Intel® RAID Software User’s Guide

Intel® RAID Software User’s Guide:

•Intel ® Embedded Server RAID Technology 2

•Intel ® IT/IR RAID

•Intel ® Integrated Server RAID •

Intel ® RAID Controllers using the Intel ® RAID Software Stack 3

 

The software described in this document is designed for use with Intel ® RAID controllers, and with on-serverboard RAID solutions that use the Intel ® RAID Software Stack 3 (driver package names begin with “ir3”), Embedded Server RAID Technology 2 (driver package names begin with ESRT2) or Intel ® IT/IR RAID.

Supported Hardware

This manual covers the software stack that is shared by multiple Intel® server products:

•Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology 2 (ESRT2) on the Intel® Enterprise South Bridge 2 (ESB2) in the chipset, the Intel® I/O Controller Hub 9R (ICH9R), the Intel®3420 PCH chipset, Intel® C200 series chipset and Intel® C600 series chipset used in the following:

—Intel® Server Board S1200BTL/S1200BTS—

Intel® Server Boards based on the Intel® S5000 and S7000 chipsets

—Intel® Server Boards based on the Intel® 5500/5520 chipset with the Intel® I/O Controller Hub 10R (ICH10R)—

Intel® Server Boards that include the LSI* 1064e SAS (Serially attached SCSI) controller and some that include the LSI* 1068 SAS controller

—Intel® Server Boards S3420GP—Intel® Server Boards S3200SH and X38ML—Intel® SAS Entry RAID Module AXX4SASMOD (when the module is in ESRTII mode)

—Intel® RAID Controller SASMF8I

Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology 2 provides driver based RAID modes 0,1, and 10 with an optional RAID 5 mode provided by Intel® RAID C600 Upgrade Key RKSATA4R5, RKSATA8R5, RKSAS4R5, or RKSAS8R5.

Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology 2 provides driver-based RAID modes 0, 1, and 10 with an optional RAID 5 mode provided by the Intel® RAID Activation Key AXXRAKSW5 on the ESB2 and LSI* 1064e on some models of Intel® server boards. ESB2 supports SATA only.

LSI* SAS 1064e and 1068 provide SATA (Serial ATA) and SAS support. Not all 1068 SAS boards provide Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology 2 modes.

Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology 2 must be enabled in the server system BIOS before it is available. Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology 2 is limited to a maximum of eight drives including hot spare(s). Expander devices are not yet supported by ESRT2.•

Intel® IT/IR RAID solutions with the following Intel® IT/IR RAID controllers:

—Intel® RAID Controller SASWT4I

—Intel® RAID Controller SASUC8I

—Intel® RAID SAS Riser Controller AFCSASRISER in Intel® Server System S7000FC4UR without Intel® SAS RAID Activation Key AXXRAKSAS2 installed—

Intel® RAID SAS Riser Controller AFCSASRISER in Intel® Server System S7000FC4UR without Intel® SAS RAID Activation Key AXXRAKSAS2 installed

—Intel® SAS Entry RAID Module AXX4SASMOD

—Intel® 6G SAS PCIe Gen2 RAID Module RMS2LL080 and RMS2LL040

—Intel® Integrated RAID Module RMS25KB080, RMS25KB040, RMS25JB080, and RMS25JB040

—Intel® RAID Controller RS25FB044

Intel® Integrated RAID Technology on the Intel® ROMB solutions.Server boards and systems include:—

Intel® Server Board S5000PSL (Product code: S5000PSLROMB)—

Intel® Server System SR1550AL (Product code: SR1550ALSAS)

—Intel® Server System SR2500 (Product code: SR2500LX)

—Intel® Server System SR4850HW4s

—Intel® Server System SR6850HW4s

—Intel® Server System S7000FC4UR with a SAS riser card

—Intel® Server Boards S3420GP, S5520HC/S5500HCV, S5520UR, S5520SC, and S5500WB12V/S5500WB with the Intel®Integrated RAID Controller SROMBSASMR

Systems using the Intel® RAID Controller SROMBSAS18E provide XOR RAID modes 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50 when the optional Intel® RAID Activation Key AXXRAK18E and a DDR2 400 MHz ECC DIMM are installed.

Systems using the Intel® RAID Controller SROMBSASFC or SROMBSASMP2 require the optional Intel® RAID Activation Key AXXRAKSAS2 and a DDR2 667 MHz ECC DIMM to provide RAID modes 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60.

The Intel® Integrated RAID Controller SROMBSASMR has a specially designed connector that only fits Intel® Server Boards S5520HC/S5500HCV, S5520UR, S5520SC, and S5500WB12V/S5500WB.

 Note:

This manual does not include the software RAID modes provided by the SAS riser card on the Intel® Server System S7000FC4UR. This manual does not include the RAID modes provided by the FALSASMP2 without Intel® RAID Activation Key AXXRAKSAS2.

