Accusys ExaRAID GUI User Manual

Accusys RAID GUI

User's Manual

Accusys RAID GUI

User's Manual

Version:1.7

Appendix

Notice

Product features and specifications described in this manual are subject to
change without notice.

The manufacturer shall not be liable for any damage or loss of information resulting
from the performance or use of the information contained herein.

Trademarks

Accusys and the names of Accusys products and logos referenced herein are
either trademarks and/or service marks or registered trademarks and/or service
marks of Accusys, Inc.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, MS-DOS are either
trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Intel and Pentium
are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. Other product and company
names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or service marks of their
respective owners.

All contents of this manual are copyrighted by Accusys, Inc.

The information contained herein is the exclusive property of Accusys, Inc. and
shall not be copied, transferred, photocopied, translated on paper, film, electronic
media or computer-readable form, or otherwise reproduced in any way, without
the explicit written permission of Accusys, Inc.

Manual version 1.7

© Copyright 2008 Accusys, Inc.

All rights reserved

ii

Preface

About this manual

Congratulations on your purchase of the product. This controller allows
you to control your RAID system through a user-friendly GUI, which is
accessed through your web browser.

This manual is designed and written for users installing and using the RAID
controller. The user should have a good working knowledge of RAID
planning and data storage.

Symbols used in this manual

This manual highlights important information with the following icons:

Caution

This icon indicates the existence of a potential hazard that could
result in personal injury, damage to your equipment or loss of data if
the safety instruction is not observed.

Note

This icon indicates useful tips on getting the most from your RAID
controller.

iii

Preface

Company Contact

Accusys, Inc.

• 5F., No.38, Taiyuan St., Jhubei City, Hsinchu County 30265, Taiwan(R.O.C)

• Tel: [phone]

• Fax: [phone]

• http://www.accusys.com.tw/

• E-mail: [e-mail]

Accusys U.S.A., Inc.

• 1321 W. Foothill Blvd. Azusa, CA91702

• Tel: [phone]

• Fax: [phone]

• http://www.accusys.com.tw

• E-mail: [e-mail]

Accusys Korea, Inc.

• Baegang B/D 5F Shinsa-Dong 666-14 Kangnam-Gu, Seoul, Korea

• Tel: [phone]

• Fax: [phone]

• http://www.accusys.co.kr/

• E-mail: [e-mail]

Accusys China(Beijing), Inc.

• No. 9A, Tower B, Yingdu Mansion, No. 48 Zhichunlu Street, Haidian
District, Beijing, China (100098)

• Ftp://ftp.accusys.com.cn

• E-mail: [e-mail]

• Tel: [phone]/82/83

• Fax: [phone]

• E-mail: [e-mail]

• http://www.accusys.com.tw

Accusys China(Shanghai), Inc.

• Room 701, No. 666, Kirin Tower, Gubei Road, Changning Area Shanghai,
ZIP: 200336, China

• Tel: [phone]

• Fax: [phone]

• E-mail: [e-mail]

Accusys EU B.V

• Orionweg 6, 4782 SC Moerdijk, The Netherlands

• Tel: [phone]

• Fax: [phone]

• http://www.accusys.com.tw

• E-mail: [e-mail], [e-mail]

iv

Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Overview ........................................................................................................1-1

