Supported RAID Controllers and Required Cables

Table 1.

Controller

Style

Maximum Front-Facing Drives Controlled

RAID Levels

Required Cables

SCPM 1

Full Disk Encryption

ENCS-MRAID Controller

Note 

This controller cannot be ordered with FBWC. 2

PCIe

SFF drives: 2 internal drives

0, 1, JBOD

Not required

Not Available

Yes 3


1 SCPM = SuperCap power module (RAID backup unit).


2 FBWC: modular flash-based write cache.


3 When using SED drive.

RAID Cabling

Cisco ENCS-MRAID card does not require additional cable to connect hard drives and RAID card. The flex cable connected to the mainboard can be used to connect to RAID card.

RAID Card LED Indicator

When RAID card is installed, the LED indicator in the front bezel should turn in solid green.

RAID Card Firmware Compatibility

The firmware on the RAID controller must be verified for compatibility with the current Cisco IMC (3.1.5) and BIOS (2.3) versions that are installed on the server. If not compatible, upgrade or downgrade the RAID controller firmware accordingly using the Host Upgrade Utility (HUU) for your firmware release to bring it to a compatible level.

See the HUU guide for your Cisco IMC release for instructions on downloading and using the utility to bring server components to compatible levels: HUU Guides

ENCS-MRAID Controller Considerations

Stripe-Size Limitation When No Flash-Backed Write Cache is Present

This controller does not have a FBWC, the only stripe size available is 64 KB.

Write-Cache Policy for ENCS-MRAID Controller

This controller does not have SCPM, the default write-cache policy for the ENCS-MRAID controller is Write Through.

Support Matrix For ENCS-MRAID Controller

the following table lists the support for the available controllers by server version.

Table 2.

ENCS Version

Boot SSD (Internal M.2) Supported?

ENCS-MRAID Controller Control Front-Facing Drives?

ENCS 5406

ENCS 5408

ENCS 5412

No

Yes

Drive Types and Sizes Supported

  • 480GB 2.5" SATA SSD (ENCS-SSD-480G)

  • 960GB 2.5" SATA SSD (ENCS-SSD-960G)

  • 1TB 2.5" SATA HDD (ENCS-SATA-1T)

  • 2TB 2.5" SATA HDD (ENCS-SATA-2T)

  • 1.2TB SAS HDD (ENCS-SAS-12T)

  • 1.8TB SAS HDD (ENCS-SAS-18T)

  • 1.2TB SED SAS HDD (ENCS-SED-12T)

ENCS-MRAID Drive and Predictive Failure Behavior

  • Good drive handling:

    • The physical drive is marked GOOD in the GUI/CLI interfaces and fault LED on the drive is off.

    • The virtual drive (RAID volume group) is marked GOOD in GUI/CLI interface. There is no LED for this.

  • Bad/invalid/0MB drive handling:

    • The bad drive is marked BAD in the GUI/CLI interfaces and the fault LED on the drive is solid amber.

  • Drive predictive failure:

    • If the drive is part of a RAID volume with a spare, the software performs an auto-copy backup and then marks the drive failed/BAD with the fault LED on the drive solid amber.

Setting the Preferred Boot Device Order for ENCS-MRAID

The default boot device is internal SSD, disks connected to RAID card are only used as external datastores for VM images.

Refer to BIOS Boot order procedures to select the right boot device and make order of RAID adapter as low as possible.

Mixing Drive Types in RAID Groups

The following table lists the technical capabilities for mixing hard disk drive (HDD) and solid state drive (SSD) types in a RAID group. However, see the recommendations that follow for the best performance.

Table 3. Drive Type Mixing

Mix of Drive Types in RAID Group

JBOD

RAID-1

RAID-0 (not in 3.6.1)

SATA HDD + SATA HDD

Yes

Yes

Yes

SATA SSD + SATA SSD

Yes

Yes

Yes

SAS HDD + SAS HDD

Yes

Yes

Yes

SAS SED HDD + SAS SED HDD

Yes 1

Yes 1

Yes 1

SAS HDD + SATA HDD

Yes

Yes

Yes

SAS HDD + SAS SED HDD

Yes

Yes 2

Yes 2

HDD + SSD

Yes

No

No


1 With or without encryption enabled.


2 Virtual disk encryption cannot be enabled.

Mixing Drive Types in RAID Groups

For the best performance, follow these guidelines:

  • Use either all SAS or all SATA drives in a RAID group.

