2.2 Configuring RAID 6 for Dell PowerEdge R740xd

To configure the RAID controller for RAID 6:

1. Boot the server hardware.

2. During the boot sequence, press F2 to boot to the System Setup Utility.

   

3. In System Setup Main Menu, select Device Settings.

   

4. In Device Settings, select Integrated RAID Controller 1: Dell PERC <PERC H740P Mini> Configuration Utility.

   

5. In the PERC Configuration Utility Dashboard View under Actions, click Configure.

   

6. In PERC Configuration Management, click Clear Configuration and confirm to delete existing disk groups and any data on that disk group.

   WARNING:Deleting a disk group also deletes the data on that disk group.

7. In PERC Configuration Management, configure the PERC RAID controller with multiple logical disks in a single RAID 6 array that spans all physical SATA disks:

   1. Create a virtual disk for the Forge System:

      1. In the PERC Configuration Management menu, click Create Virtual Disk.

         

      2. On the Create Virtual Disk page, define the RAID:

         Parameter	Description
         Select RAID Level	Select RAID6.
         Select Physical Disks From	Select Unconfigured Capacity.
         Select Physical Disks	Click Select Physical Disks. On the Select Physical Disks page, select all available physical SATA disks. Each SATA disk is about 2 TB in size. Do not select the two small SAS hard disks. At the bottom of the page, click Apply Changes.

         

      3. After you select the physical disks, configure the following Virtual Disk Parameters:

         Parameter	Description
         Virtual Disk Name	Type ForgeSystem. The virtual disk name is case sensitive.
         Virtual Disk Size	Specify 300 as the size for the Forge system disk. The recommended size is 300 GB.
         Virtual Disk Size Unit	Specify GB.
         Strip Element Size	Select 256 KB.
         Read Policy	Select Read Ahead.
         Write Policy	Select Write Back.
         Disk Cache	Select Default.
         Default Initialization	Select Fast.

         

      4. At the bottom of the page, click Create Virtual Disk.

      5. Click OK to dismiss the confirmation for the creation of the virtual disk.

   2. Create a new virtual disk for the Forge Failover VMs:

      1. In the PERC Configuration Management menu, click Create Virtual Disk.

         

      2. On the Create Virtual Disk page, define the RAID:

         Parameter	Description
         Select RAID Level	Select RAID6.
         Select Physical Disks From	Select Free Capacity.
         Select Disk Groups	Click Select Disk Groups. On the Select Disk Groups page, select Disk Group #0. At the bottom of the page, click Apply Changes.

         

      3. After you select Disk Group #0, configure the following Virtual Disk Parameters:

         Parameter	Description
         Virtual Disk Name	Type FailoverVMs. The virtual disk name is case sensitive.
         Virtual Disk Size	Use the default maximum size for the remainder of the RAID disk (such as 21533 GB)
         Virtual Disk Size Unit	Specify GB or TB as appropriate to the size you specified.
         Strip Element Size	Select 256 KB.
         Read Policy	Select Read Ahead.
         Write Policy	Select Write Back.
         Disk Cache	Select Default.
         Default Initialization	Select Fast.

      4. At the bottom of the page, click Create Virtual Disk.

      5. Click OK to dismiss the confirmation for the creation of the virtual disk.

8. View the disks you created on Disk Group #0.

   1. In the PERC Configuration Management menu, click View Disk Group Properties.

      

   2. On the View Disk Groups Properties page, select Capacity Allocation to view the capacity for the ForgeSystem disk and FailoverVMs disk.

      

9. Return to the System Setup Main Menu, then click Finish in the lower right corner to exit the System Setup Utility, then click Yes to confirm.

   

10. (Conditional) Press Ctrl+Alt+Del if you are prompted.

    The server reboots with the new settings.