Dell EMC PowerEdge RAID Controller S130 User’s Guide October 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 S130 specifications..................................................................................................................................................6 Supported operating systems...........................................................................................................................................
Managing the hot spare disks........................................................................................................................................ 23 Assigning the global hot spare disks....................................................................................................................... 23 Assigning the dedicated hot spare disks................................................................................................................24 Unassign hot spare disks.......
0x0000003B or 0x0000007E stop error occurs on a system while using a 4K sector disks.........................38 Performance degradation after disabling physical disk write cache policy.........................................................39 Unable to modify any feature settings in UEFI or OPROM.....................................................................................39 Unable to recover the crash dump file when the operating system fails.........................................................
1 Overview The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S130 is an economical RAID solution for the Dell PowerEdge systems. The S130 controller supports up to ten SATA HDDs or SATA SSDs depending on your system backplane configuration. Topics: • • • • • PERC S130 specifications Supported operating systems Supported PowerEdge systems Supported physical disks Management applications for the PERC S130 PERC S130 specifications The following table provides PERC S130 specifications: Table 1.
Table 1. Specifications for PERC S130 (continued) Specification PERC S130 Pass through SSD support Yes The following table provides PERC S130 virtual disk specifications: Table 2.
Supported operating systems The S130 controller supports the following operating systems: NOTE: It is highly recommended to see Dell EMC Enterprise operating systems support section to view the information on the supported operating systems by a specific server.
NOTE: Mixing drives of different speeds (7,200 rpm, 10,000 rpm, or 15,000 rpm) and bandwidth (3 Gbps or 6 Gbps) while maintaining the same drive type (SATA) and technology (HDD or SSD), is supported. Management applications for the PERC S130 The management applications enable you to manage and configure the RAID system, create and manage multiple disk groups, control and monitor multiple RAID systems, and provide online maintenance.
2 Physical Disks NOTE: The physical disks in a virtual disk must be of the same drive type (HDD or SSD). For example, you cannot mix a HDD and a SSD in the same virtual disk. NOTE: Mixing 512–byte native and 512–byte emulated drives in a virtual disk is allowed, but mixing 512–byte and 4 KB native drives in a virtual disk is not allowed.
NOTE: The system does not have to be rebooted. Fault tolerance The following fault tolerance features are available with the PERC S130: ● 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). ● Hot-swap manual replacement of a physical disk without rebooting the system (only for systems with a backplane that allows hot-swapping).
NOTE: You cannot configure physical disk write cache policy on a non-RAID disk. NOTE: Linux RAID does not support configuring physical disk, or virtual disk write cache policy. Linux RAID The Linux RAID feature is supported on all the Dell PowerEdge 13th generation systems. You can use Linux RAID to protect data across multiple devices. For more information about configuring Linux RAID, see Configuring Linux RAID on page 30. NOTE: Ensure that your system has the latest BIOS firmware.
3 Virtual Disks A logical grouping of physical disks attached to a PERC S130 allows creating multiple virtual disks of the same RAID levels, without exceeding a maximum of ten virtual disks. The PERC S130 controller allows: ● Creating virtual disks of different RAID levels on a S130 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.
Background Array Scan Verifies and rectifies correctable media errors on mirror, volume, or parity data for virtual disks. Background array scan (BAS) starts automatically after a virtual disk is created while in the Windows operating system. Checkpointing Allows different types of checkpointing to resume at the last point following a restart. After the system restarts, background checkpointing resumes at its most recent checkpoint.
Table 3. Read, Write, and Cache Policy for the PERC S130 Category Supported by S130 controller Cache Settings Yes Read Ahead/Write Back Yes No Read Ahead/Write Back Yes Read Ahead/Write Through Yes No Read Ahead/Write Through Yes NOTE: The current default for Write-Cache mode enablement is Write Through, No Read Ahead (WT, NRA). To enable Write Back (WB), a UPS is recommended.
Data can be accessed while the physical disks are added (if a system has hot-swap capability) and while data on the virtual disk is being redistributed. For volume, RAID 1, and RAID 10, OCE/Reconfigure expands the virtual disk by using the available space of the physical disks, which have been members of the virtual disk. For RAID 0 and RAID 5, additional capacity can be attained by adding physical disks to the virtual disk.
4 Cabling the drives for S130 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. Cabling the S130 controller 1. backplane 2. system board 3. connector on the first AHCI device (J_SATA A) 4. connector on the second AHCI device (J_SATA B) Topics: • Disk connectivity for AHCI devices Disk connectivity for AHCI devices The S130 controller supports systems with up to two AHCI devices. For systems with two AHCI devices, the first AHCI device connects the drives from ports 0–3 and the second AHCI device connects the drives from ports 4–7.
Table 4.
