Storage Management

Function Description

On the Storage Management page, you can view and configure the storage devices of the server.

• The information about the RAID controllers, logical drives, and physical drives is displayed only after BIOS boot is complete when the RAID controller card supports out-of-band management or after iBMA 2.0 has been installed and started.
• The information on Storage Management is invalid when the system is powered off or the system is not started. Each time when the server is powered on and the system is started, the iBMC identifies all physical disks again. If a physical disk is being rebuilt, the physical disk will not be identified. Before the physical disk is identified, the physical disk information is invalid. If a physical disk fails to be identified, the corresponding sensor (DISKN) generates a Drive Fault alarm.
• The time required for identifying and displaying all drives varies depending on the number of logical drives and physical drives. The more the number of logical and physical drives, the longer the time required.

GUI

Choose System > Storage Management.

The Storage Management page is displayed, as shown in Figure 3-11.

Figure 3-11 Storage Management

Parameter Description

Querying RAID Controller Card Properties

Before performing this operation, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• The RAID controller card supports iBMC out-of-band management or iBMA 2.0 is running on the OS. You can refer to the Technical Specifications section in the RAID controller card user guide to determine whether the RAID card supports the iBMC out-of-band management.
• The BIOS has started.

1. Choose System > Storage Management.
2. Select the RAID controller to be queried and click Settings.
   The basic information about the RAID controller is displayed in the right pane, as shown in Figure 3-12.

   Figure 3-12 Querying RAID controller card properties
   

Querying RAID Array Properties

Before performing this operation, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• The RAID controller card supports iBMC out-of-band management or iBMA 2.0 is running on the OS. You can refer to the Technical Specifications section in the RAID controller card user guide to determine whether the RAID card supports the iBMC out-of-band management.
• The BIOS has started.

1. Choose System > Storage Management.
2. Select the RAID array to be queried.
   The RAID array information is displayed in the right pane, as shown in Figure 3-13.

   Figure 3-13 Querying RAID array properties
   

Querying Hard Disk Properties

Before performing this operation, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• The hard disks are managed by a RAID controller card.
• The RAID controller card supports iBMC out-of-band management or iBMA 2.0 is running on the OS. You can refer to the Technical Specifications section in the RAID controller card user guide to determine whether the RAID card supports the iBMC out-of-band management.
• The BIOS has started.

1. Choose System > Storage Management.
2. Select the hard disk to be queried. The hard disk can be a member disk in a RAID array or an independent hard disk.
   The hard disk information is displayed in the right pane, as shown in Figure 3-14 or Figure 3-15.

   Figure 3-14 Querying properties of a member disk in a RAID array
   

   Figure 3-15 Querying properties of an independent hard disk
   

Modifying RAID Controller Card Properties

Before performing this operation, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• The RAID controller card supports iBMC out-of-band management. You can refer to the Technical Specifications section in the RAID controller card user guide to determine whether the RAID card supports the iBMC out-of-band management.
• The BIOS has started.

1. Choose System > Storage Management.
2. Select the RAID to be modified.
3. Click Settings.
   The page shown in Figure 3-16 is displayed. For details about the parameters, see Table 3-12.

   Figure 3-16 Modifying RAID controller settings
   
   Table 3-12 Parameter description

   Parameter	Description
   Copyback State	The copyback feature allows data to be copied from a source drive to a destination drive. If a member drive of a RAID array with redundancy becomes faulty, the hot spare drive automatically takes over the failed drive and starts data synchronization. After a new drive is installed to replace the faulty one, data is copied from the hot spare drive to the new drive. As the data copyback is complete, the hot spare drive restores its hot spare state.
   Copyback on SMART error State	Copyback can be initiated when the first Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) error occurs on a drive.
   JBOD State	Just a bunch of disks (JBOD) allows commands to be directly transferred from the RAID controller to the connected hard drives without the need of configuring logical drives. This feature allows the upper-layer service or management software to access and control physical drives.
   Restore Defaults	To restore default settings of the RAID controller, click Restore Defaults.
   Import Foreign Configuration	To import RAID configuration from foreign drives, click Import Foreign Configuration.

