The motivation
A lot of people are using Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) RAID drivers simply because they are cheap and come on better motherboards. Intel proveds a GUI manager for managing the RAID arrays that works fine. However, the GUI manager won't install on Windows Hyper-V 2008 R2 (aka Windows Server Core) server because it doesn't support Windows Presentation Technology (WPF). Yes, IRST GUI is built with .net and uses WPF extensively but in overall is really poorly written software. But that's another story, the fact is that it is useless on Hyper-V 2008 R2. And worse, there is no command line utility nor a PowerShell cmdlet available - basically the user is left in the dark. The arrays can be managed through IRST setup at the boot time, but that's hardly usable since not a lot people will periodically reboot server just to check the RAID array status.
The solution
Meet Righthand's utilities for IRST that should fill the huge gap in IRST management by providing various kinds of utilities.
The progress
24.4.2012 0.2 released. Features command line support to view the status of arrays, volumes, disks, ports and RAID support. New requirement: .net 4.0. Updated this page as well.
9.7.2011 0.1 released, early alpha
NOTE: I am not responsible for any problem this tool might cause not even if aliens materialize inside your computer. Use it on your own risk.
The goal
The goal is to create a command line utility, a PowerShell version and a service that would allow controlling your RAID arrays from anywhere including sending warnings and stuff over popular Internet channels (think e-mail, twitter, etc.)
I will develop this application (and this web page) as time permits - actually, the time is the only brake right now.
That said, go ahead and try the alpha version of command line utility. Feedback is much appreciated.
Feedback channel
The official feedback channel is through forums at forums.rthand.com.
Utilities
All tools are built on .net 3.5 4.0.
0.2 version of command line utility
This is the very first alpha version that outputs important data about arrays and volumes. It is intended for initial testing only and all it does it outputs the RAID array data read from IRST driver.
Launch it using RhIRSTCommand.exe executable (it needs Administrator privileges to access IRST driver).
The output should look like this (data for two arrays is shown; the most important one is "raw state"):
RhIRSTCommand_0_2_0_0.zip (774.74 kb) (32bit, v0.2.0.0 - 24.4.2012)
RhIRSTCommand_0_1_0_0.zip (428.95 kb) (32bit, v0.1.0.0 - 9.7.2011)
See installation instructions below. It should work on both Hyper-V 2008 R2 and any other computer running .net 4.0 and IRST drivers.
Command line
Usage: RhIRSTCommand -[view|help] [OPTIONS]+
Example: RhIRSTCommand -view -v ... lists all volumes
Run with -help command to see more options.
PowerShell
TBA
Service
TBA
Installation
These instructions might not be complete, so feedback me any improvement. I will build a test PC and create more detailed instructions eventually.
Get the IRST driver from Intel.
Common (Hyper-V 2008 R2)
Follow these steps for installation on Hyper-V 2008 R2 server. No need for it on a desktop computer (granted it has both IRST and .net 4.0 installed).
Unpack IRST driver (tested with 10.1.0.1008 10.8.0.1003).
Launch the setup on a hyper-v machine and start installing. It will unpack the files in a temp folder (listed on setup window) and soon will yield an error. Don't click ok, instead copy unpacked files (c:\Windows\Temp\IIF2 folder) to another folder and then click ok - setup will delete the temp files.
Install IRST driver
Find iaStor.inf in the folder where drivers were copied in previous step. Run this command line:
pnputil -i -a iaStor.inf
Then restart the server.
Enable .net 3.5 4.0
See this page for instructions and binaries.
Command Line Utility
(optionally) Create a folder and unpack Righthand Utilities there. Add these files below from IRST driver (as I really don't want to redistribute Intel files):
- IAStorCommon.dll
- IAStorDataMgr.dll
- IAStorUtil.dll
- ISDI.dll
- IsdiInterop.dll