Users Guide

Table 19. Possible scenarios for reconfiguring a virtual disk (continued)

Controller Starting RAID Level Target RAID Level Comments

RAID 6 RAID 0, RAID 5 With or without adding

additional disks

RAID 6 RAID 6 Add at least one additional disk

RAID 10 RAID 10 Without adding additional disks

SAS 6/iR N/A N/A N/A

PERC S100, S110, S130, and

S300

RAID 0 RAID 0 With or without additional disks

RAID 1 RAID 1 Without additional disks

RAID 5 RAID 5 With or without additional disks

RAID 10 RAID 10 Without additional disks

NOTE: The order of the controllers displayed on Storage Management may differ from the order of the controllers

displayed in the Human Interface (HII) and PERC Option ROM. The order of the controllers does not cause any

limitation.

NOTE: When creating virtual disks using software RAID controllers, the information related to the physical disks linked

to the virtual disk is enumerated or displayed on Storage Management after a short delay. This delay in displaying the

information does not cause any functional limitation. If you are creating partial virtual disks, Dell recommends that you

provide Storage Management adequate time between each partial virtual disk creation process.

NOTE: RAID 10 virtual disk reconfiguration operation is not supported with Intelligent Mirroring.

Foreign Configuration Operations

Foreign configuration is virtual disk data residing on physical disks that have been moved from one controller to another.

The Foreign Configuration Operations task provides a preview of the foreign configurations that you can import.

NOTE:

On the PERC BIOS Configuration Utility screen, foreign configuration operations are not supported on PERC

hardware controllers running in HBA mode.

NOTE: Foreign Configuration Operations task is available only on PERC 6 and SAS controllers with firmware versions 6.1

and later.

NOTE: It is not recommended to remove an external enclosure cable while the operating system is running on the

system. Removing the cable could result in a foreign configuration when the connection is re-established.

The Foreign Configuration Operations task is displayed only when a controller detects a foreign configuration. Select this option and

click Execute to display the Foreign Configuration Preview page.

The Foreign Configuration Preview page provides a preview of the foreign disks and enables you to perform operations such as,

importing, recovering, or clearing the foreign disks. You can also import or clear a locked foreign configuration.

If any foreign configurations that are locked by using Local Key manager (LKM) are detected, the associated Encryption Key

Identifier is displayed prompting you to provide the corresponding passphrase to unlock the drives.

To avoid unlocking foreign configurations and to proceed to preview, import, or clear a foreign configuration that has not been locked, on

the PERC BIOS Configuration Utility Foreign Configuration screen, click Skip or Continue.

If you do not want to import or clear the foreign configurations, or in case of loss of the associated passphrase of the corresponding

Encryption Key Identifier, execute the Instant Encrypt Erase task for the physical disks.

CAUTION: Executing the Instant Encrypt Erase task erases all data on the physical disk.

Some conditions, such as an unsupported RAID level or an incomplete disk group, can prevent the import or recovery of foreign virtual

disks.

Troubleshooting hardware issues