Solved: UCSC C220 M4S Raid Setup

jocraven · ‎02-24-2017

I work in Cisco Services and need some help getting rais setup on a new UCS C220 M4S. I know little to nothing about doing this.

jocraven

Kirk J · ‎03-06-2017

In further troubleshooting, we determined that the C220M4 has two components to the embedded controller on the C220M4s:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C220M4/install/C220M4/raid.html
Embedded SATA RAID: Two SATA Controllers
The embedded RAID Patsburgh controller hub (PCH) is split into two controllers: SATA and sSATA (secondary SATA). These two controllers are seen as separate RAID controllers in the Cisco IMC interface and are configurable separately.
• The first SATA controller controls drives 1–4; the secondary sSATA controller controls drives 5–8.
• When configuring RAID groups, you cannot create a group that spans more than four drives.
– The first SATA controller can control a RAID group of up to four drives, comprised only of drives 1–4.
– The secondary sSATA controller can control a RAID group of up to four drives, comprised only of drives 5–8.

Basically, you have to hit Cntrl + M within a certain time window to modify the 1st controller, if that's where the drives are connected (drive slots 1-4), else the post process moves on to the 2nd controller, which had no drives connected, and wouldn't allow the option ROM tool to be activated during it's post cycle due to no drives in slots 5-8.

Also confirmed RHEL 5.4 is not tested on the M4 servers (and will likely not install).

Thanks,

Kirk...

View solution in original post

Kirk J · ‎02-25-2017

Greetings.

You will need to know which raid controller you are using in order to know which utility you will use to configure the virtual drive(s).

Please see http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C220M4/install/C220M4/raid.html

If you are using the onboard/embedded controller see http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/3rd-party/lsi/erswug/guide/48712-00G_EmbRAID_SWUG_0714.pdf

If you are using the 12Gb SAS controller, the CIMC web interface is the easiest method to create raid volumes.

Thanks,

Kirk...

jocraven · ‎02-27-2017

Kirk

Thanks for your reply. I am using UCSC-SWRAID5 and the issue we can't figure out is how to config "virtual" drive. We have 2 HDDs we want in a raid 1 config. Will be running linux. I had seen the 148 page LSI document you have pointed out but it is a little daunting to someone you is not a raid expert. Do you happen to have and abreviate setup notes for this type setup? :-)

thanks

Kirk J · ‎02-27-2017

Enable the 'SCU' which enables the option ROM for the embedded controller: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C220/install/C220/raid.html#80418
Then launch the MegaraidSR Post utility when prompted (Cntrl + M): http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C220/install/C220/raid.html#69893
Inside the utlity, you create the raid1 VD, selecting the 2 physical drives.

Make sure you have boot order entry (CIMC, BIOS, configure boot order) for 'localdisk/HD'

Thanks,

Kirk...

esethu · ‎02-28-2017

Hi Kirk,

Tried to disable Embedded RAID Controller in the BIOS but unable to see the south bridge option in Advanced Tab.

Kirk J · ‎03-01-2017

After this, you will see the option to hit CNtrL + M for MegaraidSR during post, and can configure your Raid5, assuming the 'Key' is installed on the systemboard correctly.

Thanks,

Kirk

esethu · ‎03-01-2017

Hi Kirk,

These options already enabled but we already completed RAID configuration . still unable to proceed with OS installation .

Kirk J · ‎03-01-2017

Depending on your RHEL version, you may need to load the megaraidSR driver so the installer can see your controller and Virtual drive.

What RHEL version are you using, and what overall firmware level is running on the UCS rack server?

See http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C220/install/C220/raid.html#70245 on downloading the linux driver, and how to install it during RHEL install. You'll obviously ignore the 'making a floppy' section, and follow the process for creating an disk image to mount with the KVM virtual media.

Kirk..

Kirk J · ‎03-06-2017

In further troubleshooting, we determined that the C220M4 has two components to the embedded controller on the C220M4s:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C220M4/install/C220M4/raid.html
Embedded SATA RAID: Two SATA Controllers
The embedded RAID Patsburgh controller hub (PCH) is split into two controllers: SATA and sSATA (secondary SATA). These two controllers are seen as separate RAID controllers in the Cisco IMC interface and are configurable separately.
• The first SATA controller controls drives 1–4; the secondary sSATA controller controls drives 5–8.
• When configuring RAID groups, you cannot create a group that spans more than four drives.
– The first SATA controller can control a RAID group of up to four drives, comprised only of drives 1–4.
– The secondary sSATA controller can control a RAID group of up to four drives, comprised only of drives 5–8.

Basically, you have to hit Cntrl + M within a certain time window to modify the 1st controller, if that's where the drives are connected (drive slots 1-4), else the post process moves on to the 2nd controller, which had no drives connected, and wouldn't allow the option ROM tool to be activated during it's post cycle due to no drives in slots 5-8.

Also confirmed RHEL 5.4 is not tested on the M4 servers (and will likely not install).

Thanks,

Kirk...

jocraven · ‎04-19-2017

Kirk

Can you tell me where I can get bios C220M4.2.0.13d.0.0812161113? I have 4.3.xxx and need to down grade. I cannot find bios downloads on cisco.com support.

Niko Nikas · ‎04-21-2017

Hello,

Looking at the package info, it seems that the 2.0(13e) HUU may contain what you are looking for.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/firmware_files/2_0_x/b_UCS_C-Series_Firmware_Files_2_0_x/b_UCS_C-Series_Firmware_Files_2_0_x_chapter_01.html#id_38349