HP Xw4400 - Workstation - 2 GB RAM Assembly Instructions

Installing and Configuring SAS Hardware

RAID on HP Workstations

Introduction

This document provides an overview of hardware RAID solutions for HP workstations running the

Windows and Linux operating systems. It assumes a basic understanding of computer hardware,

filesystems, and the Linux operating system. It covers an overview of hardware RAID solutions, the

differences between software and hardware RAID offerings, and information regarding the configuration

of hardware RAID on HP workstations.

Hardware RAID in Windows

For SAS controllers on Windows workstations, support is provided according to what the SAS controller

provides, within system limitations or restrictions. HP recommends that only supported SAS drives be

attached to SAS controllers for drives located in chassis drive slots.

xw4400 xw6400 xw8400 xw9400 xw4600 xw6600 xw8600

LSI 3041E

RAID 0 2 or more

drives

2 or more

drives

2 or more

drives

2 or more

drives

RAID 1 2 drives 2 drives 2 drives 2 drives

RAID 1/10E 3 or more

drives

3 or more

drives

3 or more

drives

3 or more

drives

LSI 8344ELP

RAID 0 2 or more

drives

2 or more

drives

2 or more

drives

2 or more

drives

RAID 1 2 drives 2 drives 2 drives 2 drives

RAID 5 3 or more

drives

3 or more

drives

3 or more

drives

3 or more

drives

RAID 10 4 or more

drives

4 or more

drives

4 or more

drives

4 or more

drives

RAID 50 6 or more

drives

6 or more

drives

6 or more

drives

6 or more

drives

LSI 8888ELP

RAID 0 2 or more

drives

2 or more

drives

2 or more

drives

RAID 1 2 drives 2 drives 2 drives

RAID 5 3 or more

drives

3 or more

drives

3 or more

drives

ENWW Introduction 1

RAID 10 4 or more

drives

4 or more

drives

4 or more

drives

RAID 50 6 or more

drives

6 or more

drives

6 or more

drives

LSI 1064

RAID 0 2 or more

drives

RAID 1 2 drives

RAID 1/10E 3 or more

drives

LSI 1068

RAID 0 2 or more

drives

2 or more

drives

RAID 1 2 drives 2 drives

RAID 1/10E 3 or more

drives

3 or more

drives

Hardware RAID in Linux

There are different levels of hardware RAID available; not all of them are supported options for HP Linux

workstations.

●Hardware-assisted RAID is a step up from software RAID, but is not considered true hardware

RAID. Hardware-assisted SAS RAID uses the LSI megaraid driver already present in the Linux

kernel. It is provided by the LSI 3041E plug-in card on the HP xw4000 and xw6000 Workstation

series and by the LSI 1064 and 1068 controllers on the motherboard on the HP xw8000 and xw9000

Workstation series.

●True hardware RAID, also known as raid-on-chip, or ROC, makes use of a dedicated RAID

processor. It is provided by the LSI 8344ELP and 8888ELP plug-in cards on the HP xw8000 and

xw9000 family platforms. SAS drives are the only drives supported for use with RAID on HP Linux

workstations.

●Hardware-assisted SATA RAID requires use of the dmraid interface, and is not supported on HP

Linux workstations.

Supported Configurations

Hardware RAID for HP Linux workstations is currently supported for user-configured RAID solutions for

the HP workstations below. Not all configurations that are made available by the RAID chipsets or plug-

in cards are supported by HP; only the configurations listed below are supported on HP Linux

workstations.

xw4400 xw6400 xw8400 xw9400 xw4600 xw6600 xw8600

LSI 3041E

RAID 0 2-4 drives 2-3 drives 2-4 drives 2-3 drives

RAID 1 2 drives 2 drives 2 drives 2 drives

2 Installing and Configuring SAS Hardware RAID on HP Workstations ENWW

LSI 8344ELP

RAID 0 2-4 drives 2-4 drives

RAID 1 2 drives 2 drives

RAID 5 3-4 drives 3-4 drives

LSI 8888ELP

RAID 0 2-4 drives 2-3 drives 2-6 drives*

RAID 1 2 drives 2 drives 2 drives

RAID 5 3-4 drives 3 drives 3-6 drives*

LSI 1064

RAID 0 2-4 drives

RAID 1 2 drives

LSI 1068

RAID 0 2-5 drives 2-6 drives*

RAID 1 2 drives 2 drives

* HP xw8600 Workstation can accommodate 6 internal 2.5” drives

Not all possible hardware RAID configurations are supported on HP Linux workstations.

●Only SAS drives are supported with hardware-assisted and full hardware RAID.

●SATA and PATA drives are not supported with hardware RAID, but can be used with software

RAID solutions.

●Supported operating systems are:

◦Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.5 and later

◦Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0 and later

◦SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP4 and later

◦SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 and later

◦SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP1 and later

●Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating systems will be provided by HP. Support

for SLE operating systems will be provided by Novell.

●The Linux Hardware Matrix contains information on all current platforms and is a good place to

learn which RAID controllers are supported on a given platform.

LSI 3041E and Integrated LSI 1064/1068 Setup

The LSI 3041E is a 4-port SATA/SAS RAID controller providing SAS support for the HP xw4000 and

xw6000 Workstation series. Note that while the controller provides functionality for SATA RAID, SATA

RAID is not supported on HP Linux workstations. The HP xw8000 and xw9000 Workstation series use

an onboard LSI 1064 or 1068 SAS controller, which uses the same BIOS configuration utility as the LSI

3041E plug-in card. The following steps can be used as a guide for setting up the LSI 3041E or the

ENWW LSI 3041E and Integrated LSI 1064/1068 Setup 3

onboard LSI controllers for SAS RAID; details will vary based on the specific configuration (RAID level,

number of disks) used.

