DELL Technologiies S140 PowerEdge RAID Controller User Guide

BIOS Configuration Utility

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Swapping two virtual disks
1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility. 2. In the Main Menu screen, select the Swapping Two Virtual Disks and press Enter. 3. Use the arrow keys to highlight a virtual disk at the Virtual Disk field. Press Insert. 4. Use the arrow keys to highlight another virtual disk. Press Insert. 5. Press Enter to swap the virtual disks.
NOTE: Only two virtual disks can be swapped at a time.
NOTE: When you create up to 30 virtual disks and swap the virtual disks using the BIOS Configuration Utility, the order of the virtual disk in option ROM (OPROM) appears different from the order of the virtual disk in operating system.
Managing the hot spare disks
Manage Hot Spare(s) screen enables you to assign or unassign a global or dedicated hot spare(s).
1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility. 2. In the Main Menu screen, use the arrow keys to select Manage Hot Spare(s) and press .
The Manage Hot Spare(s) screen display: global hot spare disks dedicated hot spare disks
Assigning the global hot spare disks
A global hot spare disk is a backup physical disk that can be used by any redundant virtual disk. It is not assigned (dedicated) to any specific virtual disk. Virtual disks can typically be rebuilt by using a global spare disk, as long as the global hot spare is not already part of the virtual disk and has enough available capacity. Unlike a dedicated hot spare, a global hot spare can be assigned at anytime, even while tasks are running on virtual disks.
NOTE: A hot spare can be created only if a physical disk is in the Ready or Normal state in the Physical Disks field. If the physical disk is in the Online state, the disk is being used by a virtual disk and cannot be selected as a hot spare.
NOTE: If disk space is available in the global hot spare drive then a single global hot spare can be assigned as a hot spare to multiple degraded virtual drives. Therefore, it is possible for the same global hot spare to become part of different degraded virtual drives that have different RAID levels. Perform the following procedure to assign a global hot spare disk: 1. Enter the BIOS Configuration utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility. 2. In the Main Menu screen, select the Manage Hot Spare and press . 3. Select Assign Global Hot Spare(s). Press . 4. Use the up or down arrow key to select a physical disk(s) to be used as a global hot spare(s). Press . 5. Press to add the global hot spare. 6. Press the key to confirm the action.
Assigning the dedicated hot spare disks
A dedicated hot spare is a backup physical disk for the redundant virtual disk to which it is assigned. The physical disk that is used as a dedicated hot spare cannot be a member of an existing virtual disk. When the hot spare is activated, it becomes the receptacle for the data from the failed physical disk member of the volume, without interrupting the system or requiring your intervention. A dedicated hot spare can be assigned to any redundant virtual disk, and up to four hot spares can be assigned to a virtual disk. A dedicated hot spare cannot be assigned while a task is running on the virtual disk.

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BIOS Configuration Utility

NOTE: A virtual disk is marked Failed or Degraded if a physical disk reports a Failed state, or if the SAS/SATA cable to the physical disk or power cable is disconnected.
NOTE: If a virtual disk with an assigned dedicated hot spare is deleted, the dedicated hot spare is also deleted and the physical disk state changes to the Ready state.
Perform the following procedure to assign a dedicated hot spare disk: 1. Enter the BIOS configuration utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility. 2. In the Main Menu screen, select the Manage Hot Spare and press Enter. 3. Select Assign Dedicated Hot Spare. Press Enter. 4. Use the up or down arrow key to select a physical disk for use as a dedicated hot spare and press Insert. 5. Press Enter to add the dedicated hot spare. 6. Press the C key to confirm the action.
Unassign hot spare disks
1. Enter the BIOS Configuration utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility. 2. In the Main Menu screen, select the Manage Hot Spare and press Enter. 3. Select Unassign Hot Spare. Press Enter. 4. Use the up or down arrow key to select the physical disk to delete as a hot spare. 5. Press Insert. To delete the hot spare, press Enter 6. Press the C key to confirm the action.
Viewing the physical disks details
1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility. 2. In the Main Menu screen, select View Physical Disk Details and press . 3. Use the arrow keys to choose a physical disk. 4. The following details of the physical disks are displayed:
a. Physical disk number b. Channel number c. Physical disk size d. Physical disk status: Non-RAID/Ready/Online e. Amount of free space f. Manufacturer and model number g. World Wide Address h. SATA Cache Policy (Enabled or Disabled) i. S.M.A.R.T. State: Error (if a disk with a S.M.A.R.T. error is discovered) 5. Press to return to the main window.
Viewing the virtual disks details
1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility. 2. In the Main Menu screen, select View Virtual Disk Details and press . 3. Use the arrow keys to choose a virtual disk. 4. The following details of the virtual disks are displayed:
a. Virtual disk number b. RAID Level c. Size d. Status (Read Ahead/Write Back, No Read Ahead/Write Back, Read Ahead/Write Through, No Read Ahead/
Write Through)

