Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 3 User manual

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Dell™ PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 3/QC, 3/DC, 3/DCL and
3/SC
PERC 3 User’s Guide

____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2002 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Computer
Corporation is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, PowerEdge, PowerVault, and Dell OpenManage
are trademarks and DellWareisa registered servicemarkofDellComputerCorporation.MegaRAID
is a registered trademark of LSI Logic Corporation. Microsoft, Windows NT, MS-DOS andWindows
are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of
Intel Corporation. Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell Corporation. ASPI is a
registered trademark of Adaptec, Inc. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business
Machines.
Othertrademarksandtradenamesmaybeusedinthisdocumenttorefertoeithertheentitiesclaiming
themarksandnamesortheirproducts.DellComputerCorporationdisclaimsanyproprietaryinterest
in trademarks and trade names other than its own.
July 2002 P/N 5C229 Rev. A04

1
Safety Instructions
CAUTION: Safety Instructions
Use the following safety guidelines to help ensure your own personal safety
and to help protect your computer and working environment from potential
damage.
General
• Do not attempt to service the computer yourself unless you are a
trained service technician. Always follow installation instructions
closely.
• To help prevent electric shock, plug the computer and device power
cables into properly grounded electrical outlets. These cables are
equipped with 3-prong plugs to help ensure proper grounding. Do not
use adapter plugs or remove the grounding prong from a cable. If you
must use an extension cable, use a 3-wire cable with properly grounded
plugs.
• To help avoid the potential hazard of electric shock, do not use your
computer during an electrical storm.
• To help avoid the potential hazard of electric shock, do not connect or
disconnect any cables or perform maintenance or reconfiguration of
this product during an electrical storm.
• If your computer includes a modem, the cable used with the modem
should be manufactured with a minimum wire size of 26 American
wire gauge (AWG) and an FCC-compliant RJ-11 modular plug.
• Before you clean your computer, disconnect the computer from the
electrical outlet. Clean your computer with a soft cloth dampened
with water. Do not use liquid or aerosol cleaners, which may contain
flammable substances.
• To help avoid possible damage to the system board, wait 5 seconds
after turning off the computer before disconnecting a device from the
computer.
• To avoid shorting out your computer when disconnecting a network
cable, first unplug the cable from the network adapter on the back of
your computer, and then from the network jack. When reconnecting a
network cable to your computer, first plug the cable into the network
jack, and then into the network adapter.

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• To help protect your computer from sudden, transient increases and
decreases in electrical power, use a surge suppressor, line conditioner,
or uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
• Ensure that nothing rests on your computer’s cables and that the
cables are not located where they can be stepped on or tripped over.
• Do not push any objects into the openings of your computer. Doing so
can cause fire or electric shock by shorting out interior components.
• Keep your computer away from radiators and heat sources. Also, do not
block cooling vents. Avoid placing loose papers underneath your
computer; do not place your computer in a closed-in wall unit or on a
bed, sofa, or rug.
When Using Your Computer
As you use your computer, observe the following safe-handling guidelines.
CAUTION: Do not operate your computer with any cover(s)
(including computer covers, bezels, filler brackets, front-panel
inserts, and so on) removed.
Your computer is equipped with one of the following:
• A fixed-voltage power supply — Computers with a fixed-voltage power
supply do not have a voltage selection switch on the back panel and
operate at only one voltage (see the regulatory label on the outside of
the computer for its operating voltage).
• An auto-sensing voltage circuit — Computers with an auto-sensing
voltage circuit do not have a voltage selection switch on the back panel
and automatically detect the correct operating voltage.
• A manual voltage selection switch — Computers with a voltage
selection switch on the back panel must be manually set to operate at
the correct operating voltage.
To help avoid damaging a computer with a manual voltage selection switch,
ensure that the voltage selection switch is set to match the AC power
available at your location:
• 115 V/60 Hz in most of North and South America and some Far
Eastern countries such as South Korea and Taiwan

3
NOTE: The voltage
selection switch must be
set to the 115-V position
even though the AC power
available in Japan is
100 V.
• 100 V/50 Hz in eastern Japan and 100 V/60 Hz in western Japan
• 230 V/50 Hz in some regions in the Caribbean and South America and
most of Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East
Also, ensure that your monitor and attached devices are electrically rated to
operate with the AC power available in your location.
• Before working inside the computer, unplug the computer to help
prevent electric shock or system board damage. Certain system board
components continue to receive power any time the computer is
connected to AC power.
When Working Inside Your Computer
Before you open the computer cover, perform the following steps in the
sequence indicated.
CAUTION: Do not attempt to service the computer yourself,
except as explained in your online Dell™ documentation or in
instructions otherwise provided to you by Dell. Always follow
installation and service instructions closely.
NOTICE: To help avoid possible damage to the system board, wait 5 seconds
after turning off the computer before removing a component from the system
board or disconnecting a device from the computer.
1Perform an orderly computer shutdown using the operating system
menu.
2Turn off your computer and any devices connected to the computer.
3Ground yourself by touching an unpainted metal surface on the
chassis, such as the metal around the card-slot openings at the back of
the computer, before touching anything inside your computer.
While you work, periodically touch an unpainted metal surface on the
computer chassis to dissipate any static electricity that might harm
internal components.
4Disconnect your computer and devices, including the monitor, from
their electrical outlets. Also, disconnect any telephone or
telecommunication lines from the computer.
Doing so reduces the potential for personal injury or shock.
In addition, take note of these safety guidelines when appropriate:

