Acer SCSI 320-0 User Manual

HARDWARE

GUIDE

MegaRAID® SCSI 320-0 Zero-Channel RAID Controller

September 2002

®

This document contains proprietary information of LSI Logic Corporation. The information contained herein is not to be used by or disclosed to third parties without the express written permission of an officer of LSI Logic Corporation.

LSI Logic products are not intended for use in life-support appliances, devices, or systems. Use of any LSI Logic product in such applications without written consent of the appropriate LSI Logic officer is prohibited.

Document DB15-000258-00, First Edition (September 2002) This document describes the initial release of LSI Logic Corporation’s MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 Controller and will remain the official reference source for all revisions/releases of this product until rescinded by an update.

LSI Logic Corporation reserves the right to make changes to any products herein at any time without notice. LSI Logic does not assume any responsibility or liability arising o ut of the app lication o r use of any p roduct des cribed her ein, except as expressly agreed to in writing by LSI Logic; nor does the purchase or use of a product from LSI Logic convey a license under any patent rights, copyrights, trademark rights, or any other of the intellectual property rights of LSI Logic or third parties.

LSI Logic, the LSI Logic logo design, and MegaRAID are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Logic Corporation. Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of the Open Group. Novell NetWare is a registered trademark of Novell Corporation. ASPI is a registered trademark of Adaptec, Inc. All other brand and product names may be trademarks of their respective companies.

CD

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centers, view our web page located at http://www.lsilogic.com/contacts/na_salesoffices.html

ii

FCC Regulatory Statement

This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.

Warning: Changes or m odificati ons to this un it not expressly approved by

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a specific installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interfere nc e to r adi o o r tel evision receptio n, wh ic h can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

the party responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.

1. Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

2. Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver.

3. Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.

4. Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

Shielded interface cables must be used with this product to ensure compliance with the Class B FCC limits.

Model Number: Series 520

Disclaimer – LSI LOGIC certifies on ly that this product wi ll w ork c orrec tl y when

this product is used with the same jumper settings, the same system configuration, the same memory module parts, and the same peripherals that were tested by LSI LOGIC with this product. The complete list of tested jumper settings, system configurations, peripheral devices, and memory modules are documented in the LSI LOGIC Compatibility Report for this product. Call your LSI LOGIC sales r epresentative for a copy of the Compati bility Repor t for this product.

iii

iv

Preface

Audience

Organization

This book is the primary reference and Hardware Guide for the LSI Logic MegaRAID the MegaRAID controller and for configuring RAID arrays. It also contains background information on RAID.

The MegaRAID SCSI 3 20-0 controller suppor ts single-en ded and lowvoltage differential (LVD) SCSI devices on an Ultra320 and Wide SCSI channel with data tran sfer rates up to 320 Mbytes/s.

This document is intende d for people who need to insta ll the MegaRA ID SCSI 320-0 Controlle r in a server and then cre ate and configure RAID arrays.

This document ha s the following chapters and appen dixes:

®

SCSI 320-0 Controller. It contains instr uctions for installing

· Chapter 1, Overview, provides an overview of the MegaRAID S CSI

320-0 and basic S CSI features.

· Chapter 2, Introduction to RAID, introduces impor tant RAID

concepts.

· Chapter 3, RAID Levels, describes each sup ported RAID l evel and

the factors to consider when choosing a RAID level.

· Chapter 4, Features, explains the features of the M egaRAI D® SCS I

320-0.

· Chapter 5, Configuring Physical Drives, Arrays, and Logical

Drives, explains how to configure SCSI physical drives, arrays, and

logical drives.

MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 Hardware Guide v

Technical Support

· Chapter 6, Hardware Installation, explains how to install the

MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 co ntroller.

· Chapter 7, Troubleshooting, provides troubleshooting informatio n

for the MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 c ontroller.

· Appendix A, Audible Warnings, explains the meaning of the

warning tones generated by the MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 RAID controller.

If you need help installing, c onfiguring, or r unning the MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 Controller, you may be able to find the information you need at the MegaRAID suppor t page at http://megaraid.lsilogic.com

If this does not resolve your problem, you can call your LSI Logic OEM Tec hnical Suppor t representative at 678-728- 1250. Before you call, please complete the M egaRAID Problem Report for m.

MegaRAID Problem Report Form

Customer Information MegaRAID Information

Name: Today’s Date: Company: Date of Purchase: Address: Invoice Number: City/State: Serial Number: Country: Email Address: Cache Memory: Phone: Firmware Version: Fax : BI OS Ver s io n:

System Information

Motherboard: BIOS manufacturer: Operating System: BIOS Date: Op. Sys. Ver.: Video Adapter:

vi Preface

MegaRAID Problem Report Form (Cont.)

MegaRAID Driver Ver.:

Network Card: System Memor y: Other disk controllers

installed:

Description of problem:

Steps necessary to re-create problem:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Logical Drive Configuration

Use this form to reco rd the configuration detail s for your logical drives.

Logical Drive Configuration

CPU Type/Speed:

Other adapter cards Installed:

Logical

Drive

LD0 LD1 LD2 LD3 LD4 LD5 LD6 LD7 LD8

RAID Level

Stripe

Size

Preface vii

Logical Drive

Size

Cache Policy

Read

Policy

Write

Policy

# of Physical

Drives

Logical Drive Configuration (Cont.)

