Tag: AVAGO

mdadm assembles AVAGO/LSI MegaRAID controller RAID 5 array

It is possible to read data with the software Linux raid using mdadm tool from a RAID 5 array created with the hardware raid controller AVAGO MegaRAID 9361-4i (LSI SAS3108).

main menu
mdadm E sdb

Here, how a RAID 5 array with 3 hard drives and 1 SSD ( with CacheCade in write-through mode) is assembled by the mdadm and Linux software raid:

livecd ~ # cat /proc/mdstat 
Personalities : [raid0] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] 
md125 : active raid0 sda[0]
      937164800 blocks super external:/md127/1 1024k chunks
      
md126 : active raid5 sdb[2] sdc[1] sdd[0]
      23436722176 blocks super external:/md127/0 level 5, 1024k chunk, algorithm 2 [3/3] [UUU]
      [==============>......]  resync = 72.0% (8438937704/11718361088) finish=336.8min speed=162234K/sec
      
md127 : inactive sdb[3](S) sda[2](S) sdd[1](S) sdc[0](S)
      2100568 blocks super external:ddf
       
unused devices: <none>

Note, it is essential that the CacheCade device is in write-through mode, which means the cache device is used only for reading and the data on the RAID array is consistent and written on it. The RAID 5 array was created here – AVAGO MegaRAID SAS-9361-4i with CacheCade – create a new virtual drive RAID5 with SSD caching. It seams possible for the data to be consistent if the CacheCade is write-back mode if there were few small writes and orderly shutdown prior to the removal of the AVAGO MegaRAID 9361-4i.
So, the above devices use proprietary LSI format, but here Linux software raid supports some of them:

  • md125 – the SSD device, which is a read cache only.
  • md126 – 3 hard drives in RAID 5 array.
  • md127 – logical device, which provides transparent interface to the

The important device is md126 and can be mounted under some live Linux CD/USB. Further, the md125 is a device, which has GPT partition table with 5 partitions:

livecd ~ # parted /dev/md126 --script print
Model: Linux Software RAID Array (md)
Disk /dev/md126: 24.0TB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name                  Flags
 1      1049kB  211MB   210MB   fat16           EFI System Partition  boot, esp
 2      211MB   1285MB  1074MB  ext4                                  msftdata
 3      1285MB  23.9TB  23.9TB  ext4                                  msftdata
 4      23.9TB  24.0TB  53.7GB  ext4                                  msftdata
 5      24.0TB  24.0TB  16.8GB  linux-swap(v1)                        swap

Keep on reading!

Delete an Offline RAID6 virtual drive and create a new one with AVAGO storcli

Offline virtual device means it cannot be used because the missing or bad or failed disks are more than the fault tolerance it is offering. In this case, there is a RAID 6 on a AVAGO MegaRAID 3018 controller with 2 x RAID6 virtual drives with 6 disks each. One of the virtual drives misses 3 of the 6 disks in the group, so this virtual drive is in Offline state and it cannot be repaired. Three new disks are put to replace the failed disks. Here is what command to issue with the AVAGO command-line utility storcli under CentOS 7 to delete and then create a healthy new RAID 6 virtual drive:

  1. Delete the Offline virtual drive.
  2. Create a new RAID 6 virtual drive with 6 disks.
  3. Initialize the newly create virtual drive to make it consistent.

On each step, it is included additional show storcli commands to better preset what happens in reality and how the controller reflects the changes.
The initial state of the whole configuration is shown below:

[root@srv ~]# /opt/MegaRAID/storcli/storcli64 /c0 show
Generating detailed summary of the adapter, it may take a while to complete.

