Document Outline

• Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S100, PERC S300 User’s Guide
  • Contents
    • 1 WARNING: Safety Instructions 7
    • 2 Overview 11
    • 3 Features 21
    • 4 Hardware Installation 31
    • 5 Installing the Drivers 37
    • 6 RAID Configuration and Management 47
    • 7 Troubleshooting 61
    • 8 Appendix A 77
    • 9 Appendix B 81
    • 10 Appendix C 89
    • 11 Appendix D 95
  • WARNING: Safety Instructions
    • SAFETY: General
    • SAFETY: When Working Inside Your System
      • 1 Turn off the system and any devices.
      • 2 Wear grounding straps that are properly grounded before touching anything inside the system.
      • 3 While you work, periodically touch an unpainted metal surface on the chassis to dissipate any static electricity that might harm internal components.
      • 4 Disconnect your system and devices from their power sources. To reduce the potential of personal injury or shock, disconnect any telecommunication lines from the system.
    • Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge
  • Overview
    • Introduction
    • General Information, Intended Audience, and Prerequisites for Use
    • Related Documentation
    • PERC S100 Adapter or PERC S300 Adapter Descriptions
      • Supported Platforms
        • Table 2-1. Dell Systems and Support Matrix for the PERC S100 Adapter and PERC S300 Adapter
      • Platform Requirements for the PERC S100 Controller and PERC S300 Controller
        • Table 2-2. Platform Requirements - PERC S100 Controller or PERC S300 Controller
    • About RAID
      • Summary of RAID Levels
    • RAID Terminology
      • Disk Striping
        • Figure 2-1. Example of Disk Striping (RAID 0)
      • Disk Mirroring
        • Figure 2-2. Example of Disk Mirroring (RAID 1)
      • Spanned RAID Levels
      • Parity Data
        • Figure 2-3. Example of Distributed Parity (RAID 5)
    • Features
      • General Features
      • Specifications
  • Hardware Installation
    • Before You Begin
    • General Considerations
    • Installing the PERC S300 Adapter
      • 1 Unpack the PERC S300 Adapter and check it for damage.
      • 2 Turn off the system and attached peripherals. Disconnect the system power cable from the electrical outlet. See the system’s Hardware Owner’s Manual or User’s Guide on support.dell.com/manuals for more information about power supplies.
      • 3 Disconnect the system from the network and remove the cover of the system. See your system’s Hardware Owner’s Manual or User’s Guide for more information on opening the system.
      • 4 Select an appropriate PCI-E slot. Remove the blank filler bracket on the back of the system aligned with the PCI-E slot you have selected.
      • 5 Align the PERC S300 Adapter to the PCI-E slot you have selected.
      • 6 Insert the controller gently, but firmly, until the controller is firmly seated in the PCI-E slot. See Figure 4-1.
      • 7 Tighten the bracket screw, if any, or use the system’s retention clips to secure the controller to the system’s chassis.
      • Figure 4-1. Installing a PERC S300 Adapter
      • Figure 4-2. Connecting the Cables
    • Connect Physical Disks to the PERC S300 Adapter
      • 1 Install the physical disks into the system.
      • 2 Connect a multiple-connector cable from the physical disks (or from the backplane) to the controller.
    • Complete the Hardware Installation
      • 1 Make sure that the wire bundles and cables inside the system are not twisted. Make sure they do not interfere with fans, power supplies, heat sinks, or electrical devices.
      • 2 Replace the cover of the system. See your system’s Hardware Owner’s Manual or User’s Guide for more information on closing the system.
      • 3 Reconnect the power cable(s) and network cables, and then turn on the system.
  • Installing the Drivers
    • Installing the Microsoft Windows Drivers
      • Downloading the Controller Driver Media
        • 1 Go to support.dell.com/support/downloads.
        • 2 Select Choose by Service TagÆEnter a Tag.
        • 3 Enter the Service Tag of the system on which you want to install the PERC S100 adapter/PERC S300 adapter drivers and select Go.
        • 4 Choose the applicable operating system.
        • 5 Expand the SAS RAID Controller category.