  • Use the same capacity for each drive in the RAID group.

  • Never mix HDDs and SSDs in the same RAID group.

  • Never mix SAS and SED SAS.

Disks Replacement Considerations

For the best compatibility with NFVIS, follow these guidelines:

  • When replace a faulty unit, make sure the replacement unit does not have existing partitions.

  • Do not swap the drives between Slot-0 and Slot-1.

  • Do not swap or replace drives used by other ENCS system without reformatting it beforehand.

  • OIR ( Online Insertion/ Removal ) is not supported in ENCS system.

  • Do not attempt to swap or replace drives used by other ENCS systems.

RAID Backup Units

ENCS-MRAID does not support RAID backup units.

Installing ENCS-MRAID Drivers for NFVIS

NFVIS 3.6.1 already includes the required drivers and there is no need to install additional driver for this RAID controller.

RAID Configuration

RAID configuration is done through CIMC Web GUI unless specified otherwise. Though ENCS-MRAID controller can support multiple RAID modes, the physical limitation of ENCS chassis (two physical drives) restrict ENCS-MRAID controller only supporting JBOD and RAID-1 modes under NFVIS 3.6.1.

JBOD Mode

When a brand new drive is inserted, the drive’s status is either Unconfigured Good or JBOD. If drive is in Unconfigured Good status, use the following steps to enable JBOD mode:

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

Log into CIMC.
Step 2

choose Storage tab on the left pane.

Step 3

Choose Physical Drive Info tab in middle pane.

Step 4

Highlight the drive which is in Unconfigured Good status.

Step 5

Click Set State as JBOD in the Actions field.

Step 6

Reboot NFVIS to use the new installed drive.
For existing ENCS with external drives inserted but no RAID card installed, the drives will be set to JBOD mode without further configuration after RAID card installed..

RAID-1 Mode

After both drives are in Unconfigured Good state, use the following steps to create virtual disk (under WebGUI):

Before you begin

To enable RAID-1 virtual disk on ENCS, refer to Mixing Drives Types in RAID Groups for hard drive compatibility and best practice for performance. Before creating virtual disk, both drives must be in Unconfigured Good status. If drive is on other status, use CIMC Web GUI/CLI and do the following:

  • If disk is in JBOD state: go to Storage tab > Physical Drive Info tab, choose Set State as Unconfigured Good link for this drive.

  • If disk is in Foreign Config state, go to Storage tab > Controller Info tab, choose Clear Foreign Config in Action field.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

Click on Storage tab in left-pane.

Step 2

Click on Controller Info tab in mid-pane.

Step 3

Click on Create Virtual Drive from Unused Physical Drives in Action field. Wait for a new pop-up window to open.

Step 4

In the Create Virtual Drive from Unused Physical Drives pop-up, choose the following:

  • RAID Level: 1
  • Enable Full Disk Encryption: un-checked
  • Create Drive Groups: select the physical drives, and click >> to add both disks into Drive Groups.
  • Fill the following Virtual Drive Properties and click Create Virtual Drive button:

    • Virtual Drive Name: RAID1_12 (auto-assign by GUI)

    • Strip Size: 64k (default)

    • Write Policy: Write Through (default)

    • Access Policy: Read Write (default)

    • Read Policy: No Read Ahead (default)

    • Cache Policy: Direct IO (default)

    • Disk Cache Policy: Unchanged (default)

    • Size: xxxxxxx (auto-filled by GUI)

Step 5

Click on Virtual Drive Info tab in mid-pane to verify virtual drive is in Optimal state and health is Good.

Secured RAID Group Configuration

ENCS-MRAID controller support Full Disk Encryption (FDE) feature in hardware level when using supported Self-Encryption Drive (SED). To use secured RAID group feature, first you must enable security on RAID controller before you enable security on drives. Use CIMC CLI to enable security with following steps:

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Log into CIMC.
  2. Under CIMC CLI shell, issues the following CLI:
  3. Verify that controller’s security is enabled.