1.2 Key Features ..................................................................................................1-2

1.3 How to Use This Manual ................................................................................1-7

1.4 RAID Structure Overview ...............................................................................1-8

1.5 User Interfaces to Manage the RAID System ..............................................1-10

1.6 Initially Configuring the RAID System ..........................................................1-11

1.7 Maintaining the RAID System ......................................................................1-14

Chapter 2: Using the RAID GUI

2.1 Accessing the RAID GUI ................................................................................2-1

2.1.1 Browser Language Setting .....................................................................2-1

2.1.2 Multiple System Viewer ..........................................................................2-3

2.2 Monitor Mode .................................................................................................2-5

2.2.1 HDD state ...............................................................................................2-6

2.2.2 Information icons ....................................................................................2-7

2.2.3 Rear side view ........................................................................................2-9

2.2.4 Login .....................................................................................................2-11

2.3 SAS JBOD Enclosure Display (for SAS expansion controller only) .............2-12

2.3.1 Rear side monitor of the SAS JBOD chassis ........................................2-13

2.3.2 SAS JBOD Installation with RAID subsystem .......................................2-13

2.3.3 Monitor mode ........................................................................................2-16

2.3.4 Information icons ..................................................................................2-17

2.3.5 SAS/SATA HDD information .................................................................2-17

2.4 Config Mode .................................................................................................2-18

2.5 Quick Setup .................................................................................................2-19

2.5.1 Performance profile ..............................................................................2-19

2.5.2 RAID setup ...........................................................................................2-20

2.6 RAID Management ......................................................................................2-21

2.6.1 Hard disks .............................................................................................2-21

2.6.2 JBOD ....................................................................................................2-23

2.6.3 Disk groups ...........................................................................................2-25

2.6.4 Logical disks .........................................................................................2-27

2.6.5 Volumes ................................................................................................2-31

2.6.6 Snapshot Volumes ................................................................................2-34

2.6.7 Storage provisioning .............................................................................2-36

2.7 Maintenance Utilities ....................................................................................2-43

2.7.1 Expanding disk groups .........................................................................2-43

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Contents

2.7.2 Defragmenting disk groups ...................................................................2-43

2.7.3 Changing RAID level / stripe size for logical disks ................................2-44

2.7.4 Expanding the capacity of logical disks in a disk group ........................2-45

2.7.5 Shrinking logical disks ..........................................................................2-46

2.7.6 Expanding volumes ..............................................................................2-46

2.7.7 Shrinking volumes ................................................................................2-47

2.7.8 Cloning hard disks ................................................................................2-47

2.7.9 Scrubbing ..............................................................................................2-49

2.7.10 Regenerating the parity ......................................................................2-50

2.7.11 Performing disk self test .....................................................................2-50

2.7.12 Array roaming .....................................................................................2-51

2.7.13 Array recovery ....................................................................................2-52

2.7.14 Schedule task .....................................................................................2-54

2.7.15 Cache Configurations .........................................................................2-54

2.7.16 Miscellaneous .....................................................................................2-55

2.8 Hardware Configurations .............................................................................2-56

2.8.1 Hard disks .............................................................................................2-56

2.8.2 FC/SAS/SCSI/iSCSI ports ....................................................................2-59

2.8.3 COM port ..............................................................................................2-60

2.9 Event Management ......................................................................................2-61

2.9.1 Setting up the SMTP .............................................................................2-61

2.9.2 Setting up the SNMP ............................................................................2-62

2.9.3 Event logs .............................................................................................2-64

2.9.4 UPS ......................................................................................................2-66

2.9.5 Miscellaneous .......................................................................................2-67

2.10 System Management .................................................................................2-68

2.10.1 Restoring to factory settings ...............................................................2-68

2.10.2 NVRAM configuration .........................................................................2-68

2.10.3 Setting up the network ........................................................................2-70

2.10.4 System Time .......................................................................................2-71

2.10.5 Security control ...................................................................................2-72

2.10.6 System information .............................................................................2-73

2.10.7 Battery backup module .......................................................................2-73

2.10.8 Update system firmware, boot code and external enclosure F/W ......2-74

2.10.9 Restart or halt the controller ...............................................................2-74

2.10.10 Miscellaneous ...................................................................................2-75

2.11 Performance Management ........................................................................2-76

2.11.1 Hard disks ...........................................................................................2-76

2.11.2 Cache .................................................................................................2-76

2.11.3 LUN .....................................................................................................2-77

2.11.4 Storage port ........................................................................................2-78

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Contents

Chapter 3: Using the LCD Console

3.1 Starting LCD Manipulation .............................................................................3-1

3.1.1 Confirm password ...................................................................................3-1

3.2 LCD Messages ..............................................................................................3-2

3.2.1 LCD layout ..............................................................................................3-2

3.2.2 Status info ...............................................................................................3-3

3.2.3 Emergent info .........................................................................................3-4

3.2.4 Background task messages ....................................................................3-4

3.2.5 Hotkeys ...................................................................................................3-5

3.3 Menu ..............................................................................................................3-6