        • 6 Select Download Now for the appropriate controller driver.
        • 7 Use the blank optical medium to burn the ISO image.
        • 8 Download the files for the PERC S100 adapter or PERC S300 adapter to the driver media, as indicated in Figure 5-1.
        • Table 5-1. Operating System And Device Driver Media
      • Pre-Installation Requirements for the Controller Drivers
        • Table 5-2. Pre-Installation Procedures For The Controller Drivers
          • 1 Confirm or change configuration settings at the Dell PowerEdge System window
            • a Boot the system. When the Dell Power-On Self-Test (POST) screen appears, press <F2>.
            • b Wait until the Dell PowerEdge System window appears. Perform the following, depending on the controller:
            • c Press <Esc> to exit.
            • d Press <Esc> again. The following occurs:
          • 2 Install the PERC S300 adapter (as required)
          • 3 Initialize physical disks (as required)
          • 4 Create a bootable virtual disk
          • 5 Check controller options and the boot list priority
            • a At the PERC S100 Virtual Disk Management utility or PERC S300 Virtual Disk Management utility, use the arrow keys to select Controller Options. Press <Enter>. Make sure that Toggle INT13 Boot Support is ON. Press <Esc> to exit.
            • b At the Virtual Disks field, make sure the bootable virtual disk created in Procedure 4, is the first virtual disk listed.
            • c Select Continue to Boot and press <Enter>.
          • 6 Change the Boot Priority List for Devices (if applicable)
            • a Boot the system. When the POST screen appears, press <F2>.
            • b At the Dell PowerEdge System screen, use the arrow keys to scroll to Boot Sequence. Press <Enter>.
            • c Make sure that Hard drive C: is the first device listed.
            • d To change the sequence of other devices:
            • e Press <Esc> to exit.
            • f Press <Esc> again. Select Save Changes and Exit and press <Enter>.
      • Installing the Controller Drivers During the Operating System Installation: For Systems with a PERC S100 Adapter
        • 1 Reboot the system. When the POST screen appears press <F11>.
        • 2 Insert the Windows operating system media into the optical drive of the system.
        • 3 When the BIOS boot manager or boot device menu appears, select the text that begins with Embedded SATA... and press <Enter>.
        • 4 Install the applicable Microsoft Windows operating system, using the on-screen instructions.
        • 5 At the Select the driver to be installed window a Load Driver sub-screen appears. Perform the following:
          • a Insert the CD-ROM, DVD, USB flash drive, or floppy disk that contains the files copied at "Downloading the Controller Driver Media" on page 37. Click Browse.
          • b At the Browse to folder window, access the directory that contains the controller driver files. Locate and select the files. Click OK.
          • a Insert the floppy disk that contains the files copied at "Downloading the Controller Driver Media" on page 37. (An external USB floppy disk drive can be used, if your system does not have a built-in floppy disk drive).
          • b Press <F6> on the keyboard, when prompted at the beginning of the Windows setup.
          • c Wait until the Windows Setup window with S = Specify Additional Device appears. Press <S> on the keyboard.
          • d Insert the requested media disk (as applicable) and press <Enter>.
        • 6 At the next Select the driver to be installed window, select Dell PERC S100 S300 Controller... Click Next to load the driver files.
        • 7 From the list at the Select the operating system you want to install window, select the applicable operating system. Click Next.
        • 8 Perform the remaining operating system installation instructions. Some of the windows require user-specific password and system information. As required, contact your IT administrator for assistance.
      • Installing the Controller Drivers During the Operating System Installation: For Systems with a PERC S300 Adapter
        • 1 Reboot the system. When the POST screen appears press <F11>.
        • 2 Insert the Windows operating system media into the optical drive of the system.
        • 3 When the BIOS Boot Manager window appears, select the text that begins with SATA Optical Drive... and press <Enter>.
        • 4 Install the applicable Microsoft Windows operating system, using the on-screen instructions.
        • 5 From the list at the Select the operating system you want to install window, select the applicable operating system. Click Next.
        • 6 Perform the on-screen instructions at the next several windows.
