Frequently Asked Questions
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Q: When failures occur in a mirror, how is this indicated on the LSI 21320R SCSI controller?

A: By default, when there is a failure, the controller first tries to rebuild using a hotspare. If there is no hotspare it simply tries to resynchronize the array with the drive that failed if it can communicate with it. Failures are not typically visible within the operating system (OS). LSI has a utility referred to as CIM Manager that allows software alerts within the OS. Failures are also indicated by the card itself and are only indicated in the following way:

  1. Press CTRL+C as the server is starting up, to access the LSI Logic BIOS utility.

  2. Press the ENTER key on the channel selection bar.

  3. View the Mirror Status column. If one of the drives in the Mirror has failed, the mirror status indicates DEGRADED.

  4. After pressing ENTER on the Channel, Mirroring Properties, it lists the status of each of the drives which may be any of the following:

    Primary = drive that is being mirrored from.
    Secondary = drive that is being mirrored to
    Hotspare = drive that is designated to rebuild in the event that the first drive has failed.
    Missing = drive that was originally configured is no longer recognized or functioning.
    Out of Sync = drive that is rebuilding.

When you see Out of Sync, the drive is currently trying to rebuild. Also, it is normal that if there is a hotspare, the drive that was designated the hotspare will now read the Primary or Secondary with an out of sync status (until it finished rebuilding) and the failed drive will be designated the hotspare.

Note: This behavior may change with newer revisions of the card or firmware revisions of this controller.