詠鉌のIT

Recently I've done some review to few hard disk which configured with hardware RAID related cases, found that most of the hard disk replacement that lead to OS 'crash' is due to the server did gone through ChkDsk, either trigger by user or start automatically.
I do not know why until I found this article with the below statements:

"....Chkdsk is not RAID-aware. Its algorithms only work in the simplest cases. In general, it must be avoided. If chkdsk attempts to repair one or more member disks, the RAID data patterns will be destroyed, usually beyond recovery."

Frankly, I have no idea how true is the abovementioned statements, as I can't find any relevant info from Microsoft site. However, the experiences that I gone through with customer are real. In this moment, I think we should try to avoid running the Chkdsk when there is any hard disk failure (with hardware RAID configuration).

For more info, you may go to the link below:
http://www.quetek.com/RAID_mistakes.htm

If you feel sick or lazy to call up Dell Technical Support's toll-free number, wait in the queue just to check your system's warranty, you can just click on the link below, then key-in the Service Tag, and you will get the warranty status within a second:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/my_systems_info/details?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz&~ck=anavml

If your server, storage, switch or other Dell system is out-of-warranty, or warranty near to expiry date, a message will prompt as below:

Warranty contracts for your PowerEdge [model] have expired or will expire within 90 days.

Ensure your system is covered by contacting a Dell Extended Services Sales Agent at [toll-free for your region]

The real message as attached:
After that, you should see Service Contracts & Warranties, Original System Configuration, and Current System Configuration.


From the above attached picture, you can see the Start and End date, and how many days left for the valid warranty. If you wish to use the server/storage for another one or two years, do plan to get the quotation
from your sales account manager at least 21 days before the warranty expired.

Reference: http://supportapj.dell.com/support/index.aspx

Dell PowerEdge R805, is one of the AMD-based server from Dell. However, not much customer own one, and this may due to its supported platform quite different if compared with Intel-based server. Few days ago, one India customer called, and throw a lots of question to me before I can response to him:

"..I checked your documentation, found that this server should support Memory Sparing, but I just can't find the option from BIOS.."

Customer even share with me on how he tried to configure/modify the BIOS option, but end with FAIL.I checked his server specification, and I got the answer:

Server doesn't fully populated with Memory.

In summary, if you wish to configure Memory Sparing in this model, you should ensure:

• System is populated with full Memory module
• F2 System BIOS -> Memory Information -> Node Interleaving -> Disabled
• DIMMs must be paired as spares also

Please refers to the table below for more info:

Processor 1				Processor 2				Available Memory	Spared Memory
DIMMA1	DIMMA2	DIMMA3	DIMMA4	DIMMB1	DIMM B2	DIMMB3	DIMMB4	1 CPU / 2 CPUs	1 CPU / 2 CPUs
512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	1 GB / 2 GB	1 GB / 2 GB
1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	2 GB / 4 GB	2 GB / 4 GB
2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	4 GB / 8 GB	2 GB / 4 GB
2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	4 GB / 8 GB	2 GB / 4 GB
4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	8 GB / 16 GB	4 GB / 8 GB
	Indicates a spared single-rank DIMM (512-MB, 1-GB, or 2-GB). The entire capacity of this DIMM is reserved for sparing.
	Indicates a spared dual-rank DIMM (2-GB and higher). One-half of this DIMM's capacity is reserved for sparing.

Reference:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pet605/en/hom/install.htm

Didn't expect Microsoft do have this kind of sharing at their site: Free resume template for download. For those who need to update their resume, especially the graduates, this is a very good example to come out with a simple, informative resume.

Hurry, grab one of it from Microsoft today! It is FREE.... :-)

#1

For more resume from Microsoft, you may go to the link below:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/?CTT=97

Yesterday, I were surprised by a Singapore customer with the inquiry as below:

"...I suspect is your RAID card limitation to detect the full size of my 3TB SATA Hard Disk..."