CLI Version = 007.0709.0000.0000 Aug 14, 2018
Operating system = Linux 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.x86_64
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = None

Product Name = AVAGO 3108 MegaRAID
Serial Number = FW-AC5CMJEAARBWA
SAS Address =  500304802426b600
PCI Address = 00:01:00:00
System Time = 09/20/2022, 14:09:12
Mfg. Date = 00/00/00
Controller Time = 09/20/2022, 14:09:08
FW Package Build = 24.21.0-0028
BIOS Version = 6.36.00.2_4.19.08.00_0x06180202
FW Version = 4.680.00-8290
Driver Name = megaraid_sas
Driver Version = 07.705.02.00-rh1
Current Personality = RAID-Mode 
Vendor Id = 0x1000
Device Id = 0x5D
SubVendor Id = 0x15D9
SubDevice Id = 0x809
Host Interface = PCI-E
Device Interface = SAS-12G
Bus Number = 1
Device Number = 0
Function Number = 0
Drive Groups = 2

TOPOLOGY :
========

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DG Arr Row EID:Slot DID Type  State BT      Size PDC  PI SED DS3  FSpace TR 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0 -   -   -        -   RAID6 OfLn  N  43.654 TB dflt N  N   dflt N      N  
 0 0   -   -        -   RAID6 Dgrd  N  43.654 TB dflt N  N   dflt N      N  
 0 0   0   -        -   DRIVE Msng  -  10.913 TB -    -  -   -    -      N  
 0 0   1   8:1      13  DRIVE Onln  N  10.913 TB dflt N  N   dflt -      N  
 0 0   2   8:2      10  DRIVE Onln  N  10.913 TB dflt N  N   dflt -      N  
 0 0   3   -        -   DRIVE Msng  -  10.913 TB -    -  -   -    -      N  
 0 0   4   8:4      11  DRIVE Onln  N  10.913 TB dflt N  N   dflt -      N  
 0 0   5   -        -   DRIVE Msng  -  10.913 TB -    -  -   -    -      N  
 1 -   -   -        -   RAID6 Optl  N  43.654 TB dflt N  N   dflt N      N  
 1 0   -   -        -   RAID6 Optl  N  43.654 TB dflt N  N   dflt N      N  
 1 0   0   8:6      20  DRIVE Onln  N  10.913 TB dflt N  N   dflt -      N  
 1 0   1   8:7      19  DRIVE Onln  N  12.732 TB dflt N  N   dflt -      N  
 1 0   2   8:8      18  DRIVE Onln  N  10.913 TB dflt N  N   dflt -      N  
 1 0   3   8:9      15  DRIVE Onln  N  10.913 TB dflt N  N   dflt -      N  
 1 0   4   8:10     12  DRIVE Onln  N  10.913 TB dflt N  N   dflt -      N  
 1 0   5   8:11     14  DRIVE Onln  N  10.913 TB dflt N  N   dflt -      N  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

DG=Disk Group Index|Arr=Array Index|Row=Row Index|EID=Enclosure Device ID
DID=Device ID|Type=Drive Type|Onln=Online|Rbld=Rebuild|Dgrd=Degraded
Pdgd=Partially degraded|Offln=Offline|BT=Background Task Active
PDC=PD Cache|PI=Protection Info|SED=Self Encrypting Drive|Frgn=Foreign
DS3=Dimmer Switch 3|dflt=Default|Msng=Missing|FSpace=Free Space Present
TR=Transport Ready

Virtual Drives = 2

VD LIST :
=======

------------------------------------------------------------------
DG/VD TYPE  State Access Consist Cache Cac sCC      Size Name     
------------------------------------------------------------------
0/0   RAID6 OfLn  RW     No      RAWBD -   ON  43.654 TB storage1 
1/1   RAID6 Optl  RW     Yes     RAWBD -   ON  43.654 TB storage2 
------------------------------------------------------------------

Cac=CacheCade|Rec=Recovery|OfLn=OffLine|Pdgd=Partially Degraded|Dgrd=Degraded
Optl=Optimal|RO=Read Only|RW=Read Write|HD=Hidden|TRANS=TransportReady|B=Blocked|
Consist=Consistent|R=Read Ahead Always|NR=No Read Ahead|WB=WriteBack|
AWB=Always WriteBack|WT=WriteThrough|C=Cached IO|D=Direct IO|sCC=Scheduled
Check Consistency

