MegaRAID Storage Manager Window and Menus : MegaRAID Storage Manager Main Menu : Creating a Storage Configuration By Using the MegaRAID Storage Manager Software : Changing Power Settings

Changing Power Settings

The controller includes the Dimmer Switch technology that conserves energy by placing certain unused drives into Power-save mode. In Power-save mode, the drives use less energy, and the fan and the enclosure require less energy to cool and house the drives, respectively. Also, this technology helps avoid application timeouts caused by spin-up delays and drive wear caused by excessive spin-up/down cycles.

You can use the Power Settings field in the MegaRAID Storage Manager software to select whether to let unconfigured drives or Commissioned Hotspares enter the Power-save mode.

NOTE  The Dimmer Switch technology is enabled by default.

When they are in the Power-save mode, unconfigured drives and drives configured as Commissioned Hotspares (dedicated or global) can be spun down. When spun down, the drives stay in Power-save mode except for periodic maintenance, which includes the following:

*

Periodic background media scans (Patrol Read) to find and correct media defects to avoid losing data redundancy (hot spare drives only)

*

Use of a Commissioned Hotspare to rebuild a degraded drive group (Commissioned Hotspare drives only)

*

Update of Nytro Flash modules and other metadata when you make changes to RAID configurations (Commissioned Hotspare drives and unconfigured drives)

NOTE  If your controller does not support this option, the Power Settings field does not appear.

Follow these steps to change the power-save setting.

1.

Select a controller icon in the Physical tab or the Logical tab in the left panel of the MegaRAID Storage Manager window.

2.

Select Go To > Controller > Power Settings from the menu bar.

The Power Settings dialog appears, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 53. Power Settings Dialog

3.

Select the Allow unconfigured drives to enter Power-Save mode check box, and click Ok.

The second Power Settings dialog appears.

Figure 54. Power Settings Dialog–Spin Down Time Delay Setting

4.

Enter the time delay in minutes before the unconfigured drives spin down automatically.

After the specified time, the drives spin down automatically.

5.

Click Ok.

Your power settings are saved. In the Physical tab of the main menu window, the nodes for the unconfigured good drives that are spun down appear with - power save after their status.