        • 7 At Install Windows - Where do you want to install Windows?, perform the following:
          • a Insert the CD-ROM, DVD, USB flash drive, or floppy disk that contains the files copied at "Downloading the Controller Driver Media" on page 37. Click Load Driver.
          • b At the Load Driver sub-screen, click Browse.
          • c Select the directory that has the controller driver files. Click OK.
          • a Insert the floppy disk that contains the files copied at "Downloading the Controller Driver Media" on page 37. (An external USB floppy disk drive can be used, if your system does not have a built-in floppy disk drive).
          • b Press <F6> on the keyboard, when prompted at the beginning of the Windows setup.
          • c Wait until the Windows Setup screen appears with S = Specify Additional Device. Press <S> on the keyboard.
          • d Insert the requested media disk (as applicable) and press <Enter>.
        • 8 At the Select the driver to be installed window, select Dell PERC S100, S300 Controller... Click Next to load the driver files.
        • 9 Perform the remaining operating system installation instructions. Some of the windows require user-specific password and system information. As required, contact your IT administrator for assistance
      • Performing the PERC S100 Controller or PERC S300 Controller Management Setup Procedure
  • RAID Configuration and Management
    • Configuring the Controller: Using the PERC Virtual Disk Management Utility
      • Table 6-1. PERC Virtual Disk Management Utility Operations
      • Accessing the PERC Virtual Disk Management Utility
        • 1 Boot the system and wait until the message Press <Ctrl><R> to Configure appears.
        • 2 Press <Ctrl><R>.
      • Understanding the Text Colors in the PERC Virtual Disk Management Utility
        • Table 6-2. PERC Virtual Disk Management Text Colors
      • Initializing Physical Disks
        • 1 Power-up the system to start booting.
        • 2 When prompted, press the <Ctrl><R> keys to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
        • 3 At the Main Menu field use the arrow keys to select the Initialize Physical Disk(s) option.
        • 4 Press <Enter>.
        • 5 Use the arrow keys to select Initialize for PERC S100 (PERC S300) or Initialize to Non-Raid.
        • 6 Press <Enter>.
        • 7 Use the arrow keys to select a physical disk. Press <Insert> to select the physical disk, or press the <A> key to choose all selectable physical disks.
        • 8 Press <Enter> to initialize the selected physical disk or disks.
        • 9 A dialog box appears, warning that any data on the physical disk will be permanently lost if it is initialized. Press the <C> key to continue with initialization or press <Esc> to cancel.
      • Creating Virtual Disks
        • Before You Begin
          • 1 Power-up the system to start booting.
          • 2 When prompted, press the <Ctrl><R> keys to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
          • 3 At the Main Menu field, use the arrow keys to select Create Virtual Disk. Press <Enter>.
          • 4 At the Physical Disks field, select the physical disk(s) on which to create a virtual disk:
            • a For each physical disk, press the <Insert> key to select the physical disk. (The physical disks can be inserted in any order.)
            • b After selecting the physical disk(s) to be included in the virtual disk, press <Enter>.
          • 5 At the User Input field, use the arrow keys to select a virtual disk type (RAID level). Press <Enter>. (Only the virtual disk types that can be created with the selected physical disk(s) are indicated; they are highlighted in white text).
          • 6 If hot spares are applicable:
            • a At the User Input field, use the arrow keys to select a dedicated hot spare. Press <Enter>.
            • b At the Physical Disks field, select the physical disk to use as a hot spare (if applicable). Press <Insert> to select it.
            • c Press <Enter> to add the hot spare. Press the <C> key to confirm the change.
          • 7 Select a size for the virtual disk, depending on the available free space of the physical disks. Review the choices indicated in Table 6-3. (Virtual disk size changes are displayed at the Create Virtual Disk and User Input fields.)
          • 8 After you choose the virtual disk size, press <Enter>.
          • 9 At the User Input field, select a Caching Mode. Press <Enter>.
          • 10 Press the <C> key to confirm that you want to create the virtual disk.
          • 11 At the Main Menu field, perform other operations or select Continue to Boot and press <Enter>.