Physical Drives = 12

PD LIST :
=======

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EID:Slt DID State DG      Size Intf Med SED PI SeSz Model                Sp Type 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:0       9 UGood -  12.732 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST14000NM001G-2KJ103 D  -    
8:1      13 Onln  0  10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM0007-2A1101 U  -    
8:2      10 Onln  0  10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM0007-2A1101 U  -    
8:3      17 UGood -  12.732 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST14000NM001G-2KJ103 D  -    
8:4      11 Onln  0  10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM001G-2MV103 U  -    
8:5      16 UGood -  12.732 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST14000NM001G-2KJ103 D  -    
8:6      20 Onln  1  10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM0007-2A1101 U  -    
8:7      19 Onln  1  12.732 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST14000NM001G-2KJ103 U  -    
8:8      18 Onln  1  10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM0007-2A1101 U  -    
8:9      15 Onln  1  10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM0007-2A1101 U  -    
8:10     12 Onln  1  10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM0007-2A1101 U  -    
8:11     14 Onln  1  10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM0007-2A1101 U  -    
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EID-Enclosure Device ID|Slt-Slot No.|DID-Device ID|DG-DriveGroup
DHS-Dedicated Hot Spare|UGood-Unconfigured Good|GHS-Global Hotspare
UBad-Unconfigured Bad|Onln-Online|Offln-Offline|Intf-Interface
Med-Media Type|SED-Self Encryptive Drive|PI-Protection Info
SeSz-Sector Size|Sp-Spun|U-Up|D-Down/PowerSave|T-Transition|F-Foreign
UGUnsp-Unsupported|UGShld-UnConfigured shielded|HSPShld-Hotspare shielded
CFShld-Configured shielded|Cpybck-CopyBack|CBShld-Copyback Shielded


Cachevault_Info :
===============

------------------------------------
Model  State   Temp Mode MfgDate    
------------------------------------
CVPM02 Optimal 28C  -    2018/01/11 
------------------------------------

The show storcli command for the first virtual drive “/c0/v0” is also possible:

[root@srv ~]# /opt/MegaRAID/storcli/storcli64 /c0/v0 show all
CLI Version = 007.0709.0000.0000 Aug 14, 2018
Operating system = Linux 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.x86_64
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = None


/c0/v0 :
======

------------------------------------------------------------------
DG/VD TYPE  State Access Consist Cache Cac sCC      Size Name     
------------------------------------------------------------------
0/0   RAID6 OfLn  RW     No      RAWBD -   ON  43.654 TB storage1 
------------------------------------------------------------------

Cac=CacheCade|Rec=Recovery|OfLn=OffLine|Pdgd=Partially Degraded|Dgrd=Degraded
Optl=Optimal|RO=Read Only|RW=Read Write|HD=Hidden|TRANS=TransportReady|B=Blocked|
Consist=Consistent|R=Read Ahead Always|NR=No Read Ahead|WB=WriteBack|
AWB=Always WriteBack|WT=WriteThrough|C=Cached IO|D=Direct IO|sCC=Scheduled
Check Consistency


PDs for VD 0 :
============

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EID:Slt DID State DG      Size Intf Med SED PI SeSz Model                Sp Type 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:1      13 Onln   0 10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM0007-2A1101 U  -    
8:2      10 Onln   0 10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM0007-2A1101 U  -    
8:4      11 Onln   0 10.913 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B ST12000NM001G-2MV103 U  -    
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EID-Enclosure Device ID|Slt-Slot No.|DID-Device ID|DG-DriveGroup
DHS-Dedicated Hot Spare|UGood-Unconfigured Good|GHS-Global Hotspare
UBad-Unconfigured Bad|Onln-Online|Offln-Offline|Intf-Interface
Med-Media Type|SED-Self Encryptive Drive|PI-Protection Info
SeSz-Sector Size|Sp-Spun|U-Up|D-Down/PowerSave|T-Transition|F-Foreign
UGUnsp-Unsupported|UGShld-UnConfigured shielded|HSPShld-Hotspare shielded
CFShld-Configured shielded|Cpybck-CopyBack|CBShld-Copyback Shielded


VD0 Properties :
==============
Strip Size = 1.0 MB
Number of Blocks = 93746888704
VD has Emulated PD = Yes
Span Depth = 1
Number of Drives Per Span = 6
Write Cache(initial setting) = WriteBack
Disk Cache Policy = Disk's Default
Encryption = None
Data Protection = Disabled
Active Operations = None
Exposed to OS = Yes
OS Drive Name = N/A
Creation Date = 19-12-2018
Creation Time = 06:11:08 AM
Emulation type = default
Cachebypass size = Cachebypass-64k
Cachebypass Mode = Cachebypass Intelligent
Is LD Ready for OS Requests = Yes
SCSI NAA Id = 600304802426b60023ac9d7c0a7a305b
SCSI Unmap = No

Keep on reading!