3.3.1 Menu Tree ..............................................................................................3-6

3.3.2 Creating an Array ....................................................................................3-6

3.3.3 Network Settings .....................................................................................3-7

3.3.4 Terminal Port Settings ............................................................................3-7

3.3.5 System Settings ......................................................................................3-8

3.3.6 System Information .................................................................................3-8

Chapter 4: Using the CLI Commands

4.1 Overview ........................................................................................................4-1

4.1.1 Embedded CLI ........................................................................................4-1

4.1.2 Conventions Overview ............................................................................4-6

4.2 Basic RAID Management ...............................................................................4-7

4.2.1 Hard disks ...............................................................................................4-7

4.2.2 JBOD disks .............................................................................................4-7

4.2.3 Disk groups .............................................................................................4-8

4.2.4 Spare and rebuild ...................................................................................4-9

4.2.5 Logical disks .........................................................................................4-10

4.2.6 RAID algorithms options .......................................................................4-10

4.2.7 Volumes ................................................................................................4-11

4.2.8 Cache ...................................................................................................4-12

4.3 RAID Maintenance Utilities ..........................................................................4-13

4.3.1 RAID attributes reconfiguration utilities .................................................4-13

4.3.2 Data integrity maintenance utilities .......................................................4-14

4.3.3 Task priority control ..............................................................................4-15

4.3.4 Task schedule management .................................................................4-15

4.3.5 On-going task monitoring ......................................................................4-16

4.3.6 Array and volume roaming ....................................................................4-16

4.3.7 Array recovery utilities ..........................................................................4-17

4.4 Storage Presentation ...................................................................................4-17

4.4.1 Hosts .....................................................................................................4-17

4.4.2 Host groups ..........................................................................................4-18

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Contents

4.4.3 Storage groups .....................................................................................4-19

4.4.4 Presentation planning ...........................................................................4-20

4.4.5 Selective storage presentation .............................................................4-20

4.4.6 Simple storage presentation .................................................................4-21

4.4.7 Symmetric-LUN storage presentation ...................................................4-21

4.5 Hardware Configurations and Utilities ..........................................................4-22

4.5.1 Generic hard disk ..................................................................................4-22

4.5.2 SAS ports ................................................... 4-24

4.5.3 SCSI ports .................................................. 4-24

4.5.4 FC ports ................................................................................................4-25

4.5.5 Management network interface ............................................................4-26

4.5.6 Local terminal ports ..............................................................................4-27

4.5.7 Enclosure ..............................................................................................4-28

4.5.8 Uninterruptible power supply ................................................................4-28

4.6 Performance management ..........................................................................4-29

4.6.1 Hard disks .............................................................................................4-29

4.6.2 Cache ...................................................................................................4-29

4.6.3 LUN .......................................................................................................4-29

4.6.4 Storage ports ........................................................................................4-30

4.7 Redundant Controller Configurations ...........................................................4-31

4.7.1 Mirrored write cache control .................................................................4-31

4.7.2 Change preferred controller ..................................................................4-31

4.7.3 Path failover alert delay ........................................................................4-31

4.8 Event Management ......................................................................................4-31

4.8.1 NVRAM event logs ...............................................................................4-31

4.8.2 Event notification ............................................. 4-32

4.8.3 Event handling ......................................................................................4-33

4.9 System Management ...................................................................................4-34

4.9.1 Configurations management .................................................................4-34

4.9.2 Time management ................................................................................4-35

4.9.3 Administration security control ..............................................................4-36

4.9.4 System information ...............................................................................4-37

4.9.5 Miscellaneous .......................................................................................4-37

4.10 Miscellaneous Utilities ................................................................................4-39

4.10.1 Lookup RAID systems ........................................................................4-39

4.10.2 Turn on/off CLI script mode ................................................................4-39

4.10.3 Get command list and usage ..............................................................4-39

4.11 Configuration shortcuts ..............................................................................4-39

4.11.1 RAID quick setup ................................................................................4-39

4.11.2 Performance profile ............................................................................4-40

4.12 Snapshot

viii

..................................................... 4-40

Contents

Chapter 5: Advanced Functions

5.1 Multi-Path IO Solutions ..................................................................................5-1

5.1.1 Overview .................................................................................................5-1

5.1.2 Benefits ...................................................................................................5-1

5.1.3 Configuring MPIO Hosts and RAID Controller ........................................5-2

5.1.4 Windows Multi-Path Solution: PathGuard ...............................................5-7

5.1.5 Linux Multi-Path Solution ......................................................................5-12

5.1.6 MAC Multi-Path Solution .......................................................................5-16

5.1.7 VMware ESX Server Multi-Path Solution ..............................................5-16

5.1.8 Sun Solaris 10 OS Multi-Path Solution .................................................5-17

5.2 Multiple ID solutions .....................................................................................5-18

5.2.1 Overview ...............................................................................................5-18

5.3 Redundant Controller ...................................................................................5-21

5.3.1 Overview ...............................................................................................5-21

5.3.2 Controller Data Synchronization ...........................................................5-23

5.3.3 Redundant-Controller System Configuration with MPIO ......................5-25

5.3.4 Controller and Path Failover/Failback Scenarios ..................................5-34

5.4 Snapshot ......................................................................................................5-38

5.4.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................5-38

5.4.2 How Snapshot Works ...........................................................................5-39

5.4.3 How to Use Snapshots .........................................................................5-41

5.4.4 Snapshot Utility and Scripting ...............................................................5-45

5.5 Dynamic Capacity Management ..................................................................5-48

5.5.1 Free chunk defragmentation .................................................................5-50

5.5.2 Logical disk shrink ................................................................................5-51

5.5.3 Logical disk expansion ..........................................................................5-52

5.5.4 Disk group expansion ...........................................................................5-53

5.5.5 Volume expansion and shrink ...............................................................5-54

5.5.6 Windows DiskPart Utility .......................................................................5-55

5.6 RAIDGuard Central ......................................................................................5-58

5.6.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................5-58

5.6.2 Deployment Overview ...........................................................................5-59

5.6.3 Installing the RAIDGuard Central .........................................................5-61

5.6.4 Uninstalling the RAIDGuard Central .....................................................5-62

5.6.5 Launching the RAIDGuard Central .......................................................5-62

5.6.6 RGC GUI Overview ..............................................................................5-65

5.6.7 RAID System Registration ....................................................................5-67

5.6.8 RAID System Monitoring ......................................................................5-71

5.6.9 Configuring MSN Event Notification .....................................................5-72

5.7 VDS Provider ...............................................................................................5-73

5.7.1 Overview ...............................................................................................5-73

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Contents

5.7.2 Installing the VDS Provider ...................................................................5-74

5.7.3 Uninstalling the VDS Provider ..............................................................5-74

5.7.4 Using the VDS Provider Configuration Utility ........................................5-74

5.7.5 VDS-Based RAID Management Software ............................................5-76

Chapter 6: Troubleshooting

6.1 General Guidelines ........................................................................................6-1

6.2 Beeper ...........................................................................................................6-1

6.3 Performance Tuning ......................................................................................6-2

6.4 Hard Disks .....................................................................................................6-5

6.5 User Interfaces ...............................................................................................6-7

6.6 RAID Configuration and Maintenance ...........................................................6-8

6.7 Redundant Controller and MPIO ..................................................................6-10

Appendix A: Understanding RAID

A.1 RAID Overview ............................................................................................. A-1

A.2 RAID 0 .......................................................................................................... A-3

A.3 RAID 1 .......................................................................................................... A-4

