3DM 2 Online Help

Getting Started with Your 3ware RAID Controller
Setting up your 3ware RAID controller involves these main steps:

| Physically Install the RAID Controller and Drives

| Configure a RAID Unit

| Install the Driver and Make the Operating System Aware of the New Drives

| Set Up Management and Maintenance Features

Once the controller and drives have been physically installed, the order in which you perform these steps depends in part on whether one of the units you configure will act as your boot drive.
Physically Install the RAID Controller and Drives
To install your controller, follow the instructions in the installation guide that came with your 3ware controller. If you do not have a hardcopy of the installation manual, it is available in the “doc” folder on your 3ware CD, or you can download it from the 3ware website at http://www.3ware.com/support/userdocs.asp.
For drive installation, see the instructions that came with your enclosure. If you are installing drives in a computer case, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
Configure a RAID Unit
If you would like more information about what RAID level to choose for your situation, review the information under Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels. Then turn to Configuring a New Unit.
If you want to install the operating system on and boot from a drive managed through the new 3ware RAID controller, use the 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) to define the configuration. You will find step-by-step instructions for initial installation in 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide, Version 9.5.1.
Install the Driver and Make the Operating System Aware of the New Drives
Instructions for installing drivers are available in of the 3ware SAS/SATA RAID Software User Guide, Version 9.5.1.
You will also find instructions for updating the driver under Downloading the Driver and Firmware.
Set Up Management and Maintenance Features
3ware RAID controllers include a number of features to help you manage and maintain the controller and your configured units. The default settings for these features allow you to begin using your newly configured units right away. You can review and change these features as a final step in your initial setup, or you can make changes to them later, at your convenience. These features include:

| Controller and unit policies, such as Auto Rebuild, Auto Verify, use of write cache, use of queuing mode, and selection of a StorSave profile.

| Email notification of alarms and other events

| Schedules for when background tasks will be performed, to minimize the impact on day-to-day performance during peak usage times. (Background tasks include rebuild, verify, initialize, migrate, and self-test.)

Details about these features are described in this online help. When you first set up your controller, you may want to review these sections in particular:

| Configuring Your Controller

| Setting Unit Policies

| Setting Background Task Rate

Initial Settings for Policies and Background Tasks
The table below lists the default settings for policies and background tasks. These settings are used if you do not explicitly change the policy settings.

Default Settings for Policies and Background Tasks
Policy | Default Value | Where to Change
Controller-Level Settings (For details, see Configuring Your Controller
Auto-Rebuild | Enabled | 3BM, 3DM 2, CLI
Auto-Carving | Enabled | 3BM, 3DM 2, CLI
Auto-Detect | Enabled | CLI
Auto-Verify Preferred Start Day and Time (Basic) | Friday, 12 am | 3BM, 3DM 2, CLI
Auto-Verify Verify Schedule (Advanced) | Seven days of the week, starting at 12 am and running 24 hours. | 3DM 2, CLI
Carve Size or Factor | 2048 GB | 3BM, 3DM 2, CLI
Drives Per Spinup | 1 | 3BM, CLI
Delay Between Spinup | 6 seconds | 3BM, CLI
Export Unconfigured (JBOD) Disks | No | 3BM, CLI
Staggered Method | ATA-6 | 3BM
Staggered Spinup | Enabled | 3BM
Unit-Level Settings (For details, see Setting Unit Policies)
Auto Verify | Enabled | 3BM, 3DM 2, CLI
ECC Overwrite (Continue on Error When Rebuilding) | Disabled | 3BM, 3DM 2, CLI
Boot Volume Size | Unspecified | 3BM, CLI
Initialization Method | Foreground | 3BM
Queuing (NCQ) | Enabled | 3BM, 3DM 2, CLI
Rapid RAID Recovery | All (Fast Rebuild/Shutdown) | 3BM, 3DM 2, CLI
StorSave Profile | Protection | 3BM, 3DM 2, CLI
Write Cache | Enabled | 3BM, 3DM 2, CLI
Background Task Settings (For details, see Scheduling Background Tasks and Setting Background Task Rate)
Verify Task Schedules | Basic - Friday 12:00 am Advanced - Daily, starting at 12:00 am and running for 24 hours | 3DM 2, 3BM, CLI 3DM 2, CLI
Follow Verify Task Schedule | Enabled - Basic schedule | 3DM 2, 3BM, CLI
Rebuild/Migrate Task Schedules | Daily, starting at 12:00 am and running for 24 hours | 3DM 2, CLI
Follow Rebuild/Migrate Task Schedule | Ignore | 3DM 2, CLI
Self-test Task Schedules1 | Daily, starting at 12:00 am and running for 24 hours | 3DM 2, CLI
Follow Self-test Task Schedule | Yes | 3DM 2, CLI

1
Although the default Self-test Task Schedule is for 24 hours, self-test tasks are run only at the beginning of that time period and take just a few minutes. For more information about task schedules, see Scheduling Background Tasks.

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