Avago Technologies MegaRAID Fast Path Software - Manual (Page 337)

LSI Corporation Confidential | July 2011 Page 337
MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide Chapter 8: Configuration | Creating a New Storage Configuration
Chapter 8
The LSI SAS controllers support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 00, RAID 10,
RAID 50, and RAID 60 storage configurations. The Configuration wizard allows you to
easily create new storage configurations and modify the configurations. To learn more
about RAID and RAID levels, see
Chapter 2, Introduction to RAID .
NOTE: You cannot create or modify a storage configuration unless you are logged on to
a server with administrator privileges.
8.1 Creating a New Storage
Configuration
You can use the MegaRAID Storage Manager software to create new storage
configurations on systems with LSISAS controllers. You can create the following types
of configurations:
 Simple configuration specifies a limited number of settings and has the system
select drives for you. This option is the easiest way to create a virtual drive.
 Advanced configuration lets you choose additional settings and customize virtual
drive creation. This option provides greater flexibility when creating virtual drives
for your specific requirements.
This section describes the virtual drive parameters and explains how to create simple
and advanced storage configurations.
8.1.1 Selecting Virtual Drive Settings This section describes the virtual drive settings that you can select when you use the
advanced configuration procedure to create virtual drives. You should change these
parameters only if you have a specific reason for doing so. It is usually best to leave
them at their default settings.
 Initialization state: Initialization prepares the storage medium for use. Specify the
initialization status:
— No Initialization: (the default) The new configuration is not initialized, and the
existing data on the drives is not overwritten.
— Fast Initialization: The firmware quickly writes 0s to the first and last 8-MB
regions of the new virtual drive and then completes the initialization in the
background.
This allows you to start writing data to the virtual drive immediately.
— Full Initialization: A complete initialization is done on the new configuration.
You cannot write data to the new virtual drive until the initialization is complete.
This process can take a long time if the drives are large.
Configuration
This chapter explains how to use MegaRAID Storage Manager software to create and
modify storage configurations on LSI SAS controllers.