Areca ARC-1880 Series User manual

ARC-1880 Series
(PCIe 2.0 to 6Gb/s SAS RAID Controllers)
6Gb/s SAS RAID Cards
USER’S Manual
Version: 1.2
Issue Date: October, 2013

Copyright and Trademarks
The information of the products in this manual is subject to change
without prior notice and does not represent a commitment on the part
of the vendor, who assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors
that may appear in this manual. All brands and trademarks are the
properties of their respective owners. This manual contains materials
protected under International Copyright Conventions. All rights
reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without
the written permission of the manufacturer and the author.
FCC Statement
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the lim-
its for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules.
These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against in-
terference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses,
and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used
in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to
radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interfer-
ence will not occur in a particular installation.
Manufacturer’s Declaration for CE Certication
We conrm ARC-1880 series have been tested and found comply with
the requirements set up in the council directive on the approximation
of the low of member state relating to the EMC Directive2004/108/EC.
For the evaluation regarding to the electromag-netic compatibility, the
following standards where applied:
EN 55022: 2006, Class B
EN 61000-3-2: 2006
EN 61000-3-3: 1995+A1: 2001+A2: 2005
EN 55024:1998+A1:2001=A2:2003
IEC61000-4-2: 2001
IEC61000-4-3: 2006
IEC61000-4-4: 2004
IEC61000-4-5: 2005
IEC61000-4-6: 2006
IEC61000-4-8: 2001
IEC61000-4-11: 2004

Contents
1. Introduction .............................................................. 10
1.1 Overview ....................................................................... 10
1.2 Features ........................................................................ 12
2. Hardware Installation ............................................... 16
2.1 Before You First Installing................................................. 16
2.2 Board Layout.................................................................. 16
2.3 Installation..................................................................... 23
2.4 SAS Cables .................................................................... 30
2.4.1 Internal Min SAS 4i to SATA Cable ............................... 30
2.4.2 Internal Min SAS 4i to 4xSFF-8482 Cable....................... 31
2.4.3 Internal Min SAS 4i (SFF-8087) to Internal Min SAS 4i (SFF-
8087) cable ....................................................................... 32
2.4.4 External Min SAS 4i Drive Boxes and Drive Expanders ..... 33
2.5 LED Cables..................................................................... 33
2.5.1 Recognizing a Drive Failure .......................................... 38
2.5.2 Replacing a Failed Drive .............................................. 38
2.6 Summary of the installation.............................................. 38
3. McBIOS RAID Manager .............................................. 41
3.1 Starting the McBIOS RAID Manager ................................... 41
3.2 McBIOS RAID manager .................................................... 42
3.3 Conguring Raid Sets and Volume Sets .............................. 43
3.4 Designating Drives as Hot Spares...................................... 43
3.5 Using Quick Volume /Raid Setup Conguration .................... 44
3.6 Using Raid Set/Volume Set Function Method ....................... 45
3.7 Main Menu .................................................................... 47
3.7.1 Quick Volume/Raid Setup ............................................ 48
3.7.2 Raid Set Function ....................................................... 52
3.7.2.1 Create Raid Set .................................................... 53
3.7.2.2 Delete Raid Set ..................................................... 54
3.7.2.3 Expand Raid Set .................................................... 55
• Migrating ...................................................................... 56
3.7.2.4 Ofine Raid Set ..................................................... 56
3.7.2.5 Activate Incomplete Raid Set................................... 57
3.7.2.6 Create Hot Spare................................................... 58
3.7.2.7 Delete Hot Spare ................................................... 58
3.7.2.8 Rescue Raid Set ................................................... 59
3.7.2.9 Raid Set Information.............................................. 60

