ServeRAID: Full Initialization Best Practice for Data Protected Virtual Drives

Troubleshooting

Problem

A virtual drive is not fully protected until after it has completed an initialization. Because of this, when enabling Data Protection or Protection Information (PI) on a ServeRAID controller, it is a best practice to perform a full initialization at thetime the virtual drive is created. Performing a full initialization will guarantee that the virtual drive is fully protected from the beginning.

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H002172

Symptom

A virtual drive is not fully protected until after it has completed an initialization. Because of this, when enabling Data Protection or Protection Information (PI) on a ServeRAID controller, it is a best practice to perform a full initialization at the time the virtual drive is created. Performing a full initialization will guarantee that the virtual drive is fully protected from the beginning.

Affected configurations

The system is configured with one or more of the following Lenovo Options:

IBM Flex System Storage Expansion Node, Option part number 68Y8588, any CRU
ServeRAID M1015 SAS/SATA Controller, Option part number 46M0831, any CRU
ServeRAID M1115 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, Option part number 81Y4448, any CRU
ServeRAID M1210e, any model
ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, Option part number 46C9114, any model
ServeRAID M5014 SAS/SATA Controller, Option part number 46M0916, any CRU
ServeRAID M5015 SAS/SATA Controller, Option part number 46M0829, any CRU
ServeRAID M5016 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, Option part number 90Y4304, any CRU
ServeRAID M5025 SAS/SATA Controller, Option part number 46M0830, any CRU
ServeRAID M5110 SAS/SATA Controller Card, Option part number 81Y4481, any CRU
ServeRAID M5110 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x (CTO), any replacement part number
ServeRAID M5110e SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, onboard, any embedded
ServeRAID M5115 SAS/SATA Controller, Option part number 90Y4390, any CRU
ServeRAID M5120 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, Option part number 81Y4478, any CRU
ServeRAID M5210 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, Option part number 46C9110, any any
ServeRAID M5210e SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, Option part number 46C9117CTO, any any

This tip is not system specific.

This tip is not software specific.

Solution

This is a permanent restriction, there will be no solution.

Additional information

Hard drives do not necessarily come from the vendor with the Protection Information data initialized, and therefore, if the full initialization is not performed at the beginning of the virtual drive creation, the virtual drive will not be fully protected until a background initialization has been completed. Because the time to complete a background initialization varies depending on the workload on the hard drives, it is difficult to predict how long a virtual drive will remain unprotected without a full initialization being performed. A full initialization is more predictable and will guarantee protection sooner than a background initialization.

Document Location

Worldwide

Operating System

Lenovo x86 servers:Operating system independent / None

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