Maximum Error Limit, and Unit of Measurement. The unit of measurement is degrees Celsius. If you right-click the Temperature Probes storage object, a context menu comes up with two commands, Temperature Properties and Set Thresholds for Temperature. The Set Thresholds for Temperature command displays the enclosure temperature and the thresholds for critical and warning temperature events. It allows you to set the temperature threshold for warning temperature levels.
Note Only the warning threshold of the LS Modules temperature probes can be set. The
warning thresholds of the power supply temperature probes are set to a fixed value.
LS modules are cards installed in slots at the front of the enclosure. Each LS module has an SES processor that monitors environmental functions. LS modules also have a Loop Redundancy Circuit (LRC) function, which maintains the viability of the Fibre Channel loop. LS modules are not displayed in the Array manager tree view.
Note In a SAN environment, all LS modules in an array should have the same firmware
version. When upgrading the firmware on an LS module, make sure to upgrade the
firmware on the other LS modules at the same time.
This section describes the commands associated with the Enclosure storage object and its subordinate storage objects. Right-clicking a Dell PowerVault 224F RAID enclosure in the tree view brings up a context menu with enclosure commands. Under each enclosure are objects in the tree view for fans, power supplies, and temperature. Right-clicking each of these subordinate objects brings up a context menu as well.
The Enclosure context menu commands are:
Alarm Enabled — Enables an audible alarm that sounds whenever the fault LED lights.
Set Thresholds for Temperature — Displays the enclosure temperature and the thresholds for critical and warning temperature levels. Allows the warning threshold to be set for the LS Modules temperature probes.
Use this function to enable the alarm when the enclosure exceeds a warning threshold for temperature; when a disk drive, power supply, fan, or controller fails; and during the controller boot-up process. Once the alarm is enabled, the audible alarm sounds whenever the fault LED lights. To invoke the command, right-click the enclosure and select Alarm Enabled from the context menu that appears.
The Asset Settings command brings up a dialog box that allows you to enter or change the asset tag and asset name for the enclosure that contains the controllers. To perform the command:
Right-click on an enclosure object.
Click Asset Settings.
The Asset Information dialog box appears with two entry boxes, Asset Tag and Asset
Name.
If the values shown need to be changed, enter a new value for the asset tag and a new asset name.
The asset tag for the selected enclosure will be added to the controller name in the
object tree -- for example, Controller 1 (Enclos53), where "Enclos53" is the asset tag
for the first enclosure attached to Controller 1. The first enclosure attached to a
controller is the enclosure in which the pair of redundant controllers are installed. The
asset tag is also used to identify the PowerVault 660F array in the Dell OpenManage
Storage Consolidation software.
Note The asset tag is limited to 10 characters, and the asset name is limited to 32
characters.
Click Set to make the changes. Click Cancel to exit the function without accepting the changes.
Note This command can only be performed on the LS Modules temperature probes.
This command displays the enclosure temperature and the thresholds for critical and warning temperature levels. The warning thresholds can be changed. All values are expressed in degrees Celsius. To perform the command:
Right-click on a LS module temperature probe object in the tree view.
Select Set Thresholds for Temperature from the context menu that appears.
A dialog box comes up that displays the following temperature-related information:
Current Temperature — This is the current reading for the selected temperature probe.
Critical Threshold — These values are set by the program and cannot be changed.
High or 55 degrees Celsius: This value is the high critical limit. If this value is exceeded, the system will shut down.
Low or 1 degree Celsius: This value is the low critical limit. If this value is exceeded, the system will shut down.
Warning Thresholds — You can set these thresholds. The warning threshold is a general setting that will apply to all temperature probes in the enclosure.
High: When this value is exceeded, a warning alarm sounds, if the alarm is turned on. The upper limit for the high warning threshold is 35 degrees Celsius.
Low: When this value is exceeded, a warning alarm sounds, if the alarm is turned on. The lower limit is 20 degrees Celsius.
Make any necessary changes to the Warning Threshold values.
Note Thresholds are set based on room temperature expectations. The temperatures
reported by the subsystem are actual values. The subsystem automatically adjusts
the entered thresholds to account for internal temperature limitations.
Click OK to make the changes. Click Cancel to discontinue the operation.
High: When this value is exceeded, a warning alarm sounds, if the alarm is turned on.
Low: When this value is exceeded, a warning alarm sounds, if the alarm is turned on.
Status — This field displays the current status of the temperature probe. Possible values are:
Ready — The temperature probe is functioning normally.
Degraded — The temperature probe has suffered a failure of a component and is operating in a degraded state.
Failed — A temperature probe is not present.
Note Note: If the status value is anything other than Ready, a red X appears to the left of
the status to indicate a situation that requires attention.