Wow, I feel shame as my hardware knowledge not really up-to-date. I use around 12mins of researching, confirm that H200 does not able to detect hard disk with more than 2TB at this moment. According to Dell, this support features may come out this year (2011), but it doesn't really mentioned the exact release date.
If you really have budget to upgrade all Hard Disks to the size of 3TB SATA, you may consider to upgrade the RAID card as well. Currently, Dell PERC H700 & H800 are support hard disk with more than 2TB (need to fulfill the minimum requirement of firmware).

Dell PERC H700 and H800 – The following firmware revision (or later) must be applied on the Storage Controller Cards to obtain support for >2 TB drives. The firmware release numbers and revisions are below:  

For SAS drives >2TB: 7.1 FW A02/12.3.0-0032 

R269683 – H800; A02 ( listed as DELL_PERC-H800-ADAPTER_XX_XXXXXXX.exe at the below download link) 

R269684 – H700I: A02 ( listed as DELL_PERC-H700-INTEGRATED_XX_XXXXXXX.exe at the below download link) 

R269685 – H700A; A02 ( listed as DELL_PERC-H700-ADAPTER_XX_XXXXXXX.exe at the below download link) 

R269686 – H700M; A02 ( listed as DELL_PERC-H700-MODULAR_XX_XXXXXXX.exe at the below download link)

SATA Support – SATA drives will be supported in Q1, 2011.


The above mentioned releases of firmware can be downloaded from http://ftp.us.dell.com/sas-raid/.

Dell H200 – Support is planned for the H200 in 2011

Therefore, Dell PERC H200 is yet to have latest firmware to support hard disk with size larger than 2TB. Hopefully the newer firmware is out soon to eliminate this limitation.

For more info, you may visit Dell official website: Click Here!
**The abovementioned info are obtained from Dell TechCentre for sharing purpose

#2 In "BIOS", you can easily know what is the current BIOS version and the release date.

#3 "Fans" - shows the total amount of fans, and the RPM.

#4 "Firmware" - refers Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) version.

#5 "Intrusions" - If user did open the chassis for certain purpose such as re-seat the PCI components, intrusion alert will triggered. If the chassis cover was not close properly afterwards, the status will become a red 'X'.

#6 "Memory" - is very straight forward, showing the total amount of memory that a server currently have.

#7 "Network" - all about the Network Interface Card (NIC) includes integrated or PCI NIC.

#8 "Ports" - all about USB or parallel port

#9 "Power Supplies" - You can easy access the Power Supply's status from here

#10 "Processors" - if you need to get the Processor spec, you can have it here

#11 "Remote Access" - Due to most of the Dell 11th Gen server is come with iDRAC, so this function is a 'must-have' option from OMSA.

#12 "Slots" - showing info of which type of PCI card occupied the slot 

#13 "Temperature" - Chassis temperature. This will determine the RPM of the System Fan.

#14 "Voltage"

Generally, the new interface is more user-friendly than the previous version. It is highly recommend to have it for your Dell Server for monitoring and troubleshooting if needed.

Similar post:
Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) Part I : How to log in to OMSA?

Reference:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/svradmin/6.4/en/ug/html/using.htm#wp1076956

Due to there are too many parts for Dell OpenManage Server Administrator, so I divide it into several parts to cover the full OMSA introduction.


What is Dell OpenManage Server Administrator?
Server Administrator provides a comprehensive, one-to-one systems management solution in two ways: from an integrated, Web browser-based graphical user interface (GUI) and from a command line interface (CLI) through the operating system. Server Administrator is designed for system administrators to manage systems locally and remotely on a network. Server Administrator allows system administrators to focus on managing their entire network by providing comprehensive one-to-one systems management.


**Reference from: http://supportapj.dell.com/support/edocs/SOFTWARE/svradmin/5.3/en/ug/html/intro.htm#wp1039152

Interface for version 6.4 is a little bit different from the legacy one, but the steps to log in are similar.

Download URL from Dell.com
Windows x64 OMSA 6.4 Download here
Windows x86 OMSA 6.4 Download here


#1
Double-click the icon named: "Server Administrator", and you'll see the browser open as below:

#2
Click "Continue to this website (not recommended)", and a log-in pop up screen will appear. Type in your username and password with administrative rights.


#3
After the Windows log-in, another web GUI appear and ask for same info as step #2.


#4
Then, you will see the first page of OMSA as below.