Configuration Utility
Disk space is never enough. On an on-going basis system
administrators will be getting request to increase the disk space
on a server.
In this article, let us review how to add new physical disks and
create a virtual disk with a RAID configuration on an DELL
PowerEdge Server using PERC 6/i Integrated BIOS
Configuration Utility.
The new DELL Servers has the ability to create RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10 using the hardware controller.
Assume the scenario where the server came with 2 physical hard drives configured in RAID-1. This Logical
Volume is where the operating system is installed and you got a request to expand disk space on this server.
So, you have purchased additional disks and would like to configure a RAID setup. In this example, 4
additional disks are configured as RAID-5 on a DELL PowerEdge 2950 server. The same steps works on other
DELL PowerEdge servers as long as you have the same PERC BIOS Configuration Utility.
If you are using an old server that uses PERC/CERC BIOS Configuration Utility, please refer to the article we
wrote earlier about how to create RAID on DELL Servers using PERC/CERC BIOS Configuration Utility (with
screenshots).
Fig: Press Ctrl-R to Launch DELL PowerEdge 2950 III Expandable RAID Controller
This will launch the PERC 6/i Integrated BIOS Configuration Utility. This utility will have the following three
TABs on the top.
Create New VD
Clear Config
Foreign Config
Manage Preserved Cache
Fig: Create New Virtual Disk on DELL PowerEdge 1950 III Server
This will display the Virtual Disk Management screen with Create New VD Panel. Following are the various
sections displayed in this screen:
RAID Level
PD Per Scan
Physical Disks Section
Basic Settings
VD Size
VD Name
Advanced Settings
Stripe Element Size
Read Policy
Write Policy
Force WB with no battery
Initialize
Configure HotSpare
RAID-0
RAID-1
RAID-5
RAID-6
RAID-10
Fig: Select RAID Level in Create VD Screen for DELL PowerEdge 2970 Server
4. Select the Physical Disks for the Virtual Disk Group (RAID Group)
After selecting the RAID Level, press TAB and jump to Physical Disks section. This section will display all
available disks that are not configured yet. Every physical disks will display Drive ID and Size.
Press space bar to select the disks. i.e the check-box in front of the physical disk will be selected. Once youve
selected one disk, it will automatically jump to the next available disk. Keep pressing space bar until all
available physical disks are selected as shown below.
Fig: Select All available Physical Disk in Create VD Screen for DELL PowerEdge R900 Server
Fig: Enter Basic Settings in Create VD Screen for DELL PowerEdge R805 Server
Fig: Enter Advanced Settings in Create VD Screen for DELL PowerEdge R905 Server
7. New Virtual Disk (Logical Disk Group) Created with selected RAID
Level
Press TAB to jump to OK and press enter. Youll get the following warning message. Click OK to continue. This
will successfully create the new Virtual Disk with RAID-5 configuration.
Warning Message: It is recommended that all newly created logical drives be initialized unless you are
attempting to recreate a previous configuration and recover data as initialization is a destructive process.
Fig: Create New VD Full Screen for DELL PowerEdge R200 Server
Fig: Virtual Disk Initialization Progress for DELL PowerEdge R300 Server
Virtual Disks
Virtual Disk 1
Physical Disks
slot# : status : size
02: Online: 139392MB
03: Online: 139392MB
04: Online: 139392MB
05: Online: 139392MB
Space Allocation
Virtual Disk 1
Use arrow key and highlight the Virtual Disk 1, which will display the following properties of both Virtual Disk
and Disk Group on the right side.
Virtual Disk 1 Properties:
RAID Level: 5
RAID Status: Optimal (This will display degraded if any one of the disk in RAID5 failed)
Size: 408G
Operation: None. (During initialization process, this will display the status accordingly)
Free Segment: 0
Dedicated HS: 0
Fig: Virtual Disk and Disk Group Properties for DELL PowerEdge R710 Server
The new disk configuration is now complete and available at the OS Level. Make sure to format and partition
this new Virtual Disk at the OS level before mounting it.