Dell PowerVault MD1000 User manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com
Dell™ PowerVault™ MD1000
Storage Enclosure
Hardware Owner’s Manual

Notes, Notices, and Cautions
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your system.
NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the
problem.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.
____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2005–2006 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, PowerEdge, PowerVault, and Dell OpenManage are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Microsoft,
Windows, and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United
States and other countries; EMC is a registered trademark of EMC Corporation.
Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products.
Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.
Model AMP01
February 2006 Rev. A01

Contents 3
Contents
1 About Your System
Other Information You May Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Indicators on the Enclosure Bezel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Front-Panel Indicators and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Drive Carrier LED Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Back-Panel Indicators and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Enclosure Management Module (EMM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Enclosure Failover When Two EMMs are Installed . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
EMM Thermal Shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Enclosure Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2 Operating Your Storage Enclosure
Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Cabling Your Enclosure for Unified or Split Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Connecting the Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Changing Your Enclosure’s Operating Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Managing Your Storage Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Downloading Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3 Installing Enclosure Components
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Removing and Replacing the Front Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4Contents
Removing and Installing Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Removing Drives from the Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Installing SAS Drives in the Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Installing SATA Drives in the Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Removing and Installing an EMM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Removing an EMM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Installing an EMM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Installing an EMM Module Cover in an Empty Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Installing and Removing an EMM Module Cover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Removing and Installing the Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module . . . . . . . 34
Removing a Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Installing a Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Removing and Installing the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Removing the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Installing the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Removing and Installing the Midplane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4 Troubleshooting Your Enclosure
Safety First—For You and Your Enclosure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Start-Up Routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Troubleshooting a Loss of Communication Condition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Troubleshooting External Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Troubleshooting a Wet Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Troubleshooting a Damaged Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Troubleshooting Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Troubleshooting Enclosure Cooling Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Troubleshooting a Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Troubleshooting SAS and SATA Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Troubleshooting Enclosure Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Contents 5
5 Getting Help
Technical Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Automated Order-Status Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Technical Support Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Dell Enterprise Training and Certification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Product Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Before You Call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Contacting Dell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

6Contents

About Your System 7
About Your System
The enclosure provides a 3-U rack-mounted external storage chassis capable of accommodating up
to 15 3.0-Gbps, Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS) drives or 3.0-Gbps Serial ATA (SATA) drives. The
enclosure can be daisy-chained with up to two additional enclosures to provide up to 45 drives per
host connection. Host-based RAID configuration is supported via a Dell
™ PowerEdge ™ Expandable
RAID Controller (PERC) 5/E.
Other Information You May Need
CAUTION: The Product Information Guide provides important safety and regulatory information. Warranty
information may be included within this document or as a separate document.
• The Rack Installation Guide or Rack Installation Instructions included with your rack solution
describes how to install your
enclosure into a rack.
• The
Getting Started Guide provides an overview of enclosure features, setting up your enclosure ,
and technical specifications.
• The
Dell OpenManage Server Administrator documentation provides information on managing
your storage solution using the Storage Management Service within Server Administrator.
NOTE: Online configuration, enclosure status, and active event notification require Server
Administrator version 4.5.1 or later.
• CDs included with your enclosure provide documentation and tools for configuring and
managing your
enclosure .
• Documentation for any components you purchased separately provides information to configure
and install these options.
• RAID controller documentation.
• Updates are sometimes included with the
enclosure to describe changes to the enclosure ,
software, and/or documentation.
NOTE: Always check for updates on support.dell.com and read the updates first because they often
supersede information in other documents.
• Release notes or readme files may be included to provide last-minute updates to the enclosure or
documentation, or provide advanced technical reference material intended for experienced users.

8About Your System
Indicators on the Enclosure Bezel
An optional locking bezel can be installed on the front of the enclosure to limit access. Figure 1-1
illustrates the indicators and components on the bezel. Table 1-1 lists conditions indicated by the lights on
the bezel.
For information on installing and removing the bezel, see "Removing and Replacing the Front
Bezel."
Figure 1-1. LEDs on the Front Bezel
Table 1-1. Front Bezel Indicators
Item LED Indicator LED Icon Condition
1 Split mode (green) When lit, indicates the enclosure is in split mode;
otherwise, the enclosure is in unified mode. For more
information on both modes, see “Unified Mode and Split
Mode.”
2 Power (green) When lit, at least one power supply is supplying power to
the enclosure.
3 Enclosure status
(blue/amber)
Steady amber: Power is on and enclosure is in reset state
Steady blue: Power is on and enclosure status is OK.
Flashing blue: Host server is identifying the enclosure.
Flashing amber: Enclosure is in fault state.
1
2
3

