Overview

Dell™ OpenManage™ Server Administrator Storage Management provides enhanced features for configuring a system's locally-attached RAID and non-RAID disk storage. Storage Management enables you to perform controller and enclosure functions for all supported RAID and non-RAID controllers and enclosures from a single graphical or command-line interface without requiring use of the controller BIOS utilities. The graphical interface is wizard-driven with features for novice and advanced users. The command-line interface is fully-featured and scriptable. Using Storage Management, you can protect your data by configuring data-redundancy, assigning hot spares, or rebuilding failed physical disks. You can also perform data-destructive tasks. All users of Storage Management should be familiar with their storage environment and storage management.

Storage Management supports SCSI, SATA, ATA, and SAS but not fibre channel.

For more information, see the following:

"Getting Started"
"Understanding RAID Concepts"
"Quick Access to Storage Status and Tasks"

For information on Storage Management alerts, see the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Messages Reference Guide on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com/manuals.

What’s New in this Release?

This release of Storage Management provides the following new features:

For PERC controllers with firmware 6.1 and above, you can create a single span virtual disk with 22 or 26 physical drives for RAID level 10.
For RAID level 10, RAID 50, and RAID 60, you can create a maximum of 16 virtual disks per disk group for H700 and H800 controllers. Previously, the limit was one.
NOTE: For PERC 700 and PERC 800 controllers, intelligent mirroring allows to create only one virtual disk per disk group for RAID 10.
For PERC H700 and PERC H800 controllers, you can assign persistent drive slots for hot spare.
For PERC H700 and PERC H800 controllers with the firmware version 7.1 and above, you can manage the power consumed by physical disks by spinning down the hot spares and unconfigured disks.
For PERC H700 and PERC H800 controllers, while creating a security key, you can save the passphrase to a file on the system where Distributed Web Server is running.
For PERC H700 and PERC H800 controllers, without adding an additional physical disk, you can re-configure the virtual disk to expand the capacity if free space is available in the disk group.
You can view the Patrol Read report, Check Consistency report, and Slot Occupancy report in the storage dash board and in the controller information page.
You can view the Slot Occupancy report in the enclosure information page.

This version of Storage Management User’s Guide no longer carries information on Alert Messages and Command Line Interface.

For information on Alert Messages, see the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Messages Reference Guide and for information on Command Line Interface, see Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Command Line Interface User’s Guide, on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com/manuals.

Installation Considerations for Storage Management

The following sections describe considerations for installing Storage Management.

PERC Console and FAST Compatibility Issues When Installing Storage Management

To maintain the integrity of storage device configuration, installing Storage Management on a system that has File and Storage Technologies (FAST) or the PowerEdge™ RAID Controller (PERC) Console installed is an unsupported configuration. It is highly recommended that you uninstall FAST and the PERC Console before installing Storage Management. In particular, you may find that Storage Management or the FAST features are disabled at run time when using Storage Management on a system that also has FAST installed.

Storage Management replaces all storage management features provided by FAST and the PERC Console. In addition, Storage Management has features not provided by FAST and the PERC Console.

NOTE: It is highly recommended that you uninstall FAST before installing Storage Management. Uninstalling FAST on a system that has both FAST and Storage Management installed will also uninstall the Adaptec filter driver. In this situation, you will need to reinstall Storage Management to restore the Adaptec filter driver. To prevent this, verify that FAST is uninstalled before installing Storage Management.

Compatibility With Linux Utilities

Installing Storage Management on a Linux system that has RAID storage management utilities provided by Dell or other vendors is an unsupported configuration. It is recommended that you uninstall these utilities before installing Storage Management. Storage Management replaces the storage management features provided by these utilities. Examples of the Dell or vendor-supplied Linux utilities include:

LinFlash
DellMgr
DellMON
LINLib
MegaMgr
MegaMON

Prerequisite Drivers and Firmware on Linux Operating Systems

On Linux operating systems, Storage Management installation is unable to detect whether the drivers and firmware on the system are at the required level for installing and using Storage Management. When installing on Linux systems, you will be able to complete the installation regardless of whether the driver and firmware version meets the required level. If the driver and firmware version do not meet the required level, however, you may not have access to all functions provided by Storage Management. At Storage Management runtime, check your application log files for notifications on outdated firmware versions. See the Storage Management readme.txt for a complete listing of supported controller firmware and driver versions.

