Super Micro SBI-7125B-T1 Blade Module RAID Setup Procedure PDF

SBI-7125B-T1 Blade Module RAID Setup Procedure The information in this User’s Manual has been carefully reviewed and is believed to be accurate. The vendor assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies that may be contained in this document, makes no commitment to update or to keep current the information in this manual, or to notify any person or organization of the updates. Please Note: For the most up-to-date version of this manual, please see our web site at www.supermicro.com . Super Micro Computer, Inc. (“Supermicro”) reserves the right to make changes to the product described in this manual at any time and without notice.

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Any disputes arising between manufacturer and customer shall be governed by the laws of Santa Clara County in the State of California, USA.. The State of California, County of Santa Clara shall be the exclusive venue for the resolution of any such disputes. Super Micro's total liability for all claims will not exceed the price paid for the hardware product. FCC Statement: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment.

This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instruction manual, may cause harmful interference with radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference, in which case you will be required to correct the interference at your own expense. California Best Management Practices Regulations for Perchlorate Materials: This Perchlorate warning applies only to products containing CR (Manganese Dioxide) Lithium coin cells. Perchlorate Material-special handling may apply. See www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlorate for further details. WARNING:

HANDLING OF LEAD SOLDER MATERIALS USED IN THIS PRODUCT MAY EXPOSE YOU TO LEAD, A CHEMICAL KNOWN TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA TO CAUSE BIRTH DEFECTS AND OTHER REPRODUCTIVE HARM. Manual Revison 1.0 Release Date: March 31, 2008 Unless you request and receive written permission from Super Micro Computer, Inc., you may not copy any part of this document. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders. Copyright © 2008 by Super Micro Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ii

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Installing via PXE Boot

SBI-7125B-T1 RAID Setup Procedure 1. Installing the Operating System An operating system (OS) must be installed on each blade module. Unlike most blade systems, blades with Microsoft Windows OS and blades with Linux OS can both occupy and operate within the same blade enclosure. Refer to the Supermicro web site for a complete list of supported operating systems. NOTE: If you want to have a RAID array on a blade module, you must install the ESB2 driver when you install the OS (not after installing the OS). See Section 3: Installing RAID in the SBI-7125B-T1 Blade Module on page 2 for further details. There are several methods of installing an OS to the blade modules.

Installing with an External USB CD-ROM Drive The most common method of installing the OS is with an external USB CD-ROM drive. Take the following steps to install the OS to a blade module: WARNING: Installing the OS from an external CD-ROM drive may take several hours to complete. 1. Connect an SUV cable (Serial port/USB port/Video port cable) to the KVM connector on the front of the blade module. You will then need to attach a USB hub to the USB port on this cable to provide multiple USB ports. 2. Connect the external CD-ROM drive, a USB keyboard and a mouse to the USB hub. You will also need to connect a monitor to the video connector on the SUV cable. Turn on the blade module. 3.

Insert the CD containing the OS into the CD-ROM drive. 4. Follow the prompts to begin the installation. Installing via PXE Boot PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) is used to boot a computer over a network. To install the OS via PXE, the following conditions must be met: 1. The PXE B OOT option in BIOS must be enabled. 2. A PXE server has been configured (this can be another blade in the system). 3. The PXE server must be connected over a network to the blade to be booted. 1

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Preparing for Setup

SBI-7125B-T1 RAID Setup Procedure 4. The blade has only non-partitioned/unformatted hard drives installed and no bootable devices attached to it. Once these conditions are met, make sure the PXE server is running then turn on the blade you wish to boot and/or install the OS to. The BIOS in the blade will look at all bootable devices and finding none will connect to the PXE server to begin the boot/ install. Installing via Virtual Media (Drive Redirection) You can install the OS via Virtual Media through either the IPMI or the Web-based Management utility. With this method, the OS is installed from an ISO image that resides on another system/blade.

Refer to the appropriate Appendix in the SuperBlade User’s Guide for the Virtual Media (CD-ROM or Drive Redirection) sections in either of the two utility programs. 2. Management Software System management may be performed with either of two software packages: IPMI or a Web-based Management utility. Both are designed to provide an administrator with a comprehensive set of functions and monitored data to keep tabs on the system and perform management activites. Refer to Chapter 8, SuperBlade User’s Guide for details on the various functions provided by these management programs. 3.

Installing RAID in the SBI-7125B-T1 Blade Module Each SBI-7125B-T1 blade module supports two hard drives, which may be used to create a RAID 0 or RAID 1 array. For the blade’s B7DBE mainboard, you may use either the Intel or Adaptec RAID controller and utility: use the Intel driver for Windows and the Adaptec driver for Linux - both are included on the CD that ships with the system. In either case, the ESB2 driver must be loaded when you install the operating system. Preparing for Setup Before you begin the installation, verify the following: 1. The SBI-7125B-T1 blade module has two or more hard drives installed. 2.

These drives must not have an OS installed and must be non-partitioned (formatted is ok). 3. The installation procedure is done via KVM, so have a KVM cable (CBL-0218L) connected to the KVM connector on the blade module with a keyboard, mouse and monitor attached. NOTE: You may also instead use IPMI or the Web-based Management utility to access the blade. 2

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RAID Configurations

SBI-7125B-T1 RAID Setup Procedure 4. Connect a USB floppy drive to a USB port on the KVM cable, which is attached to the blade module on the front of the blade. 5. On another computer, use the Supermicro CD-ROM that came with the system to load the ESB2 driver it contains onto a floppy disk. Changing BIOS Settings 1. Boot the SBI-7125B-T1 blade and hit the ELETE > key to enter the BIOS setup utility. 2. In the M AIN Menu, highlight the SATA C ONTROLLER M ODE setting and hit NTER >. 3. Highlight the E NHANCED M ODE setting and hit NTER > to enable it. 4. Two additional settings will appear: SATA RAID E NABLE and ICH RAID C ODE B ASE .

Enable the SATA RAID setting, then choose either ICH (for Intel RAID) or ESB2 (for Adaptec RAID) in the ICH RAID C ODE B ASE setting. 5. Go to the E XIT Menu, highlight S AVE C HANGES AND E XIT and hit NTER >. Installation 1. After exiting the BIOS utility, the blade will begin to boot up. At this time you will need to hit either the + keys if you chose to use Adaptec RAID or the + keys if you chose to use Intel RAID. (Both keys must be hit simultaneously.) 2. You will now enter the RAID setup utility ( ACU for Adaptec, Intel Matrix Storage Manager for Intel). Refer to the appropriate utility in Section 4 to create and build a RAID array. 3.

After building the RAID array, save and exit the RAID utility and the OS installation will begin. At some point, you will see a prompt asking you to hit the key if you have drives to install. When you see the prompt, hit the key. 4. When prompted, insert the floppy containing the ESB2 driver into the USB floppy drive, then hit NTER >. 5. When the driver installation is complete, the system will reboot. 4. RAID Utility Programs Two RAID utilities are availble for use with the SuperBlade: the Intel Matrix Storage Manager (for Intel-based RAID) and the Adaptec RAID Configuration Utility (ACU).

When you install the OS to a system you must decide which of the two you wish to use, then refer to the relevant utility in this section for details on its use. RAID Configurations With two or hard drives per blade, the following RAID configurations are supported: 3

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