Page 1
3ware ® Serial ATA RAID Controller Supports the 9550SX and 9590SE Models PN 720-0126-04 April 2006...
Page 2
AMCC, 215 Moffett Park Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94089. Trademarks 3ware®, Escalade®, and 3DM® are all registered trademarks of AMCC. The 3ware logo, 3BM, StorSwitch, TwinStor, and R5 Fusion are all trademarks of AMCC. All other trademarks herein are property of their respective owners. Disclaimer...
BIOS level (3ware BIOS Manager 2, or 3BM 2) and one that runs in a browser (3ware Disk Manager 2, or 3DM 2). You can also perform many tasks at the command line, using 3ware’s Command Line Interface (CLI).
Page 8
RAID concepts and levels. Provides a summary of the steps required to install and set up your 3ware RAID controller. Provides step-by-step instructions for configuring RAID units if you have just installed the controller.
• Unit refers to one or more disks configured through 3ware to be treated by the operating system as a single drive. Also known as an array. Array and unit are used interchangeably throughout this manual.
Page 10
3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Introducing the 3ware® 9000 Series Controller 3ware 9550SX and 9590SE controllers are part of the AMCC 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA family of controllers. This chapter introduces the features and concepts of the 9000 series as a whole, and the 9550SX and 9590SE models in particular. It includes the following sections: •...
What’s New with 9550SX and 9590SE Models The 9550SX and 9590SE models in 3ware’s 9000 series of RAID controllers have the following features and benefits: • 200% faster than the industry-leading 3ware 9500S RAID controller •...
FreeBSD, 32-bit and 64-bit x86 • Other Requirements • Adequate air flow and cooling • Adequate power supply for drives 3DM 2 (3ware Disk Manager) displays information in a browser. It requires the following: • One of these browsers: www.3ware.com System Requirements...
Page 14
Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® 9000 Series Controller • Internet Explorer 5.5 and later • Mozilla 1.2 and later • Firefox 1.02 and later • Netscape 7 and later • JavaScript must be enabled • Cookies must be enabled •...
The stripe size is configurable in the 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) and in the 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2). Requires a minimum of two drives.
Page 17
Fault tolerance is a basic requirement for mission critical systems like web and database servers. 3ware uses a patented technology, TwinStor®, on RAID 1 arrays for improved performance during sequential read operations. With TwinStor technology, read performance is twice the speed of a single drive during sequential read operation.
Page 18
Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® 9000 Series Controller RAID 10 This array is a combination of RAID 1 with RAID 0. Striped and mirrored arrays for fault tolerance and high performance. Requires a minimum of four drives to use both RAID 0 and RAID 1 techniques.
Single Disk A single drive that has been configured as a unit through 3ware software. (3BM, 3DM 2, or CLI). Like disks in other RAID configurations, single disks contain 3ware Disk Control Block (DCB) information and are seen by the OS as available units.
Page 20
Chapter 1. Introducing the 3ware® 9000 Series Controller Table 3: Possible Configurations Based on # of Drives # Drives Possible RAID Configurations Single drive or hot spare RAID 0 or RAID 1 RAID 0 RAID 1 with hot spare RAID 5...
2TB; no additional capacity will be registered. To change this, the unit has to be recreated. For more information, see “Using Auto-Carving for Multi LUN Support” on page 121. www.3ware.com Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels...
3DM can be used locally (on the system that contains the 9000) or remotely (on a system connected via a network to the system containing the 9000). For details about working with 3DM, see “3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2)” on page 65.
RAID units online. You also use it to remotely administer controllers in a system by first logging into the system. The 3ware CLI is described in 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controller CLI Guide. Monitoring, Maintenance, and...
Page 24
Write Cache 3DM 2 and CLI. When write cache is enabled, data will be stored in system cache, 3ware controller cache, and drive cache before the data is committed to disk. This allows the system to process multiple write commands at the same time, thus improving performance. However when data is stored in cache, it could be lost if a power failure occurred.
If you will install the operating system on and boot from a drive managed through the new 3ware RAID controller, use the 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) to define the configuration. You will find step-by-step instructions in Chapter 3, “First-Time RAID Configuration Using 3BM.” Information about using 3BM is also included in the later chapters of this user guide, but Chapter 3 offers a sequential set of steps for initial installation.
Page 26
Driver and Firmware” on page 200. Set Up Management and Maintenance Features 3ware RAID controllers come with software that include a number of features to help you manage and maintain the controller and your configured units. The default settings for these features allow you to begin using your newly configured units right away.
If you will install the operating system on and boot from a unit managed through the new 3ware RAID controller, follow the steps in this chapter to use the 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) to configure the unit and install the driver.
Page 30
Port1 Port2 Figure 5. 3ware BIOS Screen Press Alt-3 immediately to bring up the 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM). Normally your 3ware configuration remains on-screen for just a few seconds. However, if a unit has degraded, the screen indicates the problem and remains on your screen longer.
Page 31
Figure 8. Asterisks Next to Selected Drives After all drives for the unit are selected, use the Tab to move to the Create Unit button and press Enter. The Create Disk Array screen appears (see Figure 9). www.3ware.com Basic Steps for Creating a Unit...
Page 32
In general, use smaller stripe sizes for sequential access (such as video access) and larger stripe sizes for random access (such as a database). Striping size is not applicable for RAID 1, because it is a 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Page 33
This is useful if you will be installing your operating system onto the unit and want to have a designated volume for the OS. The remainder of the unit will be created as a separate volume. www.3ware.com Basic Steps for Creating a Unit...
Page 34
For more information about auto-carving, see “Using Auto- Carving for Multi LUN Support” on page 121. Setting a Boot Volume Size is optional. In addition, if you 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Page 35
When you are finished configuring units, press F8 to save the changes and exit 3BM. A warning message asks you to confirm that all existing data on the drives will be deleted. Figure 13. Confirmation Message when Saving and Exiting www.3ware.com Basic Steps for Creating a Unit...
Page 36
Consequently, it will be a longer period of time until the performance of the unit is fully optimal. Data remains intact when initialization is done in the operating system. For complete information about initialization of RAID units, see “About Initialization” on page 177. 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
If you have JBODs attached to an 8000 controller that you want to use with the 9000 controller, see “Moving Units from an 8000 Controller to a 9000 Controller” on page 164. www.3ware.com In order to replace a failed drive in a degraded unit, a hot Specifying a Hot Spare...
Unit 0 will be treated as the boot disk.) What Next? The final steps in setting up your RAID units are to load the 3ware driver and make the units available to your operating system. For details, turn to Chapter 4, “Driver Installation.”...
Driver Installation The final steps in setting up your RAID units are to load the 3ware driver and make the units available to your operating system. • If the unit you have created will be your system's boot device, you install the driver for the controller as you install the operating system.
2003 64-bit for AMD Opteron or Intel EM64T is also supported. It is recommended that you upgrade to the latest service pack available. A drive or unit managed by the 3ware RAID controller may be configured to be your system’s boot device. Or, you can use units managed by the 3ware controller for secondary storage and boot from another device, such as a disk attached to the motherboard, or other bootable media.
Creating a 3ware Driver Diskette If you are installing Windows on a new unit or drive managed by the 3ware RAID controller, you must create a 3ware driver diskette. To create a driver diskette Insert the 3ware software CD into your system.