Surviving 3 disks failure of RAID 6 with AVAGO 3108 MegaRAID and foreign config

Whatever is the reason to end up with 3 broken hard disks in a RAID 6 setup it does not matter! What matters is to recover the data if possible and the most important thing in this situation is to find the LAST hard disk, which was marked as failed and removed from the array. Then the array gets a offline state immediately! So if the last broken hard disk might have a little light of life, probably it is easy to recover the data. The hardware controller is an additional Supermicro board – AOC-S3108L-H8iR.
What happened – third disk got failed status and a virtual device using RAID 6 setup is in offline state. In offline state the virtual device would not execute any READ or WRITE operations, because part of the data is missing and the virtual drive has no meaningfully user data.
To survive to backup the data:

  1. Power off the server. And it is better to remove the power cord, afterwards, and wait for at least a minute before plugging back the power cord back.
  2. Power on the server.
  3. When prompted for actions during initialization the AVAGO 3108 MegaRAID just continue the server loading without accepting any changes.
  4. Boot a recovery disk and using the AVAGO command-line (cli) tool dump the “events” in a file. A sample command might be: 
    /opt/MegaRAID/storcli/storcli64 /c0 show events >show.event.log

    Assuming the Offline RAID 6 virtual drive is “/c0”. Other possible options are “/c1”, “/c2” and so on.

  5. Read from the end till start the AVAGO 3108 MegaRAID events dump and find which hard drive was marked as failed LAST, i.e. with the most latest date and time. And then there are events marking the the virtual device as Offline. 
    seqNum: 0x00009a46
Time: Mon Jun 27 01:49:54 2022

Code: 0x00000072
Class: 0
Locale: 0x02
Event Description: State change on PD 10(e0x08/s5) from ONLINE(18) to FAILED(11)
Event Data:
===========
Device ID: 16
Enclosure Index: 8
Slot Number: 5
Previous state: 24
New state: 17


seqNum: 0x00009a47
Time: Mon Jun 27 01:49:54 2022

Code: 0x00000051
Class: 0
Locale: 0x01
Event Description: State change on VD 00/0 from DEGRADED(2) to OFFLINE(0)
Event Data:
===========
Target Id: 0
Previous state: 2
New state: 0

    The first event of the list above logs the hard drive PD 10(e0x08/s5) gets FAILED status. And immediately after that the virtual drive VD 00/0 goes Offline, which means the last disk before the RAID 6 virtual drive stops working is the PD 10(e0x08/s5)The “/s5” from PD 10(e0x08/s5) points to the “Slot 5” hard drive.

  6. Reboot the server and when prompted the AVAGO 3108 MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility this time enter the utility.
  7. Make the found hard drive from the previous steps with ONLINE state. The hard drive might be in a foreign configuration or just in a bad state, so import the foreign configuration, make the drive a GOOD state and its state will immediately be ONLINE, which mean it is a part of an existing virtual drive. The virtual drive state will immediately be changed to DEGRADED (still two broken disks are out of the virtual drive). Follow the screenshots below to get the last broken disk back ONLINE and the virtual drive in an operable state – DEGRADED. If the drive is only in BAD/FAILED state, just skip the Foreign part and make the disk ONLINE (it may require first to make the disk “unconfigured-good”)
  8. Recover the data by simply copy it to another server or a healthy virtual drive. DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE data, i.e. do not use “rm”, the real state of this third broken disk is unknown and writing would probably kill it off. A good idea is to mount the filesystems on this virtual drive read-only and just rsync the data to a backup.

Here is the process of getting the third disk on “Slot 5” from a “Missing” and the “Virtual Drive 0” Offline to the ONLINE state of the hard drive and a DEGRADED state of the “Virtual Drive 0“, i.e. operating.

SCREENSHOT 1) The Drive in Slot 5 is missing and the Virtual Drive 0 is in OFFLINE state

Slot 5 is the hard drive we need to recover, but it reports the hard drive is missing. Missing points out there is another configuration, so press “Ctrl+N” to change to the next page (i.e. menu), which is “PD Mgmt” – physical disk management.

main menu
slot 5 disk missing and VD offline

Keep on reading!