4. Set the parameters and click OK.

Creating a Logical Drive

Before performing this operation, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• The hard drives are managed by a RAID controller card that supports creation of logical drives.
• The physical drives to be added as logical drives are in UNCONFIGURED GOOD state.
• The RAID controller card supports iBMC out-of-band management. You can refer to the Technical Specifications section in the RAID controller card user guide to determine whether the RAID card supports the iBMC out-of-band management.
• The number of logical drives on the RAID controller card does not reach the maximum.
• The BIOS has started.

1. Choose System > Storage Management.
2. Select the RAID controller.
3. Click Add.
   The page shown in Figure 3-17 is displayed. For details about the parameters, see Table 3-13.

   Figure 3-17 Creating a logical drive
   
   Table 3-13 Parameter description

   Parameter	Description
   Name	Identifies a logical drive.
   Secondary Cache	Specifies whether to enable CacheCade.
   Strip Size	Specifies the size of a data strip on each physical drive.
   Read Policy	Specifies the data read policy of the logical drive. Value: Read Ahead: The RAID controller pre-reads sequential data or the data predicted to be used and saves it in the cache. No Read Ahead: The Read Ahead feature is disabled.
   Write Policy	Specifies the data write policy of the logical drive. Value: Write Through: After the drive receives all data, the controller sends the host a message indicating that data transmission is complete. Write Back with BBU: When no battery backup unit (BBU) is configured or the configured BBU is faulty, the RAID controller automatically switches to the Write Through mode. Write Back: After the controller cache receives all data, the controller sends the host a message indicating that data transmission is complete.
   IO Policy	Specifies the input/output (I/O) policy for reading data from special logical drives. This policy does not affect the pre-reading cache. Value: Cached IO: All the read and write requests are processed by the cache of the RAID controller. Select this value only when CacheCade 1.1 is configured. Direct IO: This value has different meanings in read and write scenarios. In read scenarios, data is directly read from physical drives. (If Read Policy is set to Read Ahead, data read requests are processed by the cache of the RAID controller.) In write scenarios, data write requests are processed by the cache of the RAID controller. (If Write Policy is set to Write Through, data is directly written to physical drives.)
   Disk Cache Status	The disk cache status can be any of the following: Enable: writes data to the cache before writing data to the hard drive. This option improves data write performance. However, data will be lost if there is no protection mechanism against power failures. Disable: writes data to a hard drive without caching the data. Data is not lost if power failures occur. Disk's default: uses the default cache policy.
   Access Policy	Specifies the access policy for the logical drive. Value: Read/Write: Read and write operations are allowed. Read Only: The logical drive is read-only. Blocked: Access to the logical drive is denied.
   Init State	Specifies whether to initialize the logical drive created. Value: No Init: Initialization is not performed. Quick Init: writes zeros to the first 100 MB of the logical drive. Then, the logical drive status changes to Optimal. Full Init: initializes the logical drive. Before the initialization is complete, the logical drive status is initialization.
   RAID Level	Specifies the RAID level of the logical drive. NOTE: If the RAID level is 1, only two physical drives can be selected.
   Number of drives per span	Set this parameter when the RAID level is 50, or 60. NOTE: If the RAID 10 is configured, the Number of drives per span is 2 by default. The default value cannot be changed.
   Disk	Specifies the disks to be added to the logical drive.
   Available Capacity	Capacity that can be allocated for the logical drive.
   Capacity	Specifies the capacity of the logical drive.

4. Set the parameters and click OK.

Removing Logical Drives

Before performing this operation, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• The hard disks are managed by a RAID controller card.
• The RAID controller card supports iBMC out-of-band management. You can refer to the Technical Specifications section in the RAID controller card user guide to determine whether the RAID card supports the iBMC out-of-band management.
• The BIOS has started.

1. Choose System > Storage Management.
2. Delete logical drives.
   • To delete a logical drive, locate the logical drive and click .
   • To delete multiple logical drives, click Edit to the right of the RAID controller card, select the logical drives to be deleted, and click Delete.

   A Confirm dialog box is displayed.

3. Click Yes.

Modifying Logical Drive Properties

Before performing this operation, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• The hard disks are managed by a RAID controller card.
• The RAID controller card supports iBMC out-of-band management. You can refer to the Technical Specifications section in the RAID controller card user guide to determine whether the RAID card supports the iBMC out-of-band management.
• The BIOS has started.