Installing the Driver on a System that Boots from a Different Device If you are installing the 3ware RAID controller on a system that already has the operating system installed on another drive, follow the instructions in this section, depending on the version of Windows installed on your system: •...
Page 43
When the Install Hardware Device Drivers screen appears (Figure 17), click Next and follow the prompts on the screen to install the second driver. Figure 17. Install Hardware Device Drivers www.3ware.com Driver Installation Under Windows...
Page 44
Plug and Play device, and brings up the Found New Hardware Wizard. This wizard guides you in installing the 3ware driver (see Figure 19). Note that you will see screens for the installation of two drivers during this process.
Page 45
When the Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard screen appears again (Figure 21), click Next and follow the prompts on the screen to install the second driver. Figure 21. Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard www.3ware.com Driver Installation Under Windows...
Page 46
Finish. Figure 22. Completing Found New Hardware Wizard After the driver has been installed, continue with the instructions below under “Making Units Managed by a 3ware Controller Available to Windows” on page 37. 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Making Units Managed by a 3ware Controller Available to Windows After the 3ware driver has been installed, you need to partition and format the new units or disks. Remove the driver diskette or CD, reboot the system, and log in as the system administrator.
You can download that guide from: support/userdocs.asp A drive or unit managed by the 3ware RAID controller may be configured to be your system's boot device. Or, you can use units managed by the 3ware controller for secondary storage and boot from another device, such as a disk attached to the motherboard, or other bootable media.
You can also contact 3ware Technical Support, or email your driver request to support1@amcc.com. For information about how to compile a driver from the 3ware driver source, see the links appended to knowledgebase article 14546 www.3ware.com/kb/article.aspx?id=14546). Obtaining 3ware Linux Drivers Obtain the 3ware driver for Linux from one of these two sources: •...
Creating a Red Hat Linux Driver Diskette If you are installing Linux on the new drive or unit managed by the 3ware RAID controller, you must create a 3ware driver install diskette. If Linux is already installed on another device, you may install the 3ware kernel driver module from the 3ware software CD-ROM.
Page 51
Insert the 3ware software CD into your system. When the 3ware Escalade Menu appears, click the Driver & Firmware Disks button. In the 3ware Driver & Firmware Disk Images menu, click the button for the driver disk you want to create. A confirmation window opens.
Page 52
A number of files will load and then a message will prompt you to insert your driver install disk. Install the 3ware kernel driver module, using the driver install diskette: Insert the driver install diskette containing the 3ware driver for Red Hat and press Enter. The system automatically reports: When prompted, select the proper language and keyboard types for your locality.
Page 53
For Hugemem kernels: • For IA32E kernels: To install the 3ware driver and update the RAM disk Log in as root and open a console window. Mount the CD which contains the 3ware kernel driver module. To mount the CD, type:...
Page 54
The output should be similar to: Added linux * Reboot. The 3ware kernel driver module will be loaded from the ram disk automatically at boot time. To install the 3ware kernel driver module and load the module manually instead of using a RAM disk Log in as root and open a console window.
Creating a SuSE Linux Driver Diskette If you are installing Linux on the new drive or unit managed by the 3ware RAID controller, you must create a 3ware driver install diskette. If Linux is already installed on another device, you may install the 3ware kernel driver module from the 3ware software CD-ROM.
Page 56
Insert the 3ware software CD into your system. When the 3ware Escalade Menu appears, click Driver and Firmware Disks. In the 3ware Driver and Firmware Disk Images menu, click the button for the driver disk you want to create. A confirmation window opens.
Page 57
Installing the 3ware Kernel Driver Module on a SuSE Linux System that Boots from a Different Device Log in as root. Edit /etc/sysconfig/kernel following line: INITRD_MODULES="reiserfs 3w-9xxx" Note: depending on the installation. You may see entries like reiserfs there is a space between each module name), since the system needs them to boot properly.
If you are using a Linux distribution for which there is not a compiled driver available from 3ware, you can copy the source from the 3ware software CD or download the source from the 3ware website and compile a new driver. For more information, see 3ware knowledgebase article 14546 http://www.3ware.com/KB/article.aspx?id=14546.
The 3ware software CD-ROM that came with the 3ware RAID controller includes compiled and tested kernel driver modules for FreeBSD 5.4 only. To see if a more recent driver is available, please see the 3ware web site at www.3ware.com/support/index.asp. Materials Required •...
Chapter 4. Driver Installation Installing the Driver under FreeBSD The steps you follow to install the driver and make your 3ware 9550SX/ 9590SE RAID unit available depend on whether it will be your boot device or will be used for secondary storage. These instructions provide step-by-step instructions for the following situations: •...
Page 61
64-bit (x86_64) Versions are attached. Boot the system from the FreeBSD installation CD. Immediately after the system starts booting the kernel, insert the floppy containing the appropriate 3ware 9550SX kernel driver module into the floppy drive. Run sysinstall. In the sysinstall menu, choose Load twa_9ksx.ko...
Page 62
/usr/src/sys/amd64/conf file (use vi or any other editor). GENERIC Device twa # 3ware 9000 series (GENERIC, SMP, PAE), using the flags required for your 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide sys/modules/twa (use vi or any other is not commented...
Page 63
System that Boots from a Device on the Motherboard Use the steps in this section if FreeBSD is installed on a boot drive attached to the motherboard ATA controller, and you will be using the unit on your 3ware RAID controller for secondary storage.
Page 64
Upgrading the Driver for 9500S Controllers The FreeBSD 5.4 kernel has native support for 3ware 9500S RAID controllers; the driver is built in. If you want to upgrade to the latest driver, you can do so and rebuild the kernel.
3ware BIOS Manager 2 (3BM 2) This section describes the basics of using 3ware BIOS Manager 2 (3BM 2), one of the tools you can use to configure and maintain the units connected to your 3ware 9550SX or 9590SE RAID controller.
Page 66
Chapter 5. 3ware BIOS Manager 2 (3BM 2) Normally your 3ware configuration remains on-screen for just a few seconds. However, if a unit has degraded, the screen indicates the problem and remains on your screen longer. If you have more than one 9000-series controller in your system, a screen lists the available boards.
Although similar to 3BM, some screens and features are different for the 7000/8000-series. For detailed information, see the version of the 3ware Escalade ATA RAID Controller User Guide that supports the 7000 and 8000 series controllers. If you have two 9000 controllers that have different versions of the BIOS installed, they will also appear in different BIOS summaries, and will launch different versions of 3BM.
Incomplete Drives and Others lists drives that are remaining from a unit with missing or failed drives, drives that are not usable, and drives that were part of a unit on a 3ware 7000/8000-series controller, and contain 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Page 69
3ware 9000 series controller can use them. (If you want to move a unit from a 7/8000 controller to the 9000 controller, you must convert the drives first. For more information, see the section “Moving a Unit from One Controller to Another”...
Page 70
Chapter 5. 3ware BIOS Manager 2 (3BM 2) Table 6: Working in 3BM 2 To do this Highlight one of the primary buttons on the main screen: • Create Unit • Delete Unit • Maintain Unit • Settings • Information...
PCI controllers and do not need to boot from the units. Note: BIOS for all controllers for one time only by pressing Alt-B. This is useful to temporarily boot from a non-3ware device without having to change the system’s boot order. www.3ware.com Adjusting BIOS Loading Settings Specifies what level of detail to display on the start-up .
