Table 2. Software Feature Support
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Feature Name
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Description
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Server Dashboard
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The Server dashboard is the default landing page in the HPE MR Storage Administrator. The server dashboard displays the overall summary of the server and the devices attached to it. You can troubleshoot, configure, maintain, and monitor the controllers from the server dashboard. See Server Dashboard for more information.
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Controller Dashboard
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Lets you perform controller related actions and view all the information pertaining to a controller from the controller dashboard. See Controller Dashboard for more information
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Simple Configuration
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The simple configuration option is the quickest and easiest way to create a new storage configuration. When you select simple configuration mode, the system creates the best configuration possible using the available drives. See Creating a New Storage Configuration Using the Simple Configuration Option for more information.
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Advanced Configuration
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The advanced configuration option provides an easy way to create a new storage configuration. The advanced configuration option gives you greater flexibility than simple configuration because you can select the physical drive and logical drive parameters when you create a logical drive. In addition, you can use the advanced configuration option to create spanned arrays. See Creating a New Storage Configuration Using the Advanced Configuration Option for more information.
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The MegaRAID CacheCade read and write option eliminates the need for manually configured hybrid arrays by intelligently and dynamically managing frequently-accessed data and copying it from HDD volumes to a higher performance layer of SSD cache. Copying the most accessed data (hot spot) to flash cache relieves the primary HDD array from time-consuming transactions, which allows for more efficient hard disk operation, reduced latency, and accelerated read and write speeds. See Creating a CacheCade Logical Drive for more information.
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Foreign Configuration (Import/Clear)
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A foreign configuration is a RAID configuration that already exists on a replacement set of drives that you install in a storage system. You can use the HPE MR Storage Administrator to import the foreign configuration to the controller or clear the foreign configuration so that you can create a new configuration using these drives. See Importing or Clearing Foreign Configurations for more information.
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Clear Configuration
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Lets you clear all existing configurations on a selected controller. See Clearing the Configuration for more information.
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Update Firmware
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Lets you update the controller firmware. See Updating the Controller Firmware for more information.
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Online Firmware Update
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Lets you update the controller firmware. See Updating the Controller Firmware for more information.
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Controller Operations
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Setting Consistency Check Properties
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Consistency check operation verifies the correctness of the data in logical drives that use RAID levels 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60, configurations. For example, in a system with parity, checking consistency means calculating the data on one drive and comparing the results to the contents of the parity drive. See Running Consistency Checks for more information.
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Scheduling Consistency Check
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Allows you to periodically run a consistency check on fault-tolerant logical drives. See Scheduling Consistency Check for more information.
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Setting Patrol Read Properties
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A patrol read periodically verifies all sectors of the drives connected to a controller, including the system reserved area in the RAID configured drives. You can run a patrol read operation for all RAID levels and for all spare drives. A patrol read operation is initiated only when the controller is idle for a defined period and has no other background activities. See Setting the Patrol Read Properties for more information.
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Starting Patrol Read
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Lets you start a patrol read operation. See Starting a Patrol Read Operation for more information.
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Stopping Patrol Read
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Lets you stop an already started patrol read operation. See Stopping a Patrol Read Operation for more information.
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Managing Link Speed
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Lets you change the link speed between the controller and an expander or between the controller and a drive that is directly connected to the controller. See Managing SAS Storage Link Speed for more information.
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Setting Adjustable Task Rates
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Lets you change the Rebuild Rate, Transformation Rate, Patrol Read Rate, BGI Rate, and Consistency Check Rate for a controller. See Setting Adjustable Task Rates for more information.
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Discarding Preserved Cache
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If the controller loses access to one or more logical drives, the controller preserves the data from the logical drive. This preserved cache is called Pinned Cache. This cache is preserved until you import the logical drive or discard the cache. As long as there is pinned cache, you cannot perform certain operations on the logical drive. See Discarding Pinned Cache for more information.
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Downloading Serial Output Log
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The Serial Output Log file contains the firmware terminal log entries for the controller. The log information is shown as total number of entries available on the firmware side. See Downloading Serial Output Log for more information.
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Background Operations
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Provides information on Background Operations Support, such as Pause, Resume, Abort, and so on. See Background Operations Support for more information.
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Advanced Software Features
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Fast Path
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The MegaRAID FastPath software is a high-performance I/O accelerator for solid state drive (SSD) arrays connected to a MegaRAID controller card. This advanced software is an optimized version of MegaRAID technology that can dramatically boost storage subsystem and overall application performance; particularly those that demonstrate high random read/write operation workloads – when deployed with a MegaRAID SATA+SAS controllers connected to SSDs. See MegaRAID Fast Path Advanced Software for more information.
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CacheCade SSD
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CacheCade is an advanced software option designed to accelerate the performance of HDD arrays with only incremental investments in SSDs. CacheCade helps enable SSDs to be configured as a dedicated pool of controller cache to help maximize I/O performance for transaction-intensive applications, such as data bases, websites, and so on. See MegaRAID Advanced Software for more information.