1. Choose System > Storage Management.
2. Select the logical drive to be modified.

3. Click Settings.
   The page shown in Figure 3-18 is displayed. For details about the parameters, see Table 3-14.

   Figure 3-18 Modifying logical drive properties
   
   Table 3-14 Parameter description

   Parameter	Description
   Name	Identifies a logical drive.
   Default Read Policy	Specifies the data read policy of the logical drive. Value: Read Ahead: The RAID controller pre-reads sequential data or the data predicted to be used and saves it in the cache. No Read Ahead: The Read Ahead feature is disabled.
   Default Write Policy	Specifies the data write policy of the logical drive. Value: Write Through: After the drive receives all data, the controller sends the host a message indicating that data transmission is complete. Write Back with BBU: When no battery backup unit (BBU) is configured or the configured BBU is faulty, the RAID controller automatically switches to the Write Through mode. Write Back: After the controller cache receives all data, the controller sends the host a message indicating that data transmission is complete.
   Default IO Policy	Specifies the input/output (I/O) policy for reading data from special logical drives. This policy does not affect the pre-reading cache. Value: Cached IO: All the read and write requests are processed by the cache of the RAID controller. Select this value only when CacheCade 1.1 is configured. Direct IO: This value has different meanings in read and write scenarios. In read scenarios, data is directly read from physical drives. (If Read Policy is set to Read Ahead, data read requests are processed by the cache of the RAID controller.) In write scenarios, data write requests are processed by the cache of the RAID controller. (If Write Policy is set to Write Through, data is directly written to physical drives.)
   BGI Status	Specifies whether to enable background initialization.
   Access Policy	Specifies the access policy for the logical drive. The options are as follows: Value: Read/Write: Read and write operations are allowed. Read Only: The logical drive is read-only. Blocked: Access to the logical drive is denied.
   Disk Cache Status	The disk cache status can be any of the following: Enable: writes data to the cache before writing data to the hard drive. This option improves data write performance. However, data will be lost if there is no protection mechanism against power failures. Disable: writes data to a hard drive without caching the data. Data is not lost if power failures occur. Disk's default: uses the default cache policy.
   Boot Disk	Specifies whether the logical drive is the boot drive.
   SSCD Caching	Specifies whether to use CacheCade drive as the cache.

4. Set the parameters and click OK.

Modifying Member Drive Properties

Before performing this operation, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• The hard disks are managed by a RAID controller card.
• The RAID controller card supports iBMC out-of-band management. You can refer to the Technical Specifications section in the RAID controller card user guide to determine whether the RAID card supports the iBMC out-of-band management.
• The BIOS has started.

1. Choose System > Storage Management.
2. Select the logical drive.
3. Click to expand the member drives.
4. Select the member drive to be modified.
5. Click Settings.
   The page shown in Figure 3-19 is displayed. For details about the parameters, see Table 3-15.

   Figure 3-19 Modifying member drive properties
   
   Table 3-15 Parameter description

   Parameter	Description
   Location State	Specifies whether the locating indicator is lit for the drive. NOTE: The Location status option is not available for M.2 drives.
   Hot Spare State	Specifies the hot spare status of the physical drive. Value: None: The drive is not a hot spare disk. Global: indicates global hot spare disk. Dedicated: indicates a dedicated hot spare disk.
   Firmware State	Specifies the status of the physical drive. Value: UNCONFIGURED BAD: The drive is unavailable. ONLINE: The drive is online. OFFLINE: The drive is offline. UNCONFIGURED GOOD: The drive is idle. JBOD: The drive is directly managed by the OS. NOTE: If JBOD is disabled for the RAID controller card, the Firmware State of the physical drive cannot be set to JBOD.

6. Set the parameters and click OK.

Erasing Data from a Physical Drive

• Only encrypted drives support data erasure.
• Data cannot be restored after being erased. Exercise caution when performing this operation.

1. Choose System > Storage Management.
2. Move the cursor to the target physical drive.
3. Click .
4. Click Yes in the dialog box displayed.