A.4 RAID 3 .......................................................................................................... A-5

A.5 RAID 5 .......................................................................................................... A-6

A.6 RAID 6 .......................................................................................................... A-7

A.7 RAID 10 ........................................................................................................ A-8

A.8 RAID 30 ........................................................................................................ A-9

A.9 RAID 50 ...................................................................................................... A-10

A.10 RAID 60 .................................................................................................... A-11

A.11 JBOD ........................................................................................................ A-12

A.12 NRAID ...................................................................................................... A-13

Appendix B: Features and Benefits

B.1 Overview ....................................................................................................... B-1

B.2 Flexible Storage Presentation ...................................................................... B-1

B.3 Flexible Storage Provisioning ....................................................................... B-2

B.4 Comprehensive RAID Configurations ........................................................... B-3

B.5 Dynamic Configuration Migration ................................................................. B-4

B.6 Effective Capacity Management ................................................................... B-5

B.7 Adaptive Performance Optimization ............................................................. B-6

B.8 Proactive Data Protection ............................................................................. B-8

B.9 Fortified Reliability and Robustness ............................................................. B-9

B.10 Vigilant System Monitoring ....................................................................... B-11

B.11 Convenient Task Management ................................................................. B-12

B.12 Extensive Supportive Tools ...................................................................... B-13

B.13 Easy-To-Use User Interfaces ................................................................... B-14

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Contents

Appendix C: Boot Utility

C.1 (N) Set IP address ........................................................................................ C-2

C.2 (L) Load Image by TFTP .............................................................................. C-3

C.3 (B) Update Boot ROM .................................................................................. C-4

C.4 (S) Update System ROM .............................................................................. C-4

C.5 (H) Utility menu ............................................................................................. C-5

C.6 (P) Set password .......................................................................................... C-5

C.7 (R) Restart system ....................................................................................... C-5

C.8 (Q) Quit & Boot RAID system ....................................................................... C-5

Appendix D: Event Log Messages

D.1 RAID ............................................................................................................. D-1

D.2 Task .............................................................................................................. D-8

D.3 Disk ............................................................................................................D-25

D.4 Host ports ................................................................................................... D-37

D.5 Controller hardware .................................................................................... D-48

D.6 Enclosure ...................................................................................................D-51

D.7 System .......................................................................................................D-59

D.8 Network ...................................................................................................... D-67

D.9 Miscellaneous ............................................................................................. D-68

D.10 Snapshot ...................................................... D-68

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Contents

List of Tables

Table 2-1 Buttons in monitor and config mode .................................................2-6

Table 2-2 Hard disk code .................................................................................2-6

Table 2-4 Information icons ..............................................................................2-7

Table 2-3 Hard disks tray color .........................................................................2-7

Table 2-5 Components at the rear side of the system ....................................2-10

Table 2-6 Login usernames and passwords ...................................................2-11

Table 2-7 Supported number of redundant SAS JBOD chassis and hard disks 2-

12

Table 2-8 Information icons (in SAS monitor mode) .......................................2-17

Table 2-9 Performance profile values .............................................................2-19

Table 2-10 Hard disk information .....................................................................2-21

Table 2-11 Limitations of the number of member disks ....................................2-44

Table 2-12 State transition ...............................................................................2-53

Table 3-1 List of status messages ....................................................................3-3

Table 3-2 List of emergent messages ..............................................................3-4

Table 3-3 List of background task messages ...................................................3-5

Table 5-1 MPIO device information ................................................................5-10

Table 5-2 System status information ..............................................................5-69

Table 6-1 The capacity correlated with sector size ..........................................6-9

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Contents

List of Figures

Figure 1-1 Layered storage objects .................................................................1-8

Figure 2-1 GUI login screen .............................................................................2-1

Figure 2-2 Setting the language in Firefox .......................................................2-2

Figure 2-3 Languages dialog (Firefox) .............................................................2-3

Figure 2-4 Multiple system viewer (side button) ...............................................2-3

Figure 2-5 Opening the multiple system viewer ...............................................2-4

Figure 2-6 Single controller GUI monitor mode ................................................2-5

Figure 2-7 Redundant-controller system GUI monitor monitor mode ..............2-5

Figure 2-8 HDD Tray (GUI) ..............................................................................2-6

Figure 2-9 Rear side of the RAID system (GUI) ...............................................2-9

Figure 2-10 Rear side of the redundant fiber RAID system (A16R-FS) ...........2-10

Figure 2-11 Rear side of the redundant SAS RAID system (A16R-SS) ...........2-10

Figure 2-12 Login section .................................................................................2-11

Figure 2-13 Rear side of the SAS JBOD chassis (GUI) ...................................2-13

Figure 2-14 Single SAS JBOD connection .......................................................2-14

Figure 2-15 Redundant SAS JBOD (A16R-SJ) loop connection .....................2-15

Figure 2-16 SAS enclosure monitor mode .......................................................2-16

Figure 2-17 SAS enclosure configuration mode ..............................................2-16

Figure 2-18 Overview screen ...........................................................................2-18

Figure 2-19 Method switching message ..........................................................2-36

Figure 2-20 Simple storage ..............................................................................2-37

Figure 2-21 Symmetric storage ........................................................................2-38

Figure 2-22 Selective storage ..........................................................................2-40

