Dell H310 User's Manual

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Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 User’s Guide Regulatory Model: UCSA-801, UCSB-800, UCSM-800, UCPA-801, UCPB-800, UCPM-800, and UCPE-800 ...

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Notes, Cautions, and Warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARN...

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Contents 1 Overview.......................................................................................................................................9 Supported Operating Systems......................................................................

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Recovering Cache Data................................................................................................................................... 23 Battery Transparent Learn Cycle..................................................................

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Break Mirror.....................................................................................................................................................46 Managing Preserved Cache.................................................................

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CacheCade Virtual Disk Management............................................................................................................. 62 Creating CacheCade Virtual Disks...........................................................................

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Firmware Fault State Error Message............................................................................................................... 75 Foreign Configuration Found Error Message...............................................................

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RAID Terminology...................................................................................................................................................85 Disk Striping..........................................................................

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1 Overview The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 family of storage controller cards has the following characteristics: • Complies with serial-attached SCSI (SAS) 2.0 providing up to 6 Gb/sec throughput. • Supports...

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Specification H310 H710 H710P H810 Maximum number of spans per Disk Group 8 8 8 8 Maximum number of Virtual Disks per Disk Group 16 16 16 16 Online Capacity Expansion Yes Yes Yes Yes Dedicated and Global Hot Spares Yes Yes Yes Yes Hot Swap Devi...

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Contacting Dell NOTE: Dell provides several online and telephone-based support and service options. If you do not have an active Internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell product cat...

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2 Features Some of the features discussed for PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards are: • Physical Disk Power Management • Types of Virtual Disk Initialization • Consistency Checks • Disk Roaming • Fast Path �...

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NOTE: There is a delay to I/O operations when a configured disk is being spun up. Types Of Virtual Disk Initialization You can initialize the virtual disks as described in the following sections: CAUTION: The initializing virtual disks task erases th...

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Disk Roaming Disk roaming is moving the physical disks from one cable connection or backplane slot to another on the same controller. The controller automatically recognizes the relocated physical disks and logically places them in the virtual disk...

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Table 2. FastPath Eligibility Across Supported RAID Levels RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 6 Read Yes Yes (Optimal and Degraded) Yes (Optimal and Degraded) Yes (Optimal and Degraded) Write Yes No No No In addition, FastPath-capable virtual disks are chara...

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3. Boot the system and import the foreign configuration that is detected. You can do one of the following: – Press <F> to automatically import the foreign configuration. – Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility and navigate to the Foreign Con...

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Virtual Disk Read Cache Policies The read policy of a virtual disk determines how the controller handles reads to that virtual disk. The read policies are: • Always Read Ahead—Allows the controller to read sequentially ahead of requested data and...

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Source RAID Level Target RAID Level Number of Physical Disks (Beginning) Number of Physical Disks (End) Capacity Expansion Possible Description disk into a mirrored virtual disk by adding one disk. RAID 0 RAID 5 1 or more 3 or more Yes At l...

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Source RAID Level Target RAID Level Number of Physical Disks (Beginning) Number of Physical Disks (End) Capacity Expansion Possible Description disk space used for distributed parity data. RAID 6 RAID 5 4 or more 4 or more Yes Removes one se...

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of a virtual disk. The target disk needs to be a hot spare that qualifies as a rebuild disk. The physical disk with the SMART error is marked as failed only after the successful completion of the Replace Member. This avoids putting the array in deg...

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Physical Disk Failure Detection Failed physical disks are detected and rebuilds automatically start to new disks that are inserted into the same slot. Automatic rebuilds can also happen transparently with hot spares. If you have configured hot spare...

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Controller Cache Preservation The controller is capable of preserving its cache in the event of a system power outage or improper system shutdown. The PERC H710, H710P, and H810 controllers are attached to a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) that provides b...

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3 Deploying The PERC Card CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or telephone se...

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Figure 1. Removing and Installing the PERC Adapter 1. PCIe slot 2. SAS cable connectors (2) 3. PERC adapter 4. screw (1) Figure 2. Removing and Installing the PERC Mini Blade Controller 26 ...