5 BIOS Configuration Utility The BIOS Configuration Utility, also known as (), is a storage management application integrated into the System BIOS , which configures and maintains RAID disk groups and virtual disks. The BIOS Configuration Utility () is independent of the operating system. NOTE: Use the BIOS Configuration Utility () for initial setup and disaster recovery. You can use advanced features through Dell OpenManage storage management applications.
settings are correct and the BIOS Configuration Utility does not appear contact Dell support at dell.com/support. NOTE: The PERC S130 adapter supports Dell-supported SATA-based tape devices. With the S130 controller, system can boot to a tape device using an internal Dell RD1000 tape device. Once configured to boot to a tape device, press or click Back in any browser screen until you return to the System Setup Main Menu and exit normally to continue to boot to a tape device.
5. In the Physical Disks menu, use the arrow keys to move between the physical disks and press to select the desired physical disk. 6. Press . 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 20. 2. Select Create Virtual Disks from the Main Menu screen and press .
NOTE: When a degraded or a failed virtual disk from one system is added to another system, and if the number of virtual disks exceeds the maximum limit of 10, you cannot delete the virtual disks that are in Normal or Ready state. Swapping two virtual disks 1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS Configuration Utility on page 20. 2. In the Main Menu screen, select the Swapping Two Virtual Disks and press .
Assigning the dedicated hot spare disks A dedicated hot spare is a backup physical disk for the redundant virtual disk to which it is assigned. The physical disk that is used as a dedicated hot spare cannot be a member of an existing virtual disk. When the hot spare is activated, it becomes the receptacle for the data from the failed physical disk member of the volume, without interrupting the system or requiring your intervention.
Viewing the virtual disks details 1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS Configuration Utility on page 20. 2. In the Main Menu screen, select View Virtual Disk Details and press . 3. Use the arrow keys to choose a virtual disk. 4. The following details of the virtual disks are displayed: a. b. c. d. Virtual disk number RAID Level Size Status (Read Ahead/Write Back, No Read Ahead/Write Back, Read Ahead/Write Through, No Read Ahead/ Write Through) 5.
Continue to boot 1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS Configuration Utility on page 20. 2. In the Main Menu screen, use the arrows to select the Continue to Boot. The system restarts normally.
6 UEFI RAID configuration utility The UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) RAID configuration utility is a storage management application integrated into the System BIOS . 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.
Controller management Viewing the controller properties View Controller Information screen allows you to view the controller properties and the firmware properties. In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S130 Configuration Utility > Controller Management > View Controller Information. The table explains the View Controller Information screen details: Menu Item Description PCI ID Displays the PCI ID.
Converting physical disk to Non-RAID disk 1. Enter the Dell PERC S130 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S130 Configuration Utility on page 27. 2. Click Controller Management > Convert to Non-RAID Disk. NOTE: Create boot virtual disk only from disk drives populated across slots 0-3 of the system. For information about the disk connectivity for AHCI devices, see Disk connectivity for AHCI devices on page 18, and for disks slot information, see the system specific Owner's Manual at dell.
A confirmation screen is displayed. 12. Click Yes to continue. Configuring Linux RAID NOTE: The S130 controller supports only RHEL 7.3, SLES 11 SP4, and SLES 12 SP2. The Linux installer fails to detect the virtual disks, if the RHEL 7.1 or earlier, SLES 11 SP3 or earlier. NOTE: The Linux RAID feature is supported on all the 13th generation systems. NOTE: If you are configuring Linux RAID for RHEL 7.
b. Select the physical disks with Windows RAID configuration listed, and click the link CONVERT TO NON-RAID. If you do not want to convert the disks to non-RAID, remove the physical disks with Windows RAID configurations from the system. NOTE: The S130 controller does not support mixed RAID configuration. If the mixed RAID configuration with both Windows and Linux RAID disks is detected, then you cannot perform any further tasks until you clear the physical disks or convert the physical disks.
Menu Item Description Sector Size Displays the sector size enabled. Read Cache Policy Displays the read cache policies associated with the virtual disk Write Cache Policy Displays the write cache policies associated with the virtual disk Associated Physical Disk Displays the physical disk which is associated with the specific virtual disk Deleting the virtual disks 1. Enter the Dell PERC S130 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S130 Configuration Utility on page 27. 2.
Menu Item Description Certified Displays if the physical disk is Dell certified or not. Connector Port Displays the port number in which the physical disk is installed. SAS Address Displays the SAS address. Disk Cache Setting Displays if the disk cache is enabled or disabled. Available Space Displays the free space of the respective physical disk. Used Space Displays the used space of the respective physical disk. Disk Protocol Displays if the protocol of the physical disks.
NOTE: If you have Linux RAID configured on the system, you cannot modify the physical disk write cache policy feature settings. NOTE: For more information about the physical disk write cache behavior, see the Troubleshooting your system on page 38 section. Selecting the 4Kn sector size 1. Enter the Dell PERC S130 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S130 Configuration Utility on page 27. 2. Click Virtual Disk Management > Create Virtual Disks. 3. Click the link Select the Physical Disk. 4.