Page 72
Chapter 5. 3ware BIOS Manager 2 (3BM 2) To change BIOS settings On the main 3BM screen, Tab to Settings and press Enter. On the pop-up menu, select BIOS and press Enter. The BIOS Options Settings screen appears. Figure 28. BIOS Option Settings Screen Tab through the options and make the desired changes.
You can get help with using 3BM while you are in the BIOS manager. • Press F1 or Alt-F1 at any time. A description of the basic 3BM tasks appears. When you’re finished using help, press Esc to close the help window. www.3ware.com Displaying Controller Information Enter...
Page 74
Chapter 5. 3ware BIOS Manager 2 (3BM 2) 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Note: for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.openssl.org/). 3ware Disk Manager 2 (3DM 2) allows you to manage and view the status of 3ware RAID controllers and associated drives. 3DM runs as a service under Microsoft Windows, and as a daemon under Linux. When it is running, you can use your browser to view status and perform administrative tasks locally or remotely.
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) Browser Requirements for 3DM 3DM runs in most current web browsers. Tested and supported browsers include: • Mozilla Firefox • Internet Explorer 5.5 and above • Netscape 7 and above Additional requirements: •...
Installing 3DM 3DM 2 can be installed from the main 3ware CD that came with your 3ware RAID controller. You can also download the current version from the website at http://www.3ware.com/support/download.asp. 3DM must be installed on the system in which the controller is installed. 3DM does not have to be installed on remote systems in order to remotely manage a 3ware controller.
Page 78
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) • To allow remote administration, uncheck the second checkbox. When the second checkbox is checked, only localhost connections are allowed. Internet and Intranet connections are not allowed. (You can change this setting later in 3DM.) Figure 30.
Page 79
To do so, click View Certificate and then click Install Certificate. Figure 32. Security Alert dialog box When the first 3DM screen appears in your browser, log in as Administrator and use the default password, www.3ware.com Installing 3DM 3ware...
3, substituting your installation directory. If you are installing for FreeBSD, replace To start the installation Insert the 3ware software installation CD-ROM for Linux into the CD- ROM drive. Mount the CD-ROM disk: mount /dev/cdrom /mnt...
Page 81
(default is yes) If you want to be able to use 3DM for remote administration, change this to No. Change the directory and then eject the CD-ROM disk when finished: cd /home eject cdrom www.3ware.com Installing 3DM...
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) Uninstalling 3DM under Linux or FreeBSD To uninstall 3DM for Linux or FreeBSD Insert the 3ware software installation CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive. Mount the CD-ROM disk: mount /dev/cdrom /mnt Change the directory and run the uninstall script: (For FreeBSD, replace “linux”...
3DM runs as a service under Windows, and as a daemon under Linux. It is a good idea to leave 3DM running on the system that contains your 3ware RAID controller. That way email alerts can be sent by 3DM, and administrators can manage the controller remotely, if remote administration is enabled.
Browser When remote administration is enabled, you can use 3DM to check status and administer your 3ware RAID controller from a browser on any computer, over an internet connection. You do not need to install the 3DM software on the remote computer.
If you are logging in for the first time after installing 3DM, the default password for both User and Administrator is Note: 3DM resets the passwords to www.3ware.com Starting 3DM and Logging In Login 3ware If you forget the passwords, uninstalling and reinstalling...
The main area of the page provides summary or detail information about your 3ware RAID controller and the resources connected to it. As you work in 3DM, the Messages area just below the menu bar displays information about the results of commands you have selected.
3DM will use for listening. lets you access information about using 3DM, and provides access to an Help electronic copy of this User Guide. www.3ware.com Working with the 3DM Screens Information menu gives you access to tasks used for managing gives you access to the Alarms page and the BBU page.
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) Viewing Information About Different Controllers in 3DM If you have more than one controller in the system, you select the one you want to see details about from the drop-down list at the right of the menu bar.
Page 89
Controller Settings Page Scheduling Page Maintenance Page Alarms Page www.3ware.com Working with the 3DM Screens Description Shows a list of the units on the current controller and provides summary information about each unit. To see this page, choose Information > Unit Information from the menu bar or click an ID number on the Controller Summary.
User access level allows the user to view pages within 3DM. These passwords work independently of each other. The default password for both the User and Administrator is “3ware”. Passwords are case sensitive. You can only change passwords if you are logged in as Administrator. If you change the Administrator password, you will be automatically logged out, and must log back in with the new password.
Event notification can only occur while 3DM is running, so it is recommended that 3DM be left running on the system that contains the 3ware RAID controller.
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) To set up event notification Click 3DM 2 Settings In the E-mail Notification change the settings you want. • Enable or Disable all notifications. • Set the severity level of events for which e-mail notifications are sent.
Setting the Frequency of Page Refreshes Since the status of the drives attached to your 3ware RAID controller can change while you are viewing information about them in 3DM, it is important to refresh the page information regularly. That way you can be assured that the information you see in 3DM is current.
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) 3DM 2 Reference This section includes details about the fields and features available on the pages you work with throughout 3DM 2. It is organized by page, as the pages are organized on the 3DM menu bar.
Page 95
The Summary page appears after you first logon to 3DM, and when you click the Summary link in the menu bar. The Summary page provides basic information about each 3ware RAID controller in your system. To see details about the units in a controller, click the link in the ID column.
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) Controller Details Page Figure 36. Controller Details Page The Controller Details page appears when you choose Controller Details The Controller Details page provides detailed information about the controller specified in the drop-down list on the menu bar.
To see details about a particular unit, click the link in the Unit # column. www.3ware.com Click on this link to download the firmware error log Information > Unit...
Page 98
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) The unit number assigned to the unit by the firmware. For 9000-series Unit #. controllers, unit numbers are in sequential order. Name. For 9000series controllers, if a name has been given to this unit, it shows here.
The total capacity of the unit (capacities of subunits are not shown). Capacity. The type of unit or subunit. RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, RAID Type. 50, Single Disk, Spare, JBOD, or Disk www.3ware.com 3DM 2 Reference Unit Information in the...
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) Displays the number of volumes in a unit. This is usually 1. If you Volumes. created a boot volume on this unit, or if you have a unit on which you have enabled the auto-carving policy, you will see the number of volumes into which the unit has been divided.
Page 101
Check this box to cause the LED for this drive to blink, if it is in a chassis that has a Chassis Control Unit (CCU) and is connected to the I connector on the 9550SX or 9590SE controller. www.3ware.com In most cases, the status of the drive will not correspond to 3DM 2 Reference...
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) Drive Details Window Figure 40. S.M.A.R.T. Data Page The Drive Details window appears when you click a Port # on the Drive Information page. This Drive Details window shows some Extra Drive Information, including NCQ and SATA Link Speed support, and the SMART data for the drive.
There are four main sections on this page: • Background Task Rate • Unit Policies • Unit Names • Other Controller Settings www.3ware.com from the menu bar. 3DM 2 Reference Management >...
Write cache is a combination of the physical hard drives’ write cache as well as the controller’s memory, depending on what type of unit you are using. For 9500S controllers, a be set in 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM). You can see if this setting is enabled in Other Controller Settings page. If...