About Your System 9
Front-Panel Indicators and Features
Figure 1-2 shows the LED indicators and components on the enclosure ’s front panel (optional locking bezel
not shown). Table 1-2 lists the conditions and functions indicated by each.
Figure 1-2. Front-Panel Features
1enclosure status LED 4power LED 7drives (15)
2drive activity LED 5split mode LED
3drive status LED 6enclosure mode switch
Table 1-2. Front-Panel Components
Component Icon Condition
Enclosure status LED
(blue/amber)
Steady amber: Power is on and enclosure is in reset state
Steady blue: Power is on and enclosure status is OK.
Flashing blue: Host server is identifying the enclosure.
Flashing amber: Enclosure is in fault state.
1
4
5
3
2
67

10 About Your System
Drive Carrier LED Indicators
Each drive carrier in your enclosure has two LEDs: an activity LED (green) and a bi-color (green/amber)
status LED (see Figure 1-3). The activity LED flashes whenever the drive is accessed. Table 1-3 lists the
flash patterns for the status LED.
Figure 1-3. Drive Carrier LED Indicators
Power LED (green) When lit, at least one power supply is supplying power to
the enclosure.
Split mode LED (green) When lit, indicates the enclosure is in split-mode
configuration; otherwise, the enclosure is in unified mode.
For more information, see “Unified Mode and Split
Mode.”
Enclosure mode switch When set in its uppermost position at power on, the
enclosure is configured in unified mode; when set in its
lowermost position at power on, the enclosure is
configured in split mode.
NOTE: This switch must be set prior to power on. Changing
the switch setting after power on will have no effect on
enclosure configuration until the system is power cycled.
1activity LED 2status LED
Table 1-2. Front-Panel Components (continued)
Component Icon Condition
12

About Your System 11
Back-Panel Indicators and Features
Figure 1-4 shows the back-panel features of a fully populated enclosure containing both enclosure
management modules (EMMs) and two power supply/cooling fan modules. The enclosure requires at
least one EMM to be installed; if only one EMM is installed, it must reside in the primary (left, as seen
from rear of enclosure) EMM bay. Both power supply/cooling fan modules must be installed. However,
the enclosure can run temporarily on one power supply/cooling fan module. For more information, see
"Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features."
Table 1-3. Drive Carrier Status LEDs
LED Description
Off Slot empty, drive not yet discovered by server, or an
unsupported drive is present
Steady green Drive is online
Green flashing (250 milliseconds
[ms])
Drive is being identified or is being prepared for removal
Green flashing
On 400 ms
Off 100 ms
Drive rebuilding
Amber flashing (125 ms) Drive failed
Green/amber flashing
Green On 500 ms
Amber On 500 ms
Off 1000 ms
Predicted failure reported by drive
Green/amber flashing
Green On 3000 ms
Off 3000 ms
Amber On 3000 ms
Off 3000 ms
Drive being spun down by user request or other nonfailure
condition

12 About Your System
Figure 1-4. Back-Panel Features
Enclosure Management Module (EMM)
Each EMM provides data path and enclosure management functions for your enclosure, including:
• Monitoring and controlling enclosure environment elements (temperature, fans, power supplies, and
enclosure LEDs)
• Controlling access to the drives
• Communicating
enclosure attributes and states to the host server
NOTE: At least one EMM must be installed in the enclosure. If only one EMM is installed, it must be in the
primary EMM bay (see Figure 1-4) and a blank module cover must be installed in the secondary EMM bay
(see "Installing an EMM Module Cover in an Empty Bay").
Figure 1-5 shows a single EMM as it appears from the rear of the enclosure. The EMM connects to the
enclosure via the enclosure midplane (see "Removing and Installing an EMM"). EMM connectors and
components are shown in Figure 1-5 and include:
• Debug port (Dell use only)
• SAS port connector (In)
• SAS port connector (Out)
• Three LEDs (In Port Link, Out Port Link, and EMM Status)
1primary EMM 2secondary EMM 3power supply/cooling fan
modules (2)
12
3

About Your System 13
For a description of each component on the front panel of the EMM, see Table 1-4. For an explanation of
how to connect the enclosure using the EMM ports, see "Operating Your Storage Enclosure."
Figure 1-5. EMM External Panel
Table 1-4. EMM Component Functions
Item Component Icon Function
1 Debug Port Dell factory use only.
2 SAS Port (In) In Provide SAS connection for cabling to host or next
upchain expansion enclosure (unified mode only).
3 In Port Link Status
LED (green/amber)
Green: All links into the port are connected.
Amber: One or more links into the port are not
connected.
Off: Interface is not active.
4 SAS Port (Out) Out Provide SAS connection for cabling to the next
downchain expansion enclosure in a daisy chain
(unified mode only).
NOTE: The SAS Out port is disabled if the enclosure
is running split mode. For more information, see
"Operating Your Storage Enclosure."
5 Out Port Link
Status LED
(green/amber)
Green: All links out of the port are connected.
Amber: One or more links out of the port are not
connected.
Off: Interface is not active.
123 4 5 6

14 About Your System
Unified Mode and Split Mode
The enclosure can run in one of two modes:
•Unified
•Split
In unified mode, a SAS host can communicate with up to 15 drives in the enclosure via a single EMM, or
up to 45 drives in three enclosures daisy chained together. In split mode, the enclosure is split into two
virtual groups, with up to eight consecutive drives (slots 7-14) controlled by the primary (left) EMM. The
remaining drives (slots 0-6) are controlled by the secondary (right) EMM. You must select either mode
using the enclosure mode switch on the front panel of the enclosure before powering on (see Figure 1-7).
NOTE: Clustering is not supported in the MD1000 host-based RAID solution.
Figure 1-6 illustrates the division of control, depending on whether you select the enclosure to run in
either unified or split mode.
6 EMM Status LED
(green/amber)
Solid green: EMM is functioning properly.
Solid amber: The enclosure did not boot or was not
properly configured.
Off: EMM did not boot, is not properly configured,
or communication between the EMM and the
server is lost.
Green flashing (250 ms): Firmware download in
progress.
Amber flashing (On 250 ms Off 250 ms [once];
Off 1000 ms): Communication between SAS
expanders and enclosure processor could not be
established.
Amber flashing (On 250 ms Off 250 ms [twice];
Off 1000 ms): Enclosure processor unable to
communicate with enclosure devices.
Amber flashing (On 250 ms Off 250 ms [three
times]; Off 1000 ms): One or more SAS expanders
not properly configured.
Amber flashing (On 250 ms Off 250 ms [five
times]; Off 1000 ms): Firmware revisions between
EMMs are different. Both EMM LEDs will blink.
Table 1-4. EMM Component Functions (continued)
Item Component Icon Function

About Your System 15
Figure 1-6. Drive Slot Distribution in Split Mode vs. Unified Mode
EMM Control in Split Mode
EMM Control in Unified Mode

16 About Your System
Figure 1-7. Enclosure Mode Switch Settings
NOTE: To change the enclosure mode, you must change the position of the enclosure mode switch before turning
on power to the enclosure. Changing the position of the switch while the enclosure is on will not affect enclosure
operation until the enclosure is rebooted.
For a complete description of the roles of the primary and secondary EMMs, see "Operating Your Storage
Enclosure."
Enclosure Failover When Two EMMs are Installed
If two EMMs are installed, a certain degree of failover is offered. Control and monitoring of the enclosure
elements can be transferred from one EMM to another in the event of an EMM failure. A failover occurs
whenever communication is lost between an EMM and its peer.
In the event of a peer EMM failure, the surviving EMM activates the amber status LED of the failed
EMM and holds it in reset. The surviving EMM then takes over the responsibility of enclosure
management, which includes monitoring and control of the audible alarm, enclosure LEDs, power
supplies, and fans.
Failover does not include providing connectivity to the drives controlled by the failed EMM. When a
failed EMM is replaced, enclosure management functions do not automatically return to the replaced
EMM unless an additional failure occurs that triggers another failover event.
1unified mode switch setting 2split mode switch setting
1
2

About Your System 17
EMM Thermal Shutdown
If critical internal temperatures are reached, the enclosure will be shut down automatically via either a
thermal shutdown command issued by the EMM firmware or via a command from Server Administrator.
Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features
Your storage enclosure supports two integrated, hot-pluggable power supply/cooling fan modules. Each
module contains two separate cooling fans. Both modules must be installed to ensure proper cooling.
The enclosure requires at least three of the cooling fans to operate to avoid overheating.
CAUTION: A power supply/cooling fan module can be removed from a powered-on enclosure; however, the
enclosure will shut down if overheating occurs.
A power supply/cooling fan module can be replaced without powering down the enclosure. For
information on removing and replacing the modules, see "Removing and Installing the Power
Supply/Cooling Fan Module."
Figure 1-8 shows the power supply/cooling fan module features and LED indicators. Table 1-5 lists the
LED indicator descriptions.
Figure 1-8. Power Supply and Cooling Fan Module LED Features and Indicators
1DC power LED 3AC power LED 5AC power connector
2Power supply/cooling fan
fault LED
4cooling fans (2) 6on/off switch
14
6
5
2 3

18 About Your System
Enclosure Alarms
An audible alarm is activated if any of the fault conditions listed in Table 1-6 occur. If a critical event
occurs, the alarm sounds continuously. If a noncritical event occurs, the alarm sounds every 10 seconds.
NOTE: The audible alarm is disabled by default. To enable the alarm, you must change the default setting in Server
Administrator. For more information, see Server Administrator Storage Management Service documentation.
NOTE: It is rare for both EMMs to fail simultaneously. However, if this occurs, the enclosure cannot issue critical
or noncritical event alarms for any enclosure component.
Table 1-5. Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module LED Indicators
LED type LED color LED Icon Function
DC power Green On: DC output voltages are within
specifications.
Off: No power, or voltages not within
specifications.
Power
supply/cooling fan
fault
Amber On: DC output voltages are not within
specifications or one (or both) fans are
in fault.
Off: No fault condition is present.
AC power Green On: AC input voltage is within
specifications.
Off: No power, or voltages not within
specifications.
Table 1-6. Critical and Noncritical Events
Critical Events Noncritical Events
Two or more fan blowers have failed or a power
supply/cooling fan module is not installed.
One power supply has failed.
One or more temperature sensors are in critical range. One cooling fan has failed.
One or more temperature sensors are in warning range.
One EMM has failed.

Operating Your Storage Enclosure 19
Operating Your Storage Enclosure
This section provides procedures for connecting your storage enclosure to a host system for either
unified or split mode.
Before You Begin
Before connecting your storage enclosure , ensure that the following are available:
• The components that came with your storage
enclosure , including:
– Power cord
– SAS interconnect cables
–
Documentation CD
–Railkit
• Any relevant documentation, including:
– Getting Started Guide
– Rack Installation Guide or Rack Installation Instructions
– Product Information Guide (for important safety, regulatory, and warranty information)
–
Installation and Server Management CD (version 4.5.1 or later)
– Server Administrator documentation
– Readme files
Cabling Your Enclosure for Unified or Split Mode
How you cable your enclosure to your host controller depends on the configuration you choose: unified
or split mode.
• A unified configuration is one in which your
enclosure is connected to one host (for example, a
server with a controller card). In unified mode, your
enclosure can be one of up to three enclosures
daisy-chained to a single port on the controller card in your host server. See Figure 2-1 for a cabling
diagram of a unified mode configuration.

20 Operating Your Storage Enclosure
• A split-mode configuration is one in which your storage enclosure is connected to either two host
controllers, or two ports on a single host controller. In this configuration, the drives are split into two
groups with eight drives controlled by one host controller and seven drives controlled by the other host
controller. See Figure 2-1 for a cabling diagram of a split mode configuration.
NOTE: Daisy-chaining storage enclosures is not supported in split mode.
NOTE: Clustering is not supported in the MD1000 host-based RAID solution.
Selection of the configuration mode is done via the enclosure mode switch on the front enclosure panel
(see Figure 1-7).
NOTE: The enclosure mode switch must be set to the mode you want to use before the enclosure is powered on.
Changing the configuration selection after the enclosure is powered on has no effect on enclosure operation until
it is rebooted.
Connecting the Enclosure
1 Confirm that the latest version of Server Administrator is installed. For installation instructions and
supported operating systems, see your Server Administrator documentation.
2 Turn off the host system and all attached devices.
3 Connect the external SAS cable(s) to the EMM SAS connector on the storage enclosure (see
Figure 1-5 and Figure 2-1) and to the RAID controller on the host system. (See your RAID controller
documentation to ensure that the controller is properly installed.)
• If you are configuring your enclosure in unified mode, connect the external SAS cable from the
host controller to the In port on the EMM module of the first
enclosure in the daisy chain (see
Figure 2-1). Attach subsequent storage
enclosure s in the daisy chain to the Out port on the first
upchain storage
enclosure . The last enclosure in the chain will not have a connecting cable in its
Out EMM port.
• If you are configuring your enclosure in split mode, attach the external SAS cable from the first
host controller to the In port on the primary EMM module and the SAS cable from the second
host controller or port to the In port on the secondary EMM (see Figure 2-1). In this
configuration, the server attached to the In port on the primary EMM will control eight drives
(slots 7 through 14); the server or controller port attached to the In port on the secondary EMM
will control seven drives (slots 0 through 6).
NOTE: In split mode, you can cable the enclosure to operate in either a two-host or single-host configuration.
See Figure 2-1. In single-host configuration, you can cable both EMMs to either the same host controller, or to
a separate host controller.