7 Installing the drivers The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S130 requires software drivers to operate with the supported operating systems. Installing drivers for the PERC S130 are dependent on the type of the system and the operating system that you have. NOTE: To check operating system compatibility, see dell.com/support/manuals.
NOTE: If Non-RAID virtual disks are used (and appear in the Virtual Disks list), the Swap Two Virtual Disks option is enabled only if the system contains a RAID Capable physical disk. 2. Select Continue to Boot and press . Creating the device driver media for Windows driver installation Downloading drivers for PERC S130 from the Dell support website for all operating systems 1. Go to dell.com/drivers. 2.
6. In the Select the driver to be installed window, select Dell PERC S130 controller and click Next to load the driver files. 7. After the driver loads you return to the Where do you want to install Windows? screen, click Next to continue the installation procedure. When the installation is complete, to configure the S130 controller, install the configuration driver (if necessary) used by Dell OpenManage (OMSA) component.
8 Troubleshooting your system To get help with your Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S130, you can contact your Dell Technical Service representative or see dell.com/support.
4. Restart the system. 5. After you boot successfully, disable the NTFS compression system-wide. 6. Restart the system again. For more information, see the KB article https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3027108#/enus/kb/3027108. Performance degradation after disabling physical disk write cache policy Corrective Action: To resolve this issue, enable the physical disk write cache policy. NOTE: Ensure that there is constant power supply to the system (An UPS is recommended).
● Bootable virtual disk is in Failed state ● Incorrect Boot Order for a bootable virtual disk ● A Non-RAID virtual disk is no longer in the first position in the BIOS Configuration Utility () list after the system is rebooted ● In the Linux RAID configuration, if virtual disks created exceed the maximum limit of 10 and the boot virtual disk is not listed as one of the 10 virtual disks in UEFI configuration utility. Controller mode is set incorrectly at System Setup 1.
NOTE: A Non-RAID virtual disk can be created from Non-RAID physical disks (which are physical disks initialized by a controller other than the PERC S130). 1. When prompted at system startup, press to access the BIOS Configuration. 2. Check Virtual Disks and determine if the bootable Non-RAID virtual disk is no longer in the first position. 3.
Press to allow the operating system to continue its boot, or press to enter into the BIOS Configuration Utility () to investigate the cause of the Failed virtual disk. NOTE: A boot virtual disk that is in a Failed state prevents the operating system from booting. To investigate the cause, check for the following: ● Determine if a single or multiple physical disks in a non-redundant virtual disk have failed. If yes, data is lost. Recover the lost data from a backup storage source.
Virtual disk rebuild status in the BIOS Configuration Utility () or in UEFI HII Likely Cause: Rebuild is not supported in the BIOS Configuration Utility () or in UEFI HII mode. Corrective Action: Boot to a supported operating system. Rebuild starts. To view rebuild status, install a supported storage application.
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.
2. A cable might be loose or defective. 3. The physical disk might be a SAS drive. Re-seat the physical disks in the backplane and check their cables. Insufficient free space available on the selected physical disks There must be sufficient available free space on the physical disk used by the virtual disk.
A virtual disk is in a degraded state If the virtual disk is in a degraded state, check the following causes: 1. A physical disk was removed. 2. Physical or mechanical problems with the physical disk on page 46. 3. The virtual disk has lost redundancy. 4. Corrupted metadata in the virtual disk. A physical disk was removed 1. Install the original physical disk if it was inadvertently removed, or replace it with a new or used physical disk. 2. Initialize a new physical disk.
The designated physical disk does not have sufficient capacity to be a dedicated hot spare The capacity of the physical disk selected to be a dedicated hot spare must be equal to or larger than the capacity of the smallest physical disk in the virtual disk. For example, if the physical disk selected for a dedicated hot spare is 160 GB, and the physical disks in the virtual disk are 80 GB, 160 GB, and 500 GB, a dedicated hot spare can be assigned.
The physical disk assigned as the global hot spare is missing ● Check to see if the physical disk was removed from the backplane or cable connection, or whether the cables from the controller to the physical disk are disconnected or faulty. ● Perform a rescan to verify that the physical disk is still missing. A dedicated hot spare fails If a dedicated hot spare fails, check the following causes: 1. The controller cannot communicate with the hot spare. 2.
9 Getting help You can get help with your Dell product by contacting Dell, or send feedback on product documentation. Topics: • • • • Contacting Dell EMC Locating your system Service Tag Related Documentation Documentation feedback Contacting Dell EMC NOTE: If you do not have an active internet connection, you can find the contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or in the product catalog. Dell EMC provides several online and telephone-based support and service options.
