PRAID

PRAID is a scriptable utility that offers a single user interface for both configuring and replicating all RAID controllers supported by the Linux Scripting ToolkitServerGuide Scripting Toolkit, Linux Edition.

PRAID has three modes of operation:

Deploy mode

Used in Deploy mode, PRAID offers the following features:
  • Configures all RAID controllers in a server with a single call to the program.
  • Automatically resets all RAID controllers to factory-default settings before configuring.
  • Uses customizable logic to decide which configuration (policy) is applied to a server based on system hardware. The logic can involve:
    • Machine type of the server
    • Serial number of the server
    • Number of drives connected to the RAID controller
    • RAID controller type
    • Controller number (order) of the RAID controller
  • Can be highly customized for specific RAID configurations or generalized to handle many different RAID configurations.
  • Provides a default or AUTO mode for automatically creating arrays and logical drives by using default settings. This mode requires no knowledge of the number, size, or location of the drives connected to the RAID controllers.
  • Automatically applies default values for any RAID configuration parameters that you do not supply. You supply only the parameters that you want to change.
  • Default values for each configuration parameter are equivalent to the default settings of the ServeRAID Manager express configuration method where applicable.
  • Allows up to 50 policies for configuring RAID controllers to be specified in a single policies file.
Note:

When using PRAID in Deploy mode, the -r parameter is required.

To delete RAID configuration on all controllers, specify -r. To delete RAID configuration on a specific controller, specify -r# where # is the controller number.

For example, praid -f:policiy.ini -r -y.

Deploy Mode examples
PRAID -r -d -y
This example is useful for unattended scripted installations, by doing the following:
  • Configures all RAID controllers in the system using default settings.
  • Does not prompt you before setting controllers to factory-default settings.
  • Synchronizes drives without prompting, when required.
PRAID -f:policies.ini -r -v:5 -e1
This example does the following:
  • Configures the RAID controllers in the system by using the policies file: policies.ini
  • Sets the verbose mode to maximum.
  • Returns an error code if there are no matching policies for one or more controllers.

Capture mode

Used in Capture mode, PRAID offers the following features:
  • Captures the RAID configurations of all supported controllers to a text file, the policies file, with a common format.
  • Captured RAID configurations can be immediately used with PRAID in deploy mode to easily replicate the RAID configuration to many servers.
  • Allows customizable logic when saving the captured parameters to determine when each captured configuration must be deployed.
  • Saves useful information about each captured configuration, including the system machine type, date, and time when the configuration was captured.
  • Allows you to edit any RAID configurations that you capture before deploying them to other systems.
Capture Mode Examples
PRAID -c -f:policies.ini

This example captures the configuration of all RAID controllers into the policies.ini file.

PRAID -c:m,t -f:policies.ini
This example does the following:
  • Captures the configuration of all RAID controllers into the policies.ini file.
  • Uses the system machine type and RAID controller type as the AppliesTo.1 entry in the policies file for each captured configuration.

Restore-defaults mode

Used in Restore-defaults mode, PRAID offers the following features:
  • Deletes all arrays and logical drives on all RAID controllers.
  • Sets other RAID controller settings back to factory defaults.
Restore-defaults mode example
PRAID -r -v:0 -y
This example does the following:
  • Restores all RAID controllers to factory default settings.
  • Operates in silent mode; no messages are printed to the screen.
  • Does not prompt you before restoring factory-default settings.