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1. release lever (2) 2. PERC stack-up connector 3. PERC mini blade controller 4. screws (2) Figure 3. Removing and Installing the PERC Mini Monolithic Controller 1. release lever (2) 2. storage-controller card holder 3. storage controller card 4. ba...

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3. Install the storage controller in the appropriate controller slot and connect all the cables to the storage controller. CAUTION: When removing or replacing the PERC Mini Monolithic Controller, hold the card by its edges marked by the blue touch p...

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CAUTION: If you remove any cables other than the ones added to enable redundant path support, the enclosure and disks can get disconnected, and virtual disk may fail. Perform the following steps to configure the hardware to utilize redundant paths o...

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4 Driver Installation The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P, and H810 cards require software drivers to operate with the supported operating systems. This chapter contains the procedures for installing the drivers for the PERC ...

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4. From the list of drivers displayed, select the driver you require. Select the self-extracting zip file and click Run. Copy the driver to a diskette drive, CD, DVD, or USB drive. Repeat this step for all the drivers you require. 5. During the oper...

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9. Reboot the system when prompted. Updating Existing Windows Server 2008 Or Windows Server 2008 R2 NOTE: Close all applications on your system before you update the driver. 1. Insert the media (CD, DVD, or USB drive) containing the driver. 2. Select...

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Installing Or Updating The RPM Driver Package With DKMS Support NOTE: This procedure is applicable for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 SP7 and SUSE Enterprise Linux 10 SP4. NOTE: For SUSE Enterprise Linux 10 SP4, immediately following the operating system...

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You see a message similar to the following one: <driver name>, <driver version>, <new kernel version>: installed. 3. If the previous device driver is in use, you must reboot the system for the updated driver to take effect. 35 ...

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5 Management Applications For PERC Cards Dell OpenManage Storage Management applications enable you to manage and configure the RAID system, create and manage multiple disk groups, control and monitor multiple RAID systems, and provide online mainte...

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A BIOS screen displays information about the controller and configuration. 2. During startup, press <Ctrl> <R> when prompted by the BIOS screen. 3. Use the arrow keys to select the RAID controller you want to configure, and press <Ente...

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Notation Meaning and Use Example down- arrow key Use the down-arrow key to move to the lower menu items within a menu or to a lower level menu. You can also use the down-arrow key to open a menu list in a popup window, such as the stripe element ...

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For more information, see the topic Managing Dedicated Hot Spares. 3. Initialize the virtual disks. NOTE: When you use one physical disk group to create multiple virtual disks, all the virtual disks must be configured with the same RAID level. When ...

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Parameter Description No-Read-Ahead specifies that the controller does not use read ahead for the current virtual disk. Adaptive specifies that the controller begins using Read-Ahead if the two most recent disk accesses occurred in sequential secto...

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15. Press the spacebar to make the settings active so that you can change them. An X is displayed beside Advanced Settings. The settings are the stripe element size, read policy, and write policy. You can also choose advanced options such as forcing...

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5. Press <Enter>. Converting Physical Disk To Non-RAID For PERC H310 Conversion of a Physical Disk to Non-RAID allows direct operating system access to the drive. Non-RAID disks cannot be used within a Virtual Disk nor can they be used as Hot ...

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The Consistency Check runs and checks the redundancy data in the virtual disks. 7. After you start the Consistency Check, press <Esc> to display the previous menu if needed. Importing Or Clearing Foreign Configurations Using The VD Mgmt Menu Wh...

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• The physical disks in a non-redundant virtual disk are removed. The following constraints apply to the physical disks that are considered for import: • The disk state of a physical disk can change from the time the foreign configuration is scan...

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Break Mirror A Break Mirror operation is an operation that can be performed only on RAID1 arrays. It provides a way to 'split' the mirror and spin-down one of the hard disks, which can then be imported into the configuration of a different...

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Perform the following steps to select whether to import the virtual disk or discard the preserved cache: 1. On the VD Mgmt screen, click on a controller icon. 2. Press <F2> to display the available actions. 3. Select Manage Preserved Cache. A m...

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Deleting Virtual Disks NOTE: You cannot delete a virtual disk during an initialization. NOTE: Warning messages appear stating the effect of deleting a virtual disk. Click OK twice to complete the virtual disk deletion. To delete virtual disks, perfo...