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

Log into CIMC.
Step 2

Under CIMC CLI shell, issues the following CLI:

 

ENCS5408-FGL210310KJ#
ENCS5408-FGL210310KJ# scope chassis
ENCS5408-FGL210310KJ /chassis # scope storageadapter SLOT-5
ENCS5408-FGL210310KJ /chassis/storageadapter #
ENCS5408-FGL210310KJ /chassis/storageadapter #
ENCS5408-FGL210310KJ /chassis/storageadapter # enable-controller-security
Use generated key-id 'UCSC-MRAIDC460__21313526'?  (y or n)--> y
Use suggested security-key 'i7mbSmYjqbXicAFOOb44yeKCGLldoFlB'?  (y or n)--> y
ENCS5408-FGL210310KJ /chassis/storageadapter #
Step 3

Verify that controller’s security is enabled.

 

ENCS5408-FGL210310KJ /chassis/storageadapter # show detail
PCI Slot SLOT-5:
    Health: Good
    Controller Status: Optimal
    ROC Temperature: 60 degrees C
    Product Name: MegaRAID SAS 3108 R
    Serial Number:
    Firmware Package Build: 24.12.1-0039
    Product ID: LSI Logic
    Battery Status: BBU Not Supported
    NVRAM Size: 32 KB
    Memory Size: 0 MB
    Flash Memory Size: 16 MB
    Cache Memory Size: 0 MB
    Boot Drive: 0
    Boot Drive is PD: false
    TTY Log Status: Not Downloaded
    Controller is Secured: 1

JBOD Secured Mode

When controller security feature is enabled, we can verify and configure SED drive. To verify drive is security (FDE) capable, use the following:

  • From CIMC web GUI, go to Storage tab > Physical Drive Info tab, select the drive, check General field in the mid-pane, you should see Security Capable: Yes.

  • From CIMC CLI, issue the following CLI:

    
ENCS5408-FGL210310KJ /chassis/storageadapter # show physical-drive 1 detail
Physical Drive Number 1:
    Controller: SLOT-5
    Health: Good
    Status: JBOD
    Boot Drive: false
    Manufacturer: HGST
    Model: HUC101812CSS205
    Predictive Failure Count: 0
    Drive Firmware: D703
    Coerced Size: 1143455 MB
    Type: HDD
    Block Size: 512
    Link Speed: 12.0 Gb/s
    Locator LED: false
    FDE Capable: 1
    FDE Enabled: 0
    FDE Secured: 0
    FDE Locked: 0
FDE Locked Foreign Config: 0
To enable FDE feature, do the following:

  1. From CIMC web GUI, go to Storage tab > Physical Drive Info tab, select the drive, check General field in the mid-pane, click on Enable Secure Drive from Actions field.

  2. To verify, similar action is taken

    • From CIMC Web, check Security Enabled: Yes string.

    • From CIMC CLI, check the following:

      
ENCS5408-FGL210310KJ /chassis/storageadapter # show physical-drive 1 detail
Physical Drive Number 1:
    Controller: SLOT-5
    Health: Good
    Status: JBOD
    Boot Drive: false
    Manufacturer: HGST
    Model: HUC101812CSS205
    Predictive Failure Count: 0
    Drive Firmware: D703
    Coerced Size: 1143455 MB
    Type: HDD
    Block Size: 512
    Link Speed: 12.0 Gb/s
    Locator LED: false
    FDE Capable: 1
    FDE Enabled: 1
    FDE Secured: 1
    FDE Locked: 0
    FDE Locked Foreign Config: 0

RAID-1 Secured Mode

To enable FDE on RAID-1 virtual disk, the steps are similar to previous RAID-1 virtual disk creation, the only difference is on Step 4 when Create Virtual Drive from Unused Physical Drives pop-up appeares, check Enable Full Disk Encryption option to enable FDE on virtual disk level.

Component Replacement Consideration

Unlike the security-disabled configuration, different controller has different encryption key, please advise your system administrator with the following conditions:

  • Replacing ENCS-MRAID controller will render FDE-enabled disks data un-retrievable on same host.

  • FDE-enabled disks cannot be swapped between systems.

  • FDE-enabled disks can be re-used by clear its foreign config and set its state to Unconfigured Good.

RAID Disk Group Rebuild

RAID-1 Disk Group is the only mode can be rebuilt under ENCS-MRAID controller. To rebuild the disk group, you must provide the disk with same type, equal or larger size than virtual disk.

For More Information

The LSI utilities have help documentation for more information about using the utilities.

For basic information about RAID and for using the utilities for the RAID controller cards that are supported in Cisco servers, see the Cisco UCS Servers RAID Guide.

Full Avago Technologies/LSI documentation is also available: