Hardware Controllers & Enclosures - Revision history

Qadmin: /* HBAs and RAID controllers */

2026-09-04T05:07:40Z

HBAs and RAID controllers

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:07, 4 September 2026
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	Hardware RAID has two legitimate roles:		Hardware RAID has two legitimate roles:

	* '''Boot devices.''' ~~OSNEXUS recommends~~ a ~~hardware RAID controller~~, or a boot card such as the Dell BOSS, to mirror the appliance's own operating-system drives.		* '''Boot devices.''' We recommend a setting up a software RAID1 mirror for boot in the text mode installer, or a boot card such as the Dell BOSS, to mirror the appliance's own operating-system drives.
	* '''Scale-out configurations.''' Hardware RAID units are ~~supported and sometimes preferred underneath~~ scale-out ~~object~~ storage.		* '''Scale-out configurations.''' Hardware RAID controller RAID units are not recommended for use with scale-up or scale-out storage. Some exceptions exist for large scale-out cluster designs.

	QuantaStor records what a card can actually do as a capability set, and both the web interface and the service enforce it. A card claimed by the <code>SAS_HBA</code> plug-in reports only the JBOD capability, and as a result the following operations are rejected outright with ''"This operation is not supported with this vendor/model of hardware"'':		QuantaStor records what a card can actually do as a capability set, and both the web interface and the service enforce it. A card claimed by the <code>SAS_HBA</code> plug-in reports only the JBOD capability, and as a result the following operations are rejected outright with ''"This operation is not supported with this vendor/model of hardware"'':

Qadmin: Rewrite from the product against 6.9.0 on real SAS hardware: adds discovery/adapter-plugin model, controller capability gating, enclosure layout matching, enclosure diagram, SES requirements and limits, drive identify, hardware hot spares, media firmware check, and a diagnostic section for wrong or missing slot maps; corrects the default layout flow claim; new screenshots (QSTOR-12352)

2026-09-03T21:46:00Z

Rewrite from the product against 6.9.0 on real SAS hardware: adds discovery/adapter-plugin model, controller capability gating, enclosure layout matching, enclosure diagram, SES requirements and limits, drive identify, hardware hot spares, media firmware check, and a diagnostic section for wrong or missing slot maps; corrects the default layout flow claim; new screenshots (QSTOR-12352)

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Qadmin: /* FIPS 140-2 Compliant Hardware Encryption Management */

2023-04-05T20:20:59Z

FIPS 140-2 Compliant Hardware Encryption Management

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:20, 5 April 2023
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	When hardware RAID units are configured for use with storage pools one must indicate hot-spares at the hardware RAID unit level as that is where the automatic repair needs to take place. QuantaStor provides management of hot-spares via the web management interface, CLI and REST API. Simply go to the ''Hardware Controllers & Enclosures'' section, then right-click on the disk and choose ''Mark/Unmark Hot-spare..''. This will allow one to toggle the hot-spare marker on the device. If a hardware RAID unit is in a degraded state due to one or more failed devices one need only mark one or more devices as hot-spares and the controller will automatically consume the spare and start the rebuild/repair process to restore the affected RAID unit to a fully healthy state. More information on [[Hardware_Disk_Mark_Hotspare \| marking/unmarking disks as hot-spares is available here]].		When hardware RAID units are configured for use with storage pools one must indicate hot-spares at the hardware RAID unit level as that is where the automatic repair needs to take place. QuantaStor provides management of hot-spares via the web management interface, CLI and REST API. Simply go to the ''Hardware Controllers & Enclosures'' section, then right-click on the disk and choose ''Mark/Unmark Hot-spare..''. This will allow one to toggle the hot-spare marker on the device. If a hardware RAID unit is in a degraded state due to one or more failed devices one need only mark one or more devices as hot-spares and the controller will automatically consume the spare and start the rebuild/repair process to restore the affected RAID unit to a fully healthy state. More information on [[Hardware_Disk_Mark_Hotspare \| marking/unmarking disks as hot-spares is available here]].

	~~=== FIPS 140-2 Compliant Hardware Encryption Management ===~~

	QuantaStor integrates with the LSI/Broadcom SafeStore encryption features so that the encryption of data can be pushed to the device/controller layer where FIPS 140-2 compliant SED drives can be leveraged. FDE/SED and FIPS 140-2 variants of both HDD and SSD media are available from various device manufactures and may be used to achieve FIPS 140-2 compliance. QuantaStor [[Hardware_Controller_Create_Security_Key\|provides integration]] with SafeStore within the Web Management interface which becomes accessible when SafeStore license keys are detected on a given RAID controller. More information on how to setup hardware encryption and information on how to run various license checks on the hardware via the CLI [[Hardware Encryption \| is available here.]]