Figure 2-23 Specify the percentage for Bad Block Alert ..................................2-58

Figure 2-24 Specify the percentage for Bad Block Clone ................................2-58

Figure 2-25 Event log download message .......................................................2-65

Figure 2-26 Options in the Configurations screen-1

(System Management menu) .......................................................2-68

Figure 2-27 Options in the Configurations screen-2

(System Management menu) .......................................................2-69

Figure 2-28 Options in the Configurations screen-3

(System Management menu) .......................................................2-69

Figure 2-29 Options in the Configurations screen-4

(System Management menu) .......................................................2-70

Figure 3-1 LCD manipulation procedure ..........................................................3-1

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Contents

Figure 3-2 Menu tree ........................................................................................3-6

Figure 4-1 Interfaces to Access CLI .................................................................4-1

Figure 5-1 Dual independent MPIO hosts ........................................................5-4

Figure 5-2 Clustered server environment .........................................................5-6

Figure 5-3 Computer Management screen: Device Manager ..........................5-9

Figure 5-4 MPIO device screen .....................................................................5-10

Figure 5-5 MTID environment ........................................................................5-19

Figure 5-6 Redundant Single MPIO host (dual channel) ...............................5-25

Figure 5-7 Redundant Single MPIO host (quad channel) ..............................5-27

Figure 5-8 Redundant Dual Independent MPIO hosts ...................................5-29

Figure 5-9 Dual clustering MPIO hosts ..........................................................5-31

Figure 5-10 Active-Passive Redundant Single MPIO host ...............................5-33

Figure 5-11 Controller failover scenario ...........................................................5-35

Figure 5-12 Controller failover scenario ...........................................................5-36

Figure 5-13 Controller failover and the page redirection message ..................5-37

Figure 5-14 Controller failback message .........................................................5-37

Figure 5-15 Error message indicates both controller failures ...........................5-37

Figure 5-16 Relationship of volumes ................................................................5-40

Figure 5-17 SAN Environment .........................................................................5-46

Figure 5-18 Defragment a disk group to expand the last free chunk ...............5-51

Figure 5-19 Defragment a disk group to consolidate free chunks ....................5-51

Figure 5-20 Logical disk capacity shrink and expanding an adjacent free chunk 5-

52

Figure 5-21 Logical disk capacity shrink and creating a new free chunk .........5-52

Figure 5-22 Logical disk capacity expansion by allocating an adjacent free chunk

5-52

Figure 5-23 Logical disk capacity expansion by moving logical disks to a free chunk

5-53

Figure 5-24 Logical disk capacity expansion by allocating an adjacent free chunk

and moving logical disks ...............................................................5-53

Figure 5-25 Disk group expansion by adding new member disks and enlarging the

last free chunk ..............................................................................5-54

Figure 5-26 Disk group expansion by adding new member disks and creating a

new free chunk .............................................................................5-54

Figure 5-27 Disk group expansion to consolidate free chunks ........................5-54

Figure 5-28 Striping member volumes .............................................................5-55

Figure 5-29 Concatenating member volumes ..................................................5-55

Figure 5-30 Concatenated striping member volumes ......................................5-55

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Contents

Figure 5-31 Deployment example of RAIDGuard Central components ...........5-60

Figure 5-32 RGC Server monitor screen .........................................................5-63

Figure 5-33 RGC Agent monitor screen ...........................................................5-64

Figure 5-34 RGC GUI main screen ..................................................................5-65

Figure 5-35 Adding the IP address of an agent ...............................................5-67

Figure 5-36 Scanning the online RAID systems in the specified IP range .......5-68

Figure 5-37 Scanning the online RAID systems in the selected agent’s domain .5-

68

Figure 5-38 Registering a RAID system to an agent ........................................5-70

Figure 5-39 RGC GUI - System Panel .............................................................5-71

Figure 5-40 VDS Provider illustration ...............................................................5-73

Figure 5-41 VDS Provider Configure screen ....................................................5-75

Figure A-1 RAID 0 disk array ........................................................................... A-3

Figure A-2 RAID 1 disk array ........................................................................... A-4

Figure A-3 RAID 3 disk array ........................................................................... A-5

Figure A-4 RAID 5 disk array ........................................................................... A-6

Figure A-5 RAID 6 disk array ........................................................................... A-7

Figure A-6 RAID 10 disk array ......................................................................... A-8

Figure A-7 RAID 30 disk array ......................................................................... A-9

Figure A-8 RAID 50 disk array ....................................................................... A-10

Figure A-9 RAID 60 disk array ....................................................................... A-11

Figure A-10 JBOD disk array ........................................................................... A-12

Figure A-11 NRAID .......................................................................................... A-13

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Contents

Revision History

Version Description Release Date

1.0 Initial release 2006/09/22

1.01 2.2.2 Added detailed information of
information icons shown in
Monitor Mode.

2.2.3 Added detailed information of
components shown in Monitor
Mode.

2.4.2 Removed the restrictions on
the number of spare disks for
quick setup.

2.5.1 Added a note for the Disk
Cache field shown in [RAID
Management] > [Hard Disks].

2.6.1/ 2.6.2/ 2.6.3/ 2.6.4/ 2.6.6
Modified the contents for the
Schedule option.

