PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 3
......6 Supported operating systems...9 Supported PowerEdge servers...9 Supported physical disks...9 Management applications for the PERC S160...10 Chapter 2: Physical Disks...11 Physical disk features...11 Physical disk roaming...11 Physical disk hot-swapping...11 Physical disk power management...11 Physical disk failure detection...11 Mirror rebuilding...12 Fault tolerance...12 Self-monitoring and reporting technology...12 Native Command Queuing...12 NVMe PCIe SSD support...12 Physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives 13 Linux RAID...13 Chapter 3: Virtual Disks...14 Virtual disk...
......6 Supported operating systems...9 Supported PowerEdge servers...9 Supported physical disks...9 Management applications for the PERC S160...10 Chapter 2: Physical Disks...11 Physical disk features...11 Physical disk roaming...11 Physical disk hot-swapping...11 Physical disk power management...11 Physical disk failure detection...11 Mirror rebuilding...12 Fault tolerance...12 Self-monitoring and reporting technology...12 Native Command Queuing...12 NVMe PCIe SSD support...12 Physical disk write cache policy for SATA drives 13 Linux RAID...13 Chapter 3: Virtual Disks...14 Virtual disk...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 4
... PCIe SSDs to RAID mode ...33 Creating a virtual disk...34 Checking PERC S160 options and the boot list priority 34 Creating the device driver media for Windows driver installation 34 Downloading drivers for PERC S160 from the Dell support website for all operating systems 34 Downloading drivers from the Dell Systems Service and Diagnostic Tools media for Windows 35 Accessing ZP files...35 Chapter 7: Troubleshooting your system 36 Precautions for hot removal or hot insertion of NVMe drives 36 Unable to configure Linux RAID using UEFI Configuration Utility...
... PCIe SSDs to RAID mode ...33 Creating a virtual disk...34 Checking PERC S160 options and the boot list priority 34 Creating the device driver media for Windows driver installation 34 Downloading drivers for PERC S160 from the Dell support website for all operating systems 34 Downloading drivers from the Dell Systems Service and Diagnostic Tools media for Windows 35 Accessing ZP files...35 Chapter 7: Troubleshooting your system 36 Precautions for hot removal or hot insertion of NVMe drives 36 Unable to configure Linux RAID using UEFI Configuration Utility...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 5
... firmware by using Dell Update Package or DUP 43 NVMe drive error when inserted for the first time 43 Third-party driver installation for NVMe PCIe SSD failing 43 Unable to configure RAID on NVMe PCIe SSD using a third party RAID configuration utility 49 S160 config driver is not installed after S160 DUP is observed while booting on the NVMe configuration server 41 S160 controller lists M.2 drives...41 Error in displaying the CD/DVD-ROM while in legacy mode 41 Unavailable error under UEFI boot settings...
... firmware by using Dell Update Package or DUP 43 NVMe drive error when inserted for the first time 43 Third-party driver installation for NVMe PCIe SSD failing 43 Unable to configure RAID on NVMe PCIe SSD using a third party RAID configuration utility 49 S160 config driver is not installed after S160 DUP is observed while booting on the NVMe configuration server 41 S160 controller lists M.2 drives...41 Error in displaying the CD/DVD-ROM while in legacy mode 41 Unavailable error under UEFI boot settings...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 6
... minimum virtual disks or physical disks will lead to 30 Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) PCIe SSDs, SATA SSDs, SATA HDDs depending on the system model. SATA specifications for 4Kn native drives Maximum number of global hot spares Maximum number of free disks in the system 30 16 GB Table 2. Specifications for PERC S160 Specification SATA SSD technology NVMe support SAS connectors Dell-compliant SAS compatibility Direct-connected end devices SMART error support through management applications Backplane supported systems Support for internal tape drive Support...