	=== Hardware RAID SSD Read/Write Caching ===		=== Hardware RAID SSD Read/Write Caching ===

Qadmin: /* Selecting the Enclosure Vendor/Model */

2022-10-16T23:31:58Z

Selecting the Enclosure Vendor/Model

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:31, 16 October 2022
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	By right-clicking on the enclosure and choosing ''Modify Enclosure..'' one can set the enclosure to a specific vendor/model type so that the layout of the drive slots matches the hardware appropriately.		By right-clicking on the enclosure and choosing ''Modify Enclosure..'' one can set the enclosure to a specific vendor/model type so that the layout of the drive slots matches the hardware appropriately.

	[[File:Modify Hardwr Controller Web 6.jpg\|~~712px~~]]		[[File:Modify Hardwr Controller Web 6.jpg\|1024px]]

	=== Hardware RAID Unit Management ===		=== Hardware RAID Unit Management ===

Qadmin: /* Selecting the Enclosure Vendor/Model */

2022-10-16T23:31:39Z

Selecting the Enclosure Vendor/Model

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:31, 16 October 2022
Line 26:		Line 26:
	By right-clicking on the enclosure and choosing ''Modify Enclosure..'' one can set the enclosure to a specific vendor/model type so that the layout of the drive slots matches the hardware appropriately.		By right-clicking on the enclosure and choosing ''Modify Enclosure..'' one can set the enclosure to a specific vendor/model type so that the layout of the drive slots matches the hardware appropriately.

	[[File:Modify Hardwr Controller Web 6.jpg\|~~512px~~]]		[[File:Modify Hardwr Controller Web 6.jpg\|712px]]

	=== Hardware RAID Unit Management ===		=== Hardware RAID Unit Management ===

Qadmin: /* Selecting the Enclosure Vendor/Model */

2022-10-16T23:31:04Z

Selecting the Enclosure Vendor/Model

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:31, 16 October 2022
Line 26:		Line 26:
	By right-clicking on the enclosure and choosing ''Modify Enclosure..'' one can set the enclosure to a specific vendor/model type so that the layout of the drive slots matches the hardware appropriately.		By right-clicking on the enclosure and choosing ''Modify Enclosure..'' one can set the enclosure to a specific vendor/model type so that the layout of the drive slots matches the hardware appropriately.

	[[File:Modify Hardwr Controller Web.jpg\|512px]]		[[File:Modify Hardwr Controller Web 6.jpg\|512px]]

	=== Hardware RAID Unit Management ===		=== Hardware RAID Unit Management ===

Qadmin: /* Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View */

2022-10-16T23:11:54Z

Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:11, 16 October 2022
Line 18:		Line 18:

	=== Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View ===		=== Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View ===
	[[File:Hardware Enclosure Overview Web 6.jpg\|thumb\|~~924px~~\|Monitor Hardware and Enclosures.]]		[[File:Hardware Enclosure Overview Web 6.jpg\|thumb\|750px\|Monitor Hardware and Enclosures.]]

	QuantaStor presents an enclosure view of devices that helps to identify where disks are physically located within a server of external disk enclosure chassis (JBOD). By default QuantaStor assumes a 4x column bottom-to-top left to right ordering of the drive slot numbers which is common to SuperMicro hardware. Most other manufacturers have other slot layout schemes to it is important that one select the proper vendor/model of disk enclosure chassis within the ''Modify Enclosure..'' dialog. One the proper chassis model has been selected the layout within the web UI will automatically update. If the vendor/model of external enclosure is not available and there is no suitable alternative one may add new enclosures layout types via a configuration file, [[Adding_Hardware_Enclosure_Layouts \| instructions for that can be found here]].		QuantaStor presents an enclosure view of devices that helps to identify where disks are physically located within a server of external disk enclosure chassis (JBOD). By default QuantaStor assumes a 4x column bottom-to-top left to right ordering of the drive slot numbers which is common to SuperMicro hardware. Most other manufacturers have other slot layout schemes to it is important that one select the proper vendor/model of disk enclosure chassis within the ''Modify Enclosure..'' dialog. One the proper chassis model has been selected the layout within the web UI will automatically update. If the vendor/model of external enclosure is not available and there is no suitable alternative one may add new enclosures layout types via a configuration file, [[Adding_Hardware_Enclosure_Layouts \| instructions for that can be found here]].