BIOS Configuration Utility

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NOTE: A maximum of only 10 VDs can be displayed in the OPROM user interface.
5. Press to return to the main window. NOTE: The Physical Disks field indicates the hard drives that are in the virtual disk, highlighted by green text.
Rescan disks
This option allows you to view the list of existing Physical and Virtual disks. NOTE: The Rescan disks option may take from 10 to 20 seconds to display the list of disks, depending on the number of disks available in the system.
1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Controller Management > Rescan Disks.
The Rescan Disks screen is displayed. It provides information about the latest physical disk and virtual disk configurations.
Controller Options
The Controller Options feature helps you to enable the BIOS Stop on Error option. The boot process pauses when Pause if… is enabled and a virtual disk becomes Degraded or has Failed. Press to continue booting. View the error message on the window. If Pause… is OFF, the error message is displayed briefly, but the system continues to boot. 1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS Configuration Utility. 2. In the Main Menu screen, use the arrows to select the Controller Options. 3. In the Controller Options field, use the up or down arrow keys to scroll to the desired controller option.
a. Pause if Degraded When ON, the BIOS stops booting when a degraded virtual disk is found. Press to toggle between ON and OFF.
b. Pause if Failed When ON, the BIOS stops booting when a failed virtual disk is found. Press to toggle between ON and OFF.
c. Manage Physical Disk Write Cache If the option is set to Default: The physical disk write cache policy is enabled for SSDs and HDDs of bandwidth 3 Gbps. The physical disk write cache feature is disabled for HDDs of bandwidth 6 Gbps. If the option is set to Enable, the feature is enabled on the disk selected. If the option is set to Disable, The feature is disabled on the disk selected.
4. Press Esc to return to the main window.
Continue to boot
1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS configuration utility. 2. In the Main Menu screen, use the arrows to select the Continue to Boot.
The system restarts normally.

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BIOS Configuration Utility

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UEFI RAID configuration utility

The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) RAID configuration utility is a storage management application integrated into the System BIOS F2. It is used to configure and manage RAID, virtual disks, and physical disks. This utility is independent of the operating system.
NOTE: The following sections provide information about using the UEFI RAID configuration utility. For more information, see the online help option in the UEFI RAID configuration utility.
NOTE: Ensure that you use only the S140 UEFI configuration utility to configure the NVMe PCIe SSDs during preboot. To enable RAID mode for NVMe PCIe SSDs, see Setting the NVMe PCIe SSDs to RAID mode
NOTE: Use the UEFI RAID configuration utility for initial setup.
Topics:
· Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility · Exiting the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility · Controller management · Virtual disk management · Physical disk management

Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility

1. Turn on the system. 2. While the system starts up, press to enter System Setup.
The list of menu items in the System Setup Main Menu screen is displayed. 3. Click Device Settings.
Device Settings lists the NIC ports and all the options of the S140 configuration utility.
To access the management menu for the controller, use the arrow keys or the mouse.
NOTE: For more information on all the options, click Help in the top right- hand corner of the browser screen. Help information for individual option menus can also be viewed by scrolling down on each option.

NOTE: Some of the options within the UEFI RAID configuration utility are not present if the controller does not support the corresponding feature. Options may also be grayed out if the feature is not supported in existing configuration.
4. Click Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. Displays the list of Configuration Options:

Table 10. Configuration Options

Configuration options Controller Management

Description Allows you to configure, manage, and view the controller properties.

Virtual Disk Management Physical Disk Management

Allows you to configure, manage, and view the virtual disk properties.
Allows you to configure, manage, view and perform varied operations on the physical disk properties.

NOTE: Loading default settings in this page by clicking on Default button will not cause any changes in the controller settings.

UEFI RAID configuration utility

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Figure 2. Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility
Exiting the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility
To exit the utility and return to the System Setup screen, click Finish in the bottom-right corner on the screen.
Controller management

Viewing the controller properties

The View Controller Information screen allows you to view your controller and firmware properties.
In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility > Controller Management > View Controller Information.
The table explains the View Controller Information screen details:

Table 11. View Controller Information

Menu Item PCI ID

Description Displays the PCI ID

Physical disk Count Virtual Disk Count

Displays the total number of physical disks available on the system
Displays the total number of virtual disks available

UEFI Driver Version Firmware Build Time

Displays the UEFI driver version installed on the system Displays the time and date the firmware was last updated.

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UEFI RAID configuration utility

Figure 3. View Controller Information Screen
Changing the boot order of the virtual disks
Set Bootable Device allows you to change the boot order of the virtual disks.

1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Controller Management > Change Controller Properties. 3. Click Set Bootable Device.
   A Change Order dialog box displays the list of virtual disks available. 4. Use the arrow keys to set a virtual disk and + or ­ to change the order of the virtual disks that need to be booted first. 5. Click Ok.
   The changes to the boot order of the virtual disks are displayed.
   Stopping the system from booting if there is a critical BIOS error
   The Change Controller Properties screen allows you to either enable or disable the option to stop the system from booting if there is any critical BIOS error requiring manual intervention. 1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Controller Management > Change Controller Properties. 3. You can either enable or disable the Enable BIOS Stop On Error.
   Converting a physical disk to a Non-RAID disk
   1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Controller Management > Convert to Non- RAID Disk. 3. Select the interface type. 4. Select the physical disks. Click Check All to select all the disks available.

