Enables verbose return. Use this flag to print detailed error message information.

Parses the raid5 command without calling the API. If the string does not parse correctly, an error message is printed to stderr; otherwise there is no output.

Target RAID device, as returned by raid5 getagent.

The environment variable RaidAgentDevice is the default value for the device when none is specified with the -d flag. If RaidAgentDevice is not set and no -d switch is present, an error is generated.

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Note: For information on raid5 getagent, see "Restarting the Agent and Checking the Config File" in Chapter 3.

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r5: Raid level 5

Logical unit number to assign the unit (0-3).

Indicates which physical disks to bind, in the format bd, where b is the physical bus name (a through e) and d is the device number on the bus (0 through 3). For example, a0 represents the device 0 on bus A, and e2 represents device 2 on bus E.

Maximum time in hours to rebuild a replacement disk. Default is 4 hours; legal values are any number greater than or equal to 0.

A rebuild time of 2 hours rebuilds the disk more quickly, but degrades response time slightly. A rebuild time of 0 hours rebuilds as quickly as possible but degrades performance significantly.

If the customer requires fast response time and wants to minimize degradation to normal I/O activity, enter a longer period of time, such as 24 hours. The customer can change the rebuild time later without damaging the information stored on the physical disk unit.

Number of blocks (sectors) per physical disk in a RAID-5 stripe. Each sector is 0.5 KB. Default is 128 sectors (65,536 bytes); legal values are any number greater than 0, in even multiples of 16.

The smaller the stripe element size, the more efficient the distribution of data read or written. However, if the stripe size is too small for a single host I/O operation, the ORACLE database application must access two stripes, thus causing the hardware to read and/or write from two disk modules instead of one. Generally, it is best to use the smallest stripe element size that will rarely force access to another stripe.

With RAID–5 technology, the hardware writes parity information to each disk module in the array. For highest data availability for a RAID–5 group, the disk modules making up the group should be on different SCSI internal buses (A, B, C, and so on). Figure A-1 illustrates user and parity data with the default stripe element size of 128 sectors (65,536 bytes) in a five-module RAID–5 group. The stripe size comprises all stripe elements. Notice that the disk block addresses in the stripe proceed sequentially from the first module to the second, third, and fourth, then back to the first, and so on.

Figure A-1. Distribution of User and Parity Data in a RAID–5 Group

Values are:

The default is none. confer with the customer as to whether the site wants caching enabled. The customer can also specify caching in a separate operation. For complete information on caching, see Chapter 7 of the CHALLENGE RAID-5 Owner's Guide.

Number of stripes in a LUN. For example, in binding a RAID-5 group with a stripe count of 2, partition the LUN into 2 stripes, thus preventing access to the remainder of the available space. This option is useful for short bind operations. Legal values are any number greater than or equal to 0. The default is 0, which binds the maximum number of stripes available.