Where does B140i store array configuration information?

[Jochen Ditterich]

Where does the Dynamic Smart Array controller B140i store array configuration information? Is it all on the drives? Or is there an internal memory?

If a motherboard with the B140i controller needs to be replaced, can I just plug in all of the drives and the controller will automatically know how the arrays were configured? If not, how can I make a backup of the configuration information and restore it on the new controller?

[Robert_Jewell]

There is memory on the controller, but this is used for write caching to improve performance.  Logical Drive configuration is stored on the individual drives.  Whenever a controller is powered on (replaced or otherwise), the data is read from this reserved area by the controller.

The controller may detect something has changed and will prompt to activate the logical volume in this case, but normally it just boots up as normal.  For onboard controllers you may need to restore the boot volume in the BIOS, but this was generally for older systems.

-Bob

[Jochen Ditterich]

Thanks a lot, Bob. I am considering switching to an H240 controller due to some driver issues with the B140i. I assume that the same is true there that the array configuration is stored on the drives themselves and no additional configuration data needs to be backed up in order to have a working system again after having to replace the controller?

[Robert_Jewell]

Moving from one controller to a model to another is a different story.  That may not work as expected, especially when the controller slot location is being changed. ACU/SSA may allow for migration of a volume from one controller to another, but I cannot confirm offhand (and that would require both being online at the same time).

It might very well be that you would have to backup the volume data and recreate them after going to the new controller.

-Bob

[Jochen Ditterich]

I was not planning on trying to move any existing arrrays from one type of controller to another. I was just wondering whether, once the new arrays have been set up, all cinfiguration information is again stored on the drives rather than some kind of controller memory. Thanks again, Jochen