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I have different Promise IDE Array cards in my workstations at home that have OS management tools that I can do quite a few things on the array other than say deleting the array and starting over. I am remote managing our new servers, I didn't order them and so I don't have access to any of the information on the servers other than what I can figure out digging through device manager. Our IT admin isn't a big help on weekends.

I downloaded and installed Intel Active System Control, it shows:
S5000 series Intel system board
Raid is on INTEL SROMBSAS18E SCSI Disk Device, Total Size 543.89 GB
I am fairly confident that there are 6 x 146 GB SAS Drives in the rack.

I went on the manufacturers website trying to figure out certain things but they don't offer our rack with these options, nor do they have donwloads for drivers and apps.

So what I am trying to figure out is: what kind of array is it, RAID 5?
What utility can I install on the server to help me manage or view the RAID?
Does Intel have something for their On-Board RAID controllers?

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I'm not familiar with that exact SCSI controller, but Intel definately do have OS-based configuration options.

You will need to find or download the ISO for the management suite for your motherboard. We've got a few servers that run on the S5000 platform and they all require their specific disc to install the management software, so you will need to make sure you get the right one!

To find the correct image, pop over to http://downloadcenter.intel.com and using the left-hand navigation, go to Server Products > Intel® Xeon® Processor 5000 Sequence-based Servers > (your exact model number)

If you're lucky, there will be a RAID controller avaliable under "Utilities, Tools and Examples". Otherwise, find the management CD ISO, download, mount/burn it, and install it from there.

If you can't do that for whatever reason, figuring out the RAID level should be fairly straight forward if you know the EXACT disk configuration.

If you're sure that it's 6x 146Gb drives, then this sounds like either RAID-6 (4x Data, 2x parity), or RAID-5 with a hot spare (4x Data, 1x Party, 1x Spare).

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  • I can't find the exact motherboard model anywhere. The system summary only gives bios/bmc/fw version. I was looking for anything similiar to what is in the list of available products. Is their a 3rd party utility that I can find the MB model?
    – Breadtruck
    Aug 9, 2009 at 23:45
  • Yep. One from Intel themselves: downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=861 or a pretty good 3rd party one: cpuid.com/cpuz.php
    – Mark Henderson
    Aug 9, 2009 at 23:54
  • I couldn't get the intel one to run on my OS even with run as administrator , compatibility mode, as well as unblocked. CPUID did the trick, it was a S5000PAL. I have used CPUID on my various computers at home, but just assumed that it wouldn't be able to run on x64 Server 2008. Never assume anything!
    – Breadtruck
    Aug 10, 2009 at 2:37
  • Got the Intel RAID Web Console running it ended up being RAID-5 with a hot spare (4x Data, 1x Party, 1x Spare).
    – Breadtruck
    Aug 10, 2009 at 2:49
  • When looking at the properties for any of the drives in the RAID Web Console it shows Product ID = ST3146356SS which is supposed to be a Cheetah 15K.6 SAS 3-GB/s 146-GB Hard Drive. Drive Speed : UNKNOWN & Link Speed : UNKNOWN. Is there anyway to run a test on the Global Hot Spare to verify what it really is capable of?
    – Breadtruck
    Aug 10, 2009 at 3:01

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