IBM ServeRAID-8k User Manual

Contents
Chapter 1. ServeRAID-8 series best practices and maintenance information 1
Notices and statements in this document ................1
Obtaining ServeRAID updates....................1
Initializing previously used good hard disk drives .............2
Synchronizing logical drives after upgrading firmware from build 8263 or earlier 2
Upgrading to ServeRAID Manager 9.0 within Microsoft Windows .......3
Synchronization options when you create a new array and the impact on
performance .........................3
Physical drive write-cache policies changed with firmware build 15407 and later 4
Defunct hard disk drives might return to normal operation after a system restart 5
The Automatic Failover feature and how it affects replaced drives.......6
Performance is degraded with multiple ongoing background tasks ......6
Replacing and rebuilding a drive in a PFA state .............7
PHY settings and AMSU updates ..................9
Periodic ServeRAID maintenance updates and evaluation .........9
Zero-mode flash update overview ..................11
Zero-mode flash for ServeRAID-8i (optional controller) ..........11
Zero-mode flash for ServeRAID-8s (optional controller) ..........13
Zero-mode flash for ServeRAID-8k and ServeRAID-8k-l (BladeCenter Storage
Expansion Unit 3) .......................14
Zero-mode flash for ServeRAID-8k and ServeRAID-8k-l (System x3650)....16
Zero-mode flash for ServeRAID-8k and ServeRAID-8k-l (System x3550)....18
Zero-mode flash for ServeRAID-8k and ServeRAID-8k-l (System x3500)....20
The ServeRAID-8k and ServeRAID-8k-l RAID enabler modules have a very low
failure rate..........................23
Correct mounting of the ServeRAID-8k RAID enabler battery ........24
Physical drives are online, but the logical drive is offline..........24
Valid RAID 5EE state transitions after a disk fails ............25
System hang issues with ServeRAID-8i on enterprise servers........26
After upgrading firmware, the server crashes every 8-10 days .......26
Evaluating hard disk drive problems .................27
Logical drive states and descriptions .................30
Using the force online feature ...................33
Recover Data option ......................33
Force-online operation .....................36
Displaying an Offline array ...................39
Invalid process ........................39
Displaying an Offline array in POST ................40
Revived array operations ....................41
Offline array operations .....................42
Chapter 2. Getting help and technical assistance ...........43
Before you call .........................43
Using the documentation .....................43
Getting help and information from the World Wide Web ..........43
Software service and support ...................44
Hardware service and support ...................44
IBM Taiwan product service ....................44
Appendix. Notices .......................45
Trademarks ..........................45
Important notes.........................46
Documentation format ......................47
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2008, 2011 iii

IBM ServeRAID-8k Specifications

General

Brand	IBM
Model	ServeRAID-8k
Category	Controller
Language	English