Configure NVMe RAID Using BRU

BRU on Oracle AMD Platforms

On Exadata Server X10M, BRU is employed in "Native" mode, which is based on Linux RAID metadata version 1.2. Oracle AMD platforms do not support IMSM (Intel© Matrix Storage Manager) containers and metadata, which are Intel VROC features.

Enabling/Disabling BRU

By default, BRU is disabled in UEFI. There is no BRU enable/disable switch in the UEFI menus. BRU is enabled by modifying the UEFI configuration in Oracle ILOM 'expert mode'. You must stop the system to perform this procedure.

BRU (Boot RAID on UEFI) enables Exadata Server X10M to boot from NVMe RAID1 devices. BRU replaces the boot device discovery functionality provided by Intel© VROC (Virtual RAID on CPU). Note that BRU is not a feature-for-feature replacement of VROC. BRU does not provide RAID device configuration and management capability. The RAID1 boot devices used by BRU are created with Linux mdadm utility. The underlying RAID functionality is managed with Linux mdadm utility and md driver.

The Configure NVMe RAID1 Boot Devices procedure configures a RAID1 volume so that you can install Oracle Linux. Boot RAID on UEFI (BRU), implements a UEFI driver that identifies a bootable NVMe M.2 RAID1 volume in the UEFI environment. OnExadata Server X10M, BRU uses native Linux RAID1 metadata (version 1.2) and is fully compatible with mdadm utilities in Linux.

Note:

Please note that Windows© and VMware© do not support booting from BRU devices. This procedure applies only to Exadata Server X10M with Oracle Linux and installed NVMe M.2 SSD boot devices.

Access the host console locally or through Oracle ILOM.

For instructions, see Accessing Oracle ILOM.
Create a RAID1 with Oracle Linux mdadm.
Assuming the system has two NVMe M.2 drives containing namespace of the same size (for information about creating NVMe namespaces, see "man -s 1 nvme").
1. Type: # nvme list
```
  # nvme list
        Node         SN             Model                      Namespace Usage             Format  FW Rev
        ------------ -------------- -------------------------- --------- ----------------- ------- --------
        /dev/nvme0n1 S435NF0KA01142 SAMSUNG MZ1LB960HAJQ-00007 1         960.20GB/960.20GB 512B+0B EDA7202Q
        /dev/nvme0n1 S435NF0KA01137 SAMSUNG MZ1LB960HAJQ-00007 1         960.20GB/960.20GB 512B+0B EDA7202Q
        #
```
2. Create a RAID1 from the namespaces, specifying metadata version 1.2
  # mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices 2 /dev/nvme0n1 /dev/nvme1n1 --metadata=1.2
3. Shutdown the Oracle Linux OS.
  Use the recommended Oracle Linux OS shutdown command. # /etc/shutdown
4. Stop the system.
```
-> stop /SYS
Are you sure you want to stop /SYS (y/n)? y 
Stopping /SYS ->
```
5. Enable BRU. See "Enabling BRU" steps.
Enable expert_mode in the SP Shell:

-> set /System/BIOS/Config expert_mode=enabled

Set 'expert_mode' to 'enabled'

->
Dump uefi configuration file to remote system:

-> dump -destinationscp://username@remote_host.us.foo.com/var/tmp/ueficfg.xml/System/BIOS/Config

Enter remote user password: ********

Dump successful.

->

On the remote host, use a text editor to modify ueficfg.xml; find the 'Block RAID in UEFI' heading, change the Block_RAID_in_UEFI value from 'Disable' to 'Enable'.

Change this

<Block_RAID_in_UEFI>
<!-- Block RAID in UEFI --> 
<!-- Description: Enable/Disable Block RAID in UEFI --> 
<!-- Possible Values: "Disable", "Enable" --> 
<!-- Expert Mode --> <Block_RAID_in_UEFI>Disable</Block_RAID_in_UEFI> 
</Block_RAID_in_UEFI>

To this:

<Block_RAID_in_UEFI>
<!-- Block RAID in UEFI --> 
<!-- Description: Enable/Disable Block RAID in UEFI --> 
<!-- Possible Values: "Disable", "Enable" -->  
<Block_RAID_in_UEFI>Enable</Block_RAID_in_UEFI> 
</Block_RAID_in_UEFI>

Save the file.

From the SP. reload the modified UEFI configuration file:

-> load -source scp://username@remote_host.us.foo.com/var/tmp/ueficfg.xml /System/BIOS/Config

Enter remote user password: ********

Load successful.

->
Disable ILOM expert mode.

-> set /System/BIOS/Config expert_mode=disabled

Set 'expert_mode' to 'disabled'

->
Restart the system
```
-> start /SYS
Are you sure you want to start /SYS (y/n)? y
Starting /SYS
->
```
For more details, see Controlling System Power.

The power-on self-test (POST) sequence begins.
This completes the RAID configuration.

You can now install an operating system on the volume that you created.