Configuration Menu of my SuperMicro server, with an Adaptec 2405 / 5405 RAID controller, to check my server’s Storage status?

To check the RAID BIOS of a SuperMicro server, when it has an Adaptec RAID controller installed, you should first have either a KVMoIP device attached to the server or a remote console with the server opened. Please see our FAQ section on how to request a KVM or how to open an IPMI remote console. Once you have either a KVM device or a remote console open, you now need to reboot the server. Please note that this means that the server and everything it is currently hosting will go offline, and will remain offline throughout the duration of this process. Also, the decision to reboot the server must be your own; iomart and any company within the iomart group are not responsible for any effects rebooting your server may have.

Once you have rebooted your server, you need to wait for the option to enter the Adaptec RAID Configuration menu appears; then press Ctrl+A to enter it. Please note, depending on the BIOS settings of your server, your screen may look slightly different to the one below. Also, the below uses a 5405 RAID controller; however, the RAID BIOS for a 2405 controller is very similar.

You will now be presented with the RAID controller’s configuration utility. You should now select Array Configuration Utility. To navigate through this utility, use the arrow, Enter and Esc keys.

To check the current status of the storage within the server, you should first check the current status of all the RAID arrays configured on the server. Do this by first selecting Manage Arrays.

You will now be presented with a list of arrays. To check the status of the RAID array, press Enter while it is highlighted. You will now be presented with the RAID array’s details, its status, and a list of drives within the array. In my example below you can see the RAID1 array is currently degraded. You can see the second drive in this array (Dev01) is greyed out; which indicates that it currently has an error.

If you do identify a drive with an error and wish for it to be replaced, you will need to supply the following information to our technicians in a support ticket, so that our technicians can identify the drive correctly and replace it:

1. Slot Number

2. Drive Type

3. Capacity

You can use this current page to find this information. You can also supply a screenshot of this page; as our technicians can use this information to help them locate the correct drive.

If you wish for a drive to be replaced, you can also turn on the Identify Drive function. Turning on the Identify Drive function will set the LED lights on the drive bay to blink, allowing the local technicians to identify the drive bay with greater ease. Please note, using the Identify Drive function will require the server to remain within the Adaptec Utility menu to keep the drive bay blinking. To set the drive bay to blink, keep pressing Esc until you reach the options menu. Then select Disk Utilities.

It will now take a minute or two to load the list of physical drives. You now need to highlight the drive you wish to set the LEDs to blink on and then press enter.

Then select Identify Drive and press Enter.

The caddy’s LED for this drive will now start flashing. To stop the LEDs from flashing, you simply need to press any key. If you have set the drive bay’s LED to flash, please let the support team know in the ticket.

Once you have supplied the above information our support team will be happy to help get your drive replaced.

You should repeat the above mentioned process, checking every RAID array configured on this server.

If you have any more questions about the storage of your server, or your RAID BIOS menu, please read through our FAQ section or raise a support ticket, and we will be happy to help.