Areca Contoller Configuration for unRAID


Recommended Posts

Just tried Dynamix 64bit S3 sleep ver 3.0.0 on this, and was surprised that it seems OK.  Anybody else using S3 sleep on an Areca?

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

Update last night the parity check went to sleep in the middle of the check.  Once it woke back up and resumed without issue, but the second time it invalidated parity. 

 

I wonder if hdparm is being used to determine if there is array activity before going to sleep??  All the drives are on the Areca.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Just wanted to share what I've learned so far about Areca cards firmware update.

 

First of all, according to Areca's FAQ, support for HDDs > 2.2 TB was introduced in firmware version 1.49 (at least for ARC-1110 card). Older Areca controllers might have older firmware so there will be need to update.

 

There are three ways to update Areca card firmware, in order from harder to easier:

 

1. DOS utility nflash. You will have to create bootable DOS flash USB drive, boot the server with installed Areca card from it, and run nflash.exe. Bootable DOS is of your choice, nflash.exe and firmware files can be downloaded from areca.com.tw

 

2. CLI (Command Line Interface) utility. Usage is described here.

 

3. McRAID - this is a fancy name for Areca's card built-in web-based manager. Some Areca cards have RJ45 network port right on the card, so the card connects to the LAN with no other efforts. For cards with no RJ45 port you will need to download "archttp64" (http proxy server) executable (for unRAID 5.x use archttp32) and firmware files from areca.com.tw. Place firmware files wherever you want. Place archttp64 executable on your unRAID flash drive, launch it under unRAID OS. After that, while archttp64 is running, access McRAID from other computer by pointing your browser at http://my-server-ip:81. Card managing per se will be at http://my-server-ip:82 and, by default, will ask for authentication. Default login/password is admin/0000. Under "Firmware update" point your browser wherever the firmware files are.

 

Note 1: CLI and nflash both need firmware 1.43 or higher to work. For cards with firmware 1.42 and older, the only option to update firmware is via McRAID.

 

Note 2. If previous owner of the card had changed password, you will need to change it via McBIOS. McBIOS is fancy name for Areca card BIOS setup, the one you can access from server console during boot. You don't need to know old password to set new password this way.

 

Note 3: Firmware files are named ARCxxxxTYPE.BIN, were xxxx is controller model, and TYPE is BIOS/BOOT/FIRM/MBR0. E.g., for Areca ARC-1110 card files are:

ARC1110BIOS.BIN

ARC1110BOOT.BIN

ARC1110FIRM.BIN

ARC1110MBR0.BIN

It is recommended to update all four.

 

Link to comment

Just wanted to share what I've learned so far about Areca cards firmware update.

 

First of all, according to Areca's FAQ, support for HDDs > 2.2 TB was introduced in firmware version 1.49 (at least for ARC-1110 card). Older Areca controllers might have older firmware so there will be need to update.

 

There are three ways to update Areca card firmware, in order from harder to easier:

 

1. DOS utility nflash. You will have to create bootable DOS flash USB drive, boot the server with installed Areca card from it, and run nflash.exe. Bootable DOS is of your choice, nflash.exe and firmware files can be downloaded from areca.com.tw

 

2. CLI (Command Line Interface) utility. Usage is described here.

 

3. McRAID - this is a fancy name for Areca's card built-in web-based manager. Some Areca cards have RJ45 network port right on the card, so the card connects to the LAN with no other efforts. For cards with no RJ45 port you will need to download "archttp64" (http proxy server) executable (for unRAID 5.x use archttp32) and firmware files from areca.com.tw. Place firmware files wherever you want. Place archttp64 executable on your unRAID flash drive, launch it under unRAID OS. After that, while archttp64 is running, access McRAID from other computer by pointing your browser at http://my-server-ip:81. Card managing per se will be at http://my-server-ip:82 and, by default, will ask for authentication. Default login/password is admin/0000. Under "Firmware update" point your browser wherever the firmware files are.

 

Note 1: CLI and nflash both need firmware 1.43 or higher to work. For cards with firmware 1.42 and older, the only option to update firmware is via McRAID.

 

Note 2. If previous owner of the card had changed password, you will need to change it via McBIOS. McBIOS is fancy name for Areca card BIOS setup, the one you can access from server console during boot. You don't need to know old password to set new password this way.

