DIVAR IP 7000/ 6000 R2 configuration via LSI MegaRAID Storage Manager

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Possible causes and solution(s)

This guide is written specifically for BVMS certified technicians who are currently working with DIVAR IP 7000 and 6000 Mark II Recording Appliances or later.

The sole purpose of this guide is to provide step by step instructions on how to work with the recording appliance s RAID array via the MegaRAID application.

This guide will cover the necessary software configuration procedures to recover from the following failure scenarios:

• One Drive Failure
• Two Drive Failure
• LSI Controller Card Replacement ( Post Physical Installation)

📚Overview

• Accessing MegaRAID Storage Manager
  • Silencing Alarms
• One Drive Failure (Simulated):
• Two Drive Failure (Simulated):
• LSI Controller Card Replacement and Rebuild

• Solution

With the relocation of the Recording Appliance s operating system to a dedicated drive, off of the RAID array itself, technicians can now rebuild or recover the appliance s RAID array from the desktop . This is easier and more efficient than using the LSI controller card s BIOS interface.

Prior to starting, it is important to understand the fundamental principles of operation between the LSI RAID controller and the operating system.

• All storage drives in the appliance are configured b y the LSI Controller into a Virtual Hard Drive

• This Virtual HD is recognized by the OS as a single drive. This is the appliance's "storage" drive and is typically labelled the 😧 drive.

• The storage drive is populated with .VHD files that act as LUNS for the iSCSI software target and VRM

Accessing MegaRAID Storage Manager

After logging into the appliance, there is a shortcut on the desktop for the MegaRAID Storage Manager ” application. Double click the icon to access the application

You will see a splash screen, and after a few moments you will receive a "Host View"

• This menu will list the IP address of the appliance . Select the IP address . It is a hyperlink

• This will open a login menu. To access the controller you must use the administrative credentials for the operating system. Default for the recording appliance is:

o User name: BVRAdmin
o Password: WSS4Bosch

Once logged in you will receive a "Main Dashboard" menu. There are three sub menu tabs on the left portion of the menu . The logical submenu will be your main focus.

The Logical tab provides you access to the controller cards Virtual Drive (VD) and allows you to work with the physical drives associated with the VD.

Silencing Alarms

When a drive has failed, the controller card will go into "alarm state". This will be accompanied by an audible alarm which is a loud beeping.
To "Silence" or "Disable" the alarm:

• Right click the Controller card icon
• Select the desired alarm handling method

One Drive Failure (Simulated):

When working with an appliance that is configured for RAID 5, the array itself can sustain a one (1) drive failure and successfully recover with all data intact. While drives are hot swappable, the proper steps to replace a drive are listed below in order.
From the "Logical" tab menu, the failed drive can be identified by the red dot next to the drive icon.

Once the drive has been identified, right click the icon and select "Mark Drive as Missing".

• This marks an offline/failed drive of a degraded array as missing in order to prepare the drive for replacement

You should receive a set of warnings. Select "Confirm and yes to both.

Note: If during this process you receive "Alerts", select "Dismiss"

To locate the correct drive for replacement, right click the drive s icon and select "Start Locating Drive".

• This will cause the drive 's LED to flash
• Locate the failed drive and remove it

After removing the failed drive and physically installing the replacement, the newly inserted drive should automatically go into "Rebuild"

The rebuild process may take several hours to finish.
Rebuild times will vary based on several factors, to include:

• Number of drives in the array
• Amount of data to be re built
• iSCSI traffic to and from the appliance

NOTE:
Never remove a failed drive unless you intend to immediately replace it. Removing a drive and leaving an "empty" drive slot affects the appliance s cooling system and could cause over heating and component failure.

Two Drive Failure (Simulated):

When working with an appliance that is configured for RAID 5 and that has suffered a two drive failure, all data that was contained on the virtual drive will be lost. The initial recovery steps for a two drive failure are similar to that of a one drive failure, but additional steps are required in order to make the appliance functional again.
Shown here is a simulated two drive failure from the "Logical" menu tab in MegaRAID.

Note the failed drives are marked with the red dot:

• The controller's VD is also in a failed state. This means the appliance's D:\ is no longer present, and all iSCSI VHDs are gone

Mark all failed drives as missing as shown previously . This should move them from the Virtual Drive's "Drive Group" to "Unconfigured Devices"

• Use the "Start Locating" sub menu
• Physically remove the failed drives
• Install replacement drives

NOTE:
Prior to the next step power off and power the appliance back on . The LSI controller card does not contain a battery back up, and for this reason keeps the last known good configuration in it's running memory. In some cases this can cause "false" restore states excentuated by windows file pointers. Recycling power ensures accurate readings.

After the power has recycled you will see the replacement drives "Unconfigured Good"

To add the new drives to the existing VD, right click each drive and select the "Replace Missing Drive" option.

