IBM 390 Configuring RAID using the ThinkServer EasyStartup program, ThinkServer User Guide

•Advanced SATA/SAS hardware RAID configuration using the WebBIOS Configuration Utility program; and RAID management using the MegaRAID Storage Manager program and the MegaCLI Configuration Utility program (requires a RAID card)

Some server models come with a required RAID card to provide advanced SATA/SAS hardware RAID functions to the server. You can also purchase the RAID card from Lenovo and install it into server models that support the RAID card to get advanced SATA/SAS hardware RAID functions. See “RAID card” on page 33 and “Installing or removing the RAID card” on page 98 for more information.

Note: For server models with more than four hard disk drives or models that use SAS hard disk drives, there must be a RAID card installed.

The RAID card provides the WebBIOS Configuration Utility program to help you configure RAID independently of the operating system. You can also install the MegaRAID Storage Manager program and the MegaCLI Configuration Utility program to help you manage the RAID array and RAID controller in an operating system environment. The supported RAID levels are RAID 0, 1, and 10. To activate RAID

5 and 50 levels, you need to install a RAID 5 key on the RAID card. See “Installing or removing the ThinkServer 9240-8i RAID 5 Upgrade Key” on page 100.

For detailed information, see “Configuring the advanced SATA or SAS hardware RAID” on page 80.

Note: The ThinkServer EasyStartup program simplifies the process of configuring supported RAID and installing supported operating systems and device drivers.

Before configuring RAID for your server, observe the following precautions:

1.Use hard disk drives that have the same capacity within a single RAID array.

2.Use hard disk drives that are of the same type (SATA or SAS) within a single RAID array.

3.Depending on the operating system, the primary RAID might be limited to 2 TB total drive capacity.

Configuring RAID using the ThinkServer EasyStartup program

The ThinkServer EasyStartup program simplifies the process of configuring supported RAID and installing supported Windows and Linux operating systems and device drivers on your server. The user guide for the program can be accessed directly from the program interface.

The ThinkServer EasyStartup program has the following features for RAID configuration:

•For use with all supported RAID controllers

•Automatically detects hardware and lists all supported RAID configurations

•Configures one or more disk arrays per controller depending on the number of drives attached to the controller and the RAID level selected

•Supports hot-spare drives

•Creates a RAID response file that can be used to configure RAID controllers on similarly configured Lenovo servers

See “Using the ThinkServer EasyStartup program” on page 69 and view the user guide from the main interface of the program.

Some RAID management software is also provided on the ThinkServer EasyStartup DVD to help you manage RAID arrays and RAID controllers in an operating system environment. After you enter the operating system, insert the ThinkServer EasyStartup DVD into the optical drive. The installation packages for the programs are located in the Utilities and Others folder in the root directory of the DVD. The ThinkServer EasyStartup DVD is designed for different types of servers and the Utilities and Others folder might contain additional installation packages that are not required to be installed into your server. For more information, see “Installing and using the MegaRAID Storage Manager program” on page 80 and “Configuring the advanced SATA or SAS hardware RAID” on page 80.

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