Lenovo ThinkServer RD340 - Manual (Page 76)

• RAID 50: a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 5
RAID 50 uses distributed parity and disk striping. A RAID 50 drive group is a spanned drive group in
which data is striped across multiple RAID 5 drive groups. RAID 50 works best with data that requires
high reliability, high request rates, high data transfers, and medium-to-large capacity.
Note: Having virtual drives of different RAID levels, such as RAID 0 and RAID 5, in the same drive group is
not allowed. For example, if an existing RAID 5 virtual drive is created out of partial space in an array, the
next virtual drive in the array has to be RAID 5 only.
RAID 50 requires a minimum number of six hard disk drives.
For detailed information about RAID, refer to “Introduction to RAID” in the MegaRAID SAS Software User
Guide on the documentation DVD that comes with your server.
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
• Creates a RAID response file that can be used to configure RAID controllers on similarly configured
Lenovo servers
See “Using the ThinkServer EasyStartup program” on page 59 and view the user guide from the main
interface of the program.
Some RAID management software also is provided on the ThinkServer EasyStartup DVD to help you manage
RAID arrays and RAID controllers in an operating system environment. After you enter the operating system,
insert the ThinkServer EasyStartup DVD into the optical drive. The installation packages for the programs
are located in the Utilities and Others folder in the root directory of the DVD. The ThinkServer EasyStartup
DVD is designed for different types of servers and the Utilities and Others folder might contain additional
installation packages that are not required to be installed on your server.
Configuring the ThinkServer RAID 300
The ThinkServer RAID 300 (also known as onboard SAS software RAID) is integrated in the PCH on
the system board. If you connect the mini-SAS to mini-SAS signal cables from the system board to the
backplane, you can configure RAID for the hard disk drives using the LSI Software RAID Configuration Utility
program, independently of the operating system. The ThinkServer RAID 300 supports RAID levels 0, 1, and
10 by default. You also can activate RAID 5 by installing a ThinkServer RAID 300 Upgrade Key for Advanced
RAID. See “Installing or removing the ThinkServer RAID 300 Upgrade Key for Advanced RAID” on page 101.
You can install and use the MegaRAID Storage Manager program to manage the RAID array and RAID
controller in an operating system environment.
64 ThinkServer RD340 User Guide and Hardware Maintenance Manual