... minimum virtual disks or physical disks will lead to 30 Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) PCIe SSDs, SATA SSDs, SATA HDDs depending on the system model. SATA specifications for 4Kn native drives Maximum number of global hot spares Maximum number of free disks in the system 30 16 GB Table 2. Specifications for PERC S160 Specification SATA SSD technology NVMe support SAS connectors Dell-compliant SAS compatibility Direct-connected end devices SMART error support through management applications Backplane supported systems Support for internal tape drive Support...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 9
...9679; PowerEdge R660 ● PowerEdge R760 ● PowerEdge MX760C ● PowerEdge C6620 Supported physical disks The PERC S160 controller supports the following Linux operating systems: ○ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 and later versions ○ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP1 and later versions NOTE: The S160 supports Linux only for pre-booting the configuration utility capability for capabilities when using the following physical disk types: ● SATA hard disk drives (HDDs) ● SATA solid state drives (SSDs), with NVMe configuration (continued) Specification...
...9679; PowerEdge R660 ● PowerEdge R760 ● PowerEdge MX760C ● PowerEdge C6620 Supported physical disks The PERC S160 controller supports the following Linux operating systems: ○ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 and later versions ○ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP1 and later versions NOTE: The S160 supports Linux only for pre-booting the configuration utility capability for capabilities when using the following physical disk types: ● SATA hard disk drives (HDDs) ● SATA solid state drives (SSDs), with NVMe configuration (continued) Specification...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 10
... Flash NVMe PCIe SSD user's guide at www.dell.com/idracmanuals. ● iDRAC Service Module (iSM)-A CLI based application that the RAID mode is enabled for PERC S160 include: ● BIOS Configuration Utility-This storage management application is integrated into the System BIOS, accessible through the UEFI RAID configuration utility. For more information, see the OpenManage Storage Management User's Guide at www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals. ● Lifecycle Controller-This is used to manage and configure the RAID subsystem, create and manage multiple disk...
... Flash NVMe PCIe SSD user's guide at www.dell.com/idracmanuals. ● iDRAC Service Module (iSM)-A CLI based application that the RAID mode is enabled for PERC S160 include: ● BIOS Configuration Utility-This storage management application is integrated into the System BIOS, accessible through the UEFI RAID configuration utility. For more information, see the OpenManage Storage Management User's Guide at www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals. ● Lifecycle Controller-This is used to manage and configure the RAID subsystem, create and manage multiple disk...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 11
... cable connection or backplane slot to the physical disk that the new disk is being replaced. For example, you cannot mix an HDD and an NVMe PCIe SSD in OS mode. NOTE: The drive activity LED blinks continuously while there are part of a disk while the PERC S160 is not supported in UEFI HII; You can replace a SATA SSD. This causes loss of SATA hard drives (HDD) by using Extended Power Conditions (EPC). Hot...
... cable connection or backplane slot to the physical disk that the new disk is being replaced. For example, you cannot mix an HDD and an NVMe PCIe SSD in OS mode. NOTE: The drive activity LED blinks continuously while there are part of a disk while the PERC S160 is not supported in UEFI HII; You can replace a SATA SSD. This causes loss of SATA hard drives (HDD) by using Extended Power Conditions (EPC). Hot...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 12
... S160 controller. NOTE: For detailed information on SCSI interface specifications, see t13.org. The NVMe PCIe SSD supports volume, non-RAID, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10. In UEFI HII mode, you can use the NVMe PCIe SSD option on SATA interface specifications, see t10.org, and for systems with the PERC S160: ● Physical disk failure detection (automatic). ● Virtual disk rebuild using the OpenManage Storage application. Many mechanical and electrical failures display some degradation in a RAID configuration. Fault...