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Add cachecade SSD to an existing virtual drive in AVAGO MegaRAID with storcli64

Increase the IO performance of big storage consisting of hard drives with the CacheCade feature with MegaRAID hardware controllers. Here are the commands to ensure adding an SSD to cache storage of hard drives and the whole output:

storcli64 /c0 add VD cachecade r0 drives=252:0 WB
storcli64 /c0/v0 set ssdcaching=on

Summary and explanation

  • The controller used is AVAGO MegaRAID SAS9361-4i
  • Three 12T hard drives and 1 SSD 1T.
  • RAID5 of 3 hard drive. The name of the virtual drive is v0.
  • The CacheCade is in RAID0. The name of the virtual drive is v1.
  • The CacheCade is in WriteBack mode. The WriteBack mode is dangerous when the CacheCade device is RAID0, because there is no redundancy, but it’s OK if the purpose of the machine is just a proxy cache. WriteBack mode leads to much more performance to gain from the cache device over slow device sotrage, but should be carefully planned when using RAID0 cache (or single) device.
  • Using storcli – the cli command line tool to manage a (LSI) MegaRAID.
  • Add CacheCade RAID0 device by the first command. It will create a virtual drive RAID0 with the name v1.
  • Ensure the caching is enabled for the virtual device it should be by explicitly setting it with the second command. Adding only a CacheCade device may not add the cache virtual device to the existing virtual devices!

Output of a real world example

Keep on reading!

storcli with multiple disks from different enclosures

Creating a Virtual device with the AVAGO storcli command-line tool under Linux. Two examples are included:

  1. All disks are from one of the enclosure. All disks are included explicitly.
  2. Disks from two enclosures are included. One controller with two enclosures.

Check out how to Install the new storcli to manage (LSI/AVAGO/Broadcom) MegaRAID controller under CentOS 7
There are 31 disks of 36 harddisk bays. 5 are missing on purpose for the examples.

The initial states of the controller and the disks.

livecd ~ # opt/MegaRAID/storcli/storcli /c0 show
Generating detailed summary of the adapter, it may take a while to complete.

CLI Version = 007.0510.0000.0000 May 4, 2018
Operating system = Linux 4.19.72-gentoo
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = None

Product Name = LSI 2108 MegaRAID
Serial Number = FW-ABQRCBEAARBWA
SAS Address =  5003048004015f00
PCI Address = 00:06:00:00
System Time = 07/20/2020 22:58:35
Mfg. Date = 00/00/00
Controller Time = 07/20/2020 22:58:36
FW Package Build = 12.15.0-0239
FW Version = 2.130.403-4660
BIOS Version = 3.30.02.2_4.16.08.00_0x06060A05
Driver Name = megaraid_sas
Driver Version = 07.706.03.00-rc1
Vendor Id = 0x1000
Device Id = 0x79
SubVendor Id = 0x15D9
SubDevice Id = 0x700
Host Interface = PCI-E
Device Interface = SAS-6G
Bus Number = 6
Device Number = 0
Function Number = 0
Physical Drives = 31

