Areca Contoller Configuration for unRAID


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Now if we can get drive temps & smart data in the Dynamix WUI this will be a 100% success. :)

 

What you have to do it write a couple of scripts as "wrappers" around hdparm and smartctl, rename the original hdparm and smartctl to something else, and apply lots of chewing gum and bailing twine.

 

Alternatively, the UI could accept as a stored property of each drive, customized commands for pulling smartclt data from that drive.

 

It would also help if the UI relied solely on smartclt for both smart data and spin status, instead of invoking hdparm for the latter.

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What you have to do it write a couple of scripts as "wrappers" around hdparm and smartctl, rename the original hdparm and smartctl to something else, and apply lots of chewing gum and bailing twine.

 

This is what i'm working on.

 

Alternatively, the UI could accept as a stored property of each drive, customized commands for pulling smartclt data from that drive.

 

myMain can do this today. Instructions are provided.

 

It would also help if the UI relied solely on smartclt for both smart data and spin status, instead of invoking hdparm for the latter.

 

This is what I don't kinow and reason for my caveat. :)

 

I have updated the OP instructions. Thanks again bubbaQ!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have received a 1280 and the 1231 referenced above. Put it into my unraid box with some fresh 2tb drives and it sees them in the bios. But it has 1.47 firmware.  Need to figure how to update the firmware. Is it easy to do in an unRaid box?

 

I've downloaded the drivers but need to figure out the easiest way to get them on to a non windows server. 

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The 1231 has an Ethernet jack on the back. Plug that into your switch and then in the card's BIOS you will find it's IP# (look around, don't recall exactly where). Open a browser to that IP and you will have the way to update the BIOS. Default login for the web interface is in the card documentation, something like admin:password lol.

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The 1280 was what i tried first and it has a net jack too, which i plugged into my router.  My network has 10.x.x.x numbering but the card IP I saw in the bios was 192.168.x.x. So I can come in via browser from any laptop attached to the same network once I get the IP fixed ?

 

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As you boot the computer, you can enter the card's firmware by pressing the TAB key at the appropriate time. From there you can set the card's IP address to a fixed address. I had issues using DHCP, but I didn't try to troubleshoot - fixed IP is better for this anyway.

 

You can also use a program called CLI, which you can download from the Areca website. Copy the firmware files to your flash and access them as /boot/filename.ext to update the 4 parts from each of the four files. Suggest a full power down after resetting the firmware.

 

I prefer the Web Interface (using IP address) for configuring the card, especially if you are doing anything fancy. CLI is fine for the firmware update, but it is command line and cumbersome to use for configuring the card. The firmware interface (that you enter by pressing the TAB key during boot) is also very easy, although not as convenient since you have to be at the server's console and access during the boot process. The WebSite method let's you configure the card in real time (make sure array is stopped!).

 

When updating the firmware suggest setting the disk spindown to 60 (longest setting). If not defining a RAID volume, use JBOD. If you do want to create a RAID set, change the name at least of the Volume Set. unRAID sees the volume set as the disk model, and the default volume set name contains a "#". This confuses unRAID. I set mine to ARCRAID0.

 

BTW, the default userid/password is admin/0000.

 

Also, I defined an 8T RAID0 with 2 4T drives. It's size is 7,814,036,428 k (taken from myMain detail view under "size (k)" column. I believe that is substantially larger than a 8T drive, but will leave to someone else to verify.

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Thanks for the clarification on the firmware update process.  Works like a charm. 

 

However with the Areca 1280 in the AMD motherboard, it no longer will boot from USB.  Rechecked the mb bios and it is set to boot from

 

Yes a different usb port solved it....

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I created a 4tb = 2x2tb raid0 parity, and passed through the rest of the slots.

 

I also have a 4tb new drive that I wanted to test with this setup.

 

Size = 3,907,018,532 (mymain unmenu detail view size in K)

But the 2x2tb raid0 volume I create with Areca is smaller and won't work for parity

  (created with >2tb vol support 64bit lba, default 64k stripe size, write back cache, and tagged command queuing enabled.)

 

Size = 3,906,249,696

 

Found the problem was the Areca volume truncation setting.  Once this was fixed its all golden....

 

New size is 3,907,028,448

 

Make sure that you change the Areca settings System Controls / System Config / Disk Capacity Truncation Mode - to No Truncation.

Otherwise the arrays you create will be chopped, and if you want to use them for parity, this will be a problem. 

 

Testing for HPA doesn't seem to work on the Areca using the normal way.