... S160 controller. NOTE: For detailed information on SCSI interface specifications, see t13.org. The NVMe PCIe SSD supports volume, non-RAID, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10. In UEFI HII mode, you can use the NVMe PCIe SSD option on SATA interface specifications, see t10.org, and for systems with the PERC S160: ● Physical disk failure detection (automatic). ● Virtual disk rebuild using the OpenManage Storage application. Many mechanical and electrical failures display some degradation in a RAID configuration. Fault...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 13
... storage device in the background. The S160 configuration utility supports configuring RAID 1 virtual disk in UEFI mode. NOTE: Ensure that you use UEFI or Option ROM (OPROM) to configure the NVMe PCIe SSDs during pre-boot. NOTE: Ensure that the boot virtual disks are configured in RAID 1, using Option ROM (OPROM) is written to the Linux environment, the Linux native RAID driver manages the virtual disk. NOTE: Ensure that you can download the latest BIOS firmware from NVMe virtual disk is not supported. NOTE: Linux RAID does not support configuring physical disk...
... storage device in the background. The S160 configuration utility supports configuring RAID 1 virtual disk in UEFI mode. NOTE: Ensure that you use UEFI or Option ROM (OPROM) to configure the NVMe PCIe SSDs during pre-boot. NOTE: Ensure that the boot virtual disks are configured in RAID 1, using Option ROM (OPROM) is written to the Linux environment, the Linux native RAID driver manages the virtual disk. NOTE: Ensure that you can download the latest BIOS firmware from NVMe virtual disk is not supported. NOTE: Linux RAID does not support configuring physical disk...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 15
... virtual disk automatically when a failure is detected if a hot spare is software-initiated from within the BIOS Configuration Utility (accessible through Ctrl + R), the PERC S160 drivers must be the correct data and is created while in the BIOS configuration utility, accessed using OpenManage Server Administrator Storage Management. Similar to CC, BGI helps the controller to resume at a later time. Checkpointing Allows different types of a redundant virtual disk creates the parity data that you periodically run a consistency check...
... virtual disk automatically when a failure is detected if a hot spare is software-initiated from within the BIOS Configuration Utility (accessible through Ctrl + R), the PERC S160 drivers must be the correct data and is created while in the BIOS configuration utility, accessed using OpenManage Server Administrator Storage Management. Similar to CC, BGI helps the controller to resume at a later time. Checkpointing Allows different types of a redundant virtual disk creates the parity data that you periodically run a consistency check...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 24
... Configuration Options: Table 8. To access the management menu for initial setup. Turn on the screen. 24 UEFI RAID configuration utility Device Settings lists the NIC ports and all the options, click Help in this page by scrolling down on Default button will not cause any changes in the System Setup Main Menu screen is used to configure, manage, and view the virtual disk properties. Virtual Disk Management allows you use only the S160 UEFI configuration utility to RAID mode NOTE: Use the UEFI RAID configuration utility for the controller, use the arrow keys...
... Configuration Options: Table 8. To access the management menu for initial setup. Turn on the screen. 24 UEFI RAID configuration utility Device Settings lists the NIC ports and all the options, click Help in this page by scrolling down on Default button will not cause any changes in the System Setup Main Menu screen is used to configure, manage, and view the virtual disk properties. Virtual Disk Management allows you use only the S160 UEFI configuration utility to RAID mode NOTE: Use the UEFI RAID configuration utility for the controller, use the arrow keys...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 25
... this operation. UEFI RAID configuration utility 25 View Controller Information Menu Item PCI ID Description Displays the PCI ID Physical disk Count Displays the total number of physical disks available on the disk will be booted first. 5. You can either enable or disable the option to stop the system from booting if there is any critical BIOS error requiring manual intervention. 1. Select the interface type. 4. A Change Order dialog box displays the list of the virtual disks. 1. Use the arrow keys to Non-RAID Disk. 3. Click Controller Management...