2.6.8 Added the contents for the
Schedule option.

2.7.1 Added a caution for the boot­up delay time.

2.9.2 Added a note for the NVRAM
configuration.

2.9.3 Modified the descriptions for
the DHCP method. Added the
Authentication option for the
SMTP server configuration.

Appendix C

Updated event log messages.

2007/01/24

xviii

1.1 • Changed all name lengths from
characters to bytes.

• Modified the descriptions for the
‘Force to delete LUN mapping(s)’
option.

• Changed ‘RAID array’ to ‘array’.

1.1 Updated key features.

1.3 Modify volume definition, add

SSL definition.

2.1.1 Added browser language set-

ting.

2.1.2 Added multiple system viewer.

2.2.1 Updated Figure 2-5.

2.3 Added SAS enclosure display.

2007/02/26

Version Description Release Date

Contents

1.1 2.4 Added Figure 2-10 (Overview
screen) and modified the
related descriptions.

2.5.2 Modified the hard disk state for
quick setup.

2.6.1 Added one category, mode,
and its definition. Added a
note for the Modify button.

2.6.4 Added options to LD read
algorithm.

2.6.6 Updated the Figure 2-11.

2.7.5 Modified the note for LD shrink.

2.7.6 Added expanding volumes.

2.7.7 Added shrinking volumes.

2.7.11 Added the contents for the
Schedule option.

2.7.13 Added a note for the Force to
recover disk option.

2.7.14 Add DST to the scheduled task.

2.7.15 Added spare restore control
and task notify.

2.8.1 Added disk standby mode,
added the range for the Delay
Time When Boot-Up option.

2.8.2 Added the connection mode
displayed on the FC ports
page, added the configura­tion steps.

2.9.1 Added modify event receivers.

2.9.2 Added modify SNMP servers.

2.9.3 Added descriptions for the
event log file.

2.10.1 Modified the hard disk states
for the ‘Erase configurations on
HDD(s)’ option.

2.10.2 Updated the Figure 2-18, 2-19,
2-20, and 2-21 and modified
the related descriptions.

2.10.5 Added SSL setting.

2.10.7 Modified battery information.

2.10.9 Added descriptions for the reg­ular system shutdown proce­dure.

2.10.10 Added Miscellaneous. Move
the ‘GUI refresh rate’ option to
this section.

2007/02/26

xix

Contents

Version Description Release Date

1.1 2.11 Modified the descriptions
related to the Reset button.

2.11.4 Added a note to explain the
displayed information in the
list.

3.2.3 Added UPS off emergent info.

3.2.5 Added hotkeys.

Chapter 4

Updated CLI commands.

Appendix C

Updated event log messages.

1.2 1.3 Modified descriptions related
to the logical disk expansion
and logical disk shrink.

2.2.2 Modified descriptions related
to the information icons.

2.2.3 Modified the descriptions
related to the rear side of the
RAID system and picture,
include added SAS controller
picture. added component of
Table 2-5.

2.6.1 Added descriptions related to
the disk identify option of Mod­ify.

2.6.6 Modified descriptions related
to the WWN setting, added a
SAS Address setting for sym­metric and selective method.

2.9.4 Added support smart-UPS info.

2.10.8 Modified descriptions related
to the external enclosure F/W.

2.10.10 Add memory testing when
boot-up option in Miscella­neous.

2.11 Removed screen 2-22,2-22,2­23,2-24.

3.2.1 Modified disk status.

3.2.5 Added a ESC button function
of Hotkeys.

4.1 Added descriptions for SSH info.

Appendix D

Added PathGuard MPIO Utility.

Appendix E

Added DiskPart Utility.

2007/02/26

2007/07/15

xx

Version Description Release Date

Contents

1.3 • Modified Company Address

2.2.3 Modified the descriptions
related to the rear side of the
RAID system and picture,
include added SCSI controller
picture. added component of
Table 2-5.

2.6.6 Added a SCSI ID setting for sim­ple method.

2.8.2 Added a Default SCSI ID setting
for SCSI ports and provider set­ting data rate of SCSI on SCSI
ports.

Appendix F

Added RAIDGuard Central.

Appendix G

Added VDS Provider.

1.4 Chapter 1
Updated contents.

2.1.1 Added language setting in
Firefox.

2.2.1 Updated the hard disk tray
color.

2.2.3 Added the rear side of redun­dant-controller system.

2.3 Added the rear view and
descriptions of the SAS JBOD
chassis and its identifiers.

2.5 Added notes for the redun­dant-controller system and the
different parameters in the
degraded mode.

2.6.2 Added preferred controller
option and VVOL button for
JBOD disks.

2.6.4 Added preferred controller
option and VVOL button for
logical disks.

2.6.5 Added preferred controller
option and VVOL button for
volumes.

2.6.6 Added Virtual Volumes.

2.7.15 Added the new option ‘Mir­rored Write Cache Control’

2.8.2 Added a note for the FC port
identifiers in the redundant­controller system, and descrip­tions for the WWNN button.

2007/10/29

2008/02/25

xxi

Contents

Version Description Release Date

1.4 2.9.2 Added the new option ‘Port’
for the SNMP setting, and a
note for the OIDs used for
each SNMP version.

2.9.5 Added the new option ‘Path
Failover Alert Delay” and a
new check item ‘Controller
Failure’ for Auto Write-Through
Cache option.