          • Table 6-3. Selection of Virtual Disk Sizes
            • 1 Press the <Page Up> or the up arrow key to increase the virtual disk size.
            • 2 At the maximum size, a dialog box appears in the User Input field. It inquires if you want to limit the size of the virtual disk or exceed the normal maximum size.
            • 3 Press <Esc> to create a larger virtual disk.
            • 4 Press the <Page Up> or the up arrow key, until the desired or maximum available size has been attained.
            • 5 Continue with "Creating Virtual Disks" on page 51.
      • Deleting Virtual Disks
        • 1 Power-up the system to start booting.
        • 2 When prompted, press the <Ctrl><R> keys to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
        • 3 At the Main Menu field, select Delete Virtual Disk(s). Press <Enter>.
        • 4 Perform one of the following:
        • 5 Press <Enter>.
        • 6 Press the <C> key to confirm the deletion.
      • Swapping Two Virtual Disks
        • Before You Begin
          • 1 Power-up the system to start booting.
          • 2 When prompted, press the <Ctrl><R> keys to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
          • 3 At the Main Menu field, select Swap Two Virtual Disks. Press <Enter>.
          • 4 Use the arrow keys to highlight a virtual disk at the Virtual Disk field. Press <Insert>.
          • 5 Use the arrow keys to highlight another virtual disk. Press <Insert>.
          • 6 Press <Enter> to swap the virtual disks.
      • Managing Global Hot Spares
        • Create a Global Hot Spare
          • 1 Power-up the system to start booting.
          • 2 When prompted, press the <Ctrl><R> keys to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
          • 3 At the Main Menu field, select Manage Global Spare(s). Press <Enter>.
          • 4 Select Assign Global Hot Spare(s). Press <Enter>.
          • 5 Use the up or down arrow key to select a physical disk(s) for use as a global hot spare(s). Press <Insert>.
          • 6 Press <Enter> to add the global hot spare.
          • 7 Press the <C> key to confirm the action.
        • Delete a Global Hot Spare
          • 1 Power-up the system to start booting.
          • 2 When prompted, press the <Ctrl><R> keys to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
          • 3 At the Main Menu field, select Manage Global Spare(s). Press <Enter>.
          • 4 Select Unassign Global Hot Spare(s). Press <Enter>.
          • 5 Use the up or down arrow key to select the physical disk(s) to delete as a global hot spare(s). Press <Insert>.
          • 6 Press <Enter> to delete the global hot spare.
          • 7 Press the <C> key to confirm the action.
      • Viewing Physical Disk Details
        • 1 Power-up the system to start booting.
        • 2 When prompted, press the <Ctrl><R> keys to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
        • 3 At the Main Menu field, select View Physical Disk Details. Press <Enter>.
        • 4 Use the arrow keys to choose a physical disk.
        • 5 Physical disk information is displayed at the top of the window:
        • 6 When finished, press <Esc> to return to the main window.
      • Viewing Virtual Disk Details
        • 1 Power-up the system to start booting.
        • 2 When prompted, press the <Ctrl><R> keys to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
        • 3 At the Main Menu field, select View Virtual Disk Details. Press <Enter>.
        • 4 Use the arrow keys to choose a virtual disk.
        • 5 Virtual disk information is displayed at the top of the window and in the Virtual Disks field:
        • 6 When finished, press <Esc> to return to the main window.
      • Rescanning Disks
      • Controller Options
        • 1 At the Main Menu field, use the arrow key to select Controller Options. Press <Enter>.
        • 2 At the Controller Options field, use the up or down arrow keys to scroll to the desired controller option. See Table 6-4.
        • 3 When finished, press <Esc> to return to the main window.
        • Table 6-4. Controller Options
      • Continuing to Boot
  • Troubleshooting
    • System Startup Problems
      • Table 7-1. System Does Not Boot
        • 1 At system startup, when the Dell Power-On Self- Test (POST) screen appears, press <F2> to enter the Dell Inc. PowerEdge BIOS screen.
        • 2 Scroll to SATA Settings. Press <Enter> and make sure that the following is true:
        • 1 At system startup, when the Dell POST screen appears, press <F2> to enter the Dell Inc. PowerEdge BIOS screen.
