Lenovo ThinkServer TD340 - Initializing a Virtual Drive

Initializingavirtualdrive
ThistopicprovidesinstructionsonhowtoinitializeavirtualdriveusingtheLSISoftwareRAIDConfiguration
Utilityprogramaftercompletingtheconfigurationprocess.
Virtualdriveinitializationistheprocessofwritingzerostothedatafieldsofavirtualdriveand,infault-tolerant
RAIDlevels,generatingthecorrespondingparitytoputthevirtualdriveinareadystate.Initializationerases
alldataonthevirtualdrive.Drivegroupswillworkwithoutbeinginitialized,buttheycanfailaconsistency
checkbecausetheparityfieldshavenotbeengenerated.
Notes:
•Ensurethatyoubackupanydatayouwanttokeepbeforeinitializingavirtualdrive.
•Ensurethattheoperatingsystemisnotinstalledonthevirtualdriveyouareinitializing.Otherwise,you
needtoreinstalltheoperatingsystemafterinitializingthevirtualdrive.
ToinitializeavirtualdriveusingtheLSISoftwareRAIDConfigurationUtilityprogram,dothefollowing:
1.StarttheLSISoftwareRAIDConfigurationUtilityprogram.See“StartingtheLSISoftwareRAID
ConfigurationUtilityprogram”onpage74.
2.Onthemaininterfaceoftheprogram,selectInitializeandfollowtheinstructionsonthescreen.
Settingahot-sparedrive
Thistopicprovidesinstructionsonhowtosetaharddiskdriveasahot-sparedriveusingtheLSISoftware
RAIDConfigurationUtilityprogram.
Ahot-sparedriveisanextra,unuseddrivethatispartofthedisksubsystem.Itisusuallyinstandbymode
andreadyforserviceifaharddiskdrivefails.Fordetailedinformationabouthot-sparedrives,referto
“IntroductiontoRAID”intheMegaRAIDSASSoftwareUserGuideonthedocumentationDVDthatcomes
withyourserver.
Tosetaharddiskdriveasahot-sparedriveusingtheLSISoftwareRAIDConfigurationUtilityprogram,
dothefollowing:
1.StarttheLSISoftwareRAIDConfigurationUtilityprogram.See“StartingtheLSISoftwareRAID
ConfigurationUtilityprogram”onpage74
.
2.Dooneofthefollowing:
•IfyouwanttocreateoraddanewRAIDarray,youcansetahot-sparedriveduringtheconfiguration
processbyfollowingtheinstructionsonthescreen.
•Ifyouwanttosetahot-sparedriverightaftertheconfiguration,selectObjects➙PhysicalDrive
fromtheprogrammaininterface.Then,selecttheharddiskdrivethatyouwanttosetasahot-spare
driveandpressEnter.Asubmenuisdisplayed.SelectMakeHotSparefromthesubmenu,andthen
selectYeswhenpromptedtosettheharddiskdriveasahot-sparedrive.
Rebuildingaphysicaldrive
ThistopicprovidesinstructionsonhowtorebuildaphysicaldriveusingtheLSISoftwareRAIDConfiguration
UtilityprogramwhenaphysicaldriveinaRAIDarrayfails.
WhenaphysicaldriveinaRAIDarrayfails,youcanrebuildthedrivebyrecreatingthedatathatwasstored
onthedrivebeforeitfails.Ifthedriveisnotoperational,itmustbereplacedandthedataonthefailingdrive
mustberebuiltonanewdrivetorestorethesystemtofaulttolerance.Ifhot-sparedrivesareavailable,the
failingdrivemightberebuiltautomaticallywithoutanyuserintervention.
TheRAIDcontrollerrecreatesthedatausingthedatastoredonotherdrivesinthedrivegroup.Rebuilding
canbedoneonlyindrivegroupswithdataredundancy,suchasRAID1,RAID5,andRAID10arrays.For
Chapter5.Configuringtheserver77