Page 105
StorSave Profile used for a unit. Three profiles are available: Protection, Balanced, and Performance. These profiles automatically adjust several different factors that affect protection and www.3ware.com Management This policy applies only to units is not selected, then you have the...
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) performance, including whether FUA (Forced Unit Access) is honored, whether Write Journaling is enabled, and whether Disable Cache on Degrade is enabled. For additional information, see “Setting the StorSave Profile for a Unit” on page 149.
Page 107
After the unit is rebuilt, the write cache will be re-enabled automatically. (This option does not apply to 9550SX and 9590SE controllers; the feature is integrated into the StorSave policy.) For additional information, see “Viewing and Seting Controller Policies” on page 117. www.3ware.com...
3DM Version 1.x. You can also use the CLI in conjunction with the operating system schedulers. For detailed information, see the 3ware KnowledgeBase article 12290, on the website at http://www.3ware.com/kb/.
Page 109
In severe cases, the UDMA mode may be downgraded from ATA 150 to ATA 133, to ATA 100, to 66, to 33. www.3ware.com Scheduling of these tasks is only available on the 9000- Only the checked tasks will be run during the scheduled...
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) This check is also done every time the system is booted. Check SMART Thresholds. thresholds have been exceeded. The SMART thresholds indicate when a drive is likely to fail, based on the number of errors that have been recorded through SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology).
Page 111
In 9000-series controllers, rescan checks all ports. It checks empty ports for newly plugged in drives. If those drives were previously part of a 3ware RAID configuration and they still have valid DCB (Disk Configuration Block) information on them, the controller tries to piece them back together into a working unit.
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) Note: Clicking Rescan Controller after removing units other than a JBOD unit (e.g. RAID 5) will cause the drives that make up the unit to be seen as individual available drives; they will not be pieced together to form a unit.
Page 113
Scheduling. Initialization follows the Rebuild schedule, so turning on scheduling for Rebuild will pause initialization, as well.) For more information about initialization, see “About Initialization” on page 177. www.3ware.com link removes a drive from the controller Remove Drive link will display.
Page 114
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) Replaces a degraded drive in a degraded unit with an available Rebuild Unit. drive and begins rebuilding the RAID. When you select a degraded unit and click Rebuild Unit can select the drive you want to use. If the degraded unit has more than one degraded drive (for example, a RAID 10 where both mirrored pairs each have a degraded drive), you will repeat this process a second time.
Page 115
Delete Unit. Deletes the selected unit and allows you to use the drives to create another unit. The drives appear in the list of Available Drives. www.3ware.com Before you click , make sure the unit you Remove Unit...
Page 116
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) Caution: removing is unmounted and no I/Os are being issued. If a unit is not unmounted and you delete it, it is the equivalent of physically yanking a hard drive out from under the operating system.
Page 117
A larger stripe size will give better performance with applications that have a lot of random reads and writes. In general, the smaller the stripe size, the better the sequential I/O www.3ware.com...
Page 118
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) and the worse the random I/O. The larger the stripe size, the worse the sequential I/O and the better the random I/O. Write Cache Auto-Verify These check boxes let you set the policies for the unit. These policies can also be set and changed on the Controller Settings page.
For more information about any of the alarms that appear on the Alarms page, see “AEN Messages” on page 224. Clear Alarms. Shows the severity of the event. Three levels are provided: Sev. www.3ware.com Monitor > Alarms Clear Alarms button removes all alarms shown in the list. 3DM 2 Reference...
BBU Ready. controller or not. If the BBU is “Ready”, write cache can be enabled on the 3ware RAID controller. When the status is not “Ready,” write caching is automatically disabled on all units attached to the controller. Monitor > Battery Indicates whether the BBU is present.
Page 121
Estimated Backup Capacity. hours. This is the amount of time that the battery backup unit can protect the data in the 3ware RAID controller's cache memory. This field is set to zero at www.3ware.com . The BBU was not detected or is disabled. (The BBU can be .
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) the start of a new test and is updated after the test completes. A capacity of zero will also show if the BBU is disconnected and then reconnected. Under optimal conditions, a battery can protect for up to 72 hours. However, with a fresh battery, you may see a higher number in this field.
Use the fields in this section to set the passwords for the User and Administrator. When 3DM is first installed, the default password for both is 3ware Change Password For. Select the access level for which you are setting the password: .
Chapter 6. 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2) Page Refresh Minutes Between Refresh. refreshed with new data from the controller. To change this setting, select another option from the drop-down. If you prefer 3DM to only refresh when you click Refresh Page The Login, Help and Drive SMART data pages do not automatically refresh.
To see details about a particular controller in 3DM Start 3DM and log in. The 3DM Controller Summary page appears, listing all the 3ware controllers installed in your system. The right-most column of the list shows the status of each controller.
Page 126
Throughout this documentation, the term current controller 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) If you accidentally bypass display of the controller you Ctrl-Alt-Del and press Enter Controller and press 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide Select to restart your computer Enter...
(This option does not apply to 9550SX and 9590SE controllers; the feature is integrated into the StorSave policy.) www.3ware.com Viewing and Seting Controller Policies Determines whether the Auto-Rebuild policy is enabled or...
3BM or through the CLI. For a summary of the initial default settings, see Table 5, “Initial Default Settings for Policies,” on page 17. Indicates whether the type of staggered spin-up is section at the bottom of the Controller Settings Page, as 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide Other...
Page 129
You can also view and change these controller polices in 3BM, as shown in Figure 50. On the main 3BM screen, On the pop-up menu, select The Policy Control screen displays. Figure 50. 3BM Policy Control Screen www.3ware.com Viewing and Seting Controller Policies from the menu bar. Settings and press Enter...
You can enable or disable the Auto-Rebuild policy through 3DM, 3BM, or the CLI. For how to change this setting through CLI, see 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controller CLI Guide. To enable Auto-Rebuild through 3BM...
2 TB; you can change this to a setting in the range of 1 TB to 2 TB (1024 MB to 2048 MB). 3ware firmware supports a maximum of 8 volumes per controller, up to a total of 16 TB.
Page 132
Figure 51. Auto-Carve policy in 3BM In CLI, use the command tw_cli /cx set autocarve=on. For more information, see the 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controller CLI Guide. Create a new unit or migrate an existing unit to include the drives you want to use.
On the pop-up menu, select On the Policy Settings page, to display the text entry box, enter the size you want (between 1024 GB and 2048 GB) and press www.3ware.com Viewing and Seting Controller Policies from the menu bar in 3DM. Submit...
Using the 3ware CLI, use the command the size for volumes The size can be between 1024 Gb and 2048 Gb For more information, see the 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controller CLI Guide. Enabling and Setting Up Staggered Spin-up Three policy settings let you set the number of drives that will spin up at the same time and set the delay between drive groups that spin up at one time.
Exporting JBOD Disks By default, JBOD disks (unconfigured disks) connected to the 3ware RAID controller are not exported to the operating system. This means that any drives you leave unconfigured are not seen by the operating system, and cannot be used for storage.
RAID layer (using some redundancy) on top of the 3ware RAID configuration. In case of a second drive failure, the software RAID layer can still provide redundancy since no data was lost.
Configuring Units A unit is any configured disk or array of disks connected to your 3ware RAID controller. This section includes instructions for performing the following configuration tasks: • Configuring a New Unit • Creating a Hot Spare • Naming a Unit •...