 

Note 3: Firmware files are named ARCxxxxTYPE.BIN, were xxxx is controller model, and TYPE is BIOS/BOOT/FIRM/MBR0. E.g., for Areca ARC-1110 card files are:

ARC1110BIOS.BIN

ARC1110BOOT.BIN

ARC1110FIRM.BIN

ARC1110MBR0.BIN

It is recommended to update all four.

 

Thanks pkn! I agree, although CLI and MacRAID are both very easy for firmware and I could quibble that CLI is a bit easier. But for configuring the card, MacRAID is the easiest and best by a very wide margin. I had not explored installing it on my server - will have to try it. Connecting my two Areca controllers to LAN ports permanently is a bit of a problem as my switch is full (amazing that a 24 port switch is full!) I may try to install the software version as you described and see if it works even if a LAN port exists on the card. Assume it will.

 

Many of the controllers we are describing (1110, 1230, 1231,1260,1261,1280) went to end of life with BIOS version 1.49, but not all. The ARC-1200 is up to 1.52. It was very considerate of Areca to extend these cards to support larger disks before they were EOLed. Otherwise these cards would be doorstops like the LSI BR10i.

 

BTW, I have been making progress on my myMain support for Areca. It is not my top priority and workarounds do exist as described earlier in this thread. Stay tuned. It will require CLI be installed on the flash.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

bubbaQ - Do you have a method to manually spin down an Areca connected drive in your bag of tricks?

 

Also, I seem to have a problem with the smartctl command producing bogus if the drive is spun down. Running it a second time works correctly. Have you seen this?

Link to comment

Here is a before and after smart report - first one is trying on a spun down disk, second one is same command immediately after the first.

FIRST RUN

 

smartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [x86_64-linux-3.18.5-startuperic] (local build)

Copyright © 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

 

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===

Model Family:    Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000

Device Model:    Hitachi HDS723030ALA640

Serial Number:    MK0311YHG48xxx

LU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 225c1f2ca

Firmware Version: MKAOA3B0

User Capacity:    3,000,592,982,016 bytes [3.00 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, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)

Local Time is:    Thu Apr  9 09:06:58 2015 EDT

SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.

SMART support is: Enabled

 

Warning! SMART Attribute Data Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.

Warning! SMART Attribute Thresholds Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===

SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

See vendor-specific Attribute list for marginal Attributes.

 

General SMART Values:

Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity

                                        was never started.

                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.

Total time to complete Offline

data collection:                (    0) seconds.

Offline data collection

capabilities:                    (0x00)        Offline data collection not supported.

SMART capabilities:            (0x0000) Automatic saving of SMART data                                  is not implemented.

Error logging capability:        (0x00) Error logging supported.

                                        General Purpose Logging supported.

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: 1114

Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG    VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE

255 Unknown_Attribute      0x373f  200  016  063    Pre-fail  Always  In_the_past 69269232549888

75 Unknown_Attribute      0x334d  048  049  077    Pre-fail  Offline  FAILING_NOW 95963332560945

65 Unknown_Attribute      0x0331  000  255  049    Pre-fail  Offline  FAILING_NOW 87193389381887

51 Unknown_Attribute      0x3041  066  105  065    Pre-fail  Offline      -      35611326308680

68 Unknown_Attribute      0x3748  083  051  072    Old_age  Offline  In_the_past 71675507913522

52 Unknown_Attribute      0x2036  048  032  054    Old_age  Always  FAILING_NOW 35322350018592

32 Unknown_Attribute      0x2020  032  032  032    Old_age  Offline  FAILING_NOW 550026354720

16 Unknown_Attribute      0x3f00  000  016  000    Old_age  Offline      -      280379760114684

255 Unknown_Attribute      0x000f  000  007  015    Pre-fail  Always  FAILING_NOW 131943408599808

120 Unknown_Attribute      0x7800  000  000  000    Old_age  Offline      -      0

64 Unknown_Attribute      0xfc00  001  041  000    Old_age  Offline      -      126982477343488

105 Unknown_Attribute      0x4174  188  099  116    Old_age  Offline  In_the_past 5876252487

254 Free_Fall_Sensor        0xfe00  255  000  000    Old_age  Offline      -      222101483028480

249 Unknown_Attribute      0x1000  039  000  000    Old_age  Offline      -      1500296491008

162 Unknown_Attribute      0xc1cc  037  202  204    Old_age  Offline  FAILING_NOW 242

241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x200d  250  001  013    Pre-fail  Offline  In_the_past 52793809305600

17 Unknown_Attribute      0x0900  000  017  000    Old_age  Offline      -      5502138516992

189 High_Fly_Writes        0xff5d  255  000  093    Pre-fail  Offline  In_the_past 128

 

Warning! SMART ATA Error Log Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.