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BIOS Configuration Utility Menu Options The first menu that is displayed when you access the BIOS Configuration Utility <Ctrl> <R> is the main menu screen. It lists the controller, controller number, and other information, such as the sl...

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Menu Item Selected in Left Panel Information Displayed in Right Panel • Security property of the Disk Group Virtual Disks Disk Group # Properties: • Number of virtual disks (VD) • Number of physical disks (PD) • Space available in the virtual...

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Menu Item Selected in Left Panel Information Displayed in Right Panel • Number of physical disks (PD) • Space available on the physical disks • Number of free segments • Number of dedicated hot spares Hot Spares Physical Disk Properties: • ...

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Physical Disk Management (PD Mgmt) The Physical Disk Management screen (PD Mgmt) displays physical disk information and action menus. The screen displays physical disk IDs, vendor names, disk size, type, state, and disk group (DG). You can sort the ...

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Action Description Remove HS Removes a dedicated hot spare from its disk group or a global hot spare from the global pool of hot spares. Rebuild Select Rebuild to rebuild one or more failed physical disks. For information on performing a physical di...

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Option Description controller and disable it on the other controllers. The system can then boot from the BIOS-enabled controller. Enable BIOS Stop On Error Select the option to stop the system BIOS during bootup if there are BIOS errors. The option...

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Creating Global Hot Spares You can use a global hot spare to replace a failed physical disk in any redundant array as long as the capacity of the global hot spare is equal to or larger than the coerced capacity of the failed physical disk. Perform t...

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NOTE: The replacement disk must be a hot spare or an unconfigured disk without a foreign configuration. It must have the same or greater capacity and should be of the same type as the disk it is replacing. Restrictions and Limitations The following ...

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Controller Management Enabling Boot Support NOTE: See your system documentation to ensure the proper boot order is selected in the system BIOS. In a multiple controller environment, you can enable BIOS on multiple controllers. However, if you want to...

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NOTE: The controller automatically imports every optimal and degraded foreign configuration without enabling the feature if there is no native configuration on the controller. To enable Auto Import: 1. Press <Ctrl> <N> to access the Ctrl...

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3. From System Setup Main Menu, enter Device Settings. Device Settings lists all the RAID controllers in the system. Use the arrow keys or mouse to select the RAID controller you want to configure/mange and press <Enter> or click on the mouse ...

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* Safe mode on errors: The system will continue booting as long as the boot volume is not on this controller. Drives connected to the controller will be reported as unconfigured good drives to the RAID management utilities upon a successful boot. N...

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6 CacheCade The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H710, H710P, and H810 cards support CacheCade, a feature that can improve application performance by increasing read caching capacity. The CacheCade feature makes use of high performing solid st...

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CacheCade Virtual Disk Management The Virtual Disk Management screen is the first screen that is displayed when you access a RAID controller from the main menu screen on the BIOS Configuration Utility. The following are CacheCade-related actions you...

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Deleting CacheCade Virtual Disks To delete CacheCade virtual disks, perform the following steps in the BIOS Configuration Utility: 1. Press <Ctrl> <N> to access the Virtual Disk Management screen. 2. Use the arrow keys to move the cursor ...

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• Any number of SSDs can be added to a CacheCade virtual disk. • There is no SAS and SATA mixing allowed within a CacheCade virtual disk, so SATA SSDs cannot be added to a SAS CacheCade virtual disk and vice versa. • HDDs cannot be added to a ...

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7 Security Key And RAID Management NOTE: PERC H310 does not support any security implementations. Security Key Implementation The Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H710, H710P, and H810 cards support Self-Encrypting Disks (SED) for protection of...

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Creating A Security Key Perform the following steps to create a security key on the controller: NOTE: There is no passphrase backup option when you create a security key; you need to remember your passphrase. 1. During the host system boot up, press...

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NOTE: If there is an existing configuration on the controller, it is updated with the new security key. If you had previously removed any secured disks, you still need to supply the old passphrase to import them. Deleting A Security Key NOTE: Delete...