For details, see “Changing An Existing Configuration” on page 151. Note: unit managed through the new 3ware RAID controller, Chapter 3, “First-Time RAID Configuration Using 3BM,” provides step-by- step instructions.
Page 139
Drive Queuing (disabled, by default). Available only for 9550SX and 9590SE controllers. • Auto-Verify (disabled, by default) • Continue on Source Error When Rebuild (disabled, by default). www.3ware.com Creating a unit erases all data on all drives. Although Configuring a New Unit...
You can also have 3DM rescan the controller, if you have added drives or units. For information about working in 3DM, see “3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2)” on page 65. page (Figure 52), where...
Page 141
(For details about this screen, see “Maintenance Page” on page 100.) Click Create Unit A window like the one shown here shows the drives you selected, and lets you specify configuration settings. www.3ware.com Management > Maintenance. Configuring a New Unit...
Page 142
Write Cache, Auto-Verify, and Continue on Source Error During Rebuild. You can also set the StorSave policy. For details about these settings, see “Configuration Options When Creating a Unit” on page 128 and “Setting Unit Policies” on page 142. Click 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Units” on page 137. Creating a Unit through 3BM In 3BM, configuration tasks start from the main 3ware BIOS Manager screen shown in Figure 55. From this screen you can configure new units, delete existing ones, or perform maintenance tasks.
Page 144
Create Unit. Alt-C screen, make sure that the proper drives are Enter and type a name for the unit; then press 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide to select them all. Create Unit button and Enter...
Page 145
Policies page. For more information, see “Using Auto-Carving for Multi LUN Support” on page 121. You are returned to the main 3BM screen. www.3ware.com field and press Enter to select the configuration you want and press...
Page 146
The unit is not actually created and no data is PgUp PgDn keys to bring more information into For RAID 5 units with 5 or more disks, and RAID 50 units 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide to save...
Follow the steps that appear on-screen to write a signature to the drive. Right-click on the drive and select Follow the steps that appear on-screen to create a volume and to assign a drive letter. www.3ware.com key to move the unit up the list; press the menu: Start...
Page 148
If the partition is over 2TB, use parted /dev/sda (parted) mkfs Partition number? 1 File system? [ext2]? writing per-group metadata (begins)...0% to 100% is displayed) (parted) quit (when completed) to also make the file sytem: parted 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
For example, one drive might be 122 GB, and the other 123 GB, even though both are sold and marketed as “120 GB drives.” 3ware drive coercion uses the same capacity for both of these drives so that one could replace the other.
3BM will notify you. section of the Maintenance Page, select the drive Available Drives If the drive you designated as a spare is not large enough 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide Spare Unit , highlight the to save the changes...
You return to the main 3BM screen. When you are finished making changes, press 3BM. www.3ware.com from the menu bar in 3DM. section of the Controller Settings Page, locate the unit button. If you want to cancel your change before saving it, click Reset Names button.
3DM and 3BM. Details about Determines whether write cache is enabled for the Determines whether auto-verify is enabled for the unit Determines whether ECC Determines what StorSave profile is used for the unit 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
If the StorSave Profile is “protect” and a unit has degraded, write cache cannot be enabled. Do not use Windows Control Panel to enable or disable cache on 3ware RAID units. www.3ware.com Disable write cache on unit degrade Other Controller Settings section of the .
Page 154
3DM. section of the Controller Settings Page, check the button and press Enter Configure and press Enter to the field Write Cache arrow keys again to choose it. Enter 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide to select the setting...
Auto Verify box for the unit for which you want to set it. (To disable this policy, uncheck the box.) The page refreshes, and a message at the top confirms the change you have made (Figure 63). www.3ware.com button and press to select it. Enter from the menu bar in 3DM.
Figure 63. Setting Unit Policies in 3DM Continue on Source Error During Rebuild Continue on Source Error During Rebuild section of the Controller Settings Page, check the 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide is not selected, from the menu bar in 3DM.
In order to make use of NCQ, the feature must be enabled at both the drive and the controller. You can enable support for NCQ in 3ware 9550SX and 9590SE controllers on a per-unit basis, as described below.
Page 158
Configure screen, to the field arrow keys Enter button and press to select it. Enter 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide Enter Drive Queuing to select the setting again to choose it. to save them and exit...
“command complete” to the controller once the data is written to media. When performance is considered more important than protection, it may be desirable to ignore FUA commands. www.3ware.com If the write cache setting is disabled for a unit, the StorSave Balanced...
. Write journaling tracks the writing of data to disk and . In the event that a unit degrades, the from the menu bar in 3DM. section of the Controller Settings Page, select the 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide Controller...
When you are finished making changes, press 3BM. Changing An Existing Configuration With 3ware 9000 series RAID controllers you can convert one RAID configuration into another while the unit is online. This process is known as RAID Level Migration (RLM).
Chapter 8. Configuring Units These changes can be made using 3DM2 or the CLI. Instructions for using migrate in 3DM2 are described below. For information about CLI, see 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controller CLI Guide. This section includes the following topics about changing existing configurations: •...
Making physical changes to the unit during migration may cause the migration process to stop, and can jeopardize the safety of your data. www.3ware.com Changing An Existing Configuration Destination Never split a mirror into 2 single (identical) drives that...
In the Unit Maintenance table on the Maintenace Page, select the unit you wish to expand by checking the box next to the Unit ID. Management > Maintenance button. You can only migrate a unit to a RAID level that has the Management > Maintenance. 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Then turn to Step 4 under “Informing the Operating System of Changed Configuration” on page 155. Inform the operating system of the change, as described below. Note: information, see the 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controller CLI Guide. Informing the Operating System of Changed Configuration After you change the configuration of a unit, you must inform the operating system of the change, and you may need to re-partition the unit.
Page 166
In Linux and FreeBSD, the tools to expand the partition and file system can vary, depending on the kernel version and file system that you are using. Please consult your Linux/FreeBSD documentation and the 3ware Knowledgebase for more information. Start > Administrative Tools > Computer , and select Disk Management.
“Unsupported DCB,” indicating that they were previously part of a unit on a 3ware 7000/8000 series controller, they must be deleted before you use them. (If you want to move a unit from a 7/8000 controller to the 9000 controller, you must convert the drives first.
Page 168
Figure 65. Deleting a Unit Through 3DM If a unit is not unmounted and you delete it, Start > Administrative Tools > Computer , and select Remove the logical drive Disk Management. Management > Maintenance (Figure 65). Delete Unit 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Note: unit, or a drive that appears with a message such as “Unsupported DCB,” select it in a similar manner and then select Incomplete Drives and Others www.3ware.com Enter Space button and press Enter If you want to delete an incomplete drive or unusable...
Page 170
Any data on the unit will be lost once the unit is screen, review the information about the unit to button and press Enter key to save your changes, or press and then 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide and select...
This step is very important. it, it is the equivalent of physically yanking a hard drive out from under www.3ware.com It is important to remove the unit through software, You can also remove a drive, if you want to force a degrade...
Disk Management. Management > Maintenance table on the Maintenance Page, select the unit Remove Unit Rescan Controller. Even though removing a unit is supported in 3BM, you can 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide Remove the logical drive page Maintenance...