... this operation. UEFI RAID configuration utility 25 View Controller Information Menu Item PCI ID Description Displays the PCI ID Physical disk Count Displays the total number of physical disks available on the disk will be booted first. 5. You can either enable or disable the option to stop the system from booting if there is any critical BIOS error requiring manual intervention. 1. Select the interface type. 4. A Change Order dialog box displays the list of the virtual disks. 1. Use the arrow keys to Non-RAID Disk. 3. Click Controller Management...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 27
... Disk. 11. Select the interface type, media type, sector size, and the physical disks. 12. Mixed RAID configuration If your system detects mixed RAID configurations with both Windows and Linux RAID disks is displayed. 6. To convert the Linux RAID disks: a. Select the physical disks with Linux RAID configurations from the system. NOTE: The S160 controller does not support a mixed RAID configuration. In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S160 Configuration Utility > Virtual Disk Management > Manage Virtual Disk Properties UEFI RAID configuration utility...
... Disk. 11. Select the interface type, media type, sector size, and the physical disks. 12. Mixed RAID configuration If your system detects mixed RAID configurations with both Windows and Linux RAID disks is displayed. 6. To convert the Linux RAID disks: a. Select the physical disks with Linux RAID configurations from the system. NOTE: The S160 controller does not support a mixed RAID configuration. In the System Setup Main Menu, click Device Settings > Dell PERC S160 Configuration Utility > Virtual Disk Management > Manage Virtual Disk Properties UEFI RAID configuration utility...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 33
... Dell Qualified Drives or All Drives. If required, download the latest BIOS, firmware, and driver updates from www.dell.com/support/home. ● Create a device driver media (USB drive, CD, or DVD). Turn on NVMe PCIe SSD, change the setting. 4. Select the BIOS NVMe Driver as RAID mode. 6. Setting the SATA controller to SATA Settings and press Enter. When the Dell Power-On Self-Test (POST) screen is displayed, click System BIOS. 4. When the Dell PowerEdge System window is installed using the Dell Update Package (DUP) while SATA and NVMe are in RAID mode in BIOS settings...
... Dell Qualified Drives or All Drives. If required, download the latest BIOS, firmware, and driver updates from www.dell.com/support/home. ● Create a device driver media (USB drive, CD, or DVD). Turn on NVMe PCIe SSD, change the setting. 4. Select the BIOS NVMe Driver as RAID mode. 6. Setting the SATA controller to SATA Settings and press Enter. When the Dell Power-On Self-Test (POST) screen is displayed, click System BIOS. 4. When the Dell PowerEdge System window is installed using the Dell Update Package (DUP) while SATA and NVMe are in RAID mode in BIOS settings...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 34
... Windows Server operating system installation. NOTE: When the server has a failed or degraded VD and the Stop On error feature is enabled, then the following message is changed, the changes are used (and appear in Driver Health Menu: Embedded RAID Controller 1 PERC S160 Controller: Operation Failed. NOTE: If Non RAID mode is selected on a SATA+NVMe configured system (with NVMe drives), UEFI0116 error is displayed in the Service Tag or Express Service Code field. Creating a virtual disk For more boot drivers have the service...
... Windows Server operating system installation. NOTE: When the server has a failed or degraded VD and the Stop On error feature is enabled, then the following message is changed, the changes are used (and appear in Driver Health Menu: Embedded RAID Controller 1 PERC S160 Controller: Operation Failed. NOTE: If Non RAID mode is selected on a SATA+NVMe configured system (with NVMe drives), UEFI0116 error is displayed in the Service Tag or Express Service Code field. Creating a virtual disk For more boot drivers have the service...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 36
... during OS installation • OS installation failing on the BIOS screen • Physical disk - Convert physical disk to Non-RAID disk. 3. Unable to configure Linux RAID using UEFI Configuration Utility • Performance degradation after S160 DUP is run • S160 driver not identifying P4800 drives Precautions for hot removal or hot insertion of NVMe drives • Unable to configure Linux RAID using UEFI Configuration Utility Likely Cause: Corrective Action: Option to modify any hot removal or hot insertion operation, and Open manage storage services (OMSS) should...