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• When you disconnect a cable, pull on its connector or on its strain-
relief loop, not on the cable itself. Some cables have a connector with
locking tabs; if you are disconnecting this type of cable, press in on the
locking tabs before disconnecting the cable. As you pull connectors
apart, keep them evenly aligned to avoid bending any connector pins.
Also, before you connect a cable, ensure that both connectors are
correctly oriented and aligned.
• Handle components and cards with care. Do not touch the
components or contacts on a card. Hold a card by its edges or by its
metal mounting bracket. Hold a component such as a microprocessor
chip by its edges, not by its pins.
CAUTION: There is a danger of a new battery exploding if it is
incorrectly installed. Replace the battery only with the same or
equivalent type recommended by the manufacturer. Do not
dispose of the battery along with household waste. Contact your
local waste disposal agency for the address of the nearest battery
deposit site.
Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge
Static electricity can harm delicate components inside your computer. To
prevent static damage, discharge static electricity from your body before you
touch any of your computer’s electronic components, such as the
microprocessor. You can do so by touching an unpainted metal surface on
the computer chassis.
As you continue to work inside the computer, periodically touch an
unpainted metal surface to remove any static charge your body may have
accumulated.
You can also take the following steps to prevent damage from electrostatic
discharge (ESD):
• Do not remove components from their antistatic packing material
until you are ready to install the component in your computer. Just
before unwrapping the antistatic packaging, discharge static electricity
from your body.
• When transporting an electrostatic sensitive component, first place it
in an antistatic container or packaging.
• Handle all electrostatic sensitive components in a static-safe area. If
possible, use antistatic floor pads and workbench pads.

5
Ergonomic Computing Habits
CAUTION: Improper or prolonged keyboard use may result in
injury.
CAUTION: Viewing the monitor screen for extended periods of
time may result in eye strain.
Battery Disposal
Do not dispose of the battery along with household waste. Contact your
local waste disposal agency for the address of the nearest battery deposit
site.

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Contents 7
Contents
Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1Overview
PERC 3 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
PERC 3 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
SCSI Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Non-volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM) and Flash
Read-only Memory (ROM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
SCSI Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Single-Ended and LVD SCSI Buses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards . . . . . . . . . . 26
SCSI Bus Widths and Maximum Throughput . . . . . . . . . . 26
Operating System Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2Introduction to RAID
RAID Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
PERC 3 Host-Based RAID Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Components and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Physical Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Logical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Fault Tolerance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Consistency Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Disk Striping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Disk Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Disk Spanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Spanning for RAID 10 or RAID 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

8Contents
Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Disk Rebuilds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Hot Swap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
SCSI Drive States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Logical Drive States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Enclosure Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3RAID Levels
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Selecting a RAID Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
RAID 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
RAID 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
RAID 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
RAID 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
RAID 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4PERC 3/SC Features
Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Configuration Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
SMART Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Configuration on Disk Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Hardware Architecture Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Array Performance Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
PERC 3/SC Fault Tolerance Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Software Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Operating System Software Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

9Contents
PERC 3/SC Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
PCI Bridge/CPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Cache Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
PERC 3/SC BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Onboard Speaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Serial Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
SCSI Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
SCSI Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
SCSI Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
RAID Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL Features
Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Configuration Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
SMART Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Configuration on Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Hardware Architecture Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Array Performance Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Fault Tolerance Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Software Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Operating System Software Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . 68
PCI Bridge/CPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Cache Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Onboard Speaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Serial Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
SCSI Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
SCSI Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

10 Contents
SCSI Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
RAID Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6PERC 3/QC Features
Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Configuration Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
SMART Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Configuration on Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Hardware Architecture Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Array Performance Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Fault Tolerance Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Software Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Operating System Software Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
PERC 3/QC Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
PCI Bridge/CPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Cache Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
PERC 3/QC BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Onboard Speaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Serial Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
SCSI Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
SCSI Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
SCSI Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
RAID Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7Configuring PERC 3
Configuring SCSI Physical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Current Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Logical Drive Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

11 Contents
Physical Device Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Configuring Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Arranging Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Creating Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Creating Logical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Configuration Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Maximizing Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Maximizing Drive Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Maximizing Drive Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Assigning RAID Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Configuring Logical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Optimizing Data Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Data Access Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Array Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Planning the Array Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Using the Array Configuration Planner . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Random Array Deletion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Configuration Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
8PERC 3/SC Hardware Installation
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Optional Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
PERC 3/SC Card Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Installation Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Step 1—Unpack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Step 2—Power Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Step 3—Set Jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Step 4—Set SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

