3DM 2 Online Help

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

| Physically Install the Controller and Drives

| Configure the 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 Controller and Drives
To install your controller and drives, 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 3ware Documentation folder on your 3ware CD, and you can download it from the 3ware website at http://www.3ware.com/support/userdocs.asp.
Configure the RAID Unit
Before configuring a RAID unit, you may want to review the information under Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels. This information will help you choose the appropriate RAID level for your situation. 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 Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide.
Install the Driver and Make the Operating System Aware of the New Drives
Instructions for installing drivers are available in of the 3ware Serial ATA RAID Controller User Guide.
You will also find instructions for updating the driver under Updating 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, selection of a StorSave profile, and specifying how unconfigured disks (JBODs) are handled.

| 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 and in the user guide. 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. 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, CLI
Auto-Carving | Disabled | 3BM, 3DM, CLI
Auto-Detect | Enabled | CLI
Carve Size or Factor | 2048 GB | 3BM, 3DM, CLI
Drives Per Spinup | 1 | 3BM, CLI
Delay Between Spinup | 6 seconds | 3BM, CLI
Export Unconfigured (JBOD) Disks | Disabled | 3BM, CLI
Disable Cache on Degraded Array (does not apply to 9550SX, 9590SE, and 9650SE controllers because this feature is integrated into StorSave Profile) | Enabled | CLI
Staggered Method | ATA-6 | 3BM
Staggered Spinup | Enabled | 3BM
Unit-Level Settings (For details, see Setting Unit Policies)
Auto Verify | Disabled | 3DM, CLI
Continue on Source Error During Rebuild | Disabled | 3BM, 3DM, CLI
Boot Volume Size | Blank | 3BM
Queuing (NCQ) | Disabled | 3BM, 3DM, CLI
StorSave Profile | Protection | 3BM, 3DM, CLI
Write Cache | Enabled | 3BM, 3DM, CLI
Background Task Settings (For details, see Setting Background Task Rate and Setting Background Task Rate)
Verify Task Schedules | Daily, starting at 12:00 am and running for 24 hours | 3DM, CLI
Follow Verify Task Schedule | No | 3DM, CLI
Rebuild Task Schedules | Daily, starting at 12:00 am and running for 24 hours | 3DM, CLI
Follow Rebuild Task Schedule | No | 3DM, CLI
Self-test Task Schedules1 | Daily, starting at 12:00 am and running for 24 hours | 3DM, CLI
Follow Self-test Task Schedule | Yes | 3DM, 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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