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Dell OpenManage™ Server Administrator Storage Management User's Guide
Storage Management and Array Manager
Installation Considerations for Storage Management
Support for Disk and Volume Management
Dell OpenManage™ Server Administrator Storage Management provides enhanced features for configuring a system's locally-attached RAID and non-RAID disk storage. Storage Management enables you to perform controller and enclosure functions for all supported RAID and non-RAID controllers and enclosures from a single graphical or command-line interface without requiring use of the controller BIOS utilities. The graphical interface is wizard-driven with features for novice and advanced users and detailed online help. The command-line interface is fully-featured and scriptable. Using Storage Management, you can protect your data by configuring data-redundancy, assigning hot spares, or rebuilding failed drives. You can also perform data-destructive tasks. All users of Storage Management should be familiar with their storage environment and storage management.
Installing Storage Management replaces any previous installation of the Array Manager managed system (server software) that resides on the system. The Array Manager console (client software) is not replaced. Storage Management supports SCSI, SATA, ATA, and SAS but not fibre channel. This release of Storage Management does not provide Microsoft™ Windows™ volume and disk management or Novell™ NetWare™ support.
For more information, see the following:
Installing Storage Management replaces any previous installation of the Array Manager managed system (server software) and console (client software) that resides on the system. If only the Array Manager console is installed on the system, then installing the Storage Management does not replace the Array Manager console.
Storage Management is a replacement for Array Manager and provides the same storage management functions with the following exceptions:
The following table summarizes the differences in supported features between Array Manager and Storage Management.
Feature | Array Manager | Storage Management |
|---|---|---|
Linux 32-bit Support | No | Yes |
Linux 64-bit Support | No | Yes |
NetWare Support | Yes | No |
Windows 2000 | Yes | Yes |
Windows Server™ 2003 32-bit Support | Yes | Yes |
Windows Server 2003 64-bit Support | No | Yes |
Fiber Channel Support | Yes (Dell PowerVault 660F Storage System) | No |
Windows Disk and Volume Management | Yes (See the Array Manager documentation for details.) | No |
If you replace an existing Array Manager installation with Storage Management, the following migration considerations apply:
The following sections describe considerations for installing Storage Management.
To maintain the integrity of storage device configuration, installing Storage Management on a system that has FAST or the PERC Console installed is an unsupported configuration. It is recommended that you uninstall FAST and the PERC Console before installing Storage Management. In particular, you may find that Storage Management or the FAST features are disabled at run time when using Storage Management on a system that also has FAST installed.
Storage Management replaces all storage management features provided by FAST and the PERC Console. In addition, Storage Management has features not provided by FAST and the PERC Console.
Installing Storage Management on a Linux system that has RAID storage management utilities provided by Dell™ or other vendors is an unsupported configuration. It is recommended that you uninstall these utilities before installing Storage Management. Storage Management replaces the storage management features provided by these utilities. Examples of the Dell or vendor-supplied Linux utilities include:
On Linux, Storage Management installation is unable to detect whether the drivers and firmware on the system are at the required level for installing and using Storage Management. When installing on Linux, you will be able to complete the installation regardless of whether the driver and firmware version meets the required level. If the driver and firmware version do not meet the required level, however, you may not have access to all functions provided by Storage Management. At Storage Management runtime, check your application log files for notifications on outdated firmware versions. See Storage Management readme for a complete listing of supported controller firmware and driver versions.
In order for Storage Management to function properly, the controllers must have the minimum required version of the firmware and drivers installed. The firmware and drivers listed in the Readme file refer to the minimum supported version for these controllers. Later versions of the firmware and drivers are also supported. See the Dell Support website at support.dell.com for the most recent driver and firmware requirements.
If you install Storage Management without the minimum required firmware and drivers, Storage Management may not be able to display any of the controllers or perform other functions. Storage Management generates alerts "2131" and "2132" when it detects unsupported firmware or drivers on a controller.
This release of Storage Management supports the following controllers.
The firmware and drivers listed in the Readme file refer to the minimum supported version for these controllers. Later versions of the firmware and drivers are also supported. See the Dell Support website at support.dell.com for the most recent driver and firmware requirements.
Storage Management supports the following RAID controllers. See "RAID Controller Technology: SCSI, SATA, ATA, and SAS" for information on which technology the supported RAID controllers use.
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Note: Integrated mirroring on the PERC 4/IM controller enables you to mirror a disk drive that resides internally in the server. You can implement the integrated mirror using the PERC 4/IM BIOS. When implemented, Storage Management recognizes the integrated mirror as a virtual disk. You cannot, however, use Storage Management to create a virtual disk on the PERC 4/IM controller. Storage Management supports other functions provided by the PERC 4/IM controller. See "Integrated Mirroring and the PERC 4/IM Controller" for more information. |
Storage Management supports the following non-RAID controllers.
This release of Storage Management supports the following enclosures.
This release of Storage Management does not provide disk and volume management. To implement disk and volume management, you need to use the native disk and volume management utilities provided by your operating system.
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