Dell PERC 4/SI - Manual (Page 28)

Table 3-6. SCSI Firmware
Firmware Upgrade
You can download the latest firmware from the Dell web site and flash it to the firmware on the controller. Perform the following steps to upgrade the
firmware:
1. Go to the support.dell.com web site.
2. Download the latest firmware and driver to a system that has a diskette drive.
The downloaded file is an executable that copies the firmware to a diskette.
3. Place the diskette in the system containing the RAID controller, restart the system and boot from the diskette.
4. Run pflash to flash the firmware.
Dell also provides packages for firmware update from an operating system level. Go to support.dell.com for more support.
RAID Management
RAID management is provided by software utilities that manage and configure the RAID system and the RAID controller, create and manage multiple disk
arrays, control and monitor multiple RAID servers, provide error statistics logging, and provide online maintenance. Storage management software is included
with your system. They include the following:
l BIOS Configuration Utility
l Dell Server Assistant ®
l Dell OpenManage Array Manager for Windows and Novell NetWare
l Dell OpenManage Storage Management
See RAID Configuration and Management for the procedures used to manage arrays and logical drives.
Back to Contents Page
Feature Description
Disconnect/reconnect Optimizes SCSI bus utilization
Tagged command
queuing
Multiple tags to improve random access
Scatter/gather Single command can transfer data to and from different memory locations
Multi-threading Up to 189 simultaneous commands with elevator sorting and concatenation of requests per SCSI channel
Stripe size Variable for all logical drives: 2 KB, 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB, or 128 KB. The default is 64 KB.
NOTE: Using a 2 KB or 4 KB stripe size is not recommended due to performance implications. Use 2 KB or 4 KB only when required
by the applications used. The default stripe size is 64 KB. Do not install an operating system on a logical drive with less than a 16
KB stripe size.
Rebuild Multiple rebuilds and consistency checks with user-definable priority.
NOTE: If your system does not have a floppy disk drive, use the online flash available for Windows, NetWare, and Linux, or download the file to
your hard drive and burn it to CD, then use the CD-ROM.
NOTICE: Do not flash the firmware while performing a background initialization or data consistency check, as it can cause the procedure to fail.
NOTE: A reboot is required after the firmware update.