Dell EMC PowerEdge RAID Controller S150 User’s Guide December 2020 Rev.
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. © 2019-2020 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents Chapter 1: Overview...................................................................................................................... 6 PERC S150 specifications..................................................................................................................................................6 Supported operating systems...........................................................................................................................................
Creating the virtual disks.................................................................................................................................................23 Selecting virtual disk sizes while creating a virtual disk ....................................................................................23 Deleting the virtual disks.................................................................................................................................................
Configuring RAID using the Option ROM Utility is disabled....................................................................................47 Warning Messages............................................................................................................................................................ 47 WARNING- Found virtual disks that are degraded ............................................................................................ 48 WARNING - Found virtual disks that are failed ...
1 Overview The Dell EMC PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S150 is a Software RAID solution for the Dell EMC PowerEdge systems. The S150 controller supports up to 30 Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) PCIe SSDs, SATA SSDs, SATA HDDs depending on your system backplane configuration.
Table 2. SATA specifications for PERC S150 (continued) Specification PERC S150 Communication with the system Integrated Software-based RAID for SATA drives Windows RAID: Volume, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 Linux RAID: RAID 1 NOTE: After the operating system is installed on a RAID 1 disk, you can create non-boot virtual disks of any RAID level supported by the installed Linux operating system using native Linux RAID utilities. Pass-through SSD support Yes Table 3.
Table 4.
● NOTE: See Linux RAID on page 13 for capabilities when using the following operating systems: Linux ○ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 and above ○ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP1 and above NOTE: The S150 supports Linux only for pre-booting the configuration utility capability for enabling the Linux MDRAID. For more information, see Linux RAID on page 13. NOTE: For the latest list of supported operating systems and driver installation instructions, see the system documentation at https://www.dell.
● Lifecycle Controller-This is a management application for PERC. For more information, see the Lifecycle Controller User's Guide available at https://www.dell.com/idracmanuals . ● iDRAC- For information on the features supported in iDRAC, see the iDRAC User's Guide at www.dell.com/idracmanuals.
2 Physical Disks NOTE: The physical disks in a virtual disk must be of the same drive type (HDD, SSD or NVMe PCIe SSD). For example, you cannot mix an HDD and an NVMe PCIe SSD in the same virtual disk. NOTE: The drive activity LED blinks continuously while there are background tasks running on the disk.
Mirror rebuilding A RAID mirror configuration can be rebuilt after a new physical disk is inserted and the physical disk is designated as a hot spare. NOTE: The system does not have to be rebooted. Fault tolerance The following fault tolerance features are available with the PERC S150: ● Physical disk failure detection (automatic). ● Virtual disk rebuild using hot spares (automatic, if the hot spare is configured for this feature). ● Parity generation and checking (RAID 5 only).
Drives S150 operating system driver S150 UEFI driver Samsung PM1733/PM1735 6.0.3.0007 6.0.3.0005 Intel P5500/P5600 6.0.3.0007 6.0.3.0005 Kioxia CM6/CD6 Not supported 6.0.3.0005 NOTE: Hot removal or hot insertion of the NVMe PCIe SSDs in UEFI or pre-boot mode is not supported. In the operating system environment, hot-swapping two or more NVMe PCIe SSDs simultaneously is not supported. NOTE: Mixing of SATA drives and NVMe PCIe SSDs in a virtual disk is not supported.
3 Virtual Disks A logical grouping of physical disks attached to a PERC S150 allows you to create multiple virtual disks of the same RAID levels, without exceeding a maximum of 30 virtual disks. The PERC S150 controller allows: ● Creating virtual disks of different RAID levels on a S150 controller. NOTE: Ensure that you do not mix RAID levels on the same physical disks. ● Building different virtual disks with different characteristics for different applications.
To perform TRIM on the pass-through SSDs 1. Create a volume on a pass-through SSD drive. 2. In the Windows operating system, navigate to the Defragmentation and Optimize Drive tool. 3. Select the volume created on the pass-through SSD and click Optimize. TRIM is applied. Disk initialization For physical disks, initialization writes metadata to the physical disk so that the controller can use the physical disk.
Virtual disk cache policies NOTE: Configuring virtual disk cache policies on NVMe PCIe SSD is not supported. The PERC S150 uses part of system memory for cache. It supports the following cache options: ● Read Ahead/Write Back ● No Read Ahead/Write Back ● Read Ahead/Write Through ● No Read Ahead/Write Through Table 6.
CAUTION: After the migration occurs, ensure that all of the physical disks have been migrated and are present in the appropriate virtual disks. Expanding virtual disk capacity The capacity of a virtual disk can be expanded online by using the Online Capacity Expansion/Reconfigure (OCE/Reconfigure). OCE/Reconfigure is a process that allows you to add storage capacity to an existing virtual disk. In most cases additional storage capacity can be added without taking the system offline.
4 Cabling the drives for the S150 CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or telephone service and support team. Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty. Read and follow the safety instructions that are shipped with your product.
Figure 1. Cable routing - 4 x 3.
Figure 2. Cable routing - 10 x 2.5 inch NVMe drive backplane Topics: • Disk connectivity for AHCI devices Disk connectivity for AHCI devices The S150 controller supports systems with up to two AHCI devices. For systems with two AHCI devices, the first AHCI device connects the drives from ports 0–7 and the second AHCI device connects the drives from port 8. The following table provides information about the disks connectivity to the AHCI devices supported on the Sirius PowerEdge systems. Table 7.
5 BIOS Configuration Utility The BIOS Configuration Utility, also known as Ctrl+R or Option ROM (OPROM), is a storage management application integrated into the System BIOS accessible using F2 during system boot, which configures and maintains RAID disk groups and virtual disks on SATA drives. The BIOS Configuration Utility (Ctrl+R) is independent of the operating system. NOTE: Use the Ctrl+R for initial setup and disaster recovery.
CAUTION: If the SATA controller is not set to RAID Mode, data might be destroyed. Ensure that you backup all data before changing modes. NOTE: If the BIOS Configuration Utility does not appear and your system uses a PERC S150, press F2 to access the system BIOS. In the SATA Settings field, ensure that SATA controller is set to RAID Mode. If the settings are correct and the BIOS Configuration Utility does not appear, contact Dell support at https:// www.dell.com/support.
5. In the Physical Disks menu, use the arrow keys to move between the physical disks and press Insert to select the desired physical disk. 6. Press Enter. The selected physical disk is converted to Non-RAID disks. Creating the virtual disks 1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility on page 21. 2. Select Create Virtual Disks from the Main Menu screen and press . NOTE: The S150 controller supports a maximum of 30 virtual disks.
Swapping two virtual disks 1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility on page 21. 2. In the Main Menu screen, select the Swapping Two Virtual Disks and press Enter. 3. Use the arrow keys to highlight a virtual disk at the Virtual Disk field. Press Insert. 4. Use the arrow keys to highlight another virtual disk. Press Insert. 5. Press Enter to swap the virtual disks. NOTE: Only two virtual disks can be swapped at a time.
Viewing the physical disks details 1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility on page 21. 2. In the Main Menu screen, select View Physical Disk Details and press . 3. Use the arrow keys to choose a physical disk. 4. The following details of the physical disks are displayed: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i.
a. Pause if Degraded When ON, the BIOS stops booting when a degraded virtual disk is found. Press to toggle between ON and OFF. b. Pause if Failed When ON, the BIOS stops booting when a failed virtual disk is found. Press to toggle between ON and OFF. c. Manage Physical Disk Write Cache ● If ○ ○ ● If ● If the option is set to Default: The physical disk write cache policy is enabled for SSDs and HDDs of bandwidth 3 Gbps.
6 UEFI RAID configuration utility The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) RAID configuration utility is a storage management application integrated into the System BIOS F2. It is used to configure and manage RAID, virtual disks, and physical disks. This utility is independent of the operating system. NOTE: The following sections provide information about using the UEFI RAID configuration utility. For more information, see the online help option in the UEFI RAID configuration utility.
Figure 3. Dell PERC S150 Configuration Utility Exiting the DELL PERC S150 Configuration Utility To exit the utility and return to the System Setup screen, click Finish in the bottom-right corner on the screen. Controller management Viewing the controller properties The View Controller Information screen allows you to view your controller and firmware properties.
Table 10. View Controller Information (continued) Menu Item Description Virtual Disk Count Displays the total number of virtual disks available UEFI Driver Version Displays the UEFI driver version installed on the system Firmware Build Time Displays the time and date the firmware was last updated. Figure 4. View Controller Information Screen Changing the boot order of the virtual disks Set Bootable Device allows you to change the boot order of the virtual disks. 1.
Stopping the system from booting if there is a critical BIOS error The Change Controller Properties screen allows you to either enable or disable the option to stop the system from booting if there is any critical BIOS error requiring manual intervention. 1. Enter the Dell PERC S150 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S150 configuration utility. 2. Click Controller Management > Change Controller Properties. 3. You can either enable or disable the Enable BIOS Stop On Error.