3.7.3 Volume Set Function ................................................... 60
3.7.3.1 Create Volume Set (0/1/10/3/5/6) ........................... 61
• Volume Name ................................................................ 63
• Capacity ....................................................................... 64
• Stripe Size .................................................................... 66
• SCSI Channel ................................................................ 66
• SCSI ID ........................................................................ 67
• Cache Mode .................................................................. 68
• Tag Queuing .................................................................. 68
3.7.3.2 Create Raid30/50/60 (Volume Set 30/50/60) ............ 69
3.7.3.3 Delete Volume Set ................................................. 70
3.7.3.4 Modify Volume Set ................................................. 70
3.7.3.5 Check Volume Set.................................................. 72
3.7.3.6 Stop Volume Set Check .......................................... 73
3.7.3.7 Display Volume Set Info. ........................................ 73
3.7.4 Physical Drives........................................................... 74
3.7.4.1 View Drive Information .......................................... 74
3.7.4.2 Create Pass-Through Disk ....................................... 75
3.7.4.3 Modify Pass-Through Disk ....................................... 75
3.7.4.4 Delete Pass-Through Disk ....................................... 75
3.7.4.5 Identify Selected Drive ........................................... 76
3.7.4.6 Identify Enclosure.................................................. 76
3.7.5 Raid System Function ................................................. 77
3.7.5.1 Mute The Alert Beeper............................................ 78
3.7.5.2 Alert Beeper Setting............................................... 78
3.7.5.3 Change Password .................................................. 79
3.7.5.4 JBOD/RAID Function .............................................. 79
3.7.5.5 Background Task Priority ........................................ 80
3.7.5.6 SATA NCQ Support................................................. 81
3.7.5.7 HDD Read Ahead Cache.......................................... 81
3.7.5.8 Volume Data Read Ahead........................................ 82
3.7.5.9 Hdd Queue Depth Setting ....................................... 82
3.7.5.10 Empty HDD Slot LED ............................................ 83
3.7.5.11 Controller Fan Detection ....................................... 84
3.7.5.12 Auto Activate Raid Set .......................................... 84
3.7.5.13 Disk Write Cache Mode ......................................... 85
3.7.5.14 Capacity Truncation.............................................. 85
3.7.6 HDD Power Management ............................................. 86
3.7.6.1 Stagger Power On.................................................. 87
3.7.6.2 Time to Hdd Low Power Idle ................................... 88
3.7.6.3 Time To Low RPM Mode ......................................... 88
3.6.7.4 Time To Spin Down Idle Hdd .................................. 89

3.7.7 Ethernet Conguration ............................................... 90
3.7.7.1 DHCP Function ...................................................... 90
3.7.7.2 Local IP address .................................................... 91
3.7.7.3 HTTP Port Number ................................................. 92
3.7.7.4 Telnet Port Number ................................................ 92
3.7.7.5 SMTP Port Number................................................. 93
3.7.8 View System Events ................................................... 94
3.7.9 Clear Events Buffer..................................................... 94
3.7.10 Hardware Monitor ..................................................... 95
3.7.11 System Information .................................................. 95
4. Driver Installation ..................................................... 96
4.1 Creating the Driver Diskettes............................................ 96
4.2 Driver Installation for Windows ......................................... 98
4.2.1 New Storage Device Drivers in Windows 7/2008/Vista/2003
98
4.2.2 Install Windows 7/2008/Vista/XP/2003 on a 6Gb/s SAS
RAID Volume ..................................................................... 98
4.2.2.1 Installation Procedures ........................................... 98
4.2.2.2 Making Volume Sets Available to Windows System ... 100
4.2.3 Installing controller into an existing Windows 7/2008/Vista/
XP/2003 Installation ......................................................... 100
4.2.3.1 Making Volume Sets Available to Windows System ... 102
4.2.4 Uninstall controller from Windows 7/2008/Vista/2003/XP....
102
4.3 Driver Installation for Linux ............................................ 103
4.4 Driver Installation for FreeBSD........................................ 104
4.5 Driver Installation for Solaris .......................................... 104
4.6 Driver Installation for Mac X ........................................... 104
4.6.1 Installation Procedures.............................................. 105
4.6.2 Making Volume Sets Available to Mac OS X .................. 106
5. ArcHttp Proxy Server Installation............................ 108
5.1 For Windows................................................................. 109
5.2 For Linux ..................................................................... 110
5.3 For FreeBSD ................................................................. 112
5.4 For Solaris 10 X86......................................................... 112
5.5 For Mac OS 10.X ........................................................... 113
5.6 ArcHttp Conguration .................................................... 113
6. Web Browser-based Conguration ......................... 118
6.1 Start-up McRAID Storage Manager ................................. 118
• Start-up McRAID Storage Manager from Windows Local
Administration................................................................ 119

