Troubleshooting RAID Issues for Intel® Server Boards and Intel® Server Systems

Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology II and Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) Matrix RAID are embedded chipset versions of RAID on Intel® Server Boards. Some server boards provide both RAID types. See Comparison of Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology II and Intel® RST (Matrix) RAID for differences and configuration information.

The Intel® RAID Software user guide describes the software and utilities, available RAID modes, and instructions for configuring and maintaining RAID arrays. This guide is for Intel® Server Boards and Intel® RAID Controllers that use the following technologies:

• Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology II (software and drivers that start with ESRT2)
• Intel IT/IR RAID
• Intel® Integrated Server RAID technology
• Intel® RAID Controllers using the Intel® RAID Software stack 3 (software and drivers that start with ir3)

Use the Intel RAID Quick Reference Guide for Intel® Server Boards with the Intel® C600 Chipset. The guide has information on configuring:

• Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (Intel® RSTe)
• Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology II
• Intel® Integrated Modules
• Intel® RAID C600 optional upgrade keys

The Intel® RSTe for Windows* Software User Guide describes the software and utilities, available RAID modes, and instructions for configuring and maintaining Intel® RSTe RAID arrays.

The Intel® RAID tutorial shows some of the features of Intel® RAID Controllers. The demo includes RAID Levels 0, 1, 5, Intel® RAID Roaming, RAIDIOS Demonstration, and RAID Calculator.

See the Intel® RAID Adapter tested hardware and operating system list for RAID compatibility with operating systems, chassis, backplanes, and third-party server boards. You can find the list on the support page for the Intel® RAID Controller and Intel® RAID Module from the Browse for Product Support page.

These are reference documents for compatible configuration between hardware components in your Intel® Server Systems:
Intel® Server Boards and Intel® RAID Adapter compatibility
Intel® RAID Controller and backup battery unit compatibility list and product codes
Intel® RAID Controller and module backplane compatibility list

How to configure Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology II using the BIOS console
How to configure hardware RAID using the BIOS console

Intel® RAID products and technologies workshop overview: This demo provides you with an understanding of the correct methods of measuring RAID performance, and the performance impact of RAID cache settings.

These documents give you information and assistance for proper connection of IPMB, SES, and SGPIO enclosure management cabling between Intel® RAID Controllers and chassis backplanes for your Intel® Server Systems:

Intel® C610 Series Chipset based Server System Cabling Guide
Intel® C200 and Intel® C600 Series Chipset-based systems backplane and Intel® RAID Controller cabling guide
Pedestal systems backplane and Intel® RAID Controller cabling guide based on S5500
Pedestal systems backplane and Intel® RAID Controller cabling guide based on S5000
Rack-optimized systems backplane and Intel® RAID Controller cabling guide

These documents detail RAID options available for your Intel® Server Board:
RAID options available on Intel® Server Systems based on S5520 and S5500
RAID options available on Intel® Server Systems based on S5000 and S3200

Intel® Server Boards have various RAID options. Run wizards to choose the proper RAID option and find the correct operating system driver for your Intel® Server Board. The operating system cannot recognize the RAID volume if you do not use the right driver.
RAID option wizard for S3000 and S5000 series Intel® Server Boards
RAID option wizard for S5500 and S5520 series Intel® Server Boards

The Intel® RAID basic troubleshooting guide provides you with information on basic troubleshooting for Intel® SAS/SATA RAID Controller–related issues.

The Intel® RAID Software user guide provides you with step-by-step instructions on how to configure and maintain RAID arrays.

The Intel® RAID Controllers best practices white paper describes the optimal things to do when deploying Intel® Server RAID Controller solutions. The focus of this document is to review the implementation, configuration, tuning controller performance, and troubleshooting of RAID solutions for Intel® Server Products.

The Intel® RAID Controllers alert code decoding reviews unexpected sense codes delivered by SAS/SATA RAID devices attached to an Intel® RAID Controller using the SAS software stack.

Why does my onboard RAID not detect connected SAS disk drives?
Maximum logical drive capacity supported on Intel SAS RAID controllers
What is the default username and password for Intel® RAID Web console 2?
Choosing between SAS and SATA hard disk for your Server RAID System
Using GPT (GUID Partition Table) with Intel® RAID Controllers
MTBF (mean time between failure) for Intel® RAID Controllers

User guides for Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) and the related legacy software, including Intel® Matrix Storage Manager 8.x and Intel® Application Accelerator:

Comparison of Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology II and Intel® RST (Matrix) RAID
Downloading Intel® RST RAID drivers from Intel
Install an operating system onto a RAID volume (F6 installation method) for Intel® Rapid Storage Technology
Set up a system with Intel® Matrix RAID Technology
Troubleshooting RAID migration issues (Intel® RST RAID)
Setting up RAID when the operating system is already installed
Create a RAID 10 volume using the option ROM (Intel® RST RAID)
Troubleshooting RAID volume issues for Intel® Rapid Storage Technology