How to erase servers with RAID setup?
- Ivana Sunaric
Performing RaidKill is required to complete the disk erasure on servers.
As a means of data integrity protection, most of the servers have a RAID setup - to combine several physical disks into one virtual drive that is accessed as data storage unit. Erasing server hard disks (SAS and SATA) requires the RAID setup to be killed - and thus Securaze detects such a RAID setup. Since it is necessary for Securaze software to access each and every physical disk to wipe it, the removal of that virtual drive is necessary, before the full wipe is completed and deemed as successful.
What needs to be done in order to do that?
We have implemented features in Work that will automatically turn off the RAID functionality on the server RAID controller – but warn the operator upfront, cause even that first step of turning it off will cause loss of data (which you will not want, when you just use Securaze Work to do e.g. the Diagnose functions on the Server – this is why we will never fiddle with RAID settings just by starting up Work).
By confirming, the user allows Securaze to destroy RAID setup and provide information about each disk (serial number, capacity etc.) in the erasure report.
Why does this matter for erasure?
When we are talking about securely erasing data from disks, we do typically not care about a logical drive, but we want to make absolutely sure that everything is gone from the physical disk, that might be repurposed, sold on, transported etc.
Different behavior with different controller vintage:
Some older RAID controller models will not allow to have a direct access to each and every physical disk drive – Securaze Work will automatically configure that direct access where possible, some models do require a reboot of the machine to make the configuration change active – Operator is notified about the need to reboot in the application.
With vintage models e.g the HP 410i series of RAID controllers it is crucial that those are updated to the latest firmware version available and have some cache-memory installed, to support wiping of more than 2 physical disks at a time. Securaze Work will automatically detect if there is old firmware installed or no cache-memory and notify the operator of that limitation.
What can the operator do upfront?
If possible, switch your RAID controller to IT/HBA/JBOD mode for optimum performance and to prevent the necessity of a reboot to start securazing. If you do not do it upfront, no problem at all – Securaze Work will do it for you.