Configuring Arrays
Connect the physical drives to MegaRAID, configure the drives, then initialize them. The number of physical disk drives that an array can support depends on the firmware version.
For MegaRAID Enterprise 1600, an array can consist of up to 32 physical disk drives, depending on the RAID level (see page 16 for more information.) Enterprise 1600 supports up to 40 logical drives per controller. The number of drives in an array determines the RAID levels that can be supported.
Arranging Arrays You must arrange the arrays to provide additional organization for the drive array. You must arrange arrays so that you can create system drives that can function as boot devices.
You can sequentially arrange arrays with an identical number of drives so that the drives in the group are spanned. Spanned drives can be treated as one large drive. Data can be striped across multiple arrays as one logical drive.
You can create spanned drives by using the MegaRAID Configuration utility or the MegaRAID Manager. See the MegaRAID Configuration Software Guide for additional information.
Creating Hot Spares Any drive that is present, formatted, and initialized but not included in a array or logical drive is automatically designated as a hot spare.
You can also designate drives as hot spares by using the MegaRAID Configuration Utility, MegaRAID Manager, or Power Console. See the MegaRAID Configuration Software Guide for additional information.
Creating Logical Drives Logical drives are arrays or spanned arrays that are presented to the operating system. You must create one or more logical drives.
The logical drive capacity can include all or any portion of a array. The logical drive capacity can also be larger than an array by using spanning. MegaRAID Enterprise 1600 supports up to 40 logical drives.
Chapter 5 Configuring MegaRAID | 39 |