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Check the status of an LSI raid card battery backup unit

Checking on the status of your raid cards battery backup unit (BBU) is a simple process by using the following MegaCli command: $ MegaCli64 -AdpBbuCmd -a<adapter#/ALL> In the following example we have a single controller present and will pass the -a0 argument to select the controller. [root@localhost ~]# MegaCli64 -AdpBbuCmd -a0 BBU status for Adapter: […]

Replacing an LSI raid disk with MegaCli

If you have identified a failed, or failing disk, it is possible to replace it using the MegaCli utility. In the example below we will cover replacing a failed disk from a raid 5 that has three disks total. The first thing we want to check is the status of our raid 5. [root@raid log]# MegaCli64 […]

How to locate a physical disk in an LSI raid array

The MegaCli command line utility can be used to locate a physical disk in an LSI raid array by blinking the disks activity LED. The blinking will continue until directed to stop. Syntax: MegaCli64 -PdLocate <-start|-stop> -physdrv[<enclosure#>:<disk#>] -a<adapter#> In this example we will locate disk 0 on adapter 0: [root@localhost MegaCli]# ./MegaCli64 -PdLocate -start -physdrv[252:0] […]

Pinpoint a failed drive in your array

If you see that your LSI RAID array has a failed disk, but you’re not sure which physical disk in the machine it is, use the MegaCli command line utility to flash the drive’s LEDs: Command syntax: MegaCli64 -PdLocate <-start|-stop> -physdrv[<enclosure#>:<disk#>] -a<adapter#> In this example, we will locate disk 0 on adapter 0 (the first […]

Replacing an LSI raid card with a pre-configured raid array

Newer LSI raid cards (depending on their current firmware version it seems) will auto-import raid configurations from previous raid cards. However on older cards you have to import the disks ‘foreign’ configuration. In order to check if your raid array was automatically imported by your new raid card you can run the following command: $ MegaCli64 […]

Create a raid array with MegaCli64

Note: The following is assuming that you have attached new drives to a newly installed LSI raid controller. The first thing to do is to get a list of all the drives attached to the raid controller. The way the LSI raid controllers identify/label their attached disks is by an ‘Enclosure ID’ and the drive […]

How to expand an existing LSI raid array using MegaCli

Warning: You should ALWAYS make a backup of all of your information on the raid array before performing any of these steps. The exact commands to do this vary on your current configuration and number of disks in the raid. Before adding in the disks you need to get a feel for your current setup by […]

How to update the date/time on LSI Raid cards using MegaCli

Setting the date/time on your controller is advised to keep system logs in sync. Although this is normally done by the drivers after bootup, we can do this manually with the MegaCli tool using the following syntax: MegaCli64 -AdpSetTime yyyymmdd hh:mm:ss -a<adapter#> yyyy is year in 4 digit format: 2013 mm is month in 2 […]

Disk marked as Foreign or Bad?

Some times when you replace a disk you may find the new disk marked as “Foreign”. The “Foreign” state means the controller has detected a raid signature on this disk from a previous configuration. This will prevent you from using the disk before the foreign state is cleared out. In order to use the disk we […]

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