RAID 1 in Supermicro Server.

[yomerol]

Hello everyone!

I tried to set up a raid1 array using virtualbox and I was sugested to try on hardware instead.

I'm attaching screenshots at almost every step I perform since I'm not sure which would be the point of failure and give you guys better visibility in case you would like to contribute to this matter

So I am using the Supermicro board X7SPA-HF, which features RAID support: RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 (Windows OS), RAID 0, 1, 10 (linux OS).

The controller for this (X7SPA-HF) motherboard is the intel ICH9R

The instruction manual for the controller:

ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/CDR-B8_1.20_for_Intel_B8_platform/MANUALS/Adaptec_ESB_ICH7R_ICH9R_SATA_RAID.pdf

Instructions on page 2 state that I should select "Load Optimized Default Settings" in the "Exit" settings, the most accurate instruction I could find in the "exit" secction was
"Load Optimal Defaults":

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So I pressed the <Enter> key to load the default settings for the BIOS, and went to the "Main" section in the BIOS as stated in step 3 of the guide.

I tried to follow steps 4 ("SATA Control Mode"), 5 ("SATA RAID Enabled") and 6("ICH RAID Codebase") but there were none of the sections described by the manual inside the "Main" section but this:



The only section that displayed SATA related configuration functions was this one:

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But lacks the sections mentioned in steps 4 - 6 in the ICH9R manual so I'm still unable to follow the instructions propperly.

For the hardware RAID 1 (before the installation of any OS) I'm trying to set up, if I'm not able to perform the instructions the RAID1 array I'm not sure if it will be possible by any other way.

Anyway, I worked with the options I had available on the server, so I'm able (after selecting RAID in the BIOS corresponding field, saving the changes, and pressing ctrl+I at reboot) to get to enter the BIOS RAID setup and I was able to see both disk drives :

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At this point I was not able to configure (no sight of that option in BIOS nor the RAID utility) the codebase firmware to configure RAID with (Adaptec or intel). For the looks of the screen I'd say the intel codebase is being used (the copyright info at the top of the screen, not sure really).

Then selected "1 Create RAID Volume" and configured RAID1, and capacity:

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Commited and confirmed the changes:



So the brand new array is configured and displayed.

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I exited the configuration utility and rebooted the system.

At this point any OS should be capable of install over the array or an extra driver is needed?

The array looks like this:

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now I'm proceeding with the OS installation:

First I tried with an older version of centos but It was not possible to initialize the installation.

When I tried 6.3 everything went normal untill the following screen:

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I choose to keep any data.

Then, while examining storage devices, I get that one of the disks contains BIOS RAID metadata but it will be ignored:

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at this point the OS will be installed but not on the top of the array but just into one single disk.

When I select the type of installation (the partitioning scheme) and try to proceed, the installation fails:

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I'm not sure if this is the expected steps to perform a succesfull instalation or if I'm missing something.

How can I get the BIOS RAID metadata considered and the installation runs ok (the more explicit the better)?, I'm affraid there could be an issue with RAID drivers (which I don't have).

Your comments are very appreciated,

many many thanx in advance!

 

[kac77]

Why does this look like spam instead of an actual request for help? If this is serious please clean up the post so that the images actually work. Thanks.

 

[Dami]

Intel ICH9R is not a hardware raid controller. But you can still use it if you have the proper driver for the OS you are installing. For win/linux this should work (you maybe still have to load the driver before the OS installation though), but vmware esxi does not support it for example.
Some supermicro boards have a proper raid controller integrated (LSI 2xxx chipsets), otherwise you just get a LSI card if nothing works out.