Common IBM SAS RAID controller tasks
The instructions in this set of topics pertain to the various tasks that can be performed to manage disk arrays. The interface for working with the IBM® SAS RAID controller is iprconfig.
When managing the IBM SAS RAID controller, you work with the iprconfig interface.
- Starting the iprconfig utility
Use the iprconfig utility to work with the RAID controller. - Status of devices, arrays, and paths
You can check on the status of your devices, arrays, and paths. - RAID and JBOD formats
Disks must be formatted before they can be used and recognized in a disk array. - Creating and deleting disk arrays
Create and delete IBM SAS RAID disk arrays by following the procedures in this information set. - Adding disks to an existing array
Some controllers support adding disks to existing RAID level 5 or 6 disk arrays, which allows you to dynamically increase the capacity of a disk array while preserving its existing data. - Migrating an existing disk array to a new RAID level
The SAS RAID controller supports migrating an existing RAID 0 or 10 disk array to RAID 10 or 0, respectively. This allows you to dynamically change the level of protection of a disk array while preserving its existing data. - Managing the volatile adapter write cache
The 8247-21L, 8247-22L, and 8247-42L systems support the volatile adapter write cache feature with the 57D7 integrated SAS controllers or the 57B4 PCIe3 RAID SAS adapter, when configured in a single controller configuration. After the required level of adapter firmware and Linux software operating system are installed, this feature is enabled by default, but the feature can be disabled manually for each of the individual RAID arrays. This feature enables a volatile write cache in the SAS RAID adapter into which data is written. The data is then flushed to the underlying disks. This feature allows the RAID adapter to combine multiple host write operations into fewer write operations to the disks. It also enables the RAID adapter to issue stripe write operations to RAID 5 or 6 arrays, when a full parity stripe of data is available in the cache. - Hot spare disks
Use hot spare disks to automatically replace failed disks in a RAID environment. . - Drive queue depth
For performance reasons, you might want to change the queue depth of the disk command. The disk queue depth limits the maximum number of commands that the Linux software can issue concurrently to that disk at any time. - Considerations for solid-state drives (SSD)
The purpose of this section is to cover important controller functions when using solid-state drives (SSD).
Parent topic: SAS RAID controllers for Linux
Last updated: Wed, May 24, 2017