Configuring Raid Using The Thinkserver Easystartup Program - Lenovo ThinkServer TS430 User Manual

• Onboard SATA software RAID configuration using the LSI Software RAID Configuration Utility
program; and RAID management using the MegaRAID Storage Manager program
The onboard SATA software RAID controller is integrated on the Intel C202 chip on the system board.
If your server has SATA hard disk drives that are connected to the system board, you can use the LSI
Software RAID Configuration Utility program to configure RAID. By default, your server supports onboard
SATA software RAID levels 0, 1, and 10. You also can activate RAID level 5 by installing a ThinkServer
SATA Software RAID 5 activation key. See "Installing or removing the ThinkServer RAID 100 upgrade
key for Advanced RAID" on page 111.
You can install and use the MegaRAID Storage Manager program to manage the RAID array and RAID
controller in an operating system environment.
For detailed information, see "Configuring the onboard SATA software RAID" on page 76.
• Advanced SATA/SAS hardware RAID configuration using the WebBIOS Configuration Utility
program; and RAID management using the MegaRAID Storage Manager program and the MegaCLI
Configuration Utility program (requires a RAID card)
Some server models come with a required RAID card to provide advanced SATA/SAS hardware RAID
functions to the server. You also can purchase the RAID card from Lenovo and install it into server models
that support the RAID card to get advanced SATA/SAS hardware RAID functions. See "RAID card" on
page 33 and "Installing or removing the RAID card" on page 103 for more information.
Note: For server models with more than four hard disk drives or models that use SAS hard disk drives, a
RAID card must be installed.
The RAID card provides the WebBIOS Configuration Utility program to help you configure RAID
independently of the operating system. You also can install the MegaRAID Storage Manager program and
the MegaCLI Configuration Utility program to help you manage the RAID array and RAID controller in
an operating system environment. The supported RAID levels are RAID 0, 1, and 10 by default. For the
ThinkServer RAID 500 Adapter, to activate RAID 5 and RAID 50 levels, you need to install a RAID 5 key on
the RAID card. See "For the ThinkServer RAID 500 Adapter: Installing or removing the ThinkServer RAID
500 Upgrade Key for Advanced RAID" on page 105.
For detailed information, see "Configuring the advanced SATA or SAS hardware RAID" on page 81.
Note: The ThinkServer EasyStartup program simplifies the process of configuring supported RAID and
installing supported operating systems and device drivers.
Before configuring RAID for your server, observe the following precautions:
1. Use hard disk drives that have the same capacity within a single RAID array.
2. Use hard disk drives that are of the same type (SATA or SAS) within a single RAID array.
3. Depending on the operating system, the primary RAID might be limited to 2 TB total drive capacity.

Configuring RAID using the ThinkServer EasyStartup program

The ThinkServer EasyStartup program simplifies the process of configuring supported RAID and installing
supported Windows and Linux operating systems and device drivers on your server. The user guide for the
program can be accessed directly from the program interface.
The ThinkServer EasyStartup program has the following features for RAID configuration:
• For use with all supported RAID controllers
• Automatically detects hardware and lists all supported RAID configurations
• Configures one or more disk arrays per controller depending on the number of drives attached to the
controller and the RAID level selected
• Supports hot-spare drives
.
Chapter 5 Configuring the server
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