Version Requirements for Controller Firmware and Drivers

In order for Storage Management to function properly, the controllers must have the minimum required version of the firmware and drivers installed. The firmware and drivers listed in the readme.txt file refer to the minimum supported version for these controllers. Later versions of the firmware and drivers are also supported. See the Dell Support website at support.dell.com for the most recent driver and firmware requirements.

NOTE: To download the latest storport driver, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at support.microsoft.com/kb/943545.

If you install Storage Management without the minimum required firmware and drivers, Storage Management may not be able to display any of the controllers or perform other functions. Storage Management generates alerts 2131 and 2132 when it detects unsupported firmware or drivers on a controller.

For information on Alert Messages, see the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Messages Reference Guide on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com/manuals.

Supported Controllers

This release of Storage Management supports the following controllers.

The firmware and drivers listed in the Readme file refer to the minimum supported version for these controllers. Later versions of the firmware and drivers are also supported. See the Dell Support website at support.dell.com for the most recent driver and firmware requirements.

Supported RAID Controllers

Storage Management supports the following RAID controllers. See "RAID Controller Technology: SCSI, SATA, ATA, and SAS" for information on which technology the supported RAID controllers use.

PERC 3/SC, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4/IM, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, and CERC ATA100/4ch
PERC 3/Si, 3/Di, CERC SATA1.5/6ch, and CERC SATA1.5/2s
PERC 5/E
PERC 5/i Integrated and PERC 5/i Adapter
SAS 5/iR Integrated and SAS 5/iR Adapter
PERC 6/E
PERC 6/I Integrated and PERC 6/I Adapter
PERC 6/I Modular
CERC 6/I controller
SAS 6/iR controller
PERC S100 and S300
PERC H200 Adapter, PERC H200 Integrated, and PERC H200 Modular
PERC H800 Adapter, PERC H700 Adapter, PERC H700 Integrated, and PERC H700 Modular
NOTE: Integrated mirroring on the PERC 4/IM controller enables you to mirror a physical disk that resides internally in the server. You can implement the integrated mirror using the PERC 4/IM BIOS. When implemented, Storage Management recognizes the integrated mirror as a virtual disk. You cannot, however, use Storage Management to create a virtual disk on the PERC 4/IM controller. Storage Management supports other functions provided by the PERC 4/IM controller. See "Integrated Mirroring and the PERC 4/IM Controller" for more information.

Supported Non-RAID Controllers

Storage Management supports the following non-RAID controllers.

Ultra SCSI, Ultra2 SCSI, Ultra160 SCSI, LSI 1020, LSI 1030, and LSI PCI-e U320
SAS 5/i Integrated
SAS 5/E
SAS 6Gbps Adapter

Supported Enclosures

This release of Storage Management supports the following enclosures:

Dell PowerVault™ 20xS and 21xS storage systems
Dell PowerVault 220S and 221S storage systems
Dell PowerVault MD1000 and MD1120 storage system
Dell PowerVault MD1200 and MD1220 storage system

Support for Disk and Volume Management

Storage Management does not provide disk and volume management. To implement disk and volume management, you need to use the native disk and volume management utilities provided by your operating system.

Support for Security Key Management

Storage Management enables creating, changing, and deleting the Security Key on a security-capable controller. PERC H700 and H800 family of controllers are security-capable. You can enable security on these security-capable controllers through the Storage Management graphical user interface (GUI) or the Command Line Interface (CLI). Setting a Security Key allows you to create secured virtual disks using Self Encryption Disks (SED). The data stored in the secured virtual disk is encrypted.

For information on Command Line Interface, see Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Command Line Interface User’s Guide on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com/manuals.

Security Key

The controller uses the Security Key to lock or unlock access to Self Encryption Disks (SEDs). You can create only one Security Key for each security-enabled controller.

Create a Security Key on a security-capable controller by providing a Security Key Identifier and a Passphrase.

Security Key Identifier

A Security Key Identifier is a user-supplied text label for the Passphrase. The identifier helps you determine which Passphrase to enter during authentication for import of foreign secured SED drives.

Passphrase

A Passphrase is a user supplied string that the controller uses to create the Security Key.

For more information on creating a Security Key, see "Manage Security Key."