HighPoint SSD7110 User manual

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SSD7110
Hybrid Connectivity –M.2 + SAS/SATAPorts,All-in
one RAID Controller
User Guide
V1.00

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Table of Contents
System Requirements..................................................................................................................................................3
SSD7101A Hardware...................................................................................................................................................3
NVMe Drive Installation:............................................................................................................................................4
Setting up the SSD7110 for a Windows operating system........................................................................................7
Using the HighPoint RAID Manager.........................................................................................................................8
Starting the HighPoint RAID Manager................................................................................................. 8
Verify the Controller Status..................................................................................................................9
Manage the RAID Controller................................................................................................................9
Creating an Array................................................................................................................................10
Adding Spare Disks............................................................................................................................14
Obtaining Logical Device Information...............................................................................................16
Array Information &Maintenance Options: Normal Status................................................................17
Array Information & Maintenance Options: Critical Status...............................................................18
Array Information & Maintenance Options: Disabled Status.............................................................19
Expanding an ExistingArray..............................................................................................................20
Physical Device Information...............................................................................................................22
Setting Tab..................................................................................................................................................................23
System Settings...................................................................................................................................24
Password Settings...............................................................................................................................25
Changing your HRM password...........................................................................................................25
Recovering your HRM password........................................................................................................25
Email Setting.......................................................................................................................................25
Recover Tab (Only for SSD7110 SAS Controller)...................................................................................................28
How to Backup your Recover List......................................................................................................29
How to Reload your Backup Recover List .........................................................................................29
Event Tab....................................................................................................................................................................30
Table 1. Event Log Icon Guide...........................................................................................................30
SHI (Storage Health Inspector)................................................................................................................................31
How to Enable SMART Monitoring...................................................................................................32
How to Change the HDD Temperature Threshold..............................................................................33
How to Use the Health Inspector Scheduler.......................................................................................34
How to Create a New Verify Task.......................................................................................................34
BIOS/Firmware Updates.....................................................................................................................................35
Using the HRM to update the BIOS/Firmware.......................................................................................................35
Section 7: Troubleshooting.................................................................................................................................36
Handling Critical Arrays ..........................................................................................................................................37
Rebuilding Stops Due to Bad Sectors.................................................................................................38
Critical array becomes disabled when you removed faulty disk.........................................................38
Handling Disabled Arrays.........................................................................................................................................39
Your PC hangs when the card is installed ...............................................................................................................40
Help.....................................................................................................................................................................41
Table 1.HRM Icon Guide..........................................................................................................................................42
Table 2. RAID Level Reference Guide.....................................................................................................................45
HighPoint Recommended List of Hard Drives .......................................................................................................46
Contacting Technical Support ..................................................................................................................................46
For any help and support, submit a support ticket online at http://www.highpoint-tech.com/websupport/ ....46

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System Requirements
PC Requirements
System with an empty x16 PCIe 3.0 slot
Windows 10 or later
Linux Kernel 3.19 or later
SSD7101A Hardware
Front View

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NVMe Drive Installation:
Step 1. On the rear of the SSD7110, remove the six screws that secure
the unit’s front panel to the PCB.
After removing the screws, carefully remove the front panel from the
SSD7110.
Step 2. These 3screws are used to install the NVMe SSD’s.

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Step 3. The SSDs should be installed from top to bottom.
Remove the top screw.
Step 4. Gently insert the SSD into the slot.

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Step 5. Refasten the screw to secure the SSD.
Repeat Steps 3 to 5 to install the remaining SSDs.
Step 6. Replace the front panel after installing all SSDs
Step 7. On the rear of the SSD7110, refasten the 6 screws that
were removed in step 1.
SAS/SATA Drive Installation
SSD7110 has four SFF-8643 Ports. Please connect the
SAS/SATA drives via SFF-8643 to SAS/SATA cables.