UEFI RAID configuration utility

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5. Click Apply Changes.
Converting physical disk to RAID capable disk
CAUTION: Any data already existing on the disk will be lost during this operation. Ensure that you have backed up critical data before converting the physical disk to a RAID capable disk. 1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Controller Management > Convert to RAID Capable Disk. 3. Select the RAID type.
NOTE: RAID type will not be available if a RAID is already configured. To enable RAID type, convert the disk to a non RAID disk (see Converting physical disk to Non-RAID disk) and then convert them back to RAID capable disk.
4. Select disk interface type. 5. Select the physical disk to convert to a RAID capable disk. If you wish to select all the available disks, select Check All. 6. Click Apply Changes to submit the changes selected.
Rescan disks
This option allows you to view the list of existing Physical and Virtual disks. NOTE: The Rescan disks option may take from 10 to 20 seconds to display the list of disks, depending on the number of disks available in the system.
1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Controller Management > Rescan Disks.
The Rescan Disks screen is displayed. It provides information about the latest physical disk and virtual disk configurations.
Virtual disk management
This section allows you to create, manage and delete virtual disks. You can also view and modify some properties of the associated physical disk.
Configuring Windows RAID
NOTE: To enable RAID mode for NVMe PCIe SSDs, see Setting the NVMe PCIe SSDs to RAID mode .
1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Controller ManagementConvert to RAID Capable Disk. 3. Select the RAID typeWindows RAID. 4. Select the Interface Type.
The options are SATA and NVMe. 5. Select the physical disk and click Apply Changes.
A confirmation screen is displayed. 6. Click Yes to continue. 7. Click Back to return to the configuration options screen. 8. After converting the physical disks, click the Virtual Disk Management in the Configuration Options screen. 9. Click Create Virtual Disks. 10. Click Select the Physical Disk. 11. Select the interface type, media type, sector size, and the physical disks. 12. Click Apply Changes. 13. Enter the virtual disk size and select the Virtual Disk Size Unit.

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UEFI RAID configuration utility

NOTE: It is recommended to select the unit before specifying the disk size value. Changing the unit after entering the value may change the disk size.
14. Select the Read Cache Policy. 15. Select the Write Cache Policy. 16. Select the Physical Disk Write Cache. 17. Click Create Virtual Disk.
The virtual disk is ready.
Configuring Linux RAID
NOTE: The Linux RAID feature is supported on all the 14th generation systems. To enable RAID mode for NVMe PCIe SSDs, see Setting the NVMe PCIe SSDs to RAID mode . For more information on installing SLES 15 see SUSE Support.
1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Controller Management Convert to RAID Capable Disk. 3. Select the RAID type Linux RAID.
NOTE: If the option to choose Linux RAID is disabled, convert the disk to a non-RAID disk, see Converting physical disk to Non-RAID disk and then convert it back to a RAID capable disk, see Converting physical disk to RAID capable disk.
4. Select the Interface Type. The options are SATA and NVMe. 5. Select the physical disk and click Apply Changes.
A confirmation screen is displayed. 6. Click Yes to continue. 7. Click Back to return to the configuration options screen. 8. After converting the physical disks, click the Virtual Disk Management in the Configuration Options screen, and click
Create Virtual Disks. 9. Select the required Linux operating system.
NOTE: If you select the RHEL operating system, the entire physical disk space is used in the Virtual Disk Size field. With RHEL, you can create virtual disks only on the entire physical disk space.
NOTE: If you select SLES as the operating system, you can create virtual disks on both full and partial physical disk space.
10. Click Select the Physical Disk. 11. Select the interface type, media type, sector size, and the physical disks. 12. Click Apply Changes. 13. Click Create Virtual Disk.
The virtual disk is ready.

UEFI RAID configuration utility

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Figure 4. Convert to Linux RAID selection page
Mixed RAID configuration
If your system detects mixed RAID configurations with both Windows and Linux RAID disks, then the S140 UEFI configuration utility displays the mixed configuration screen where you are encouraged to perform the following tasks:

1. To convert the Linux RAID disks:
   a. In the WARNING: MIXED CONFIGURATION screen, select Windows RAID configuration. b. Select the physical disks with Linux RAID configuration listed, and click the link CONVERT TO NON-RAID. If you do not
   want to convert the disks to non-RAID, remove the physical disks with Linux RAID configurations from the system. 2. To convert the Windows RAID disks:
   a. In the WARNING: MIXED CONFIGURATION screen, select Linux RAID configuration. b. Select the physical disks with Windows RAID configuration listed, and click the link CONVERT TO NON-RAID. If you
   do not want to convert the disks to non-RAID, remove the physical disks with Windows RAID configurations from the system. NOTE: The S140 controller does not support a mixed RAID configuration. If the mixed RAID configuration with both Windows and Linux RAID disks is detected, then you cannot perform any further tasks until you clear the physical disks or convert the physical disks.
   Manage virtual disk properties
   The Manage Virtual Disk Properties screen allows you to modify the physical disk write cache policy and view the associated physical disk and its properties and policies.
   In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility > Virtual Disk Management > Manage Virtual Disk Properties.The table explains the Manage Virtual Disk Properties screen details:

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UEFI RAID configuration utility

Table 12. Virtual Disk Properties

Menu Item

Description

Select Virtual Disk

Allows you to select the virtual disk from the drop-down menu

Virtual Disk Properties

Displays the ID, RAID Level, Status, Capacity, and the Sector Size of the virtual disk

Virtual Disk ID

Displays the ID for the virtual disk

RAID Level

Displays the RAID level of the virtual disk

Virtual Disk Status

Displays the virtual disk status

Virtual Disk Capacity

Displays the capacity of the virtual disk

Sector Size

Displays the sector size enabled for the virtual disk

Virtual Disk Policies

Displays the read and write cache policies of the virtual disk and the write cache policy of the associated physical disk

Read Cache Policy

Displays the read cache policies associated with the virtual disk

Write Cache Policy

Displays the write cache policies associated with the virtual disk

Physical Disk Write Cache

Displays the status of the physical disk write cache policy

Modify the Physical Disk Write Cache

Allows you to modify the physical disk write cache policy settings

NOTE: If you have Linux RAID configured on the system, then you cannot modify any settings in this field.

Physical Disk Write Cache

Allows you to change the physical disk write cache policy settings. The options are Default, Enable, and Disable.

NOTE: If you have Linux RAID configured on the system, then you can only view the physical disk write cache setting

Apply Disk Write Cache Settings Allows you to apply the new write cache policy for the Physical disk. View Associated Physical Disk Clicking this link displays the physical disk that is associated with the selected virtual disk

Viewing virtual disks properties and policies

The View Virtual Disk Properties screen allows you to view the virtual disk properties and the policies.
In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility > Virtual Disk Management > View Virtual Disk Properties The table explains the View Virtual Disk Properties screen details:

Table 13. View Virtual Disk Properties

Menu Item

Description

Select Interface Type

Allows you to select the disk interface type. The options are SATA and NVMe

Select Virtual Disk

Allows you to select the virtual disk from the drop-down menu

NOTE: Virtual disks in failed status are only listed in Manage Virtual Disk Properties screen.

Virtual Disk Properties Virtual Disk ID RAID level Virtual Disk Status Virtual Disk Capacity Sector Size

Displays the ID, RAID Level, Status, Capacity, and the Sector Size of the virtual disk Displays the virtual disk ID Displays the RAID level associated with the virtual disk Displays the status of the virtual disk Displays the capacity of the virtual disk Displays the sector size enabled

UEFI RAID configuration utility

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Table 13. View Virtual Disk Properties (continued)

Menu Item

Description

Virtual Disk Policies (SATA drives Displays the read and write cache policies of the virtual disk and the write cache policy of

only)

the associated physical disk

Read Cache Policy (SATA drives only)

Displays the read cache policies associated with the virtual disk

Write Cache Policy (SATA drives Displays the write cache policies associated with the virtual disk only)

Physical Disk Write Cache (SATA Displays the physical disk which is associated with the specific virtual disk drives only)

Associated Physical Disks

Displays the associated physical disk’s properties

Figure 5. Virtual Disk Properties Screen
Deleting a virtual disk
1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Virtual Disk Management > Select Virtual Disk Operations. 3. Select a virtual disk that you want to delete from the drop-down menu. 4. Click Delete Virtual Disk. 5. Select Confirm and click Yes to continue.
The selected virtual disk is deleted. NOTE: When a degraded or a failed virtual disk from one system is added to another system, and if the number of virtual disks exceeds the maximum limit of 30, you cannot delete the virtual disks that are in the Normal or Ready state.

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UEFI RAID configuration utility

Physical disk management
This section allows you to view, select and manage physical disks. NOTE: NVMe PCIe SSDs may not be sorted by slot number or ID in the physical disk list. NOTE: Physical disk capacity displayed may be lower than the actual capacity.

Viewing physical disk properties

You can view the properties of physical disks and the details about the associated virtual disks in the View Physical Disk Properties screen.
In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility > Physical Disk Management > View Physical Disk Properties.

Table 14. View Physical Disk Properties

Menu Item

Description

Select Interface Type

Allows you to select the disk type, the options are SATA and NVMe.

Select Physical Disk

Allows you to select the physical disks from the drop-down list.

Physical Disk Properties

Displays information about the physical disk properties.

Physical disk ID

Displays the ID of the physical disk.

Form Factor

Displays the form-factor of the physical disk.

State

Displays if it is a RAID capable disk or a Non-RAID disk.