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CacheCade Pro
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The MegaRAID CacheCade Pro 2.0 read and write software eliminates the need for manually configure hybrid arrays by intelligently and dynamically managing frequently-accessed data and copying it from HDD volumes to a higher performance layer of SSD cache. See Using the MegaRAID CacheCade Pro 2.0 Feature for more information.
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RAID 5 and RAID 6
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Uses data striping and parity data across three or more drives (distributed parity) to provide high data throughput and data redundancy, especially for applications that require random access.
Uses data striping and parity data across three or more drives (distributed parity) to provide high data throughput and data redundancy, especially for applications that require random access. RAID 6 can survive the failure of two drives.
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Logical Drive Operations
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Logical Drive Settings/Modifying Logical Drive Properties
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Lets you configure the logical drives. See Selecting Logical Drive Settings for more information.
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Start and Stop Locating a Logical Drive
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If the drives are in a disk enclosure, you can identify them by making their LEDs blink. See Start and Stop Locating a Drive for more information.
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Erasing a Logical Drive
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Lets you erase data on Non SEDs (normal HDDs) by using the Drive Erase option. The erase operation is performed as a background task. See Erasing a Drive for more information.
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Initializing a Logical Drive
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Lets you select Fast Initialization or Full Initialization option to initialize a drive immediately under the Advanced Configuration wizard. See Initializing a Logical Drive for more information.
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Starting Consistency Check on a Logical Drive
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Consistency check verifies whether all stripes in a logical drive with a redundant RAID level have correct parity or mirror values. The consistency check involves mirroring data when an inconsistent stripe is detected for a RAID 1 configuration, and re-creating the parity from the peer disks in the case of a RAID 5 and RAID 6 configuration. This mechanism applies to variants and secondary RAID levels based on RAID 1 and RAID 5 configurations. See Starting Consistency Check on a Logical Drive for more information.
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Expanding the Online Capacity of a Logical Drive
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Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) lets you expand the capacity of a logical drive by adding new drives or making use of unused space on existing disks, without requiring a reboot. See Expanding The Capacity of a Logical Drive While Online for more information.
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Deleting a Logical Drive
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Let you delete a logical drive. See Deleting a Logical Drive for more information.
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Drive Operations
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Assign Global Spare Drives
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A global spare drive replaces a failed drive in any redundant array, as long as the capacity of the global spare drives is equal to or greater than the coerced capacity of the failed drive. See Assigning Global Spare Drives for more information.
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Remove Global Spare Drives
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Lets you remove global spare drives. See Removing a Global Spare Drive for more information.
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Assign Dedicated Spare Drives
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Dedicated spare drive drives provide protection to one or more specified arrays on the controller. See Assigning Dedicated Spare Drives for more information.
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Start and Stop Locating Drive
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If the drives are in a disk enclosure, you can identify them by making their LEDs blink. See Start and Stop Locating a Drive for more information.
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Making a Drive Online and Offline
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Lets you change the state of a drive. See <making online/offline> for more information.
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Replacing a Drive
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Lets you replace a drive if the drive shows signs of failing. See Replacing a Drive for more information.
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Rebuilding a Drive
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If a drive configured as RAID 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, or 60 fails, the firmware automatically rebuilds the data on a spare drive to prevent data loss. The rebuild is a fully automatic process. You can monitor the progress of drive rebuilds in the Background Processes in Progress window. See Rebuilding a Drive for more information.
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Erasing a Drive
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Lets you erase data on Non SEDs (normal HDDs) by using the Drive Erase option. The erase operation is performed as a background task. See Erasing a Drive for more information.
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Sanitizing a Drive
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Lets you erase the data residing on a drive using the Sanitize feature. Sanitize is similar to the Drive Erase feature that is already supported by your controller, except that Sanitize is performed by the drive firmware, whereas Drive Erase is performed by the controller firmware. See Sanitizing a Drive for more information.
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Converting Unconfigured Bad Drive to Unconfigured Good Drive
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When you force a drive offline, it enters the Unconfigured Bad state. If a drive contains valid DDF metadata, its drive state is Unconfigured Good. See Converting an Unconfigured Bad Drive to an Unconfigured Good Drive for more information.
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Make Unconfigured Good Drive
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When you power down a controller and insert a new drive, and if the inserted drive does not contain valid DDF metadata, the drive status is listed as JBOD (Just a Bunch of Drives) when you power up the system again. When you power down a controller and insert a new drive and if the drive contains valid DDF metadata, its drive state is listed as Unconfigured Good. A new drive in the JBOD drive state is exposed to the host operating system as a stand-alone drive. See Make Unconfigured Good Drives and Make JBOD Drives for more information.
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Make JBOD/ Delete JBOD
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Allows you to either create JBODs or deleted already created JBODs. See Making a JBOD Drive for more information.
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Event Logs
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Viewing Event Logs
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The HPE MR Storage Administrator monitors the activity and performance of the server and all of the controllers attached to it. See Viewing Event Logs for more information.
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