Storage Tips

Dell PowerEdge 1650/2650

To check the status and configuration of RAID arrays on Dell PowerEdge 1650 and 2650 servers using AACRAID based controllers, also knows as PERC3/Di, use the "afacli" utility.

See Dell Linux Community Web > RAID & Storage

Further documentation on afacli, the Dell™ Command Line Interface Reference, is available directly from the Dell website here.

Installing afacli

[root@mailstore1b ~]# cd ~
[root@mailstore1b ~]# wget ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/scsi-raid/afa-apps-snmp.2807420-A04.tar.gz
[root@mailstore1b ~]# tar xzf afa-apps-snmp.2807420-A04.tar.gz
[root@mailstore1b ~]# yum -y install "compat-libstdc++-296"
[root@mailstore1b ~]# rpm -ivh afaapps-4.1-0.i386.rpm
[root@mailstore1b ~]# /dev/MAKEDEV.afa afa0

If the afacli command errors as follows:

FASTCMD> open afa0
Executing: open "afa0"
Command Error: <The requested controller does not exist.>

Try to re-run the command /dev/MAKEDEV.afa afa0 then re-reun the afacli command. If this doesn't work because the /dev/MAKEDEV.afa script isn't present just reinstall the rpm and re-run the command.

I think the udev system may be removing the /dev/MAKEDEV.afa script. udev dynamically builds the list of devices present in the system at init.

Using afacli

[root@kebab sdadmin]# afacli
------------------------------------------------------------------------

DELL PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 2 Command Line Interface
Copyright 1998-2002 Adaptec, Inc. All rights reserved
------------------------------------------------------------------------


FASTCMD>
FASTCMD> open afa0
Executing: open "afa0"

AFA0> controller details
Executing: controller details
Controller Information
----------------------
         Remote Computer: .
             Device Name: AFA0
         Controller Type: PERC 3/Di
             Access Mode: READ-WRITE
Controller Serial Number: Last Six Digits = 0430D3
         Number of Buses: 2
         Devices per Bus: 15
          Controller CPU: i960 R series
    Controller CPU Speed: 100 Mhz
       Controller Memory: 128 Mbytes
           Battery State: Ok

Component Revisions
-------------------
                CLI: 2.7-1 (Build #4944)
                API: 2.7-1 (Build #4944)
    Miniport Driver: 1.1-0 Beta (Build #9999)
Controller Software: 2.8-0 (Build #6082)
    Controller BIOS: 2.8-0 (Build #6082)
Controller Firmware: (Build #6082)

AFA0>
AFA0> container list /all /full
Executing: container list /all=TRUE /full=TRUE
Num          Total  Oth Chunk          Scsi   Partition                                      Creation        System
Label Type   Size   Ctr Size   Usage   B:ID:L Offset:Size   State   RO Lk Task    Done%  Ent Date   Time      Files
----- ------ ------ --- ------ ------- ------ ------------- ------- -- -- ------- ------ --- ------ -------- ------
 0    RAID-5  273GB       32KB Valid   0:00:0 64.0KB: 136GB                               0  051904 15:12:04
 /dev/sda             nas              0:01:0 64.0KB: 136GB                               1  051904 15:12:04
                                      0:02:0 64.0KB: 136GB                               2  051904 15:12:04


AFA0> close
Executing: close

FASTCMD> exit

Other useful commands include...

open afa0
task list
diagnostic show history /old=TRUE
container show failover
container list /full
disk list /full=TRUE
disk show smart
disk show defects /full (0,0,0)
disk show defects /full (0,1,0)