2.10.6/2.10.7/2.10.9/2.11.1/2.11.2/

2.11.3

Added a note to for the screen

difference in the redundant­controller system.

Chapter 4

Updated CLI commands.

Appendix B

Added Features and Benefits.

Appendix C

Added screen and descrip­tions for the redundant-con­troller system.

Appendix D

Updated event log messages.

Chapter 5
Modified Multi-path IO solution

on 5.1.
Added 5.2 Redundant Control­ler.
Added 5.3 Snapshot

Move all related advanced functions/
utilities from appendices to Chapter 5.

2008/02/25

xxii

1.4.1 Chapter 4
Updated CLI commands.

Chapter 5
Modified Multi-path IO solution

on 5.1.

2008/03/28

Version Description Release Date

Contents

1.4.2 Chapter 1

Added CLI In-band API Features.
Added Snapshot function note.
Chapter 4
Added support CLI In-band API.
Modified 4.12 snapshot com-

mands.

Chapter 5
Added 5.1.8 Multi-path IO solu-

tion on SUN Solaris.

Modified 5.3 Snapshot contents.
Appendix D
Modified D.10 snapshot events.

2008/05/05

xxiii

Contents

Version Description Release Date

1.5 Chapter 6

Modified content of all.
Chapter 5
Modified section 5.2.
Move 5.2.2 Monitor Mode to 2.2.
Move 5.2.2 SAS JBOD to 2.3.

2.9.2 Added SNMP agent functions.
Added descriptions related

SNMP MIB.

5.3.5 Removed.

5.3.6 Removed.

5.3.7 Removed.

2.6.6 Added descriptions related
spare COW volumes functions.

Added descriptions related

Restore functions.

Appendix C
Revised the subtitles.

2.10.4 Added a Note.

Chapter 1
Modified snapshot functions

content.

Modified system monitoring func-

tions content.

Modified management inter-

faces content.

1.4 Added Virtual disks descriptions.

1.5 Added SNMP Manager descrip­tions.

Appendix D
Updated snapshot events.
Chapter 4
Updated CLI commands.

2.7.15 Added a Note of mirrored write

cache.

2.1 Added browser support.

2008/07/03

xxiv

Version Description Release Date

Contents

1.6 Chapter 5
Modified section 5.2.
Inserted Multiple ID solutions in

section 5.2

2.2.3 Modified redundant controller
RAID pictures

2.3.1 Modified redundant controller
RAID pictures.

Added RAID model names

2.8.2 Modified description.
Added Controller Failover mode

description.

1.7 Add iSCSI midel
Add upgradable controller model

2008/11/14

2009/11/30

xxv

Introduction

Chapter 1: Introduction

Congratulations on your purchase of our RAID controller. Aiming at
serving versatile applications, the RAID controller ensures not only data
reliability but also improves system availability. Supported with cutting­edge IO processing technologies, the RAID controller delivers outstanding
performance and helps to build dependable systems for heavy-duty
computing, workgroup file sharing, service-oriented enterprise
applications, online transaction processing, uncompressed video editing,
or digital content provisioning. With its advanced storage management
capabilities, the RAID controller is an excellent choice for both on-line
and near-line storage applications. The following sections in this chapter
will present an overview of features of the RAID controller, and for more
information about its features and benefits, please see Appendix B.

1.1 Overview

• Seasoned Reliability

The RAID controller supports various RAID levels, 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, and including
multi-level RAID, like RAID 10, 30, 50, and 60, which perfectly balances
performance and reliability. To further ensure the long-term data integrity,
the controller provides extensive maintenance utilities, like periodic
SMART monitoring, disk cloning, and disk scrubbing to proactively prevent
performance degradation or data loss due to disk failure or latent bad
sectors.

The controller also supports multi-path I/O (MPIO) solutions tolerating path
failure and providing load balance among multiple host connections for
higher availability and performance. Together with active-active
redundant-controller configuration, the RAID system offers high
availability without single point of failure.

• Great Flexibility and Scalability

Nowadays, IT staff is required to make the most from the equipments
purchased, and thus easier sharing and better flexibility is a must for
business-class storage systems. The RAID controller allows different RAID
configurations, like RAID levels, stripe sizes, and caching policies, to be
deployed independently for different logical units on single disk group,
such that the storage resources can be utilized efficiently by fulfilling
different requirements.

As business grows or changes during the lifetime of storage systems, the
requirements are very likely to be changed, and the users need to
reconfigure the system to support the business dynamics while
maintaining normal operations. The RAID controller allows capacity
expansion by adding more disk drives or expansion chassis.

1-1

Introduction

Comprehensive online reconfiguration utilities are available for migration
of RAID level and stripe size, volume management, capacity resizing, and
free space management.

• Outstanding Performance

The RAID controller delivers outstanding performance for both
transaction-oriented and bandwidth-hungry applications. Its superscalar
CPU architecture with L2 cache enables efficient IO command
processing, while its low-latency system bus streamlines large-block data
transfer.

In addition to the elaborated RAID algorithms, the controller implements
also sophisticated buffer caching and IO scheduling intelligence.
Extensive IO statistics are provided for monitoring the performance and
utilization of storage devices. Users can online adjust the optimization
policy of each LUN based on the statistics to unleash the most power of
the controller.

• Comprehensive and Effortless Management

Users can choose to manage the RAID systems from a variety of user
interfaces, including command line interface over local console and
secure shell (SSH), LCD panel, and web-based graphical user interface
(GUI). Events are recorded on the NVRAM, and mail is sent out to notify
the users without installing any software or agents. Maintenance tasks like
capacity resizing and disk scrubbing are online executable, and can be
scheduled or periodically executed. With the comprehensive
management utilities, users can quickly complete the configurations and
perform reconfiguration effortlessly.

1.2 Key Features

• Basic RAID Construction

• Multiple RAID levels: 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, 60, JBOD, and NRAID

• Multiple stripe sizes (KB): 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and 512.

• Independently-selectable strip size for each logical disk

• Independently-selectable RAID level for each logical disk

• Support Quick Setup for effortless and quick RAID configuration

• Support hot spare with global spare and local spare

• Support auto spare and spare restore options

• Support auto online disk rebuilding and configurable rebuild modes

• Multiple disk rebuilding modes: parallel, sequential, and prioritized

• Support up to 8 disk groups and 32 logical disks per disk group (Single
controller)

1-2

Introduction

• Support up to 32 disk groups and 32 logical disk per disk group
(Redundant/Upgradable controller)

• Support up to 24 disks in one chassis and totally 64 drives with expansion
units (Single controller)

• Support up to 24 disks in one chassis and totally 120 drives with
expansion units (Redundant/Upgradable controller)

• Volume management

• Support striping volume for performance enhancement

• Support concatenating volume for large-capacity LUN

• Support concatenated striping volume

• Online volume capacity expansion

• Online volume capacity shrink

• Support up to 32 volumes and 8 logical disks per volume

• Augmented RAID Features

• Flexible free chunk management

• Multiple RAID initializations: none, regular (write-zero), and background

• Support disk group write-zero initialization

• Support user-configurable disk group capacity truncation

• Support alignment offset

• Support intelligent computation for RAID data and parity

• Support fast read I/O response

• Support NVRAM-based write log and auto parity consistency recovery

• Support online bad block recovery and reallocation

• Support battery backup module (BBM) for data retention during no
power

• Caching and Performance Optimizations

• Selective cache unit sizes (KB): 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128

• Independently-selectable caching policies for each LUN

• Selective pre-read options with pre-read depth

• Adaptive pre-read algorithms for sequential read workload

• Selective write caching policies: write-through and write-behind (delay
write)

• Selective cache flush period with manual flush utility

• Support intelligent write I/O merging and sorting algorithms

1-3

Introduction

• Support intelligent disk I/O scheduling

• Selective performance profile: AV streaming, Max IOPS, and Max
throughput

• RAID Reconfiguration Utilities

• Online disk group expansion

• Online RAID level migration

• Online stripe size migration

• Online simultaneous execution of the operations above

• Online disk group defragmentation for free space consolidation

• Online simultaneous disk group expansion and defragmentation

• Online logical disk capacity expansion

• Online logical disk capacity shrink

• Support rebuild-first policy for early recovery from RAID degradation

• Data Integrity Maintenance Utilities

• Online logical disk parity regeneration

• Online disk scrubbing (a.k.a. media scan or patrol read)

• Online parity check and recovery

• Online disk cloning and replacement, with automatic resuming cloning

• Support skipping cloned sectors when rebuilding partially cloned disks

• Background Task Management

• Background task progress monitoring

• Support one-time or periodic scheduling of maintenance tasks

• Support priority control for different types of background tasks, like
rebuilding

• Support manual abort background tasks

• Support background task roaming

• Support automatic resuming tasks when the system restarts

• Support early notification of task completion

• Array Roaming and Recovery

• Support Configuration on disk (COD) with unique ID for each disk drive

• Support drive traveling

• Support online and offline array roaming

• Support automatic and manual roaming conflict resolution

1-4

Introduction

• Online array recovery for logical disks, disk groups, and volumes

• Storage Presentation

• Support multiple storage presentations: simple, symmetric, and selective

• Support dynamic LUN masking

• Independently-selectable access control for each host and LUN

• Independently-selectable CHS geometry and sector size for each LUN

• Support host grouping management

• Support up to 32 hosts, 16 host groups, and 32 storage groups

• Support up 1024 LUNs and 128 LUNs per storage group

• Hard Disk Management

• Support hard disk adding and removal emulation utility

• Support disk self test (DST) and disk health monitoring by SMART

• Support SMART warning-triggered disk cloning

• Support bad block over-threshold triggered disk cloning

• Support disk cache control

• Support disk auto standby when idle

• Support disk and disk group visual identification by LED

• Support disk sequential power-on

• Extensive disk I/O parameters selective for different environments

• Expansion Port Functions (model-dependent)

• Support SAS JBOD expansion units

• Support SAS SMP and SAS STP protocols

• Support external enclosure monitoring by SES

• Selective external enclosure and disk polling period

• Host Interface Functions (model-dependent)

• Support 4Gb/s Fibre Channel host interfaces (FC-SAS/SATA controller)

• Support 3Gb SAS host interfaces (SAS-SAS controller)

• Support Ultra320 SCSI host interfaces (SCSI-SATA controller)

• Support Gigabit iSCSI host interface

• Support T11 SM-HBA attributes statistics

• Support multiple-path IO (MPIO) solutions

1-5