Once selected you will be asked for drive group assignment. The appliance should only have one drive group select "OK"

After the replacement drives have been added to the VD, right click each drive and select "Mark Drive Online"

• After each drive has been selected you will be prompted to confirm the addition
• Check "Confirm" and select "Yes"
• If you receive "Alerts while adding the drives select "Dismiss"

While the controller card VD is now repaired, it is currently recognized by Windows as an "un initialized" drive.

To add the RAID array back to the system as the D:\

• Open the Windows "Server Manager"
• Select "File and Storage Services"
• Select "Disks"

You should see in the "Disks" menu that the RAID Array is present but the partition is "Unknown"

Right click the drive and select "Initialize". You will be prompted to confirm it as a GPT disk, select "Yes".

The state of the drive should change to "GPT".
Right click the drive and select "New Volume..." in order to format and and assign the volume a drive letter.

After selecting "New Volume..." you will be presented with the "New Volume Wizard". On the introduction page select "Next"

On the "Server and Disk" menu, highlight the newly initialized disk and the select "Next"

On the "Size" menu, insure that the total available space is selected. Select "Next"

On the "Drive Letter and Folder" menu assign the appropriate drive letter (D:\). Select "Next".

On the "File Systems Settings" leave the default settings of "NTFS" and "Default". Select "Next".

The "Confirmation" menu is a summary of the option you selected. Select "Create"

The "Results " menu will show the "Volume" creation in progress. When the process is finished close the wizard menu.

•  A "D:\" drive should ne be present in "My Computer"

Now that the "Drive" is recognized, the iSCSI VHD s need to be recreated and assigned to the iSCSI Software Target.
From within the "Server Manager" menu, select the "iSCSI" menu

In the iSCSI Virtual Disks menu it will show that "There are no iSCSI virtual disks"

• Select the "To create....." hyperlink

This will open the "New iSCSI Virtual Disk Wizard". Either a "Volume" can be specified or a path can be typed.

If typing a specific path:

• D:\LUNID.VHD
• LUN ID will be incremental based on the LUN created: LUN 0 , LUN1 etc.

Select "Next"

The "iSCSI Virtual Disk Name" menu will ask for a VHD name. Enter the "Lun" name, example "LUN1". Select "Next"

The "iSCSI Virtual Disk Size" menu will require the size to be entered:

• If you have older devices LUNs should be sized at between 1.8 and 1.9 TB
• If working with newer devices and LUNS are sized over 2TB, VRM pools will need to be configured for LARGE LUN SUPPORT
• Select "Fixed Size"
• Select "Next"

The "iSCSI Target" menu allows you to select the "iSCSI Target" that the VHD will be assigned to. Select "TGO" and then select "Next"

The "Confirmation" menu is a summary of the option you selected. Select "Create"

The iSCSI VHD creation must be repeated until all available disk space of the D:\ has been allocated to the iSCSI Target. As you create VHDs they will appear in the "Virtual Disks" menu

After all VHDs (LUNS) have been created the iSCSI target will nee d to be rescanned by VRM in BVMS. After the target has successfully updated, the LUNs will need to be formatted in "VRM Format".

After formatting is complete, utilize the VRM Monitor Page to verify that all video devices have received new spans and are recording.

LSI Controller Card Replacement and Rebuild

In the case that the LSI Controller card in the appliance you are working with h as failed, and it has been physically replaced, the following steps need to be followed to restore the unit to a functioning state.
Note:
There is an option to "Import a Foreign Configuration" below "Create Virtual Drive". If the controller card failed an d the drives still have valid Cache on Disk (COD), try this option first prior to creating a new VHD. This option may restore all of the video and data on the drives.

• The following steps are based on a failed controller card and corrupt COD

From the MegaRAID application the new controller card and all of the unit s physical drives should be visible . No Virtual Disk will be present

Right click the controller card icon and select "Create Virtual Drive"

This will open the "Create Virtual Drive" wizard Select "Advanced" and select "Next"

From the "Create Drive Group" menu make the following adjustments:

• Set the RAID Level to RAID 5
• Select all available drives in the "unconfigured drives" menu and select the "Add >>>" tab

Once all available drives have been added select the "Create Drive Group" tab

The "Virtual Drive Settings" need to be adjusted to the appliance s performance specifications. The following adjustments should be made:

• Fast Initialization
• Strip Size: 64KB
• Read Policy: Ahead
• Write Policy: Always Write Back
• I/O Policy: Direct
• Disk Cache Policy: Disable

After the settings have been confirmed select "Create Virtual Disk"

After selecting "create" you will receive a write policy warning . Select yes and continue . The wizard will then display a summary screen ; close the menu.

After successfully creating a new Virtual Drive on the LSI controller card, you will need to perform the Windows Server based steps in the "Two Drive Failure section of this guide. This includes:

• Initialing the Disk and creating the volume
• Creating iSCSI VHDs and assigning them to the TGO iSCSI Software Target
• Formatting the LUNS in BVMS utilizing VRM