12 Contents
Step 5—Install PERC 3/SC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Step 6—Connect SCSI Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Step 7—Set Target IDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Step 8—Power On Host System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Step 9—Run PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility or WebBIOS
Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Step 10—Install Operating System Software Drivers . . . . . . 116
9PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL Hardware Installation
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Optional Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
PERC 3/DC Card Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
PERC 3/DCL Card Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Installation Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Step 1—Unpack the PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL . . . . . . . 121
Step 2—Power Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Step 3—Set Jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Step 4—Set SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Step 5—Install the PERC 3/DC or PERC 3/DCL Controller . . 126
Step 6—Select and Set Target IDs for SCSI Devices . . . . . . 128
Step 7—Connect SCSI Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Step 8—Power On Host System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Step 9—Run the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility or WebBIOS
Configuration Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Step 10—Install Operating System Software Driver . . . . . . 131
Replacing a PERC 3/DC Containing a BC Chip with a PERC 3/DC
Containing a BE Chip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Using Driver 5.22.1 or 5.22.2 and Firmware 161J or 161N . . 131
Using Driver 5.30 and Firmware 1.70 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
10 PERC 3/QC Hardware Installation
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

13 Contents
Optional Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
PERC 3/QC Card Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Installation Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Step 1—Unpack the PERC 3/QC Controller . . . . . . . . . . 136
Step 2—Power Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Step 3—Set Jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Step 4—Set SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Step 5—Install PERC 3/QC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Step 6—Connect SCSI Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Step 7—Set Target IDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Step 8—Power on Host System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Step 9—Run the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility or WebBIOS
Configuration Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Step 10—Install Operating System Driver . . . . . . . . . . . 147
11 PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility
Configuration On Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Starting the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility . . . . . . . . . 150
BIOS Configuration Utility Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Configure Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Initialize Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Objects Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Format Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Rebuild Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Check Consistency Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Configuring Arrays and Logical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Choosing the Configuration Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Easy Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
New Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
View/Add Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

14 Contents
PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC Default Settings . . . . . . . . . 161
PERC 3/SC and PERC 3/DCL Default Settings . . . . . . . . . 161
Reserved Disk Space during Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Designating Drives as Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Using Easy Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Using New Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Using View/Add Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Initializing Logical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Batch Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Individual Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Deleting Logical Drives (Random Array Deletion) . . . . . . . . . 179
Formatting Physical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Media Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Formatting Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Rebuilding Failed Disk Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Manual Rebuild – Rebuilding an Individual Drive . . . . . . . . 182
Manual Rebuild – Batch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Using a Pre-loaded SCSI Drive “As-is” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Exiting the PERC 3 BIOS Configuration Utility . . . . . . . . . 184
Setting Hardware Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Clustering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Cluster Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Enabling and Disabling the Cluster Mode . . . . . . . . . . . 185
12 Dell Manager
Starting Dell Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Management Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Using Dell Manager in Red Hat Linux GUI Mode . . . . . . . 189

Contents 15
Dell Manager Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Initialize Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Objects Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Format Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Rebuild Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Check Consistency Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Reconstruct Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Designating Drives as Hot Spares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Initializing Logical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Batch Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Individual Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Deleting Logical Drives (Random Array Deletion) . . . . . . . . 198
Formatting Physical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Media Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Formatting Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Rebuilding Failed Disk Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Manual Rebuild – Rebuilding an Individual Drive . . . . . . . 201
Manual Rebuild – Batch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Exiting Dell Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
13 Troubleshooting
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
BIOS Boot Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Other BIOS Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Other Potential Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Audible Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

16 Contents
14 Appendix A: SCSI Cables and Connectors
15 Appendix B: Warranties and Return Policy
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Figures 17
Figures
Figure 2-1. Example of Disk Striping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 2-2. Example of Disk Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 2-3. Example of Disk Spanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 2-4. Example of Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Figure 3-1. RAID 0 Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 3-2. RAID 1 Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 3-3. RAID 5 Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 3-4. RAID 10 Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Figure 3-5. RAID 50 Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 8-1. PERC 3/SC Card Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Figure 8-2. Example of SCSI Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Figure 8-3. Termination of Internal SCSI Disk Arrays . . . . . . . 110
Figure 8-4. PCI Slots on Motherboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Figure 8-5. Installation of PERC 3/SC Card into Motherboard . . . 112
Figure 8-6. Connecting SCSI Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Figure 9-1. PERC 3/DC Card Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Figure 9-2. PERC 3/DCL Card Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Figure 9-3. J11 Serial Port Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Figure 9-4. Termination of Internal SCSI Disk Arrays for PERC 3/DC and
3/DCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Figure 9-5. Installation of the PERC 3/DC and 3/DCL . . . . . . . 127
Figure 9-6. Connecting SCSI Cables to PERC 3/DC and 3/DCL . . 129
Figure 10-1. PERC 3/QC Card Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Figure 10-2. J14 Serial Port Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Figure 10-3. Example of Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Figure 10-4. Termination of Internal SCSI Disk Arrays . . . . . . 142
Figure 10-5. PCI Slots on Motherboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Figure 10-6. Installation of the PERC 3/QC Card . . . . . . . . . 144
Figure 10-7. Connecting SCSI Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

18 Figures