Compaq Infortrend manual Advanced Configurations, Fault Prevention, S.M.A.R.T, Chapter

Chapter

9

Advanced Configurations

This chapter aims to discuss the advanced options for configuring and maintaining a RAID system. Each function will be given a brief explanation as well as a configuration sample. Terminal screens will be used in the configuration samples. Some of the operations require basic knowledge of RAID technology and the practice of them is only recommended for an experienced user.

9.1Fault Prevention

S.M.A.R.T.

With the maturity of technologies like S.M.A.R.T., drive failures can be predictable to a certain degree. Before S.M.A.R.T., being recurrently notified of drive bad block reassignments may be the most common omen for a drive about to fail. In addition to the S.M.A.R.T.-related functions as will be discussed later in this section, a system administrator can also choose to manually perform “Clone Failing Drive” to a drive which is about to fail. System administrators can decide when to replace a drive showing symptoms of defects by a healthy drive. A system administrator may also replace any drive at will even when the source drive is healthy.

The “Clone Failing Drive” can be performed under the following conditions:

1.Replacing a failing drive either detected by S.M.A.R.T. or notified by the controller.

2.Manually replacing and cloning any drive with a new drive.

Advanced Configurations 9-1