Management Utilities Overview (LSI)

Management Utilities Overview (LSI)

If you are new to LSI MegaRAID and LSI SAS HBA controllers, this guide will provide a general overview of applicable management utilities and firmware flash utilities, and recommended usage scenarios for these tools.

LSI MegaRAID Management Utilities:

  • StorCli
    • Command line interface
    • Supported OS: 
      • Windows Server 2008/R2/2012
      • Windows 7/8/8.1
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 and up
      • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP4 and 11 SP2
      • VMware ESX 4.0 and up
      • Solaris
      • FreeBSD
      • EFI shell
    • Supported controllers:
      • 926x, 927x, 928x, and 924x 6Gb/s controllers
      • 936x, 938x, and 934x 12Gb/s controllers
    • No built-in alerts
    • Text output from all commands, allowing for easy integration into scripts
    • Supports legacy MegaCli commands, to allow for easy import of existing MegaCli scripts
    • Typical usage:
      • Primarily used for current generation MegaRAID controllers, 6Gb/s and above
      • Headless installations where GUI utilities would not normally be accessible
      • Bulk creation and management of RAID sets via scripts or pre-formatted commands
      • Small and large storage clusters
  • MegaCli
    • Command line interface
    • Supported OS:
      • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
      • Microsoft Windows 7
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 and up
      • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP4 and 11 SP2
      • MSDOS 6.22 and FreeDOS 1.0
    • Supported controllers:
      • 926x, 927x, 928x, and 924x 6Gb/s controllers
      • 83xx, 840x, 870x, and 888x 3Gb/s controllers
    • No built-in alerts
    • Text output from all commands, allowing for easy integration into scripts
    • Does not support CacheVault BBUs or 12Gb/s controllers, use StorCli instead
    • Typical usage:
      • Primarily used for legacy MegaRAID controllers, 6Gb/s and below, or those unsupported by StorCli
      • Headless installations where GUI utilities would not normally be accessible
      • Bulk creation and management of RAID sets via scripts or pre-formatted commands
      • Small and large storage clusters
  • MegaRAID Storage Manager
    • Graphical interface
    • Supported OS:
      • Windows Server 2008/R2/2012
      • Windows 7/8/8.1
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 and up
      • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP4 and 11 SP2
    • Supported controllers:
      • All MegaRAID series controllers
    • Built in alert system via SNMP agent
    • Out of band management via built in web server
      • Notes:
      • Out of band management requires a running OS for the web server. You will not be able to manage your controller remotely if the system is hung or outside of an OS.
      • Out of band management also requires a copy of MegaRAID Storage Manager installed on client systems to attach to the host
    • Typical usage:
      • Full GUI operating systems
      • NAS solutions from Open-E
      • Single servers, or small storage clusters
      • It is recommended that connected clients use Windows, since installation support is limited on Linux/UNIX clients. Storage hosts can use any supported OS.

All OS-based MegaRAID management utilities support the complete MegaRAID feature sets, including array creation, configuration, erasure, expansion, and migration, as well as firmware updates and drive fault indicators. The only major differences between them are in terms of access methods and operating system support.

  • LSI Web BIOS
    • Pre-boot utility
    • OS independent
    • Supported controllers:
      • All MegaRAID series controllers
    • Limited to foreground tasks only. Background initialization for RAID 5 and RAID 6 occurs once the system boots to an OS

LSI SAS HBA Management Utilities:

  • SAS2IRCU (6Gb/s controllers) and SAS3IRCU (12Gb/s controllers)
    • Command line interface
    • Supported OS:
      • Windows Server 2003/2008/R2/2012
      • Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1
      • MSDOS 6.22 and FreeDOS 1.0
      • Solaris
      • FreeBSD
      • Linux kernel 2.6 and higher
      • EFI shell
      • VMware ESXi 5.0
    • Can be used to identify failing drives by blinking the fault LED, and displays model and serial information on attached enclosures and drives
    • Array status and rebuild support for Integrated RAID (IR) firmwares
  • SAS2FLASH (6Gb/s controllers) and SAS3FLASH (12Gb/s controllers)
    • Command line interface
    • Supported OS:
      • Windows Server 2003/2008/R2/2012
      • Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1
      • MSDOS 6.22 and FreeDOS 1.0
      • Solaris
      • FreeBSD
      • Linux kernel 2.6 and higher
      • EFI shell
    • Primarily designed for firmware flashing, and the DOS version comes bundled with firmware binaries
    • Can be used to find model and serial number information from controllers
  • SAS BIOS Configuration Utility
    • Pre-boot utility
    • OS independent
    • Manages primary/secondary boot drives
    • Supported controllers:
      • All LSI SAS HBAs

If you need assistance obtaining these utilities, head to this guide for instructions on how to locate resources for your controller.

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