        • 2 Scroll to Boot Settings. Press <Enter> and make sure that Boot Mode is set to BIOS.
        • 3 Scroll to Boot Sequence. Press <Enter> and make sure that Hard drive C: (* PERC S100 adapter or PERC S300 adapter) is the first device listed. * The variable text displayed here might be: Embedded SATA 1, Slot 1, or Integrated SAS.
        • 4 Scroll to Boot Sequence Retry. Make sure that the setting is Enabled.
        • 5 Press <Esc> to exit and continue booting.
        • 1 Press <Ctrl><Alt><Del> to restart.
        • 2 After the system restarts, press <Ctrl><R>. Check the status of the bootable virtual disk at the Virtual Disk field, or by highlighting View Virtual Disks Details and pressing <Enter>.
        • 3 Check for missing or offline physical disks.
        • 1 When prompted at system startup, press <Ctrl><R> to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
        • 2 Check Virtual Disks and make sure that the bootable virtual disk is the first virtual disk listed.
        • 3 As required, use the Swap Two Virtual Disks option to reposition the virtual disks.
        • 1 When prompted at system startup, press <Ctrl><R> to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
        • 2 Check Virtual Disks and determine if the bootable Non-Raid virtual disk is no longer in the first position.
        • 3 Use the Swap Two Virtual Disks option to swap the virtual disks and place the bootable Non- Raid virtual disk in the first position of the Virtual Disks field.
      • Table 7-2. The PERC Virtual Disk Management Option Does Not Display
    • Warning Messages: Dell Inc. PERC S100 Adapter or Dell Inc. PERC S300 Adapter BIOS Screen
      • Table 7-3. Warning Messages: Dell Inc. PERC S100 or PERC S300 Adapter BIOS
      • Table 7-4. Warning Messages: Dell Inc. PERC S100 or S300 Adapter BIOS (continued)
      • Table 7-5. Warning Messages: Dell Inc. PERC S100 or S300 Adapter BIOS (continued)
      • Table 7-6. Warning Messages: Dell Inc. PERC S100 or S300 Adapter BIOS (continued)
        • 1 Press <Ctrl><Alt><Del> to exit from the boot sequence.
        • 2 Turn off your system, then restart it.
        • 3 When instructed during the start-up sequence, press <Ctrl><R> to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.
        • 4 At the Main Menu field, use the arrow key to scroll to Controller Options. Press <Enter>.
        • 5 At INT13 Boot Support press <Enter> and change OFF to ON.
        • 6 Press <Esc>.
        • 7 At the Main Menu field, use the arrow key to scroll to Continue to Boot. Press <Enter>.
      • Table 7-7. Other Errors Appearing on the BIOS
        • 1 Boot system into CTLR-R and replace faulty drive.
        • 2 Delete the failed RAID 0 and then create a new RAID 0. Now RAID 0 is optimal and RAID 1 is still degraded.
        • 3 Install OS on the RAID 0 and backup RAID 1.
        • 4 Delete and Recreate RAID 1 and restore backup data.
    • Virtual Disk-Related Errors
      • Table 7-8. Cannot Create a Virtual Disk
      • Table 7-9. A Virtual Disk is in a Failed State
      • Table 7-10. A Virtual Disk is in a Degraded State
        • 1 Delete the virtual disk that has the failed metadata.
        • 2 Assign the physical disk as a hot spare to rebuild a redundant virtual disk.
        • 3 To create a non-redundant virtual disk, delete and rebuilt the data on a virtual disk, and restore the data from a backup storage source.
