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This appendix provides RAID controller information, and it includes the following sections:
This server supports the RAID controller options and cable requirements shown in Table C-1 .
Note Do not mix controller types in the server.
Note NVMe PCIe SSDs cannot be controlled by a SAS RAID controller.
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Use the SAS cables that come with the chassis. See RAID Controller Cabling. |
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(UCSC-MRAID12G) Can be ordered with modular flash-based write cache (FBWC) option: 512 MB Note: See also Cisco 12G SAS Modular RAID Controller Considerations. |
Use the SAS cables that come with the chassis. See RAID Controller Cabling. |
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(UCSC-MRAIDC460) Can be ordered with modular flash-based write cache (FBWC) options: 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB Note: See also Cisco 12G SAS Modular RAID Controller Considerations. |
Use the SAS cables that come with the chassis. See RAID Controller Cabling. |
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(non-RAID) NOTE: See also Cisco UCS SAS 9300-8e HBA Considerations. |
External cables not sold by Cisco NOTE: This HBA does not support optical cables for connection to external storage (copper only). |
This controller can be ordered with several modular flash-backed write cache (FBWC) options: 512 MB (when using UCSC-MRAID12G); or 1 GB, 2 GB, or 4 GB (when using UCSC-MRAIDC460).
For this server and other Cisco Generation M4 servers, the default write-cache policy for the Cisco Modular RAID controller is Write Through (irrespective of the presence of a charged Supercap power module or “good BBU”). This utilizes the optimal performance characteristics of the controller.
If you have Cisco IMC 2.0(5) or later firmware installed to the M4 server, the write policy can be set to Write Back, if preferred.
You can set the write policy using the following methods:
This section contains the following topics:
The 9300-8e HBA does not support optical cables for connection to external storage (copper only).
Mixing the Cisco UCS 9300-8e HBA in the same server as the Cisco UCS 12G SAS Modular HBA requires the following firmware levels:
The bad drive and predictive failure behavior for the Cisco UCS SAS 9300-e HBA cards is different than that for LSI MegaRAID cards. The list below compares behavior for these HBA cards and LSI MegaRAID cards.
– MegaRAID: The bad drive is marked BAD in the GUI/CLI interfaces and the fault LED on the drive is solid amber.
– HBA: The bad drive is not shown in the GUI/CLI and there is no LED indication.
– MegaRAID: If the drive is part of a RAID volume with a spare, the software performs an auto-copy backup and then marks the drive failed/BAD with the fault LED on the drive solid amber.
– HBA: There is no error handling and there is no LED indication. The operating system must handle the fault.
Currently, the boot device order for these HBAs does not map to a physical slot as seen in the Boot Option dialog of the server BIOS Setup Utility. This makes it difficult to differentiate between multiple devices.
Use the following procedure to select the preferred boot device in the LSI BIOS CU SAS Topology screen. When you select the preferred boot device in the BIOS CU SAS Topology screen, it is displayed at the top of the list in the server BIOS Setup Utility Boot Option dialog, making it easy to identify.
Step 1 In the LSI SAS BIOS CU, navigate to the SAS Topology screen.
Step 2 Press Alt+B to select or deselect a device as the preferred boot device. On this screen, you can identify the device by slot number.
Step 3 Press Alt+A to select or deselect a device as the alternate boot device. On this screen, you can identify the device by slot number. The alternate boot device is used if the preferred boot device is not detected.
Step 4 Return to the BIOS CU SAS Topology screen.
The Device Info column shows which devices you selected with the designators Boot
and Alt
.
Step 5 In the server BIOS Setup Utility, open the Boot Option dialog.
The preferred device that you selected in the LSI BIOS CU is listed at the top of the list.
Step 6 Select the device at the top of the list as your boot option.
Firmware on the RAID controller must be verified for compatibility with the current Cisco IMC and BIOS versions that are installed on the server. If not compatible, upgrade or downgrade the RAID controller firmware accordingly using the Host Upgrade Utility (HUU) for your firmware release to bring it to a compatible level.
See the HUU guide for your Cisco IMC release for instructions on downloading and using the utility to bring server components to compatible levels: HUU Guides
This server supports installation of one supercap power module (SCPM) backup unit. The unit mounts to a bracket on the chassis wall adjacent to the internal RAID controller slot (see Replacing the Supercap Power Module (RAID Backup Unit)).
The SCPM provides approximately 3 years of backup for the disk write-back cache DRAM in the case of sudden power loss by offloading the cache to the NAND flash.
This section contains the following topics:
The server chassis comes with three SAS cables pre-attached to the drive backplane SAS ports. It is important to know which SAS cable ports on the drive backplane control the drive bays when attaching SAS cables to your RAID controller card. See Figure C-1.
Note The view shown in the diagram in Figure C-1 is facing the front of the server. The SAS ports on the drive backplane are shown in their physical position on the reverse (interior) side of the backplane.
Figure C-1 SAS Cable to Drive Bay Mapping (Facing the Front of the Server)
An 8-port RAID controller can control 8 drives.
Note When using an 8-port RAID controller, you must populate the eight drives that you want to control in drive bays (3, 6, 7, 10) and (4, 8, 11, 12). That is, you must populate the bays that are controlled by SAS backplane ports S1 and S2 as shown in Figure C-1.
The connectors on the card might not be labeled. See Figure C-2 for the card connector numbering.
Step 1 Attach the S1 SAS cable from drive backplane port J37 to the S1 port on the RAID controller card.
Step 2 Attach the S2 SAS cable from drive backplane port J36 to the S2 port on the RAID controller card.
Figure C-2 Cabling 8-Port RAID Controller Cards
A 12-port RAID controller can control 12 drives.
The connectors on the card might not be labeled. See Figure C-3 for the card connector numbering.
Step 1 Attach the S1 SAS cable from drive backplane port J37 to the S1 port on the RAID controller card.
Step 2 Attach the S2 SAS cable from drive backplane port J36 to the S2 port on the RAID controller card.
Step 3 Attach the S3 SAS cable from drive backplane port J35 to the S3 port on the RAID controller card
Figure C-3 Cabling a 12-Port RAID Controller Card
When you replace a RAID controller, the RAID configuration that is stored in the controller is lost.
Step 1 Replace your RAID controller. See Special Considerations for Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Cards.
Step 2 If this was a full chassis swap, replace all drives into the drive bays, in the same order that they were installed in the old chassis.
Step 3 Reboot the server and watch for the prompt to press F.
Step 4 Press F when you see the following onscreen prompt:
Step 5 Press any key (other than C) to continue when you see the following onscreen prompt:
Step 6 Watch the subsequent windows for confirmation that your RAID configuration was imported correctly:
The LSI utilities have help documentation for more information about using the utilities.
For basic information about RAID and for using the utilities for the RAID controller cards, see the
Cisco UCS Servers RAID Guide.
Full LSI documentation is also available:
LSI MegaRAID SAS Software User’s Guide (for LSI MegaRAID)
http://www.lsi.com/DistributionSystem/AssetDocument/80-00156-01_RevH_SAS_SW_UG.pdf