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5. Highlight the Secure Disk Group option and press <Enter>. NOTE: If you select to secure a Disk Group, all VDs part of the Disk Group are secured. Securing Pre-Existing Virtual Disks If an unsecured virtual disk was created on a controller, y...

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3. Press <F2> to display a menu of available actions. 4. Select Import to import the foreign configuration or Clear to delete the foreign configuration. Press <Enter>. NOTE: To Clear, you need to Instant Secure Erase foreign configuration...

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there is a security key present. Select the Secure VD option as No in the Create New VD menu. See the topic Creating Virtual Disks for steps on how to create an unsecured virtual disk. Failure To Delete Security Key A security key is used to lock or...

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8 Troubleshooting To get help with your Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, H710, H710P and H810, you can contact your Dell Technical Service representative or see dell.com/support. BIOS Error Messages The controller BIOS read-only memory (R...

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• The controller detects an Error-Correcting Code (ECC) error while performing its cache checking routine during initialization. • The controller discards the cache rather than sending it to the disk subsystem because the data integrity cannot ...

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Corrective Action: Check the cable connections and fix any issues. Restart the system. If there are no cable problems, press any key or <C> to continue. Dirty Cache Data Error Message Error Message: The following virtual disks are missing: (x...

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Corrective Action: Check the cable connections and fix any problems before restarting the system. If there are no cable problems, press any key or <Y> to continue. Adapter At Baseport Not Responding Error Message Error Message: Adapter at Bas...

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Virtual Disks Partially Degraded Error Message Error Message: x Virtual Disk(s) Partially Degraded, where x is the number of virtual disks partially degraded. Probable Cause: This message is displayed when the BIOS detects a single disk failure in a...

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Foreign Configuration Not Found In <Ctrl> <R> Error Message Error Message: The foreign configuration message is present during POST but no foreign configurations are present in the foreign view page in <Ctrl> <R>. All virtua...

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CAUTION: When removing or replacing the PERC Mini Monolithic Controller, hold the card by its edges marked by the blue touch points. Do not handle the card while holding the battery or the heatsink. For more information, see figure “Removing and ...

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To recover a virtual disk from a degraded state, you must replace the failed physical disk and rebuild it. Once the rebuilding process is complete, the virtual disk state changes from degraded to optimal. For information on rebuilding the disk, see...

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Corrective Action: The issue occurs because of any of the following causes: • The driver is not native in the operating system. To resolve the issue, press <F6> to install the RAID device driver during installation. • The virtual disks...

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Multiple Disks Become Inaccessible Issue: Rebuilding the physical disks after multiple disks become simultaneously inaccessible. Corrective Action: Multiple physical disk errors in a single array typically indicate a failure in cabling or connectio...

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Physical Disk Fails During Reconstruction On Redundant Virtual Disk Issue: A physical disk fails during a reconstruction process on a redundant virtual disk that has a hot spare. Corrective Action: The dedicated hot spare goes to Ready state and th...

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Smart Error Detected On A Physical Disk In A Non-Redundant Virtual Disk Issue: A SMART error is detected on a physical disk in a redundant virtual disk. Corrective Action: Perform the following steps: 1. Back up your data. 2. Use Replace Member or s...

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Corrective Action: The error message is displayed when the Linux Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) mid- layer asks for physical disk cache settings. The controller firmware manages the virtual disk cache settings on a per controller and a per ...

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Disk Carrier LED Indicators The LED on the physical disk carrier indicates the state of each physical disk. Each disk carrier in your enclosure has two LEDs: an activity LED (green) and a status LED (bicolor, green/amber). The activity LED is active...

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9 Appendix: RAID Description RAID is a group of independent physical disks that provides high performance by increasing the number of disks used for saving and accessing data. CAUTION: In the event of a physical disk failure, a RAID 0 virtual disk f...

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For example, in a four-disk system using only disk striping (used in RAID 0), segment 1 is written to disk 1, segment 2 is written to disk 2, and so on. Disk striping enhances performance because multiple physical disks are accessed simultaneously,...

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RAID 6 combines dual distributed parity with disk striping. This level of parity allows for two disk failures without duplicating the contents of entire physical disks. Figure 8. Example of Distributed Parity (RAID 5) NOTE: Parity is distributed acr...