Qadmin: /* Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View */

2022-10-16T23:11:34Z

Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:11, 16 October 2022
Line 18:		Line 18:

	=== Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View ===		=== Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View ===
	[[File:Hardware Enclosure Overview Web 6.jpg\|thumb\|~~1024px~~\|Monitor Hardware and Enclosures.]]		[[File:Hardware Enclosure Overview Web 6.jpg\|thumb\|924px\|Monitor Hardware and Enclosures.]]

	QuantaStor presents an enclosure view of devices that helps to identify where disks are physically located within a server of external disk enclosure chassis (JBOD). By default QuantaStor assumes a 4x column bottom-to-top left to right ordering of the drive slot numbers which is common to SuperMicro hardware. Most other manufacturers have other slot layout schemes to it is important that one select the proper vendor/model of disk enclosure chassis within the ''Modify Enclosure..'' dialog. One the proper chassis model has been selected the layout within the web UI will automatically update. If the vendor/model of external enclosure is not available and there is no suitable alternative one may add new enclosures layout types via a configuration file, [[Adding_Hardware_Enclosure_Layouts \| instructions for that can be found here]].		QuantaStor presents an enclosure view of devices that helps to identify where disks are physically located within a server of external disk enclosure chassis (JBOD). By default QuantaStor assumes a 4x column bottom-to-top left to right ordering of the drive slot numbers which is common to SuperMicro hardware. Most other manufacturers have other slot layout schemes to it is important that one select the proper vendor/model of disk enclosure chassis within the ''Modify Enclosure..'' dialog. One the proper chassis model has been selected the layout within the web UI will automatically update. If the vendor/model of external enclosure is not available and there is no suitable alternative one may add new enclosures layout types via a configuration file, [[Adding_Hardware_Enclosure_Layouts \| instructions for that can be found here]].

Qadmin: /* Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View */

2022-10-16T23:10:00Z

Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:10, 16 October 2022
Line 18:		Line 18:

	=== Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View ===		=== Identifying Devices in the Enclosure View ===
	[[File:Hardware Enclosure Overview Web.jpg\|thumb\|~~512px~~\|Monitor Hardware and Enclosures.]]		[[File:Hardware Enclosure Overview Web 6.jpg\|thumb\|1024px\|Monitor Hardware and Enclosures.]]

	QuantaStor presents an enclosure view of devices that helps to identify where disks are physically located within a server of external disk enclosure chassis (JBOD). By default QuantaStor assumes a 4x column bottom-to-top left to right ordering of the drive slot numbers which is common to SuperMicro hardware. Most other manufacturers have other slot layout schemes to it is important that one select the proper vendor/model of disk enclosure chassis within the ''Modify Enclosure..'' dialog. One the proper chassis model has been selected the layout within the web UI will automatically update. If the vendor/model of external enclosure is not available and there is no suitable alternative one may add new enclosures layout types via a configuration file, [[Adding_Hardware_Enclosure_Layouts \| instructions for that can be found here]].		QuantaStor presents an enclosure view of devices that helps to identify where disks are physically located within a server of external disk enclosure chassis (JBOD). By default QuantaStor assumes a 4x column bottom-to-top left to right ordering of the drive slot numbers which is common to SuperMicro hardware. Most other manufacturers have other slot layout schemes to it is important that one select the proper vendor/model of disk enclosure chassis within the ''Modify Enclosure..'' dialog. One the proper chassis model has been selected the layout within the web UI will automatically update. If the vendor/model of external enclosure is not available and there is no suitable alternative one may add new enclosures layout types via a configuration file, [[Adding_Hardware_Enclosure_Layouts \| instructions for that can be found here]].

Qadmin: /* Selecting the Enclosure Vendor/Model */

2020-01-06T22:59:34Z

Selecting the Enclosure Vendor/Model

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:59, 6 January 2020
Line 26:		Line 26:
	By right-clicking on the enclosure and choosing ''Modify Enclosure..'' one can set the enclosure to a specific vendor/model type so that the layout of the drive slots matches the hardware appropriately.		By right-clicking on the enclosure and choosing ''Modify Enclosure..'' one can set the enclosure to a specific vendor/model type so that the layout of the drive slots matches the hardware appropriately.

	[[File:Modify Hardwr Controller Web.jpg]]		[[File:Modify Hardwr Controller Web.jpg\|512px]]

	=== Hardware RAID Unit Management ===		=== Hardware RAID Unit Management ===