Intel ® Intelligent RAID used on the Intel ® RAID controllers RMS25PB080, RMS25PB040, RMT3PB080, RMS25CB080, RMS25CB040, RMT3CB080, RS25AB080, RS25SB008, RS25DB080, RS25NB008, RS2VB080, RS2VB040, RT3WB080, RS2SG244, RS2WG160, RMS2MH080, RMS2AF080, RMS2AF040, RS2BL080, RS2BL040, RS2BL080DE, RS2BL080SNGL, RS2PI008, RS2PI008DE, RS2MB044, RS2WC080, RS2WC040, SROMBSASMR, SRCSATAWB, SRCSASRB, SRCSASJV, SRCSABB8I, SRCSASLS4I, SRCSASPH16I, SROMBSASFC, SROMBSASMP2, SROMBSAS18E, SRCSAS18E and SRCSAS144E. —

The first generation SAS controllers (SRCSAS18E, SRCSAS144E, SROMBSAS18E) provide XOR RAID modes 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50 —

The second generation SAS controller (including SRCSATAWB, SRCSASRB, SRCSASJV, SRCSABB8I, SRCSASLS4I, SRCSASPH16I, SROMBSASFC,SROMBSASMP2, SROMBSASMR) provides XOR RAID modes 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60. 

—The Intel ® 6G SAS PCIe Gen 2 RAID Controllers (including RMS25PB080, RMS25PB040, RMT3PB080, RMS25CB080, RMS25CB040, RMT3CB080, RS25AB080, RS25SB008, RS25DB080, RS25NB008, RS2VB080, RS2VB040, RT3WB080, RS2SG244, RS2WG160, RS2BL080, RS2BL080SNGL, RS2BL080DE, RS2BL040, RS2PI008, RS2PI008DE, RS2MB044, RS2WC080, RS2WC040, RMS2MH080, RMS2AF080 and RMS2AF040) support SAS 2.0 new features with XOR RAID modes 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60. (RS2WC080 and RS2WC040 are entry level hardware RAID controllers and do not support RAID 6 and 60; RMS2AF080 and RMS2AF040 are entry level hardware RAID controllers and do not support RAID 10, 6 and 60.) —

The Intel ® RAID SSD Cache Controller RCS25ZB040/RCS25ZB040LX 

For more details, refer to the Technical Product Specification (TPS) or Hardware User's Guide (HWUG) for the RAID controllers.

Note:

The Intel ® RAID Controllers RMS2AF080, RMS2AF040, RS2WC080, and RS2WC040 only support strip sizes of 8KB, 16KB, 32KB, and 64KB. Also, their Cache Policy only supports Write Through, Direct I/O, and Normal RAID (No Read Ahead). For more details,refer to their Hardware User's Guide (HWUG). This manual does not include information about native SATA or SAS-only modes of the RAID controllers. Two versions of the Intel ® RAID Controller RS2BL080 are available - RS2BL080, RS2BL080DE. All features on RS2BL080 are supported on RS2BL080DE. In addition, RS2BL080DE provides one more feature of FDE (Full Disk Encryption) that RS2BL080 doesn't support. Two versions of the Intel ® RAID Controller RS2PI008 are available - RS2PI008, RS2PI008DE. All features on RS2PI008 are supported on RS2PI008DE. In addition, RS2PI008DE provides one more feature of FDE (Full Disk Encryption) that RS2PI008 doesn't support.

Caution:

Some levels of RAID are designed to increase the availability of data and some to provide data redundancy. However, installing a RAID controller is not a substitute for a reliable backup strategy. It is highly recommended you back up data regularly through a tape drive or other backup strategy to guard against data loss. It is especially important to back up all data before working on any system components and before installing or changing the RAID controller or configuration.

Software

Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology 2, Intel® IT/IR RAID and Intel® Integrated Server RAID controllers include a set of software tools to configure and manage RAID systems. These include:•

Intel® RAID controller software and utilities: The firmware installed on the RAID controller provides pre-operating system configuration.—

For Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology 2, press <Ctrl> + <E> during the server boot to enter the BIOS configuration utility. —

For Intel® IT/IR RAID, press <Ctrl> + <C> during the server boot to enter the LSI MPT* SAS BIOS Configuration Utility

—For Intel® Integrated Server RAID, press <Ctrl> + <G> during the server boot to enter the RAID BIOS Console II.

Intel ® RAID Controller Drivers: Intel provides software drivers for the following operating systems.

—Microsoft Windows 2000*, Microsoft Windows XP*, and Microsoft Windows Server 2003* (32-bit and 64-bit editions)

—Red Hat* Enterprise Linux 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 (with service packs; X86 and X86-64) —

SuSE* Linux Enterprise Server 9.0, SuSE* Linux Enterprise Server 10, and SuSE* Linux Enterprise Server 11(with service packs; X86 and X86-64) —

VMWare* ESX 4i

Note:

Only the combinations of controller, driver, and Intel® Server Board or System listed in the Tested Hardware and Operating System List (THOL) were tested. Check the supported operating system list for both your RAID controller and your server board to verify operating system support and compatibility.

Intel ® RAID Web Console 2: A full-featured graphical user interface (GUI) utility is provided to monitor, manage, and update the RAID configuration.