Size

Displays the total storage space of the physical disk.

SMART status

Displays if the SMART feature is enabled or disabled for the physical disk.

Revision

Displays the revision.

Device Type

Displays the device type.

Certified (SATA Drives only)

Displays if the physical disk is Dell certified or not.

Connector Port (SATA Drives only)

Displays the port number in which the SATA physical disk is installed.

Disk Write Cache (SATA Drives only)

Displays if the disk cache is enabled or disabled.

Hot Spare

Displays if the physical disk is assigned as a hot spare.

Available Space

Displays the free space of the respective physical disk.

Used Space

Displays the used space of the respective physical disk.

Device Protocol

Displays if the protocol of the physical disks.

Media Type

Displays the type of disk selected.

Disk Sector Size

Displays the type of sector size enabled.

Negotiated Physical Disk Transfer speed Displays the speed at which data is transferred. (SATA Drives only)

Dell Part Number

Displays the part number of the SATA physical disks. Part number is not displayed for NVMe disks.

Serial Number of Disk

Displays the serial number of the physical disk.

Hardware Vendor

Displays the information about the hardware vendor. NOTE: Displays the Unknown option, when a Toshiba NVMe drive is connected.

UEFI RAID configuration utility

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Table 14. View Physical Disk Properties (continued)

Menu Item

Description

NOTE: Hardware Vendor may be truncated or missing in the OPROM window due to a limitation in the OPROM GUI design.

Model Number

Displays the model number of the physical disk. NOTE: Model number may appear truncated in the OPROM Window.

Manufacturing Date Associated Virtual Disks

Displays the manufacturing date of the physical disk. Displays the disk ID, RAID level, size and status of the associated virtual disk.

Figure 6. Physical Disk Properties Screen

Managing the physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives

Perform the following procedure to enable the physical disk write cache policy: 1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Physical Disk Management Select Physical Disk Operations. 3. Click the link Manage Physical Disk Properties.
The Manage Physical Disk Properties screen is displayed. 4. Select one or multiple physical disk to apply the write cache policy. 5. Choose from the following physical disk write cache policies:

Physical disk Description write cache policies

Default

The physical disk write cache feature is enabled for:

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UEFI RAID configuration utility

Physical disk write cache policies
Enable Disable

Description
SSDs 3 Gbps HDDs The physical disk write cache feature is disabled for 6 Gbps HDDs. The feature is enabled on the disk selected. The feature is disabled on the disk selected.

6. Click Apply to save the changes made. NOTE: Ensure that you change the physical disk write cache policy of a global hot spare disk after rebuild to the write cache policy of the last configured virtual disk.
NOTE: In the View Virtual Disk Properties screen, ensure that the physical disk write cache setting is consistent across the physical disk associated with the virtual disk.
NOTE: If you have Linux RAID configured on the system, you cannot modify the physical disk write cache policy feature settings.

NOTE: For more information about the physical disk write cache behavior, see the Troubleshooting your system section.

Assigning the global hot spare
1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Physical Disk Management > Select Physical Disk Operations. 3. Select the physical disk that is in the ready state from the drop-down menu. 4. Click the link Assign Global Hot Spares.
NOTE: A global hot spare disk cannot be created if you have Linux RAID configured on the system.

Unassign a global hot spare
NOTE: Unassigning a hotspare may place the data at risk in the event of a disk failure. 1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Physical Disk Management > Select Physical Disk Operations. 3. Select a global hot spare disk from the drop-down menu. 4. Click the link Unassign Hot Spare.
Confirmation screen appears. 5. Click Yes to confirm.
Assigning the dedicated hot spare
WARNING: Assigning a disk as a hot spare will cause the data on the disk to be permanently deleted.
NOTE: After a hot spare rebuild, creating new partial virtual disk on the same Linux RAID disk is not supported. 1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Virtual Disk Management > Manage Virtual Disk Properties. 3. Select the virtual disk that is in the ready state from the drop-down menu. 4. Click Manage Dedicated Hot Spares

UEFI RAID configuration utility

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5. Select the physical disk that you want to be assigned as a dedicated hot- spare disk. 6. Click the link Add Hot Spare Disk.
Confirmation screen appears. 7. Select Confirm and click YES to complete the dedicated hot spare disk assignment.
Cryptographic erase
WARNING: Performing a cryptograph erase, causes permanent loss of data.
NOTE: Cryptographic erase is only supported on NVMe PCIe SSDs and ISE-capable SATA drives.
1. Enter the Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility. See Entering the DELL PERC S140 Configuration Utility. 2. Click Physical Disk Management Select Physical Disk Operations. 3. Select the Interface Type.
The options are SATA and NVMe. 4. Select the physical disk from the drop-down menu. 5. Click Cryptographic Erase. 6. Click Yes to start the cryptographic erase.
Viewing global hot spares
The View Global Hot Spares screen displays the physical disk assigned as global hot spare. In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S140 Configuration Utility > Physical Disk Management > View Global Hot Spares.

Figure 7. View Global Hot Spares

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UEFI RAID configuration utility

7

Installing the drivers

The PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S140 requires software drivers to operate with supported operating systems. Which drives to install depends on the type of the system and the operating system installed.
NOTE: To check operating system compatibility, see www.dell.com/manuals.
NOTE: If the operating system is installed on a PERC or BOSS device, ensure that the software RAID OS driver is installed using the Dell Update Package (DUP) while SATA and NVMe are in RAID mode while in BIOS settings.
NOTE: Software RAID driver installation through life cycle controller is not supported.
Topics:
· Pre-installation requirements · Creating the device driver media for Windows driver installation
Pre-installation requirements
Before you install the operating system: Read the Microsoft Getting Started document that shipped with your Windows operating system. Ensure that your system has the latest BIOS, firmware, and driver updates. If required, download the latest BIOS, firmware,
and driver updates from dell.com/support. Create a device driver media (USB drive, CD, or DVD).
Setting the SATA controller to RAID mode
1. Turn on the system. 2. When the Dell Power-On Self-Test (POST) screen is displayed, press F2. 3. When the Dell PowerEdge System window is displayed, scroll to SATA Settings and press Enter.
In the sub-screen, confirm that the SATA Controller is set to a RAID mode. NOTE: If necessary, use the space bar to change the setting.
4. Press Esc to exit. 5. Press Esc again.
Setting the NVMe PCIe SSDs to RAID mode
To use PERC S150 on NVMe PCIe SSD, change the settings of NVMe PCIe SSDs to RAID mode in BIOS HII. WARNING: Changing mode to RAID mode causes data loss in the NVMe PCIe SSD.
NOTE: Ensure that SATA settings are on RAID mode. 1. Turn on the system. 2. When the Dell Power-On Self-Test (POST) screen is displayed, press F2. 3. When the System Setup window is displayed, click System BIOS. 4. Click NVMe Settings. 5. Select RAID mode. 6. Click Back. 7. Click Finish.

Installing the drivers

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Figure 8. NVMe Settings in BIOS
NOTE: If you change the NVMe Mode setting from RAID to Non RAID, ensure that the NVMe driver (Microsoft or third-party NVMe driver) is installed manually in the Windows environment. NOTE: If Non RAID mode is selected on a SATA+NVMe configured system (with NVMe drives), UEFI0116 error is displayed in the console during the intermediate reboot of the Windows Server operating system installation. NOTE: If Non RAID mode is selected on a SATA+NVMe configured system (with NVMe drives), UEFI0116 error is displayed in the console when the system is rebooted after the Linux operating system installation and before the completion of resync.
Creating a virtual disk
For more information about creating a virtual disk, see Creating the virtual disks.
Checking PERC S140 options and the boot list priority.
1. In the Virtual Disks field, ensure the bootable virtual disk is the first virtual disk listed. If the bootable virtual disk is not the first virtual disk listed, see Swapping two virtual disks. NOTE: If Non-RAID virtual disks are used (and appear in the Virtual Disks list), the Swap Two Virtual Disks option is enabled only if the system contains a RAID Capable physical disk.
2. Select Continue to Boot and press Enter.

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Installing the drivers

Creating the device driver media for Windows driver installation
Downloading drivers for PERC S140 from the Dell support website for all operating systems
1. Go to www.dell.com/support/drivers. 2. In the Product Selection section, enter the service tag of your system in the Service Tag or Express Service Code field.
NOTE: If you do not have the service tag, select Automatically detect my Service Tag for me to allow the system to automatically detect your service tag, or select Choose from a list of all Dell products to select your product from the Product Selection page.
3. Select the Operating System, Category, Release Date, and Importance from the respective drop-down lists. The drivers that are applicable to your selections are displayed.
4. Drivers are downloaded as an EXE file or ZIP file. When a driver downloads as an .EXE file, you need to double-click the EXE. The EXE file installs the driver. If a driver downloads as a ZIP file, extract these files to a USB drive, CD, or DVD.
5. During the operating system installation, use the media that you created with the Load Driver option to load mass storage drivers. For more information on reinstalling the operating system, see the operating system document at https:// www.dell.com/operatingsystemmanuals. NOTE: For systems with NVMe PCIe SSD, ensure the S140 driver is installed to discover the RAID disk in your operating system environment.
NOTE: During the Windows OS installation using the onboard optical disk drive, while loading the S140 driver, a warning message may appear: No new device drivers were found. Make sure the installation media contains the correct drivers, and then click OK, when SATA is in RAID mode. Perform the following steps to proceed with the installation: a. Click OK. b. Close the warning window. c. Click Install Now, and follow the instructions on the screen.
Downloading drivers from the Dell Systems Service and Diagnostic Tools media for Windows
1. Insert the Dell Systems Service and Diagnostics Tools media in your system. The Welcome to Dell Service and Diagnostic Utilities screen is displayed.
2. Select your system model and operating system. For the list of supported operating systems, see Supported operating systems.
3. Click Continue. 4. From the list of drivers displayed, select the driver you require. 5. Select the self-extracting zip file and click Run. 6. Copy the driver to a CD, DVD, or USB drive.
Repeat this step for all the drivers you require. 7. During the operating system installation, use the media that you created with the Load Driver option to load mass storage
drivers. For more information on reinstalling the operating system, see the relevant section for your operating system.
Accessing ZP files
1. Download the ZP file. The downloaded file will be with extension .exe.

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2. Rename the file extension to .zip. 3. Extract the content.
The driver files will be visible in the extracted folder. The diver can be installed by right clicking the .inf file. NOTE: S140 I/O driver name is bcraid .sys, where xyz is the first three digits of the driver version. For example, if the version is 5.5.2.0008, driver name is bcraid552.sys.

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Installing the drivers

8

Troubleshooting your system

To get help with your Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) S140, you can contact your Dell Technical Service representative or see dell.com/support.
Topics:
· Precautions for hot removal or hot insertion of NVMe drives · Unable to configure Linux RAID using UEFI Configuration Utility · Performance degradation after disabling SATA physical disk write cache policy · Unable to modify any feature settings in UEFI or OPROM · Extra reboot during OS installation · After enabling Hypervisor, system displays Blue Screen of Death · After enabling node interleaving in BIOS, system displays Blue Screen of Death · OS installation failing on NVMe PCIe SSD with third-party driver · System startup issues · The BIOS configuration utility option does not display · Configuring RAID using the ROM Utility option is disabled · Warning Messages · Other errors appearing on the BIOS screen · Physical disk – related errors · Virtual disks – related errors · S140 config driver is not installed after S140 DUP is run

Precautions for hot removal or hot insertion of NVMe drives

Corrective Action:

If you are performing multiple hot-plug operations a minimum of 30 seconds is required before performing any hot removal or hot insertion operation, and Open manage storage services (OMSS) should reflect each performed hot removal or hot insertion operation before performing the next hot removal or hot insertion.

Unable to configure Linux RAID using UEFI Configuration Utility

Likely Cause:
Corrective Action:

Option to select Linux RAID in Configuring Linux RAID page will be disabled if RAID is already configured.
To resolve this issue: 1. If applicable, delete the virtual disk created in Windows RAID. 2. Convert physical disk to Non-RAID disk. See Converting physical disk to Non-RAID disk. 3. Convert physical disk to RAID. See Converting physical disk to RAID capable disk. 4. Configure Linux RAID. See Configuring Linux RAID

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Performance degradation after disabling SATA physical disk write cache policy

Likely Cause:
Corrective Action:

Disk write operations can cause degradation in performance. To resolve this issue, enable the physical disk write cache policy.
NOTE: Ensure that there is constant power supply to the system (A UPS is recommended).
NOTE: If you create a virtual disk using Dell LifeCycle controller, then the physical disk write cache policy is set to default. For more information about the physical disk write cache policy behavior, see the Managing the physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives section.

Unable to modify any feature settings in UEFI or OPROM

Likely cause:
Corrective Action:

You cannot modify the settings in UEFI or OPROM if the number of virtual disks exceeds than 30.
To resolve this issue: 1. Start the operating system. 2. Use OpenManage to ensure that the maximum number of virtual disks does not exceed 30.

Extra reboot during OS installation

Description Likely Cause:

The system may reboot one extra time during the OS installation using driver- injection method.
SATA in RAID mode and NVMe in non-RAID mode may cause an extra reboot on system with NVMe PCIe SSDs during OS installation.

After enabling Hypervisor, system displays Blue Screen of Death

Likely Cause:
Corrective Action:

Insufficient memory for software RAID driver for enabling the hypervisor on a server. Update S140 driver version to 5.4.1.1 or later.

After enabling node interleaving in BIOS, system displays Blue Screen of Death

Likely Cause:
Corrective Action:

Insufficient memory for OS driver operation. Update S140 driver version to 5.4.1.1 or later.

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Troubleshooting your system

OS installation failing on NVMe PCIe SSD with thirdparty driver

Likely Cause:
Corrective Action:

Using third-party driver for NVMe PCIe SSD while NVME mode is set to RAID may cause the OS installation to fail.
Third-party drivers for NVMe PCIe SSDs are not supported in NVMe in RAID mode.

System startup issues

To troubleshoot system startup issues, review the following:
System does not boot
Check for the following causes when the system does not boot: Incorrect Controller Mode at the System Setup. Incorrect Boot Mode, Boot Sequence, and/or Boot Sequence Retry. Bootable virtual disk is in Failed state. Incorrect Boot Order for a bootable virtual disk. A Non-RAID virtual disk is no longer in the first position in the BIOS Configuration Utility Ctrl+R list after the system is
rebooted. In a Linux RAID configuration, if virtual disks created exceeds the maximum limit of 30 and the boot virtual disk is not listed
as one of the 30 virtual disks in UEFI configuration utility. In a Linux RAID configuration, if the virtual disk is created from the drives beyond the first 10 drives listed in the S140 UEFI
HII.

Controller mode is set incorrectly at system setup
1. In the system startup, when the Dell Power-On Self-Test (POST) screen is displayed, press F2 to enter the system BIOS screen.
2. Scroll to SATA Settings. Press Enter and ensure that the SATA Controller is set to RAID mode. WARNING: While switching from RAID Mode to ATA Mode or AHCI Mode, there may be data loss.

Boot mode, boot sequence, and or boot sequence retry are set incorrectly
1. Turn on the system. 2. When the Dell POST screen is displayed, press F2 to enter the system BIOS screen. 3. Scroll to Boot Settings. Press Enter and ensure that Boot Mode is set to BIOS. 4. Scroll to Boot Sequence. Press Enter and ensure that Hard drive C: is the first device listed. 5. Scroll to Boot Sequence Retry. Ensure that the setting is Enabled. 6. Press Esc to exit and continue booting.

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NOTE: If changes are made at the BIOS screen, a dialog box is displayed and asks you to save your changes and then exit.
Bootable virtual disk is in a failed state
1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart. 2. After the system restart, press Ctrl+R. Check the status of the bootable virtual disk at the Virtual Disk field, or by
highlighting View Virtual Disks Details and pressing Enter. 3. Check for missing or offline physical disks.
The boot order is incorrect for a bootable virtual disk
1. When prompted at system startup, press Ctrl+R to access the system BIOS configuration utility. 2. Check Virtual Disks and ensure that the bootable virtual disk is the first virtual disk listed. 3. If required, use the Swap Two Virtual Disks option to reposition the virtual disks.
A Non-RAID virtual disk is no longer in first position in the BIOS configuration utility list after a system reboot
NOTE: When booting from a Non-RAID virtual disk, creating a virtual disk in OpenManage Server Administrator changes the virtual disk order and displaces the bootable Non-RAID virtual disk from the first position. PERC S140 then attempts to boot from the first virtual disk. NOTE: A Non-RAID virtual disk can be created from Non-RAID physical disks–which are physical disks initialized by a controller other than PERC S140. 1. When prompted at system startup, press Ctrl+R to access the BIOS configuration utility. 2. Check Virtual Disks and determine if the bootable Non-RAID virtual disk is no longer in the first position. 3. Use the Swap Two Virtual Disks option to swap the virtual disks and place the bootable Non-RAID virtual disk in the first position of the Virtual Disks field.
The BIOS configuration utility option does not display
The BIOS configuration utility Ctrl+R option does not display if the PERC S140 mode is set incorrectly in the system BIOS. For the correct SATA Setting, see Controller mode is set incorrectly at system setup .
Configuring RAID using the ROM Utility option is disabled
Use the PERC S140 Configuration Utility to configure RAID on systems with NVMe PCIe SSDs.
Warning Messages
The Dell Inc. PERC S140 Controller system BIOS screen is one of the first screens to appear during your system’s boot sequence. If the system’s virtual disks were in Normal or Ready status before a system boot, the boot sequence continues normally to the Microsoft Windows Server operating system. But, if a virtual disk is in Degraded or Failed status, or if specific options in the Controller Options field were changed previously at the BIOS Configuration Utility (), the following warning messages appear during the boot sequence.

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Troubleshooting your system

WARNING- Found virtual disks that are degraded
This warning message is displayed when at least one virtual disk is in a Degraded state and Pause if Degraded is set to ON at the BIOS Configuration Utility Ctrl+R. The following message is displayed after the warning is displayed: — Press Enter to continue, or Ctrl+R to enter setup —. Press Enter to allow the operating system to continue with the boot sequence, or press Ctrl+R to enter into the BIOS Configuration Utility Ctrl+R to investigate the cause of the Degraded virtual disk. To investigate the cause, check for the following: Whether a physical disk in the virtual disk has failed or has gone offline. Check the status at the Physical Disks field. A
Degraded status depends on the RAID level of the virtual disk and the number of physical disks that have failed: ­For a virtual disk at RAID 1 or RAID 5, a single physical disk failure causes a Degraded status. ­For a virtual disk at RAID 10, the failure of a physical disk in each of the mirror sets creates a Degraded status for the RAID 10. The failure of two physical disks in the same mirror set creates a Failed status for the RAID 10.
Whether the controller has failed due to a firmware failure or a component failure. A failed controller causes a virtual disk not to boot.
For the virtual disk to recover from Degraded status, the failed physical disk must be replaced and the virtual disk must be rebuilt using OpenManage Server Administrator Storage Management. When the rebuild operation is completed, the virtual disk status changes from Degraded to Ready. For a description of the rebuild function, see Storage Management at dell.com/ support/manuals.
WARNING – Found virtual disks that are failed
This warning message is displayed when at least one virtual disk is in a Failed state and Pause if Failed is set to ON at the BIOS Configuration Utility (). The following message is displayed after the warning is displayed: — Press to continue, or to enter setup — . Press