3. Select the RAID typeWindows RAID. 4. Select the Interface Type. The options are SATA and NVMe. 5. Select the physical disk and click Apply Changes. A confirmation screen is displayed. 6. Click Yes to continue. 7. Click Back to return to the configuration options screen. 8. After converting the physical disks, click the Virtual Disk Management in the Configuration Options screen. 9. Click Create Virtual Disks. 10. Click Select the Physical Disk. 11.
Figure 5. Convert to Linux RAID selection page Mixed RAID configuration If your system detects mixed RAID configurations with both Windows and Linux RAID disks, then the S150 UEFI configuration utility displays the mixed configuration screen where you are encouraged to perform the following tasks: 1. To convert the Linux RAID disks: a. In the WARNING: MIXED CONFIGURATION screen, select Windows RAID configuration. b.
Manage virtual disk properties The Manage Virtual Disk Properties screen allows you to modify the physical disk write cache policy and view the associated physical disk and its properties and policies. In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S150 Configuration Utility > Virtual Disk Management > Manage Virtual Disk Properties.The table explains the Manage Virtual Disk Properties screen details: Table 11.
Table 12.
Deleting a virtual disk 1. Enter the Dell PERC S150 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S150 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Virtual Disk Management > Select Virtual Disk Operations. 3. Select a virtual disk that you want to delete from the drop-down menu. 4. Click Delete Virtual Disk. 5. Select Confirm and click Yes to continue. The selected virtual disk is deleted.
Table 13. View Physical Disk Properties (continued) Menu Item Description Disk Sector Size Displays the type of sector size enabled. Negotiated Physical Disk Transfer speed (SATA Drives only) Displays the speed at which the data is transferred. Dell Part Number Displays the part number of the physical disk. Serial Number of Disk Displays the serial number of the physical disk. Hardware Vendor Displays the information about the hardware vendor.
3. Click the link Manage Physical Disk Properties. The Manage Physical Disk Properties screen is displayed. 4. Select one or multiple physical disk to apply the write cache policy. 5. Choose from the following physical disk write cache policies: Physical disk write cache policies Description Default The physical disk write cache feature is enabled for: ● SSDs ● 3 Gbps HDDs The physical disk write cache feature is disabled for 6 Gbps HDDs. Enable The feature is enabled on the disk selected.
NOTE: After a hot spare rebuild, creating new partial virtual disk on the same Linux RAID disk is not supported. 1. Enter the Dell PERC S150 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S150 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Virtual Disk Management > Manage Virtual Disk Properties. 3. Select the virtual disk that is in the ready state from the drop-down menu. 4. Click Manage Dedicated Hot Spares 5. Select the physical disk that you want to be assigned as a dedicated hot-spare disk. 6.
Figure 8.
7 Installing the drivers The PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S150 requires software drivers to operate with supported operating systems. Which drives to install depends on the type of the system and the operating system installed. NOTE: To check operating system compatibility, see www.dell.com/manuals.
Figure 9. NVMe Settings in BIOS NOTE: If you change the NVMe Mode setting from RAID to Non RAID, ensure that the NVMe driver (Microsoft or thirdparty NVMe driver) is installed manually in the Windows environment. Creating a virtual disk For more information about creating a virtual disk, see Creating the virtual disks on page 23. Checking PERC S150 options and the boot list priority. 1. In the Virtual Disks field, ensure the bootable virtual disk is the first virtual disk listed.
Creating the device driver media for Windows driver installation Downloading drivers for PERC S150 from the Dell support website for all operating systems 1. Go to www.dell.com/support/drivers. 2. In the Product Selection section, enter the service tag of your system in the Service Tag or Express Service Code field.
The driver files will be visible in the extracted folder. The diver can be installed by right clicking the .inf file. NOTE: S150 I/O driver name is bcraid .sys, where xyz is the first three digits of the driver version. For example, if the version is 6.0.3.0007, driver name is bcraid603.sys.
8 Troubleshooting your system To get help with your Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S150, you can contact your Dell Technical Service representative or see https://www.dell.com/support.
Performance degradation after disabling SATA physical disk write cache policy Likely Cause: Disk write operations can cause degradation in performance. Corrective Action: To resolve this issue, enable the physical disk write cache policy. NOTE: Ensure that there is constant power supply to the system (A UPS is recommended). NOTE: If you create a virtual disk using Dell LifeCycle controller, then the physical disk write cache policy is set to default.
Server performance is slow during OS installation on the NVMe configuration Likely Cause: One or more SAS drives is connected to the server on the NVMe configuration. Corrective Action: Disconnect the SAS drives connected to the server. System startup issues To troubleshoot system startup issues, review the following: System does not boot Check for the following causes when the system does not boot: ● Incorrect Controller Mode at the System Setup.