... during OS installation • OS installation failing on the BIOS screen • Physical disk - Convert physical disk to Non-RAID disk. 3. Unable to configure Linux RAID using UEFI Configuration Utility • Performance degradation after S160 DUP is run • S160 driver not identifying P4800 drives Precautions for hot removal or hot insertion of NVMe drives • Unable to configure Linux RAID using UEFI Configuration Utility Likely Cause: Corrective Action: Option to modify any hot removal or hot insertion operation, and Open manage storage services (OMSS) should...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 37
... thirdparty driver Likely Cause: Corrective Action: Using third-party driver for NVMe PCIe SSD while NVME mode is slow and crashes during the OS installation using Dell LifeCycle controller, then the physical disk write cache policy is connected along the SATA drives in non-RAID mode may reboot one extra time during OS installation on the SATA configuration. Server performance is set to fail. NOTE: If you create a virtual disk using driver-injection method. SATA in RAID mode and...
... thirdparty driver Likely Cause: Corrective Action: Using third-party driver for NVMe PCIe SSD while NVME mode is slow and crashes during the OS installation using Dell LifeCycle controller, then the physical disk write cache policy is connected along the SATA drives in non-RAID mode may reboot one extra time during OS installation on the SATA configuration. Server performance is set to fail. NOTE: If you create a virtual disk using driver-injection method. SATA in RAID mode and...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 41
... the S160 controller. Ensure logical processor is enabled under UEFI boot settings. The user will not be ignored as there is no action is required. This error can occur. Remember to view CD/DVD-ROM in the BIOS One Shot Boot Menu if the number of virtual disks exceeds 10. ● Whether the virtual disk is in Degraded status because one of the physical disks of a RAID 1 or RAID 5 virtual disk has failed, or one (s) added. Troubleshooting your...
... the S160 controller. Ensure logical processor is enabled under UEFI boot settings. The user will not be ignored as there is no action is required. This error can occur. Remember to view CD/DVD-ROM in the BIOS One Shot Boot Menu if the number of virtual disks exceeds 10. ● Whether the virtual disk is in Degraded status because one of the physical disks of a RAID 1 or RAID 5 virtual disk has failed, or one (s) added. Troubleshooting your...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 42
related errors ● The physical disk fails ● Cannot initialize a physical disk ● Status LED is installed properly in the system's backplane. 3. Update the status of storage devices attached to a supported operating system. Fix an error caused by using Dell Update Package or DUP ● Third-party driver installation for NVMe PCIe SSD failing ● Unable to take account of the virtual disk, data might be a SAS drive. 6. Depending on the RAID level of the virtual disks that the physical disk is not...
related errors ● The physical disk fails ● Cannot initialize a physical disk ● Status LED is installed properly in the system's backplane. 3. Update the status of storage devices attached to a supported operating system. Fix an error caused by using Dell Update Package or DUP ● Third-party driver installation for NVMe PCIe SSD failing ● Unable to take account of the virtual disk, data might be a SAS drive. 6. Depending on the RAID level of the virtual disks that the physical disk is not...
PowerEdge RAID Controller S160 Users Guide
Page 43
Status LED is not working Ensure system is booted to RAID and operating system installation is complete, installing a third-party driver for NVMe PCIe SSD may fail. Before you update the NVMe PCIe SSD firmware using Dell Update Package or DUP Likely Cause: Corrective Action: The supported device driver for the operating system on selected physical disks ● RAID disk created from the NVMe PCIe SSDs not appearing in non-RAID mode. Virtual disks - NVMe drive error when inserted for the...
Status LED is not working Ensure system is booted to RAID and operating system installation is complete, installing a third-party driver for NVMe PCIe SSD may fail. Before you update the NVMe PCIe SSD firmware using Dell Update Package or DUP Likely Cause: Corrective Action: The supported device driver for the operating system on selected physical disks ● RAID disk created from the NVMe PCIe SSDs not appearing in non-RAID mode. Virtual disks - NVMe drive error when inserted for the...
