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5-4 Intel® Server RAID Controller U3-1 User’s Manual Rev 1.0
RAID Features
5.1.3.5 Array Roaming
Array Roaming allows the user the ability to move a complete array to another system (with drives
in any SCSI ID slot) and still preserve RAID configuration and user data on that array. SRCU31
firmware versions do not have to be the same on both systems (firmware updates are backwards
compatible). The array being moved must be connected to the destination server while it is offline.
Summary
• New physical disks can be added without rebooting.
• RAID volumes are re-allocated across arrays, maintaining capacity.
• Available array capacity increases by the size of the added disk(s).
• RAID volumes presented to the operating system do not increase in capacity.
Additional capacity may be made available to the OS by adding a new volume(s) on the newly
created free space on the array.
5.1.4 High Availability/Redundancy
5.1.4.1 Global Hot Spare
The global hot spare is one of the most important features that SRCU31 provides to deliver a high
degree of fault-tolerance. A global hot spare is a spare physical disk drive that has been marked as
a global hot spare and therefore is not passed through to the host OS and is not a member of an
array. If a disk drive used in a RAID volume fails, then the global hot spare will automatically take
its place andthe data previously located on thefailed drive is reconstructed on the globalhot spare.
For this feature to work properly, the global hot spare must have at least the same capacity as the
drive it replaces. Global hot spares only work with RAID 1 and RAID 5 volumes. You may
configure up to 4 global hot spares with SRCU31. Global hot spares count toward the maximum
number of disks that are supported by SRCU31.
During the automatic rebuild process, system activity will continue as normal, however, there may
be a slight degradation in performance as the data on the global hot spare is rebuilt.
To effectively use the global hot spare feature, you must always maintain at least one drive that is
marked as a global hot spare.
5.1.4.2 Hot Plug Disk Drive Support
SRCU31 supports the replacement of failed hard disk drives without having to shut down the
system. However, your RAID storage backplane must support hot plug disk drives for this feature
to be active.
Warning: Never remove a drive or insert a disk drive into your system while the power is on without
confirming with both the disk drive and drive enclosure documentation that both the drive and
enclosure are capable of supporting this action. Removing or inserting a new drive not designed for
‘hot swap’ may result in damage to your hardware and data. Even when both drive and enclosure
support ‘hot swap’ it is strongly recommended that ‘hot swapping’ not be done while the drives are
being accessed (active I/O). LVD drives and enclosures are especially susceptible to electrical