•Start-up McRAID Storage Manager Through Ethernet Port
(Out-of-Band) ............................................................... 120
6.2 6Gb/s SAS RAID controller McRAID Storage Manager ......... 121
6.3 Main Menu .................................................................. 122
6.4 Quick Function.............................................................. 122
6.5 Raid Set Functions ........................................................ 123
6.5.1 Create Raid Set ....................................................... 123
6.5.2 Delete Raid Set ........................................................ 124
6.5.3 Expand Raid Set....................................................... 125
6.5.4 Ofine Raid Set........................................................ 126
6.5.5 Activate Incomplete Raid Set ..................................... 126
6.5.6 Create Hot Spare ..................................................... 127
6.5.7 Delete Hot Spare...................................................... 127
6.5.8 Rescue Raid Set ....................................................... 128
6.6 Volume Set Functions .................................................... 128
6.6.1 Create Volume Set (0/1/10/3/5/6) ............................. 129
• Volume Name .............................................................. 129
• Volume Raid Level ....................................................... 130
• Capacity ..................................................................... 130
• Greater Two TB Volume Support..................................... 130
• Initialization Mode ........................................................ 130
• Stripe Size .................................................................. 131
• Cache Mode ................................................................ 131
• Tagged Command Queuing ............................................ 131
• SCSI Channel/SCSI ID/SCSI Lun.................................... 131
6.6.2 Create Raid30/50/60 (Volume Set 30/50/60) ............... 132
6.6.3 Delete Volume Set.................................................... 133
6.6.4 Modify Volume Set.................................................... 133
6.6.4.1 Volume Growth ................................................... 134
6.6.4.2 Volume Set Migration ........................................... 135
4.6.4.3 Volume Write Protection ....................................... 135
6.6.5 Check Volume Set .................................................... 135
6.6.6 Schedule Volume Check ............................................ 136
6.7 Physical Drive .............................................................. 137
6.7.1 Create Pass-Through Disk.......................................... 137
6.7.2 Modify Pass-Through Disk .......................................... 138
6.7.3 Delete Pass-Through Disk .......................................... 139
6.7.4 Identify Enclosure .................................................... 139
6.7.5 Identify Drive .......................................................... 140
6.8 System Controls ........................................................... 140
6.8.1 System Cong ......................................................... 140
• System Beeper Setting ................................................. 141

• Background Task Priority ............................................... 141
• JBOD/RAID Conguration .............................................. 141
• SATA NCQ Support ....................................................... 141
• HDD Read Ahead Cache ................................................ 141
• Volume Data Read Ahead ............................................. 141
• HDD Queue Depth ....................................................... 142
• Empty HDD Slot LED .................................................... 142
• SES2 Support .............................................................. 142
• Max Command Length .................................................. 142
• Auto Activate Incomplete Raid ....................................... 142
• Disk Write Cache Mode ................................................. 142
• Disk Capacity Truncation Mode....................................... 143
6.8.2 Advanced Conguration............................................. 143
6.8.3 HDD Power Management ........................................... 146
6.8.3.1 Stagger Power On Control..................................... 147
6.8.3.2 Time to Hdd Low Power Idle ................................. 147
6.8.3.3 Time To Hdd Low RPM Mode ................................. 148
6.8.3.4 Time To Spin Down Idle HDD ................................ 148
6.8.3.5 SATA Power Up In Standby ................................... 148
6.8.4 Ethernet Conguration ............................................. 148
6.8.5 Alert By Mail Conguration ....................................... 149
6.8.6 SNMP Conguration .................................................. 150
6.8.7 NTP Conguration .................................................... 150
6.8.8 View Events/Mute Beeper .......................................... 151
6.8.9 Generate Test Event ................................................. 152
6.8.10 Clear Events Buffer ................................................. 152
6.8.11 Modify Password..................................................... 153
6.8.12 Update Firmware ................................................... 153
6.9 Information.................................................................. 154
6.9.1 Raid Set Hierarchy.................................................... 154
6.9.2 SAS Chip Information ............................................... 154
6.9.3 System Information.................................................. 155
6.9.4 Hardware Monitor..................................................... 156
Appendix A ................................................................. 157
Upgrading Flash ROM Update Process.................................... 157
Appendix B .................................................................. 161
Battery Backup Module (ARC-6120BA-T113)........................... 161
Appendix C .................................................................. 165
SNMP Operation & Installation.............................................. 165
Appendix D.................................................................. 176
Event Notication Congurations ........................................ 176