      • Table 7-11. Cannot Assign a Dedicated Hot Spare to a Virtual Disk
      • Table 7-12. Cannot Create a Global Hot Spare
    • Physical Disk-Related Errors
      • Table 7-13. The Physical Disk Fails
      • Table 7-14. A Dedicated Hot Spare Fails
      • Table 7-15. The Wrong Physical Disk was Removed
      • Table 7-16. Cannot Initialize a Physical Disk
  • Appendix A
    • Controller Specifications
      • Read, Write, and Cache Policy
        • Table A-1. Read, Write, and Cache Policy for the PERC S100 adapter and PERC S300 adapter
    • Controller Tasks
      • Table A-2. PERC S100 Adapter and PERC S300 Adapter Tasks
    • Physical Disk Tasks
      • Table A-3. Physical Disk Tasks
    • Virtual Disk Tasks
      • Table A-4. Virtual Disk Tasks
    • Supported RAID Levels
      • Table A-5. Supported RAID Levels for the PERC S100 adapter and PERC S300 adapter
    • Virtual Disk Specifications
      • Table A-6. Virtual Disk Specifications for the PERC S100 adapter and PERC S300 adapter
  • Appendix B
    • RAID Technology - Understanding Disk Arrays and Virtual Disks
      • Understanding RAID Levels
        • Table B-1. RAID Levels and Characteristics
      • Disk States - Virtual and Physical Disks
        • Table B-2. Physical Disk States
        • Table B-3. Virtual Disk States
      • Failure States
        • Table B-4. Failure Status by Virtual Disk RAID Level
      • Creating Virtual Disks: Future Expansion
      • Understanding Physical Disks
        • Physical Disk States
          • Table B-5. Minimum and Maximum Physical Disk Configurations
        • Rescanning Physical Disks for Changes in State
      • Dedicated Hot Spares
      • Global Hot Spares
  • Appendix C
    • Regulatory Notices
    • FCC Notice (U.S. Only)
      • FCC, Class A
      • FCC, Class B
    • Industry Canada Notice (Canada Only)
      • Industry Canada, Class A
      • Industry Canada, Class B
    • CE Notice (European Union)
    • CE Mark Notice
  • Appendix D
    • Contacting Dell
      • 1 Visit support.dell.com.
      • 2 Click your country/region at the bottom of the page. For a full listing of country/region click All.
      • 3 Click All Support from the Support menu.
      • 4 Select the appropriate service or support link based on your need.
      • 5 Choose the method of contacting Dell that is convenient for you.
  • Index
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G
    • H
    • I
    • M
    • O
    • P
    • R
    • S
    • T
    • V
    • W
      • Glossary
      • Adapter
      • AHCI
      • ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment)
      • ATAPI (ATA Packet Interface)
      • Background Initialization
      • BAS (Background Array Scan)
      • BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) Configuration Utility
      • Cache
      • Caching
      • Channel
      • Consistency Check
      • Controller
      • Disk
      • Disk Array
      • Disk Migration
      • Disk Roaming
      • Distributed Parity
      • Failed Physical Disk
      • Fault Tolerance
      • Firmware
      • Format
      • GB
      • GPT (GUID Partition Table)
      • Globally Unique Identifier (GUID)
      • HBA (Host Bus Adaptor)
      • Host System
      • Hot Spare
      • Hot Swap
      • Initialization
      • INT 13h
      • JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks [Drives])
      • LED (Light Emitting Diode)
      • Load Balancing
      • MB
      • mirroring
      • NAS (Network Attached Storage)
      • NCQ (Native Command Queuing)
      • Non-Raid Configuration
      • Non-Redundant Virtual Disk
      • Ns
      • NTFS (New Technology File System)
      • OCE (Online Capacity Expansion)
      • Offline
      • Online
      • Parity
      • Partition
      • PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express)
      • PERC S100 Virtual Disk Management, PERC S300 Virtual Disk Management Utility
      • Physical Disk
      • PnP (Plug and Play)
      • Port
      • RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)
      • RAID Levels
      • RAID Management Utility
      • Rebuild
      • Redundancy
      • Redundant Virtual Disk
      • Replacement Disk
      • SAN (Storage Area Network)
      • SAS (Serial Attached SCSI)
      • SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)
      • SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
      • Spanning
      • Spare
      • SSD (Solid State Disk)
      • Storport
      • Storage Arrays
      • Striping
      • TB (terabyte)
      • Transformation
      • Virtual Disk
      • Write-Cache Enable
      • Write-Cache Disable
      • WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs)