How to create logical disks off of a p400/rx2660 offline mode

[Jay Remy]

Hello,

I'm having trouble creating logical disks prior to installing OpenVMS 8.4

I have a rx2660 with a Smart Array p400.  Using ORCA I have taken the first 2 physical disks and created a RAID-1.  Now I would like to carve this disk Array into 3 logical disks, then install OpenVMS on one of the logical disks.

Is there a way to boot into the ACU on a rx2660 and configure arrays and logical disks prior to installing OpenVMS?  I can't find the solution looking at the available ultilities online.

I see there is a MSA$UTIL, but that is only useful after OpenVMS is up and running.

Thanks for any advice :)

[S_Logan]

Hi,

Creating Logical Drives
This describes the steps to create logical drives for a Smart Array Series Controller using the Option ROM Configuration for Arrays (ORCA) utility.

ORCA Utility

To use ORCA, follow these steps:

Step 1. Power on the server. POST runs, and any array controllers that are in the server are initialized one at a time. During each controller initialization process, POST halts for several seconds while an
ORCA prompt message displays.

Step 2. At the ORCA prompt:
• If you are connected using a headless console, press the Esc+8 combination.
• Otherwise, press F8. The ORCA Main Menu displays, enabling you to create, view, or delete a logical drive.

Creating a Logical Drive Using ORCA:

To create a logical drive using ORCA, follow these steps:
Step 1. Select Create Logical Drive. The screen displays a list of all available (unconfigured) physical drives and the valid RAID options for the system.

Step 2. Use the Arrow keys, Spacebar, and Tab to navigate around the screen and set up the logical drive,including an online spare drive if one is required.

NOTE You cannot use ORCA to configure one spare drive to be shared among several arrays. Only ACU enables you to configure shared spare drives.

Step 3. Press Enter to accept the settings.

Step 4. Press F8 to confirm the settings and save the new configuration. After several seconds, the Configuration Saved screen displays.

Step 5. Press Enter to continue. You can now create another logical drive by repeating the previous steps.

NOTE Newly created logical drives are invisible to the operating system. To make the new
logical drives available for data storage, format them using the instructions given in the operating system documentation.

Regards,

S_Logan

[S_Logan]

Hi,

More info:

HP AD397A rx2660 SAS Smart Array P400 Controller Installation Guide:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.BINARYPORTLET/public/kb/docDisplay/resource.process/?spf_p.tpst=kbDocDisplay_ws_BI&spf_p.rid_kbDocDisplay=docDisplayResURL&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&spf_p.rst_kbDocDisplay=wsrp-resourceState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c01885355-1%257CdocLocale%253D&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken

[Jay Remy · Accepted solution]

Correct answer is to boot from the OPENVMS CD get to the DCL and run MSA$UTIL from there to create your disk structure.

MSA$UTIL Doc