Moving a Unit from One Controller to Another After you have configured a unit on a 3ware 9000 series controller (9500S, 9550SX, or 9590SE), you can move it to a different 3ware 9000 series controller, and retain the configuration on the new controller. This is referred to as “array roaming.”...
When drives are configured into a unit on a 9500S controller, they become locked for use with 9500S series controllers. If you want to use these drives on an older 3ware controller, a non-3ware controller, or connect them directly to a motherboard ATA controller, you must first unlock them.
Page 175
Note: the 8000, you will need to run a special utility, available from 3ware Technical Support, to convert the units to a format that the 9000 controller can use. Contact Technical Support to obtain the utility. (This utility is not required for legacy JBOD units.) Do not remove the 8000 board from your system until you have converted the units.
Install the 9000 controller and attach the drives to the 9000 board, as described earlier in this section. Reboot the system and enter the 3ware 9000 series BIOS (3BM) by pressing Alt-3. Enable the Export JBOD policy on the Policy screen.
Page 177
Reboot if you are prompted to do so by the operating system. Some operating systems (for example, Windows 2003) will allow the unit(s) attached to the controller to be used at this point without an additional reboot. www.3ware.com Moving a Unit from One Controller to Another command. command.
If you want to use this drive as a spare, see “Creating a Hot Spare” on page 139. If you have a 9550SX or 9590SE controller, when you add a Physically adding a drive without a hotswap carrier and Management > Maintenance Rescan Controller 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
If you have a hot-swap carrier and want to physically remove a drive from your system without powering it down, you must first remove it through the 3ware software. This is required for 3ware controllers before the 9550SX model, and recommended for the 9550SX and 9590SE models.
Page 180
When 3DM asks you to confirm that you want to remove the drive, click You can now remove the drive from your system. If you removed a drive that was part of a unit, the unit may become degraded, as shown in (Figure 69). 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
For more details about how the Rescan feature works, see the information in the Reference section, under “Maintenance Page” on page 100. www.3ware.com Rescanning the Controller Maintenance page. For more information, see...
Page 182
From the main 3BM screen, press Alt-r. You are warned that any configuration changes you have made in 3BM will be lost. Type for Yes. The controller is rescanned. Management > Maintenance Rescan Controller Maintenance 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide page.
In addition, 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) and 3ware Disk Manager (3DM) provide tools to let you check unit and drive status, and manually start background maintenance tasks. 3DM also lets you review alarms and errors and schedule background maintenance tasks.
Page 184
“Controller Details Page” on page 86 • “Unit Information Page” on page 87 • “Unit Details Page” on page 89 • “Drive Information Page” on page 90 • “Drive Details Window” on page 92 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
3DM shows a log of all events (also called Asynchronous Event Notifications, or AENs) that have occurred on units. These events include alarms that occur when the 3ware RAID controller requires attention, such as when a disk unit becomes degraded and is no longer fault tolerant.
You can download an error log containing information from the firmware log. This can be useful when troubleshooting certain types of problems. For example, you might want to send the saved file to 3ware Customer Support for assistance when troubleshooting.
Although you can use the unit while it is being initialized in the background, initialization does slow I/O performance until completed. You can adjust how much initialization will slow performance by setting the rate at which it www.3ware.com About Background Tasks and booting to the operating system.
4 do not need to be initialized, however RAID 50 with a grouping of 6 do need to be initialized for full performance. Units that do not need to be immediately initialized for full 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Performance? Auto Initialization After Power Failure The 3ware controller detects and handles power failures. This mechanism is intended to ensure that redundant units have consistent data and parity. When a redundant unit is unexpectedly shutdown, there is a possibility some data and parity may be inconsistent.
‘Initializing’ or ‘Verifying’. 3ware’s auto-initialization feature determines if this is required. During driver startup, a flag is set that indicates that the driver loaded. Upon an orderly shutdown, the flag is rewritten, indicating that there was a clean shutdown.
With the 3ware 9000 series controller, rebuilds on multiple units can take place simultaneously. Rebuilding Units About Verification For the 3ware 9000 series, the verify feature combines verification of redundant units (confirming the validity of the redundant data) and media scans for non-redundant units.
Chapter 9. Maintaining Units How Errors Are Handled Verification makes use of the same error checking and error repair techniques used during ordinary use of drives configured through 3ware RAID controllers. When verification encounters an error, the controller typically retries the command.
Rebuild and verify tasks can be started manually or scheduled. For details about manually starting these processes, see “Rebuilding Units” on page 189 and “Verifying Units” on page 194. For details about scheduling rebuild, verify, and other tasks, see “Scheduling Background Tasks” on page 184. www.3ware.com About Background Tasks...
If you want to change a scheduled task, you first remove the scheduled Tip: item and then add it back with the desired day, time, and duration. section of the Controller Settings Page, Initialization and migration operations follow the rebuild 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide from the menu bar.
Migration receives higher priority than all other background tasks. 3ware 9000-series RAID controllers can work on multiple units at the same time. This means that if you have both a redundant unit and a non-redundant unit, the verification of the redundant unit and the media scan of the non- redundant unit will occur at the same time.
24-hour daily schedule, enabling the schedule will not have any direct effect. You can easily disable a current Verify or Rebuild schedule without deleting the schedule itself. When you first use 3DM, daily schedules exist with 24 hour 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Select the checkbox next to the schedule(s) you want to remove. Click the Remove Checked The page refreshes, and the selected schedule(s) are removed. You can now add another schedule. www.3ware.com Scheduling Background Tasks from the menu bar. Ignore Schedule from the menu bar.
Manual rebuilds can be started from either 3BM or 3DM, although the rebuild itself only happens when the operating system is running. www.3ware.com These tasks will only be run during scheduled times if they Schedule Self-tests from the menu bar.
When a dialog box displays available drives, select the drive you want to replace the degraded drive and click If a rebuild fails, check the Alarms page for the reason. If Management > Maintenance section of the Maintenance Page, select the button. Rebuild Unit 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
You can start the rebuild of a degraded unit manually in 3BM, or you can let the system boot and allow the rebuild to take place automatically. www.3ware.com Scheduling If you need to cancel a rebuild, you can do so by using the link on the Maintenance page to remove the drive in the 3BM screens.
Page 202
The unit will begin drive. Then power on the system and Not In Use Enter to select it (see Figure 73). 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide , the drive may Rebuild Not In...
Page 203
You are returned to the main screen; “Rebuilding” appears next to the unit you selected. Press to save your changes and exit 3BM The unit will begin rebuilding about ten minutes after the operating system finishes loading and the 3ware driver has loaded. www.3ware.com Enter button and press Enter from the pop-up menu and press button to continue.
RAID 5 parity for the entire unit. If the unit is link on the Maintenance Remove Drive If you want to pause the rebuild process through 3DM, you ) is logged and the entire unit is 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide ) is posted to “Verify...
Page 205
Enter. An asterisk appears in the left-most column to indicate that it is selected. to the Maintain Unit www.3ware.com If the unit has not previously been initialized and you in either 3BM or 3DM, the Verify Unit Management > Maintenance...
CCU, as they become available. You can issue the command to blink the LED through 3DM and through the CLI. For details about using the CLI, see 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controller CLI Guide. and press...
Page 207
The LED on the chassis begins blinking. When you are finished working with the drive and no longer need to see the LED, return to this page and uncheck the www.3ware.com Locating a Drive by Blinking Its LED from the main menu in 3DM.
Page 208
Chapter 9. Maintaining Units 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
• Using the CLI you can see both the driver and firmware versions (see 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controller CLI Guide) Under Linux, you can also type the following command if you have a 2.4 kernel or earlier: cat /proc/scsi/3w-9xxx/0* where the asterisk (*) represents controller number and “9xxx”...
Under Windows, you can follow the first 8 steps under “Updating the 3ware Driver Under Windows XP” on page 207. You can also use the 3ware Command Line Interface to check the version. For more information, see 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controller CLI Guide.
If you only need to update the driver, you can either use the update utility as described below, or you can update it through the Windows Device Manager, as described under “Updating the 3ware Driver Under Windows XP” on page 207.
Page 212
Note: system. Restarting is always required if you update the firmware. In addition, if you boot from a unit on a 3ware RAID controller, updating the driver will require that you restart the system. To update the 3ware driver and firmware using the update utility Download and extract the driver files, as described on page 200.
Page 213
When the 3ware Driver/Firmware Update dialog box appears, it shows available updates for the device driver and for the firmware. Figure 77. Update Utility Showing Available Drivers If either your driver or firmware are current, the screen reflects that. Figure 78. Update Utility Showing Drivers Already Current www.3ware.com...
Page 214
Chapter 10. Maintaining Your Controller If the firmware image is not found with the driver files, you will see an error message, and the 3ware Driver/Firmware Update dialog box will show only the Driver as available. Figure 79. Error Message When the Firmware Image is Missing Figure 80.
Page 215
If a final message box confirms that the process is complete, click OK. (This message appears if you do not need to restart your computer.) www.3ware.com Updating the Driver and Firmware Do not power off the system while the firmware is...
To update the firmware on multiple controllers Follow steps 1 through 5 above, under “Updating the 3ware Driver and Firmware Under Windows” on page 201. When the 3ware Driver/Firmware Update dialog box appears, it lists the number of controllers in your system, shows available updates for the device driver, and available firmware updates for the first controller.
Updating the 3ware Driver Under Windows XP If you prefer, you can update the 3ware driver through the Windows Device Driver Manager, instead of using the Update Utility described above. To update the 3ware driver under Windows XP (Note that during this process, you will step through driver installation wizards twice.)
Page 218
Chapter 10. Maintaining Your Controller Figure 82. 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller Properties Dialog 10 Click the Update Driver… button. 11 If your system has Windows XP Service Pack 2, the first screen asks whether you want to connect to Windows Update.
Page 219
Next. Figure 84. Upgrade/Install Device Driver Wizard 13 At the next screen (Figure 85) choose “Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install” and click Next. Figure 85. Search for Driver Screen www.3ware.com Updating the Driver and Firmware...
Page 220
16 When the Select the Device Driver dialog box reappears, select the appropriate driver (Figure 88) and click Next. Be sure to select the correct driver name, otherwise the driver upgrade will not be successful. 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Page 221
Hardware Update Wizard appears again, informing you that Windows has found new hardware. If you are using Windows XP Service Pack 2, the screen asks whether you want to connect to Windows Update (Figure 89). www.3ware.com Updating the Driver and Firmware...
Page 222
At the next screen, leave the selection as “Install the software automatically.” Click Next and follow the prompts on the screen. 21 When the second Completing the Found New Hardware screen appears, click Finish. Figure 90. Completing Found New Hardware Wizard 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Updating the 3ware Driver Under Red Hat The following steps describe how to update the 3ware driver under Red Hat. To update the 3ware driver under Red Hat Download and extract the driver, as described on page 200. Backup any critical data prior to updating the 3ware driver.
Updating the 3ware Driver Under SuSE The following steps describe how to update the 3ware driver under SuSE. Note: Pre-compiled, tested, and supported drivers are no longer available for older SuSE releases using the 2.4 kernel. The source code is still available (for a limited time) if a newer driver is still needed.
Page 225
If you are using lilo, use lilo to update to the boot loader. You should see a printout of kernels that are able to boot on this system after running lilo. 10 Reboot, if booted from the 3ware controller. Otherwise, continue with step 11. The driver is now updated.
Chapter 10. Maintaining Your Controller Updating the 3ware Driver Under FreeBSD The following steps describe how to update the 3ware driver under FreeBSD. To update the 3ware driver under FreeBSD Download and extract the driver, as described on page 200.
Page 227
Enter. Downloading the firmware from file /mnt/fw/9550sx/ prom0006.img ... Done. The new image will take effect after reboot. Reboot your system to flash the firmware upgrade. www.3ware.com Updating the Firmware Under Linux and FreeBSD Current-Firmware Current-Driver FE9X 3.0x.xx.xxx 2.xx.xx.xxx Current-API 2.xx.xx.xxx...
The Battery Backup Unit (BBU) is an add-on card that can be attached to a 3ware 9000 RAID controller to supply power from a battery pack in the event of a system power loss. This allows the controller to use write-caching for optimal performance and to preserve data in the event of a system power failure.
"LOW". This is part of the battery test. After the voltage drops to a point, it will start charging again, and the status will change to “Charging.” Eventually, the battery voltage will say “OK” again. www.3ware.com Testing Battery Capacity...
Page 230
To test the battery in a BBU in 3BM At the main 3BM screen, tab to the BBU button and press Enter. Tab to Test Battery Capacity and press Enter. Figure 93. Battery Backup Information Screen in 3BM 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Before Contacting Customer Support Three screens in 3DM 2 provide controller version and status information that can be helpful when contacting 3ware Customer Support with questions or for troubleshooting: Controller Summary, Unit Details, and Unit Information. You can copy and paste the information from these screens into an email using the system clipboard.
3ware. If you have a different type of motherboard available, you may want to test the controller in it to see if the 3ware BIOS screen appears. The motherboard's BIOS may need to be upgraded. Check the web site of the motherboard manufacturer to download and install their latest BIOS.
Remember that deleting a RAID unit overwrites any exist- ing data on the member drives. Problems in 3DM Q6: A 3ware RAID controller does not show in the list of controllers. You may not have the most recent driver for your controller (7000/8000, 9000).
Chapter 11. Troubleshooting AEN Messages AEN (asynchronous event notifications) are messages issued by the 3ware RAID controller when an error is detected such or when an action is completed. These are summarized in Table 11. Descriptions of each are provided at the end of the table.
Page 235
Verify not started; unit never initialized 030h Drive not supported 032h Spare capacity too small for some units 033h Migration started 034h Migration failed 035h Migration done 036h Verify fixed data/parity mismatch 037h SO-DIMM not compatible 038h SO-DIMM not detected www.3ware.com AEN Messages...
Page 236
050h Battery capacity test completed 051h Battery health check started 052h Battery health check completed 053h Battery capacity test is overdue 055h Battery charging started 056h Battery charging completed 057h Battery charging fault 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
AEN Error Message Details 001h Controller reset occurred The 3ware RAID controller has detected a soft reset from the device driver. If the 3ware RAID controller fails to respond to the device driver within a reasonable amount of time, the device driver may issue a soft reset to the 3ware RAID controller and retry the command packet.