 

hdparm -N /dev/[hs]d[a-z]

gives

 

/dev/sda:
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  f0 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  f0 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
max sectors   = 0/1, HPA is enabled

/dev/sdb:
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  f0 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  f0 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
max sectors   = 0/1, HPA is enabled

/dev/sdc:
max sectors   = 1465149168/1465149168, HPA is disabled

/dev/sdd:
max sectors   = 1465149168/1465149168, HPA is disabled

/dev/sde:
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  70 00 05 00 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  70 00 05 00 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
max sectors   = 0/1, HPA is enabled

/dev/sdf:
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  f0 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  f0 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
max sectors   = 0/1, HPA is enabled

/dev/sdg:
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  f0 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  f0 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
max sectors   = 0/1, HPA is enabled

/dev/sdh:
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  f0 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  f0 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
max sectors   = 0/1, HPA is enabled

 

SDC and SDD are hooked to mb Sata ports not the Areca.

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I created a 4tb = 2x2tb raid0 parity, and passed through the rest of the slots.

 

Testing for HPA doesn't seem to work on the Areca using the normal way.

 

HPA's are managed by physical drives, as a supposedly hidden partition at the end of the drive.  Your 2x2tb drive is essentially a virtual drive, and I can't think of any reason why Areca would provide support for faking an HPA on it.  What would be the point?  You can always create a hidden partition yourself at the end of the drive.

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Just for the benefit of those following, and wondering why their drives don't spin down.  Just setting it in unRaid will have no affect.  You need to update the setting in the raid card bios too. 

 

System controls / HDD power management / Time To Spin Down Idle HDD / change from disabled to 60 minutes (if that is what you want.)

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In the first post you refer to changing the mymain custom attributes in unmenu:

 

>> 9 - Click on one of the drive ID columns for a drive connected to the Areca controller. It contains the last 4 characters of your serial number. It should bring up a configuration panel of drive attributes. In the "custom attributes" section (under Other Notes), you need to configure two custom attributes.

 

      smartopt      -d areca,X/Y /dev/sgZ      (you need to specify the X, Y, and Z based on the instructions in step 5 above)

      spinind          -1

 

Yet, on my version of unmenu (latest 1.6) I don't show custom attributes.  I show (see attached image where I have mucked around in the red area):

mymain.JPG.1751372b8e07ab6cc03b7dc10d5da1b6.JPG

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Like this??  (note how the formatting gets smashed when I save it)

 

Note correct way to fill in this screen below (per bjp999 & bobphoenix)

 

No problem, I like it already, but will like it much more if we are able to get it to behave transparently under the GUI with temperatures and spin status showing correctly.  (I am testing an Areca 1280 with this code)

mymain1.JPG.cd72661a417688e6fb4c25cdcd37dfa8.JPG

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Where you have "smartopt-dareca41devsdg"  make that "smartopt".

 

Where you have "spinind-1" you put "-d areca,4/1"

 

Don't think you need the device assignment that gets passed by myMain itself.

 

Note the most I've used is a "-A" myself so I could be wrong about the right hand box options.

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In the left box you put the name of the custom attribute, and in the box to its right, the value.

 

So it would look something like:

 

smartopt          -d areca ...

spinind              -1

 

If you look in THIS POST and scroll down to the 6th screenshot your see a custom attribute defined that overrides a smart attribute. But you can create any custom attribute to track whatever you want about the disk. The ones I list have specific functionality tied to them.

 

With a very little bit of effort you could display a custom attribute value as a column on one of the myMain views.

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Yes, that worked, see the output below.  I'll update my previous posts with updated images showing the correct way...

================

smartctl -a -d areca,4/1 /dev/sg6 (disk8)

smartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [x86_64-linux-3.18.5-unRAID] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C
Device Model:     Hitachi HDS721010CLA332
Serial Number:    JP2921HQ098U3A
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 35dc43869
Firmware Version: JP4OA25C
User Capacity:    1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate:    7200 rpm
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is:    Wed Mar 18 15:09:03 2015 CDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x84)	Offline data collection activity
				was suspended by an interrupting command from host.
				Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)	The previous self-test routine completed
				without error or no self-test has ever 
				been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection: 		( 9929) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: 			 (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
				Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
				Suspend Offline collection upon new
				command.
				Offline surface scan supported.
				Self-test supported.
				No Conveyance Self-test supported.
				Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)	Saves SMART data before entering
				power-saving mode.
				Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)	Error logging supported.
				General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time: 	 (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 ( 166) minutes.
SCT capabilities: 	       (0x003d)	SCT Status supported.
				SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
				SCT Feature Control supported.
				SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000b   100   100   016    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   134   134   054    Pre-fail  Offline      -       102
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   131   131   024    Pre-fail  Always       -       271 (Average 308)
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       432
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       1
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   132   132   020    Pre-fail  Offline      -       34
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3899
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       300
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       472
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       472
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   193   193   000    Old_age   Always       -       31 (Min/Max 15/43)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 0
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%      3189         -
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      3187         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

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