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Setting up the SSD7110 for a Windows operating
system
1. Verifying Installation
After booting Windows, open Device Manager, and expand Disk
drives. The installed NVMe drive should be displayed:
2. Driver Installation
1) Download the Windows driver package from the HighPoint
website:
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-SSD7110-download.htm
2) Once downloaded, locate the folder you downloaded the driver to.
Extract the driver package. There are two driver packages .exe file
for the SSD7110. Please install the driver package one by one:
3) Double click.exe file to start the driver installation.
4) Follow the wizard and reboot system to complete the driver
installation.
5) After rebooting, a RocketNVME RAID Controller and a
SSD711X RAID Controller entry should be displayed under
Storage Controllers:

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3. Installing the HighPoint RAID Manager(HRM)
The HighPoint RAID Manager is used to configure and monitor the
SSD7110. Download the HighPoint RAID Manager software package
from the HighPoint website:
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-SSD7110-download.htm
1) Extract the package and double-click the setup.exe program to
install the software.
2) After the installation, start HighPoint RAID Manager by double
clicking the ICON on the desktop:
Using the HighPoint RAID Manager
Starting the HighPoint RAID Manager
Double click the Desktop ICON to start the Web browser. It will
automatically log-in to the HighPoint NVMe Manager using the
default password.
The password can be set after the first log-in. To change the
password, select Setting>Security from the menu bar (see page 15
for more information).

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Verify the Controller Status
The Global Tab will display the overall status of the controller.
The Virtual Disk is listed under Logic Device Information. The
individual M.2 SSDs are listed under Physical Device Information.
Manage the RAID Controller
SSD7110 has both NVMe and SAS RAID controllers. You may
switch between the controllers using the controller selection
drop-down menu:

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Creating an Array
To create an array:
1. Log into HRM
2. Select the proper controller from the drop down on the top left
3. Click Logical
4. Click Create Array

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Array Type:
An array is a collection of physical disks that will be seen as one virtual
drive by your Operating System (OS).
The SSD7120 is capable of creating the following array types:
JBOD –Just a Bunch of Disks
RAID 0 - Striping
RAID 1 - Mirroring
RAID 5 –Rotating Parity bit
RAID 1/0 (Same as RAID10) –Striping of Mirrored Drives
RAID 5/0 (Same as RAID50) –Striping of Distributed Parity
RAID 6 –Double Parity Bit
Note: RAID 1/0, RAID 5/0 and RAID 6 require 4 or more disk drives.
The SSD7110’s SAS RAID controller can support these RAID levels.
However, the NVMe controller cannot –it can only support RAID 0, 1
and 5.

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Each RAID level has its pros and cons based on the application you use
it for (Note: Refer to RAID level Quick Reference)
Array Name: the name that will be displayed in Logical Device
Information (Default: RAID_<level>_<array number>)
Initialization Method: Initialization of a disk sets all data bits to 0,
essentially clearing all the data on the drive. It is important to initialize
disks as previous data physically stored on the drive may interfere with
new data.
Keep Old Data: This option skips the initialization process and all
data on each physical disk of the array will be untouched.
Quick Init: This option grants immediate access to the RAID array
by skipping the initialization process, but it will delete all data.
Note: Skipping initialization is generally not recommended as
residual data on disks may interfere with new data in the future.
Foreground: The array initialization process will be set at high
priority. During this time array is not accessible, but the
initialization process will complete much faster.
Background: The array initialization process will have a lower
priority. During this time the array will be accessible, but the
initialization process will take much longer to complete.
Note1: Initializing takes a significant amount of time (approximately 2
hours per 1 TB when using hard drives).
Background and Foreground Initialization
Fully initializing the array will completely zero out the data on the disks,
meaning the disk will be completely wiped and every bit on the disk will
be set to 0. Foregoing initialization means the array will still be created,
and you can still write new data onto the array. But when your array
requires rebuilding, residual data left behind may interfere with the

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process.
Cache Policy (Default: Write Back)
Write Back –Any data written to the array will be stored as cache,
resulting in better I/O performance at the risk of data failures due to
power outages. Data will be stored as cache before it is physically written
to the disk; when a power outage occurs, any data in the cache will be
lost.
Write Through –Data written to an array is directly written onto the
disk, meaning lower write performance for higher data availability.
Without cache acting as a buffer, write performance will be noticeably
slower but data loss due to power outages or other failures is
significantly minimized.
Block Size (default: 512K)
[16K or 1024Kare the supported block sizes]
Adjusting the block size towards your disk usage can result in some
performance gain.
In a typical RAID configuration, data of the virtual drive is striped (or
spread across) the physical drives. Having a smaller array block size will
increase the likelihood of accessing all physical drives when processing
large I/O requests. Multiple physical drives working in parallel increases
the throughput, meaning better performance.
For smaller I/O requests (512 bytes to 4 kilobytes), it is better to have
each individual disks handle their own I/O request, improving the IOPS
(I/O per second), rather than having one tiny I/O request being handled
by multiple disks.
A block size of 64k is recommended because it strikes a balance between
the two I/O usage scenarios.

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Capacity (Default: Maximum)
The total amount of space you want the RAID array to take up. When
creating RAID levels, disk capacities are limited by the smallest disk.
An example of how disk capacities are limited by smallest disk.
You have 3 drives connected to the enclosure.
The first drive is 6 TB, the second is 4 TB, and the third drive is 2 TB.
After creating a RAID level 5 using all three drives and maximum
capacity, the first drive will have 4 TB, the second 2 TB, and the third
drive 0 TB of free capacity
The free capacity on the first and second drive can be used to create a
separate array.
You may also choose how much space each array will utilize. You can
use the remaining space to create another array (up to 4 arrays are
supported).
Adding Spare Disks
Spare disks are physical disks that will immediately replace critical disks
in an array.

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To add spare disks:
1. Log into the HRM
2. Click Logical
3. Click Spare Pool:
4. Check the box for the disk you want as a spare under Available
Disks
5. Click Add Spare, and confirm by selecting OK from the pop-up
window:
6. The disk has now been assigned as a spare. Click OK to confirm:
Disks added to the spare pool will be displayed under Spare Pool and
can be removed by checking the box before the target drive, then

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clicking the Remove Spare button.
Physical drives marked as a spare will automatically be added to an
array whenever there is a disk failure. This feature minimizes the
chances of a data loss by reducing the time an array is in the critical
status.
Obtaining Logical Device Information
The Logical device tab is the default page after clicking the Logical tab
of the HRM. This page contains information about your RAID arrays
and the individual disks your system detects.
Logical Device Information
Arrays you create and the properties associated with them will appear
here.
Maintenance
Once an array has been created, the Maintenance menu provides options
to maintain or edit it. To access the Maintenance menu, click the
Maintenance button towards the right-hand side of the array name.
Array Information
Clicking on the maintenance button will show you the Array information
box. Different array statuses (Normal, critical, disabled) will have
different maintenance options.

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Array Information &Maintenance Options: Normal Status
Arrays with the Normal status are healthy and functioning properly.
Arrays with the Normal status will have the following options:
Delete –deletes the selected RAID array
Unplug –powers off the selected RAID array –once powered off, the
physical disks can be safely removed from the RAID controller
Verify –verifies the integrity of the RAID array
Change Cache Policy –Toggles between Write through and Write back
cache
Rename –renames the RAID array.
ORLM (Online Capacity Expansion / Online RAID Level Migration
options)-See Expanding a RAID array for more information.

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Array Information & Maintenance Options: Critical Status
Arrays in the Critical status can be accessed and utilized, but are no
longer fault tolerant. A Critical array should be rebuilt as soon as
possible to restore redundancy.
A critical status array has all the normal status options except the
following:
The Array can no longer be renamed
Add Disk replaces the Verify Disk option
Once the array status changes to critical, the faulty disk will be taken
offline and you can either:
Reinsert the same disk
Insert new disk
Reinserting the same disk should trigger the rebuilding status, since data
on the disk would be recognized.
If you insert a new disk, clicking Add Disk will give you the option to

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select that disk and add it to the array.
If a spare disk is available, an array that has entered the critical state will
begin rebuilding using the next available spare disk.
Array Information & Maintenance Options: Disabled Status
An array with the Disabled status means that the RAID level does not
have enough disks to function.
Your data will be inaccessible
Rebuilding will not trigger, since the RAID array does not have
enough parity data to rebuild.
Your options in Maintenance are:
Delete
Unplug
Recover

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Delete –will delete the array
Unplug –will take the array offline, making it safe to remove
Recover –will attempt to recover the array using the Recover List from
the Recover tab (for more information, see Recovery Tab.)
Expanding an Existing Array
Important: It is recommended that the array be Verified/Rebuilt before
Expanding or Migrating. Once you start an OCE/ORLM procedure,
you can stop the process, but it must be resumed until completion.
To add more capacity to your current configuration follows these steps:
1. Log into the HRM
2. Select desired controller from drop down menu on top left
3. Click Logical
4. Click Maintenance for the array you want to change
Select a different RAID level to Migrate. For example, if you
want to change a RAID 0 array, you will need to select a different
RAID level, such as RAID 5 or 6.
Select the same RAID level to Expand. For example, if you want
to expand the capacity of an existing RAID 5 array, you must
select RAID 5 from the menu.