A. Device Event.............................................................. 176
B. Volume Event............................................................. 177
C. RAID Set Event .......................................................... 178
D. Hardware Monitor Event .............................................. 178
Appendix E .................................................................. 180
RAID Concept .................................................................... 180
RAID Set ......................................................................... 180
Volume Set...................................................................... 180
Ease of Use Features......................................................... 181
• Foreground Availability/Background Initialization .............. 181
• Online Array Roaming ................................................... 181
•Online Capacity Expansion............................................. 181
•Online Volume Expansion .............................................. 184
High availability.................................................................. 184
• Global/Local Hot Spares .................................................. 184
•Hot-Swap Disk Drive Support........................................... 185
•Auto Declare Hot-Spare ................................................. 185
• Auto Rebuilding ............................................................ 186
•Adjustable Rebuild Priority............................................... 186
High Reliability ................................................................... 187
• Hard Drive Failure Prediction............................................ 187
•Auto Reassign Sector...................................................... 187
•Consistency Check ......................................................... 188
Data Protection .................................................................. 188
•Battery Backup ............................................................. 188
• Recovery ROM ............................................................... 189
Appendix F .................................................................. 190
Understanding RAID .......................................................... 190
RAID 0............................................................................ 190
RAID 1............................................................................ 191
RAID 10(1E) .................................................................... 192
RAID 3............................................................................ 192
RAID 5............................................................................ 193
RAID 6............................................................................ 194
RAID x0 .......................................................................... 194
Single Disk (Pass-Through Disk) ......................................... 195

INTRODUCTION
10
1. Introduction
This section presents a brief overview of the 6Gb/s SAS RAID control-
ler, ARC-1880 series. (PCIe 2.0 to 6Gb/s SAS RAID controllers)
1.1 Overview
SAS 2.0 is designed for much higher speed data transfer than pre-
vious available and backward compatibility with SAS 1.0. The
6Gb/s SAS interface supports both 6Gb/s and 3Gb/s SAS/
SATA disk drives for data-intensive applications and 6Gb/s or
3Gb/s SATA drives for low-cost bulk storage of reference data.
The ARC-1880 family includes 8-port external model as well as
12/16/24 internal ports with additional 4 external ports. The ARC-
1880LP/1880i/1880x support eight 6Gb/s SAS ports via one inter-
nal & one external/two internal/two external min SAS connector.
The ARC-1880ix-12/16/24 or ARC-1880ixl-12 attaches directly to
SATA/SAS midplanes with 3/4/6 SFF-8087 internal connector or in-
crease capacity using one additional SFF-8088 external connector.
When used with 6Gb/s SAS expanders, the controller can provide
up to (128) devices through one or more 6Gb/s SAS JBODs, mak-
ing it an ideal solution for enterprise-class storage applications that
called for maximum conguration exibility.
ARC-1880LP/1880i/1880x/1880ixl-8/1880ixl-12 6Gb/s RAID con-
trollers are low-prole PCI cards, ideal for 1U and 2U rack-mount
systems. These controllers utilize the same RAID kernel that has
been eld-proven in existing external RAID controller products,
allowing Areca to quickly bring stable and reliable PCIe 2.0 6Gb/s
SAS RAID controllers to the market.
Unparalleled Performance
The 6Gb/s SAS RAID controllers raise the standard to higher per-
formance levels with several enhancements including new high
performance ROC Processor, a DDR2-800 memory architecture and
high performance PCIe 2.0 x8 lane host interface bus interconnec-
tion. The low prole controllers by default support on-board 512MB
of ECC DDR2-800 SDRAM memory. The ARC-1880ix-12/16/24
controllers each include one 240-pin DIMM socket with default 1GB