PD LIST :
=======

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EID:Slt DID State DG     Size Intf Med SED PI SeSz Model                   Sp Type 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12:0      0 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HUA723020ALA640 D  -    
12:1      1 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B HGST HUS724020ALA640    D  -    
12:2      2 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 D  -    
12:3      3 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 D  -    
12:4      4 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 D  -    
12:5      5 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B HGST HUS722T2TALA604    D  -    
12:6      6 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B TOSHIBA DT01ACA200      D  -    
12:7      7 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 D  -    
12:8      8 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 D  -    
12:9      9 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 D  -    
12:10    10 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 D  -    
12:11    11 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 D  -    
37:0     13 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:1     14 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:2     15 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:3     16 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HUA723020ALA640 U  -    
37:4     17 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:6     19 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:7     20 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B HGST HUS722T2TALA604    U  -    
37:8     21 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B HGST HUS724020ALA640    U  -    
37:10    23 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:11    24 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:13    26 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:14    27 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B HGST HUS724020ALA640    U  -    
37:16    29 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B HGST HUS724020ALA640    U  -    
37:17    30 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HUA723020ALA640 U  -    
37:19    32 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:20    33 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:21    34 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B HGST HUS722T2TALA604    U  -    
37:22    35 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 U  -    
37:23    36 UGood -  1.817 TB SATA HDD N   N  512B HGST HUS724020ALA640    U  -    
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EID-Enclosure Device ID|Slt-Slot No.|DID-Device ID|DG-DriveGroup
DHS-Dedicated Hot Spare|UGood-Unconfigured Good|GHS-Global Hotspare
UBad-Unconfigured Bad|Onln-Online|Offln-Offline|Intf-Interface
Med-Media Type|SED-Self Encryptive Drive|PI-Protection Info
SeSz-Sector Size|Sp-Spun|U-Up|D-Down/PowerSave|T-Transition|F-Foreign
UGUnsp-Unsupported|UGShld-UnConfigured shielded|HSPShld-Hotspare shielded
CFShld-Configured shielded|Cpybck-CopyBack|CBShld-Copyback Shielded

Keep on reading!

Install the new storcli to manage (LSI/AVAGO/Broadcom) MegaRAID controller under CentOS 7

After the acquisition of LSI there was a major change with the management console utility for the MegaRAID controllers. The utility was renamed from MegaCli (MegaCli64, megacli) to

storcli (storcli64)

We have new controllers like AVAGO MegaRAID SAS-9361-4i and really old ones like LSI 2108 MegaRAID (in fact Supermicro AOC-USAS2LP-H8iR) and the two controllers could be manage with the new cli. even the old controller, which is on more than 8 years could be manage by the new cli.
Interesting fact is that the storcli output and argument syntax and is almost identical to the one really old cli – tw_cli – the 3Ware management utility. As you know LSI bought 3ware RAID adapter business in 2009.
Keep on reading!

AVAGO MegaRAID SAS-9361-4i with CacheCade – create a new virtual drive RAID5 with SSD caching

Here is howto article for creating a RAID5 device in MegaRAID SAS-9361-4i with SSD caching. First and really important thing is to have the CacheCade ability to the controller, which should be purchased because it is a software add-on.
To have an SSD caching your virtual raid drive (probably hard disk drives) with a MegaRAID controller one setup is the following:

  1. LSI LSI00415 MegaRAID 9361-4i SGL
  2. LSI LSI00293

And it is advisable to have Cache Protection to protect your setup (it is extra protection to the battery kit – it is not the same) – LSI LSI00418 LSICVM02.

You can check also our AVAGO MegaRaid SAS 9361-4i with CacheCade and CacheVault BIOS configuration utilities review.

Here are the steps to create a RAID5 device with SSD caching using the BIOS Configuration Utility:

STEP 1) Supermicro device initialization

main menu
Start up your server

Keep on reading!

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

AVAGO MegaRaid SAS 9361-4i with CacheCade and CacheVault BIOS configuration utilities review

Here is the screenshots’ review of LSI LSI00415 MegaRAID 9361-4i SGL controller with CacheVault Accessory kit LSI LSI00293. The controller has 3 hard disk and an SSD for the cache vault.
As you can see we use LSI, but in deed this is the AVAGO controller. First it was LSI, which was acquired by AVAGO and then AVAGO acquired Broadcom and rebranded to Broadcom. It is good to know it how these names are connected, because any controllers still use them in BIOS, management console cli, manuals and so on. You are going to see that in the controller’s BIOS and controller initialization boot up you can read only AVAGO – no LSI or Broadcom. Probably the most famous and familiar name of the three company names is LSI (hardware controller).
The screenshots are from the BIOS of “LSI LSI00415 MegaRAID 9361-4i SGL” with LSI LSI00293, CacheCade and LSI LSI00418 LSICVM02 – CacheVault Accessory kit.

So as you see you need two additional features to have a SSD as a cache device in your LSI (AVAGO/Broadcom) controller!

Check out our article AVAGO MegaRAID SAS-9361-4i with CacheCade – create a new virtual drive RAID5 with SSD caching.

SCREENSHOT 1) Booting the controller and checking the devices.

main menu
LSI controller Booting

Keep on reading!

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6