Managing RAID Volumes with RACADM on Dell PowerEdge R720
Background
When working with Dell servers that have iDRAC Express licenses (which lack remote console capabilities), you can’t use the standard UEFI/BIOS wizard to create RAID volumes. Fortunately, RACADM provides a command-line alternative for managing RAID configurations remotely.
RACADM Usage Options
RACADM can be used in several ways:
- From a remote workstation across the network (shown in examples below)
- By SSH directly to the iDRAC
- From the server’s operating system (if already installed)
Viewing Virtual Disks
To check for existing virtual disks:
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin raid get vdisks
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If no virtual disks exist, you’ll see:
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| ERROR: STOR0104 : No virtual disks are displayed.
Check if the server has power, physical disks are available, and virtual
disks are created.
No virtual disk data to display. The system is powered off, physical
disks are not present on the system, or virtual disks are not created.
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If virtual disks exist, you’ll see something like:
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| Disk.Virtual.0:RAID.Integrated.1-1
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Deleting a Virtual Disk
Step 1: Delete the Virtual Disk
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin raid deletevd:Disk.Virtual.0:RAID.Integrated.1-1
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Step 2: Schedule the Job
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin jobqueue create RAID.Integrated.1-1
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Example output:
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| RAC1024: Successfully scheduled a job.
Verify the job status using "racadm jobqueue view -i JID_xxxxx" command.
Commit JID = JID_219611981076
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Step 3: Reboot to Execute the Job
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin serveraction hardreset
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Monitoring Jobs
Check Specific Job Status
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin jobqueue view -i JID_219611981076
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Example output:
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| ------------------------- JOB -------------------------
[Job ID=JID_219611981076]
Job Name=Configure: RAID.Integrated.1-1
Status=Scheduled
Start Time=[Now]
Expiration Time=[Not Applicable]
Message=[JCP001: Task successfully scheduled.]
-------------------------------------------------------
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View All Jobs
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin jobqueue view
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Creating a Virtual Disk
Step 1: Identify the Controller
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin raid get controllers
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Example output:
Step 2: Identify Available Physical Disks
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin raid get pdisks
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Example output:
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| Disk.Bay.0:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Disk.Bay.1:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Disk.Bay.2:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
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Step 3: Create the Virtual Disk
Option 1: RAID 0 with Write-Through and No Read-Ahead
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin raid createvd:RAID.Integrated.1-1 -rl r0 -wp wt -rp nra -name raid_0 -pdkey:Disk.Bay.0:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1,Disk.Bay.1:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1,Disk.Bay.2:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
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Option 2: RAID 0 with Write-Back Cache and Read-Ahead
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin raid createvd:RAID.Integrated.1-1 -rl r0 -wp wb -rp ra -name raid_0 -pdkey:Disk.Bay.0:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1,Disk.Bay.1:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1,Disk.Bay.2:Enclosure.Internal.0-1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
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Step 4: Schedule the Job
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin jobqueue create RAID.Integrated.1-1
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Step 5: Restart to Execute the Job
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin serveraction hardreset
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Step 6: Verify the Virtual Disk Creation
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| racadm -r 192.168.0.1 -u root -p calvin raid get vdisks
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Example output:
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| Disk.Virtual.0:RAID.Integrated.1-1
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RAID Configuration Options
When creating virtual disks, you can specify various parameters:
| Parameter |
Description |
Options |
| -rl |
RAID Level |
r0, r1, r5, r6, r10, r50, r60 |
| -wp |
Write Policy |
wt (Write-Through), wb (Write-Back) |
| -rp |
Read Policy |
nra (No Read-Ahead), ra (Read-Ahead), ara (Adaptive Read-Ahead) |
| -ss |
Stripe Size |
1k, 2k, 4k, 8k, 16k, 32k, 64k, 128k, 256k, 512k, 1M, 2M, 4M, 8M, 16M |
| -dcp |
Disk Cache Policy |
enabled, disabled, default |
| -name |
Virtual Disk Name |
Any string |
| -size |
Virtual Disk Size |
Specified in b (bytes), k (kilobytes), m (megabytes), g (gigabytes), t (terabytes) |