Step 1: Boot the workstation, and when prompted, press any key to view option ROM messages. A

message indicating the presence of the LSI onboard controller or plug-in card and the LSI Logic MPT

SAS BIOS will appear.

Figure 1 LSI Logic MPT SAS BIOS

Step 2: Press CTRL-C when indicated to begin RAID configuration and enter the LSI Logic MPT Setup

Utility. The first screen will display a list of available adapters. The LSI 3041E plug-in card appears on

this list as the SAS1064E, the LSI onboard controllers are listed as the LSI1064 or LSI1068. This screen

can be used to change the boot order of the adapters.

4 Installing and Configuring SAS Hardware RAID on HP Workstations ENWW

Figure 2 LSI Logic MPT Setup Utility – Adapter selection

Step 3: Press enter to select and configure the highlighted adapter from the list. The next screen will

display properties of the selected adapter. Information on the attached drives, any RAID arrays present,

and more advanced adapter properties is available.

Figure 3 LSI Logic MPT Setup Utility – Adapter properties

Step 4: To create, manage or delete a SAS RAID array, highlight RAID Properties and press enter. If

an array is presently configured on the controller, the “View Existing Array” will be present.

ENWW LSI 3041E and Integrated LSI 1064/1068 Setup 5

Figure 4 Logic MPT Setup Utility – RAID properties

Step 5: To create a new array, select one of the options to create either an IM, IME, or IS volume and

press enter. IM, or Integrated Mirroring, is also known as RAID-1. IME, or Integrated Mirroring Enhanced,

is RAID-10. IS, or Integrated Striping, is RAID-0. The next screen will list the disks. For each disk to be

part of the array, move to the column labeled “RAID Disk” and press the space bar to add the disk to

the array. The next column, “Hot Spr,” can be used to mark disks to be hot spares in case of disk failure.

When the disks have been marked as desired, press C to create the array.

Figure 5 LSI Logic MPT Setup Utility – Array creation

6 Installing and Configuring SAS Hardware RAID on HP Workstations ENWW

Step 6: After an array has been created, the utility gives options for managing it through the “View

Existing Array” menu. Viewing the array will display various properties of the RAID array, including the

disks present and their status.

Figure 6 LSI Logic MPT Setup Utility – View array

Step 7: Select the “Manage Array” option and press enter to use the utility’s management features.

From here, the disks that are configured to be hot spares can be managed, the array can be activated,

deactivated, or deleted, and if the array is not at an “Optimal” status due to a disk failure or other problem,

it can be synchronized from this menu.

Figure 7 LSI Logic MPT Setup Utility – Manage array

ENWW LSI 3041E and Integrated LSI 1064/1068 Setup 7

When finished, or at any step in the process, the escape key can be used to exit the current view,

canceling or saving any changes as needed.

LSI 8344ELP and LSI 8888ELP Setup

The LSI 8344ELP and LSI 8888ELP are 8-port SATA/SAS RAID controllers providing additional SAS

support for the HP xw8000 and xw9000 family platforms. Note that while the controller provides

functionality for SATA RAID, SATA RAID is not supported on HP Linux workstations. The HP xw8000

and xw9000 family platforms also have onboard SAS RAID capabilities that can be described best as

hardware-assisted RAID; the 8344ELP and 8888ELP plug-in cards are considered to be full hardware

RAID. The following steps can be used as a guide for setting up the LSI 8344ELP or the LSI 8888ELP

for SAS RAID; details will vary based on the specific configuration used.

Step 1: Boot the workstation, and when prompted, press CTRL-H to enter LSI’s WebBIOS utility.

WebBIOS will be run after POST completes. Select your adapter from the Adapter Selection screen and

press start to enter the utility.

Figure 8 LSI WebBIOS – Adapter selection

Step 2: The main WebBIOS screen can be used to configure the adapter, the physical disks, and the

virtual disks or RAID arrays. The first view shows the physical disks connected to the adapter, any RAID

arrays presently configured, as well as the status of both physical and virtual disks.

8 Installing and Configuring SAS Hardware RAID on HP Workstations ENWW

Figure 9 LSI WebBIOS – Main screen

Step 3: The Configuration Wizard can be used to create a new RAID array on the device. From the

MegaRAID Configuration Wizard screen, there are options available to clear any existing device

configuration, add new drives to an existing configuration, or create a new configuration from scratch.

Clicking on either “New Configuration” or “Add Configuration” proceeds to the next step of the wizard,

where there are options for either custom or automatic configurations.

Figure 10 LSI WebBIOS – Configuration wizard

Step 4: Automatic configurations will automatically add all available disks to a RAID array, with the RAID

level determined by whether or not redundancy is selected. Custom configuration allows the user to

select disks, array size, and RAID level. The next screen allows for the selection of the disks which will

ENWW LSI 8344ELP and LSI 8888ELP Setup 9

be part of the RAID array. Select from the available disks those disks that will be part of the RAID array

and click “Accept DG” to proceed.

Figure 11 LSI WebBIOS – Configuration of disk group

Step 5: The next screen allows for more advanced configuration of the RAID array. Many details about

the disk policies can be selected here. The most important options on this screen are the RAID level

and size. First select the RAID level from the drop-down menu- the RAID levels available will vary

depending on the number of physical disks in the disk group. The configuration window to the right of

the screen will display information on the maximum size of the RAID array for the different available

RAID levels. In the text box labeled “Select Size,” enter a size in MB up to this available maximum size.

When these options have been selected, further customization can be done, or click “Accept” or “Next”

to move to the next step of configuration.

10 Installing and Configuring SAS Hardware RAID on HP Workstations ENWW

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