Page 238
008h Unclean shutdown detected The 3ware RAID controller has the ability to detect if the system has been shutdown via the standard shutdown mechanism of the operating system (clean shutdown). If the system loses power or is reset without going through the normal shutdown procedure, it is possible that the data on a redundant array may be out of synchronization.
Page 239
One such drive failure is when the drive indicates back to the 3ware RAID controller that it was unable to complete a command. If the drive returns an error to the 3ware RAID controller, the user is notified by this AEN.
Page 240
The SMART status of each drive attached to the 3ware RAID controller is monitored daily. If a failure of any drive is determined to be likely, the user is notified by this AEN.
At this point, the 3ware RAID controller has a good copy of the requested data in its cache memory. It will then use this data to force the failing drive to reallocate the bad sector, which essentially repairs the sector.
Page 242
During the evolution of the 3ware product line, the format of the DCB has been changed to accommodate new features. The DCB format expected by the 3ware RAID controller and the DCB that is written on the drive must be 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
If an array that was created on a very old 3ware product is connected to a newer 3ware RAID controller, this AEN is posted and the 3ware RAID controller rejects the drive. Please contact 3ware technical support if this event occurs.
Page 244
02Eh Replacement drive capacity too small The 3ware RAID controller notifies the user by this AEN when the replacement drive capacity is smaller than required. The replacement drive must be equal to or greater capacity than the drive it's replacing.
Page 245
AEN. The controller may degrade the unit (if possible). 03Bh Rebuild paused This AEN will be sent when the rebuild operation is paused. Rebuilds are normally paused for ten minutes after a system first boots up and during non-scheduled times when scheduling is enabled. www.3ware.com...
Page 246
041h Unit number assignments lost The 3ware RAID controller tries to keep the unit numbers persistent across soft resets. This AEN will be sent if unit number assignments were lost from some unknown reasons.(This event rarely happens. Please contact AMCC 3ware technical support if this event occurs.)
Page 247
If the voltage is below the warning threshold, this AEN will be posted to the user. When this event happens, the Battery Backup Unit is still able to backup the 3ware RAID controller, but the user should replace the battery.
Page 248
If the temperature is below a warning threshold, this AEN will be posted to the user. When this event happens, the Battery Backup Unit is still able to backup the 3ware RAID controller but the user should replace the battery pack.
Page 249
This AEN is posted when the Battery Backup Unit starts a battery test. The test estimates the battery capacity in hours, which is how long the Battery Backup Unit can back up the 3ware RAID controller. This test performs a full battery charge/discharge/re-charge cycle and may take up to 20 hours to complete.
Page 250
058h Battery capacity is below warning level The measured capacity of the battery is below the warning level. When this occurs the Battery Backup Unit is still able to backup the 3ware RAID controller but it signals that the battery pack should be replaced soon.
Page 251
The Battery Backup Unit periodically evaluates the health of the battery and its ability to backup the 3ware RAID controller in case of a power failure. This AEN is posted when the result of the health test is below the warning threshold.
Page 252
Chapter 11. Troubleshooting 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
3BM is included with the controller and is updated when the controller firmware is flash-upgraded. For 9550SX and 9590SE controllers, the tw_update utility is used to update the firmware. The latest firmware and code set is available for download from the 3ware web site: http://www.3ware.com/support/ •...
Page 254
• . Command Line Interface. The 3ware CLI is a text program, rather than a GUI (graphical user interface), for Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD. It has the same functionality as 3DM, and can be used to view, maintain, and manage 3ware controllers, disks, and units.
Page 255
RAID 5 parity and writes it to disk (background initialization) or writes zeroes to all of the drives in the array (foreground initialization). Initialization does not erase user data if done while the operating system www.3ware.com . Determines whether an error detected during a rebuild Chassis-monitoring functions .
Page 256
JBOD. An unconfigured single drive. The acronym is derived from “just a bunch of disks.” Note that earlier versions of the 3ware RAID controller exported JBODs to the OS. By default, this is not the case in 9000-series controllers. However, a policy in 3BM can be set that allows JBODs to be seen by the OS.
Page 257
Unit ID • Unit Number www.3ware.com . To generate data on a new drive after it is put into service Duplication of data on another drive or drives, so that it is The process of making a drive unavailable to the...
Page 258
For a RAID 1 and RAID 10 unit, a verify will compare the data of one mirror with the other. For RAID 5 and RAID 50, a verify will calculate RAID 5 parity and compare it to what is written on the disk drive. 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. • Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. To maintain compliance with FCC radio frequency emission limits, use shielded cables and connectors between all parts of the computer system. www.3ware.com...
Since the certification process may lag behind the release of the drivers, please refer to our WEB site at www.3ware.com for current certification information. European Community Conformity...
30 days from the date of purchase. For detailed terms and conditions, please see the Limited Hardware Warranty and Software License Agreement at our website: http://www.3ware.com/support/rma_form.asp AMCC warranty service is provided by returning the defective product to AMCC.
(transit time not included). Advanced replacement is available with a credit card number with authorization in the amount equaling the then current list price of the 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller, including shipping costs. As soon as practicable thereafter, AMCC will ship the advanced replacement to you at the address of your choosing.
AMCC Technical Support and Services Product information, Frequently Asked Questions, software upgrades, driver files and other support are available through the AMCC World Wide Web site at http://www.3ware.com. AMCC’s 3ware software library is accessible at: http://www.3ware.com/support/download.asp Web-based software downloads feature upgrading multiple switches simultaneously.
Page 264
Chapter C. Warranty, Technical Support, and Service 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
3DM on Linux installing 3DM on Windows main screen Maintenance page www.3ware.com managing email event notification menus Other Controller Settings page refresh page refresh frequency pages described passwords 80, 113...
Page 266
Battery capacity is below warning level (058h) Battery capacity test completed (050h) Battery capacity test is overdue (053h) Battery capacity test started (04Eh) 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide 109, 175, 224 5, 161, 163 88, 90 117, 121...
Page 267
BIOS Continue on Error During Rebuild (setting in 3DM) controller moving unit to another www.3ware.com rescanning updating driver FreeBSD Red Hat SuSE Windows updating firmware Windows...
Page 268
Initialize failed (00Eh) Initialize paused (03Ch) Initialize started (00Ch) installation overview troubleshooting hardware software installing formatting making units available partitioning installing 3DM on Linux Windows Inter-IC bus, definition 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide 83, 114 157, 15, 19...
Page 269
NCQ policy (setting in 3DM) Online Capacity Expansion (OCE), definition operating system informing of changed configuration Other Controller Settings, 3DM page refresh www.3ware.com frequency, 3DM pages described, 3DM parity, distributed partitioning and formatting units passwords, 3DM PCB (definition) P-Chip (definition)
Page 270
3DM rebuilding a unit in 3BM in 3DM removing in 3DM removing vs. deleting unit number (definition) verifying a unit in 3BM in 3DM volumes write cache, 3DM 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide 185, 186 157, 161...
Page 271
Warranty WHQL working in 3BM write cache 14, 94 disable on unit degrade disable on unit degrade policy (viewing in 3DM) disable write cache on degraded array policy www.3ware.com disabling on degrade in 3BM enabling enabling in 3DM 157, 159...
Page 272
3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide...
Need help?
Do you have a question about the 9550SX-4LP and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers