Steve Boley from Dell provided this great document:

Dell(tm) PowerEdge(tm) Expandable RAID Controller 2, 2/si, 3/si, and
3/di Drive Rebuild Guide

HOW TO REBUILD A FAILED DRIVE WITH PERC2, 2/si, 3/si, and 3/di RAID
CONTROLLERS.

First command to use before rebuilding any failed drives is the
container list command. The drive id, 
if failed, will either be a missing member, or have an exclamation mark
next to it. All drive syntax 
for SCSI ids are (bus[channel]:scsi id:lun[always zero]) The endstate
necessary for drives to rebuild 
is MISSING MEMBER (remember this).

Original Drive Rebuilding

a. Quicker method (but more difficult) :

If drive is a missing member skip the next step but if an exclamation
mark next to drive SCSI id is there:

1. Use disk remove dead_partitions (bus, id, lun) using the id of the
drive identified during the container 
list command. NEVER pull a drive that is not showing as a MISSING
MEMBER. Further down I will add the instructions 
for preparing and removing a drive that is in an array and not failed or
missing (ie SMART ALERTS). Whether the 
container is failed or not and container is not degraded or critical, it
is still a member of container even if 
failed and if is PULLED or INITIALIZED it will DROP the CONTAINER and
DATA LOSS will occur.

2. Next command is controller rescan and then do another container list.

3. If drive is not showing as a missing member repeat the controller
rescan.

4. Next command is container set failover x [x is container number found
in container list] (bb,ii,ll) [bus, id, lun]. 
If the drive is part of more than 1 container, use the number of the
lowest container and procede numerically on up 
all the containers the drive is part of.

For example: container set failover 0 (0,3,0) SCSI id3 for container 0

Should hear the drive array being hammered and command to check the
status of the rebuild is task list.

b. Easier method but requires reboot:

You have to have 2.X firmware on the controller and 2.5 or higher is
preferred. Do NOT flash firmware on controller 
while drive is failed!

To check if autorebuild feature of controller is enabled run 'controller
show automatic_failover'. If disabled do 
'controller set automatic_failover' for autorebuild to be turned on.

1. Do the container list and identify which drive is failed with
exclamation mark.

2. Reboot the system and while it is reposting and before the raid
controller initializes, pull the failed drive.

3. It will then come up as missing member when raid initializes. After
booted up insert the drive and the autorebuild 
will kick in and reinitialize the drive and start rebuild. The
autorebuild will only work when the drive is in missing 
member status.

4. task list -- will give status of rebuild

New Drive Rebuilding

1. Follow previous instructions in section a steps 1 through 3 until you
have drive showing as missing member or you
can follow the procedure in section b as well as an easier solution.

2. Insert new drive into system after missing member and raid controller
should scan the bus and autospin the drive 
and autorebuild function will kick in on the controller.

3. Use the task list command to monitor the rebuild progress.

Non-Failed Drive (SMART Alert)

1. container list to see what drive is failed with exclamation mark.

2. enclosure show slot -- to show slot versus scsi id

3. enclosure prepare slot X (x is number of slot)

4. enclosure show slot X again to see if slot is deactivated

5. Remove drive and do enclosure prepare slot again to reactivate and be
missing member.

6. controller rescan

7. Insert new drive and should auto initialize and start rebuild.

8. task list to follow progress of rebuild





Steve Boley
Advanced SCSI Solutions Team
Dell Incorporated