The battery backup unit (BBU) monitors and charges the cache backup battery for the PowerVault 660F. In order for the BBU to properly monitor and charge the cache backup battery, it first automatically performs a battery calibration and then Array Manager logs an event stating that a BBU recondition is suggested. The steps in both of these processes are identical except that the calibration process takes place automatically whereas you start the recondition process manually. Both the calibration and recondition processes consist of a battery discharge followed by a two-phase battery charge.
The BBU was designed to compare the low/high battery charges between the calibration and recondition cycles for accurate reporting. It performs the calibration cycle automatically. Dell OpenManage Array Manager logs an event stating that a BBU recondition is suggested. Upon completion of the recondition cycle, the BBU compares the capacity values for the battery. If the capacity values are within a nominal range, the recondition process is complete. However, if the capacity values exceed this nominal range, Array Manager will log another event message stating that a BBU recondition is suggested so that it can determine if the battery is operating properly.
The calibration cycle allows the BBU to determine the low and current capacity values for the battery and is required for proper operation of the write cache. The recondition cycle allows for more accurate capacity value reporting and is not required for normal write cache operation, but is recommended to verify battery capacity.
These are the events that require a battery calibration and subsequent recondition:
When the PowerVault 660F is powered on for the first time
Reinstalling or replacing the fan pack (which houses the battery)
Reinstalling or replacing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller
Note Removing and reinserting a fan pack while the power is turned off is equivalent to
installing a new battery.
If you power off or reset the PowerVault 660F during a calibration, the process restarts automatically.
If you power off or reset during a recondition, Array Manager displays an alert in the Events tab that lets you know the recondition has failed. Next, Array Manager logs an event stating that a BBU recondition is suggested. This message will appear before the trickle charge phase is finished.
Dell recommends that you perform both a calibration and recondition because the BBU uses these two sets of low/high battery charge values to accurately determine the battery's actual charge status. Until then, the BBU relies on the battery manufacturer's specifications, which may give inaccurate information about the actual battery installed in the storage subsystem.
Array Manager indicates the maximum capacity value based on battery manufacturer specifications. After both the calibration and reconditioning cycles are complete, Array Manager uses this information to show actual capacity.
Typically, the battery shipped with a new PowerVault 660F RAID controller will not be charged to 100 percent. In other words, the first battery discharge phase during calibration could easily take far less time than the maximum 19 hours. You can expect the fast charge time to take six hours and the trickle charge time to take 48 hours.
Dell recommends that you allow sufficient time when you first start the PowerVault 660F during a storage area network (SAN) site installation. Do not interrupt the first two phases of the PowerVault 660F BBU calibration cycle (the battery discharge and fast battery charge). These two phases combined require no interruption for seven to 25 hours. If you must interrupt the process, the calibration cycle will restart from the beginning, but you have not caused damage to the device. Interruptions increase the time needed to get the RAID controller battery running at an optimum 100 percent charge.
Note Pulling the controller or fan pack during the calibration cycle interrupts that cycle.
You will know when the fast charge process finishes because Array Manager will
display a message asking you to recondition the battery. However, you must wait
for the trickle charge phase to complete before you start the recondition. This phase
will take 48 hours.
For related information, see the following sections:
Recondition for the procedure describing how to manually initiate the recondition cycle
Keep in mind, the BBU Recondition is Suggested message is informational and is not an error message.
You can perform the recondition cycle during your next scheduled maintenance. After you do this, Array Manager will be able to give you a calculated maximum power value based on information from both the calibration and recondition cycles. However, it is not a requirement for you to perform the reconditioning immediately after the calibration.
Dell OpenManage Array Manager will notify you when it is time to perform another recondition. It does this after the battery level drops 30 times below an 85 percent charge. When you receive this message, you can plan another recondition at your next scheduled maintenance. Reconditioning is not required based on elapsed time. Rather, it is based on the number of times the battery discharges below 85% as described above.
For related information, see the following sections:
Recondition for the procedure describing how to manually initiate the recondition cycle
First part of fast charge is in conservative cache mode until battery charge rises above low threshold
Been Reconditioned message displays in the Status section of the Battery Properties window
Fast-charge is Active message displays in the Attributes section of the Battery Properties window
Recondition is Active message displays in the Attributes section of the Battery Properties window Battery Charge in the Battery Properties window displays actual value
Controller entered normal cache mode message displays in the Events window when the power rises above the Low Threshold setting described earlier
Recondition Finished message displays in the Events window at the beginning of trickle charge
Fast Charge Not Active message displays in the Attributes section of the Battery Properties window
Recondition Not Active message displays in the Attributes section of the Battery Properties window
Battery % Charge displays actual percentage charged
Phase ends 48 hours after the above indicators are displayed; measure the 48 hours using the timestamp of the Reconditioning is Finished event that Array Manager logs in the Event window
For related information, see the following sections:
Recondition for the procedure describing how to manually initiate the recondition cycle
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