Dell EMC PowerEdge RAID Controller S150 User’s Guide April 2021 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. © 2019-2021 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....................................................................................45 Warning Messages............................................................................................................................................................ 45 WARNING- Found virtual disks that are degraded ............................................................................................ 46 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 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.
Table 4.
○ Windows Server 2019 ○ Windows Server 2016 ● NOTE: See Linux RAID 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.
● BIOS Configuration Utility — This is also known as Ctrl+R, and is a storage management application that configures and maintains RAID disk groups and virtual disks. See The BIOS configuration utility option does not display . ● Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) RAID Configuration Utility. This storage management application is integrated into the System BIOS, accessible through the F2 key. See The BIOS configuration utility option does not display .
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 Intel P5500/P5600 6.0.3.0007 6.0.3.0005 Kioxia CM6/CD6 6.1.0.0009 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.
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. NOTE: If an additional physical disk is required and the system does not support hot-swapping, the system must be turned off.
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. 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. 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. 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 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. Changing the boot order of the virtual disks Set Bootable Device allows you to change the boot order of the virtual disks. 1. Enter the Dell PERC S150 Configuration Utility.
Rescan disks This option allows you to view the list of existing Physical and Virtual disks. NOTE: The Rescan disks option may take from 10 to 20 seconds to display the list of disks, depending on the number of disks available in the system. 1. Enter the Dell PERC S150 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S150 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Controller Management > Rescan Disks. The Rescan Disks screen is displayed.
NOTE: If the option to choose Linux RAID is disabled, convert the disk to a non-RAID disk (see Converting physical disk to Non-RAID disk) and then convert it back to RAID capable disk (see Converting physical disk to RAID capable disk). 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.
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. Select the physical disks with Linux RAID configuration listed, and click the link CONVERT TO NON-RAID.
Table 11. Virtual Disk Properties Menu Item Description View Associated Physical Disk Clicking this link displays the physical disk that is associated with the selected virtual disk Viewing virtual disks properties and policies The View Virtual Disk Properties screen allows you to view the virtual disk properties and the policies.
Figure 5. Virtual Disk Properties Screen 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.
Viewing the controller properties The View Controller Information screen allows you to view your controller and firmware properties. In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S150 Configuration Utility > Controller Management > View Controller Information The table explains the View Controller Information screen details: Table 13.
Assigning the global hot spare 1. Enter the Dell PERC S150 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S150 Configuration Utility . 2. Click Physical Disk Management > Select Physical Disk Operations. 3. Select the physical disk that is in the ready state from the drop-down menu. 4. Click the link Assign Global Hot Spares. NOTE: A global hot spare disk cannot be created if you have Linux RAID configured on the system.
Viewing global hot spares The View Global Hot Spares screen displays the physical disk assigned as global hot spare. In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S150 Configuration Utility > Physical Disk Management > View Global Hot Spares Figure 6.
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 7. NVMe Settings in BIOS NOTE: If you change the NVMe Mode setting from RAID to Non RAID, ensure that the NVMe driver (Microsoft or third-party 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. 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 ---.
● 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. ● Whether the virtual disk is in a Failed status because one or more of the physical disks have failed.
Corrective Action: Remove all physical disks except for the last one added. Then proceed with deleting the virtual disks that are not needed. Remember to take account of the virtual disks that are currently being used. 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.
Status LED is not working Ensure system is booted to the operating system. Install Open Manage Server Administrator management utility version 8.0 (or higher). Cannot update NVMe PCIe SSD firmware by using Dell Update Package or DUP Likely Cause: The supported device driver for the operating system on your system is not installed.
● Cannot perform an Online Capacity Expansion or Reconfigure on a virtual disk ● Unable to configure RAID on NVMe PCIe SSD using a third party RAID configuration utility Stale partitions are listed on creating a virtual disk for Linux Description: When a virtual disk is created using physical disks that were earlier used for creating Linux virtual disk, we see some Linux partitions present during OS installation.
Corrective Action: This is an expected behavior and no action is required. Virtual disk size in decimals is not supported while creating a VD Likely Cause: After entering the disk size value, changing the virtual disk size unit from MB to GB or GB to TB and so on changes the disk size value. Corrective Action: It is recommended to select the virtual disk size unit before specifying the disk size value.
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. 3. The virtual disk has lost redundancy. 4. Corrupted metadata in the virtual disk. Virtual disks are degraded on migrating the physical drives Likely Cause: Rebuild in the new unit does not start automatically. Corrective Action: Start the rebuild in the new unit through OpenManage.
The RAID level does not allow a dedicated hot spare to be created Hot spares cannot be created for Volume or RAID 0 virtual disks. 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.
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.
Cannot perform an Online Capacity Expansion or Reconfigure on a virtual disk Determine whether these physical/virtual disks were migrated from a legacy controller with mixed RAID levels. If so, Online Capacity Expansion/Reconfigure by adding physical disk on such a set of physical disks is not allowed. Unable to configure RAID on NVMe PCIe SSD using a third party RAID configuration utility Corrective Action Ensure that the NVMe is set on Non RAID mode. See Setting the NVMe PCIe SSDs to RAID 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 8. 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).