SMART Error Log Version: 0

No Errors Logged

 

Warning! SMART Self-Test Log Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 0

Warning: ATA Specification requires self-test log structure revision number = 1

Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error

# 1  Vendor (0x4f)      Unknown status (0xc)          20%    51221        -

# 2  Offline            Completed without error      00%        0        -

# 3  Reserved (0x20)    Aborted by host              120%        0        -

# 4  Offline            Completed without error      00%        61        -

# 5  Vendor (0xbd)      Completed: electrical failure 130%    65535        128

# 6  Reserved (0x11)    Completed without error      00%        9        -

# 7  Vendor (0xf1)      Completed without error      130%    64032        -

# 8  Offline            Completed without error      00%        0        -

# 9  Vendor (0xa2)      Unknown status (0xc)          120%      9665        -

#10  Vendor (0xf9)      Completed without error      00%    10000        -

#11  Vendor (0x69)      Completed: read failure      40%    48193        1581285191

#12  Offline            Completed without error      00%        0        -

#13  Vendor (0xff)      Completed without error      150%        0        -

#14  Offline            Interrupted (host reset)      150%    16384        -

#15  Reserved (0x34)    Fatal or unknown error        60%    12320        538976288

#16  Reserved (0x33)    Completed: unknown failure    10%    16944        1752457544

#17  Vendor (0x4b)      Completed: unknown failure    130%    12339        878266417

 

Selective Self-tests/Logging not supported

 

SECOND RUN

 

smartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [x86_64-linux-3.18.5-startuperic] (local build)

Copyright © 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

 

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===

Model Family:    Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000

Device Model:    Hitachi HDS723030ALA640

Serial Number:    MK0311YHG48xxx

LU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 225c1f2ca

Firmware Version: MKAOA3B0

User Capacity:    3,000,592,982,016 bytes [3.00 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, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)

Local Time is:    Thu Apr  9 09:08:00 2015 EDT

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:  (0x82) Offline data collection activity

                                        was completed without error.

                                        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:                (31406) 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:        ( 524) 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  132  132  054    Pre-fail  Offline      -      94

  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007  127  127  024    Pre-fail  Always      -      610 (Average 609)

  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      2172

  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct  0x0033  100  100  005    Pre-fail  Always      -      0

  7 Seek_Error_Rate        0x000b  100  100  067    Pre-fail  Always      -      0

  8 Seek_Time_Performance  0x0005  133  133  020    Pre-fail  Offline      -      27

  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012  096  096  000    Old_age  Always      -      32566

10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013  100  100  060    Pre-fail  Always      -      0

12 Power_Cycle_Count      0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      158

192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032  099  099  000    Old_age  Always      -      2393

193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012  099  099  000    Old_age  Always      -      2393

194 Temperature_Celsius    0x0002  253  253  000    Old_age  Always      -      20 (Min/Max 14/36)

196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      0

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: 1

No Errors Logged

 

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1

No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]

 

 

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.

Link to comment

Tried any other mfgs other than Hitachi?  What about WD greens?

 

I use --nocheck=standby unless I have flagged the drive a successfully returning SMART data in standby.... particularly when I merely want temperature or spinstat, since temp of a spundown drive isn't going to matter.

Link to comment
  • 2 months later...

Ever since I set up a 4tbx2 (8tb) parity array on my Areca (so I can use my Seagate Archive 8tb drives as data drives), I've not been able to autostart the array.  It always comes up that it's missing the parity drive (which is the Areca array ARC-1231-VOL), even though it's on the dropdown for you to select.  All the other drives on the controller have the correct naming (using the instructions at the start of the thread for that).  Hopefully this weekend I'll get all the drives moved over to the Areca (Still have 6 drives on the MV8, although 3 of those will be pulled after the data is moved to my latest 8tb).

 

I will say the Areca card is FAST, getting 132MB/sec on a parity check at the moment..

 

I've tried setting the delay after issuing the udevadm trigger, I've tried it up to 60s total, with the same result (I don't think this is the problem though, as even at 5, all the drives except parity are in their proper place in the array config). 

 

Any ideas?  It'd also be great if Limetech supported temp and spindown/spinup on these cards, not sure how much trouble that'd be though.

 

 

Link to comment

Ever since I set up a 4tbx2 (8tb) parity array on my Areca (so I can use my Seagate Archive 8tb drives as data drives), I've not been able to autostart the array.  It always comes up that it's missing the parity drive (which is the Areca array ARC-1231-VOL), even though it's on the dropdown for you to select.  All the other drives on the controller have the correct naming (using the instructions at the start of the thread for that).  Hopefully this weekend I'll get all the drives moved over to the Areca (Still have 6 drives on the MV8, although 3 of those will be pulled after the data is moved to my latest 8tb).

 

I will say the Areca card is FAST, getting 132MB/sec on a parity check at the moment..

 

I've tried setting the delay after issuing the udevadm trigger, I've tried it up to 60s total, with the same result (I don't think this is the problem though, as even at 5, all the drives except parity are in their proper place in the array config). 

 

Any ideas?  It'd also be great if Limetech supported temp and spindown/spinup on these cards, not sure how much trouble that'd be though.

 

Not sure and it has been a while since I played with the Areca. I personally do not allow my array to self start. I restart it so rarely, that when I do I want to make sure all is ship shape before starting. If the server crashed, I definitely want to have a look at it first.

 

As I remember, by default, I think there is a special character (maybe a ":") in the volume name that Areca assigns that interferes with unRAID recognition. That may be your problem. I believe that renaming the volume would require undefining and redefining the volume, and therefore rebuilding parity.

Link to comment

I also restart mine rarely, and if I do it's usually either a unraid core update, or hardware update.  It's not been a huge deal for the array to not start, as I usually remember it.  As far as I can tell currently, the volume identification for that volume is:  ARC-1231-VOL, and that's it.  I'll check it when I restart for the RC6 update after parity finishes this evening (replaced 4 emptied 2tb's for a new 8tb last night, leaves me with 3 2tb and 1 3tb left to move data from and remove..  I'm going to have a bunch of 2tb paperweights, lol.

 

 

Link to comment

You're actually correct, the drive only shows the ARC-1231-VOL when added, there's a # and long number string (guess it treats it like a serial number).  Wonder if there's any way to fix that.

 

Example:

 

2015-06-12%2017_10_07-Greenshot.png

 

I think it is the "#" causing the problem. When you define the volume you should have edited the name to omit the "#".

Link to comment
You're actually correct, the drive only shows the ARC-1231-VOL when added, there's a # and long number string (guess it treats it like a serial number).  Wonder if there's any way to fix that.

 

Sure you just go into the Areca config either by boot bios, or much easier, via the web interface built into the card.  Just go to the web address of the card via browser and go to VolumeSet, Modify VolumeSet.  I set mine as follows.  No issues after that.

 

ARC1280V2   

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...

I've installed an ARC-1260 on a test machine.  Updated the firmware to V1.49.  Added the commands to the "go" file.  Went to McRAID and made it JBOD, Disk Capacity Truncation Mode to No Truncation, and Time To Spin Down Idle HDD to 60.  I was able to successfully start the unRaid array.

 

The problem I'm having is that I can write to unRaid at 80 MB/second but can only read from it at 35 MB/second.  Is there a setting in McRAID or unRaid I need to set to fix the read speed?

Link to comment

Are you writing to a parity protected array, because you shouldn't be able to write at 80 meg/sec?  Best I've seen is 40-50.

 

Reading should be as fast as the related disk being accessed, and unless this is a very old disk, you should be about 100 after which time your network speed will throttle you (if you are on gigabit ethernet).

 

My Areca 1280 is as fast as the motherboard ports or my IBM 1015 card.

 

Link to comment

On my working server, I'm seeing the same numbers as you with 50 MB/second write and 100 MB/second read.

 

On the test server with the ARC-1260, I have 2 disks connected directly to it with one being parity and the other being data drive which is parity protected.  I'm surprise I'm getting 80 MB/second write to the data drive but I thought I would at least get the same read speed from the data drive since the parity drive is not involved.

 

Googling shows some issues with read speed but that was in RAID mode.

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

Just wanted to call the attention of Areca fans to this post, quoted here -

Update!

 

Ching at Areca cooked me a driver for the ARC-1320ix for UNRAID 6.0.1!

Now it works perfectly :)

 

Driver attached if anyone needs it.

 

Driver is attached to his post.  Two things of interest here, one that there's a specific driver for that model, but more amazing is that there is a guy named Ching at Areca who on request makes up-to-date drivers for unRAID!  Now that's something!

 

Don't know if you will ever see this, Ching, but thank you!

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.