Bootable virtual disk is in a failed state 1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart. 2. After the system restart, press Ctrl+R. Check the status of the bootable virtual disk at the Virtual Disk field, or by highlighting View Virtual Disks Details and pressing Enter. 3. Check for missing or offline physical disks. The boot order is incorrect for a bootable virtual disk 1. When prompted at system startup, press Ctrl+R to access the system BIOS configuration utility. 2.
WARNING- Found virtual disks that are degraded This warning message is displayed when at least one virtual disk is in a Degraded state and Pause if Degraded is set to ON at the BIOS Configuration Utility Ctrl+R. The following message is displayed after the warning is displayed: --- Press Enter to continue, or Ctrl+R to enter setup ---.
To investigate the cause, check for the following: ● Whether the virtual disk is in Degraded status because one of the physical disks of a RAID 1 or RAID 5 virtual disk has failed, or one of the physical disks of a RAID 10 virtual disk has failed. Press Ctrl+R and verify if the physical disks are offline or missing. Remove and replace a failed physical disk. A second physical disk failure could cause a Degraded virtual disk to change to Failed status.
Likely cause: This is an expected behaviour in an NVMe configuration only and not in a SATA configuration. This error can be ignored as there is no functionality loss. S150 does not display greater than ten virtual disks in the BIOS Configuration Utility or CTRL R Likely Cause: The function is not supported. Corrective Action: Remove all physical disks except for the last one(s) added. Then proceed with deleting the virtual disks that are not needed.
6. Perform a Rescan, to perform either of the following: a. Update the status of storage devices attached to the controller. b. Fix an error caused by deleting or initializing a virtual disk. A physical disk is highlighted red at the BIOS Configuration Utility or Ctrl R 1. Replace the physical disk. Depending on the RAID level of the virtual disk, data might be lost. 2. Perform a rescan to confirm that the new disk was discovered.
Corrective Action: Ensure that NVMe is in RAID mode before installing S150 driver.
Corrective action: This is an expected behavior and no action is required. S150 displays 43 virtual disks on POST instead of 30 virtual disks Description: The maximum number of virtual disks that are supported in UEFI is 30. ● You cannot create more than 30 virtual disks. ● During virtual disk management and re-scan operations, you can see only 30 virtual disks. This is an expected behavior. ● If a drive or drives with virtual disks are imported from another system, then 43 virtual disks are displayed.
Incorrect number of physical disks selected for the desired RAID level For details about RAID levels and the allowable number of physical disks used with each RAID level, see understanding RAID levels in RAID Technology Guide at www.dell.com/manuals. The desired physical disk is unavailable Determine whether the physical disk: 1. Is a dedicated hot spare and unavailable for use in another virtual disk. 2. Is full or has insufficient available capacity.
Corrupted metadata in the virtual disk 1. Delete the virtual disk that has the failed metadata. 2. Assign the physical disk as a hot spare to rebuild a redundant virtual disk. 3. To create a non-redundant virtual disk, delete and rebuilt the data on a virtual disk, and restore the data from a backup storage source. Cannot assign a dedicated hot spare to a virtual disk If you cannot assign a dedicated hot spare to a virtual disk, check the following causes: 1.
WARNING: When a physical disk is converted to RAID Capable disks, all data on the physical disk is lost. NOTE: A physical disk with a Non-RAID status can be converted to a RAID-Capable disk, if desired, but it is no longer Non-RAID (Converting to RAID-Capable adds PERC S150 configuration information to the physical disk). The physical disk is already part of a virtual disk A dedicated hot spare cannot be assigned to another virtual disk.
Cannot create a virtual disk on selected physical disks Determine whether these physical/virtual disks were migrated from a legacy controller with mixed RAID levels. If so, creating additional virtual disk on these physical disk is not allowed. RAID disk created from the NVMe PCIe SSDs not appearing in operating system environment, showing as partitioned disks Description RAID disk created in UEFI mode from the NVMe PCIe SSDs are not discoverable in the operating system mode.
9 Getting help You can get help with your Dell product by contacting Dell, or send feedback on product documentation. Topics: • • • • Contacting Dell Locating the Express Service Code and Service Tag Related documentation Documentation feedback Contacting Dell Dell provides online and telephone based support and service options. If you do not have an active internet connection, you can find Dell contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill or Dell product catalog.
Figure 10. Locating the Express Service Code and Service tag 1. Information tag (front view) 3. OpenManage Mobile (OMM) label 5. Service Tag, Express Service Code, QRL label 2. Information tag (back view) 4. iDRAC MAC address and iDRAC secure password label The Mini Enterprise Service Tag (MEST) label is located on the rear of the system that includes Service Tag (ST), Express Service Code (Exp Svc Code), and Manufacture Date (Mfg. Date).
