•RAID50:acombinationofRAID0andRAID5
RAID50usesdistributedparityanddiskstriping.ARAID50drivegroupisaspanneddrivegroupin
whichdataisstripedacrossmultipleRAID5drivegroups.RAID50worksbestwithdatathatrequires
highreliability,highrequestrates,highdatatransfers,andmedium-to-largecapacity.
Note:HavingvirtualdrivesofdifferentRAIDlevels,suchasRAID0andRAID5,inthesamedrivegroupis
notallowed.Forexample,ifanexistingRAID5virtualdriveiscreatedoutofpartialspaceinanarray,the
nextvirtualdriveinthearrayhastobeRAID5only.
RAID50requiresaminimumnumberofsixharddiskdrives.
•RAID60:acombinationofRAID0andRAID6
RAID60usesdistributedparity,withtwoindependentparityblocksperstripeineachRAIDset,anddisk
striping.ARAID60virtualdrivecansurvivethelossoftwodrivesineachoftheRAID6setswithout
losingdata.RAID60worksbestwithdatathatrequireshighreliability,highrequestrates,highdata
transfers,andmedium-to-largecapacity.
RAID60requiresaminimumnumberofsixharddiskdrives.
FordetailedinformationaboutRAID,referto“IntroductiontoRAID”intheMegaRAIDSASSoftwareUser
GuideonthedocumentationDVDthatcomeswithyourserver.
ConfiguringRAIDusingtheThinkServerEasyStartupprogram
TheThinkServerEasyStartupprogramsimplifiestheprocessofconfiguringsupportedRAIDandinstalling
supportedWindowsandLinuxoperatingsystemsanddevicedriversonyourserver.Theuserguideforthe
programcanbeaccesseddirectlyfromtheprograminterface.
TheThinkServerEasyStartupprogramhasthefollowingfeaturesforRAIDconfiguration:
•ForusewithallsupportedRAIDcontrollers
•AutomaticallydetectshardwareandlistsallsupportedRAIDconfigurations
•Configuresoneormorediskarrayspercontrollerdependingonthenumberofdrivesattachedtothe
controllerandtheRAIDlevelselected
•Supportshot-sparedrives
•CreatesaRAIDresponsefilethatcanbeusedtoconfigureRAIDcontrollersonsimilarlyconfigured
Lenovoservers
See“UsingtheThinkServerEasyStartupprogram”onpage67andviewtheuserguidefromthemain
interfaceoftheprogram.
SomeRAIDmanagementsoftwarealsoisprovidedontheThinkServerEasyStartupDVDtohelpyoumanage
RAIDarraysandRAIDcontrollersinanoperatingsystemenvironment.Afteryouentertheoperatingsystem,
inserttheThinkServerEasyStartupDVDintotheopticaldrive.Theinstallationpackagesfortheprograms
arelocatedintheUtilitiesandOthersfolderintherootdirectoryoftheDVD.TheThinkServerEasyStartup
DVDisdesignedfordifferenttypesofserversandtheUtilitiesandOthersfoldermightcontainadditional
installationpackagesthatarenotrequiredtobeinstalledonyourserver.
ConfiguringtheadvancedSATAorSAShardwareRAID
BeforeconfiguringRAIDforyourserver,observethefollowingprecautions:
•Useharddiskdrivesthatareofthesametype(SATAorSAS)andhavethesamecapacitywithina
singleRAIDarray.
•Dependingontheoperatingsystem,thetotaldrivecapacityoftheprimaryRAIDmightbelimitedto2TB.
72ThinkServerRD640UserGuideandHardwareMaintenanceManual