Logical

Drive

LD9 LD10 LD11 LD12 LD13 LD14 LD15 LD16 LD17 LD18 LD19 LD20 LD21 LD22

RAID Level

Stripe

Size

Logical Drive

Size

Cache Policy

Read

Policy

Write

Policy

# of Physical

Drives

LD23 LD24 LD25 LD26 LD27 LD28 LD29 LD30 LD31 LD32 LD33

viii Preface

Logical Drive Configuration (Cont.)

Logical

Drive

LD34 LD35 LD36 LD37 LD38 LD39

RAID Level

Stripe

Size

Physical Device Layout

Use this form to reco rd the physical device layout.

Physical Device Layout

Target ID Device type

Logical Drive

Size

Cache Policy

Read

Policy

Channel 0 Channel 1

Write

Policy

# of Physical

Drives

Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number

Preface ix

Physical Device Layout (Cont.)

Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number

Channel 0 Channel 1

Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number

xPreface

Physical Device Layout (Cont.)

Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number

Channel 0 Channel 1

Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number

Preface xi

Physical Device Layout (Cont.)

Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number Firmware level Target ID Device type Logical drive number/Drive number Manufacturer/M odel number

Channel 0 Channel 1

Firmware level

xii Preface

Chapter 1 Overview

MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 can be install ed in a special P CI expansion slot in a computer wi th a m otherboar d tha t has the LS I Logi c 53C 1030 SCSI chip. The zero-channel ad apter convert s a mother board’s own on-board SCSI controller into a powerful PCI SCSI RAID sol ution, and is targete d for 1U and 2U server environme nts.

The MegaRAID SCSI 3 20-0 is part of th e LSI Logic Intel i960RM/RS based MegaRAID contro ller family, and is an entr y-level to mid-range RAID controller soluti on. This controller offers a cos t-effective way to implement RAID in a ser ver.

The MegaRAID SCSI 320- 0 supports d ata transfer rates up to 320 Mbytes/s per channel, and it suppor ts up to fifteen non-U ltra SCSI devices. MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 includes MegaRAID features and performance.

MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 Hardware Guide 1-1

1.1 Features

MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 features inc lude:

· Provides a high performan ce I/O migration path while pr eserving

existing PCI-SCSI software.

· Performs SCSI data transfers up to 320 Mbytes/s.

· Performs synchronous operation on a wi de low-voltage differential

(LVD) SCSI bus.

· Allows up to 15 LVD SCSI devices on the wi de bus.

· Includes an Intel GC8 0302 integrated I/O processor that performs

RAID calculations an d routing.

· Supports 32 to 128 Mbytes of SDRAM on-board cache memory used

for read and write-back cachi ng, and RAID 5 parity g eneration.

1.2 NVRAM and Flash ROM

A 32 Kbyte x 8 nonvolatile random access memor y (NVRAM) stores RAID system configura tion information. The Mega RAID SCSI 320-0 firmware is stored in flash ROM for easy upgrade.

1.3 Single-Ended and Differential SCSI Buses

The SCSI standard de fines two electrical buses:

· Single-ended bus

· Low-voltage differential bus

1-2 Overview

1.4 Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards

Table 1.1 lists the maximum SCSI cable length and number of disk drives

that you can use, depending o n the SCSI speeds.

Table 1.1 Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards

Single Ended

Standard

Ultra SCSI 1.5 m 12 m 7 Ultra SCSI 3 m 12 m 3 Wide Ultra SCSI 12 m 15 Wide Ultra S CSI 1.5 m 12 m 7 Wide Ultra SCSI 3 m 12 m 3 Ultra 2 SCSI 25 m 1 Ultra 2 SCSI 12 m 7 Wide Ultra 2 SCSI 25 m 1 Wide Ultra 2 SCSI 12 m 15 Ultra160 SCSI 25 m 1 Ultra160 SCSI 12 m 7 Wide Ultra160 SCSI 25 m 1 Wide Ultra160 SCSI 12 m 15 Ultra320 12 m 15

SCSI

Low-Voltage

Differential SCSI

Maximum # of

Drives

Ultra320 20 m 1

Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards 1-3

1.5 SCSI Bu s Widths and Maximum Throughput

Table 1.2 lists the SCSI bus widths and maximum throug hput, based on

the SCSI speeds.

Table 1.2 SCSI Bus Widths and Maximum Throughput

SCSI Standard SCSI Bus Width SCSI Throughput

Fast Wide SCSI 16 bits 20 Mbytes/s Wide Ultra S CSI 16 bits 40 Mbytes/s Wide Ultra 2 SCSI 16 bits 80 Mbytes/s Wide Ultra 160 SCSI 16 bits 160 Mbytes/s Ultra 320 SCSI 16 bits 320 Mbytes/s

1.6 Documentation

The MegaRAID SCSI 3 20-0 documentation se t includes:

· The MegaRAID SCS I 320-0 ZCR Hardware Guide

· The MegaRAID Con figuration Software Guide

· The MegaRAID Operating System Driver Instal lation Guide

1.6.1 MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 ZCR Hardware Guide

The Hardware Guide contai ns the RAID overview, RAID planning, and RAID system configura tion information you need firs t. Read this document first.

1.6.2 MegaRAID Configuration Software Guide

This manual descr ibes the software configura tion utilities that you can use to configure and m odify RAID systems.

1-4 Overview

1.6.3 MegaRAID Operating System Driver Installation Guide

This manual provides detailed information about installing the MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 operating s ystem drivers.

Documentation 1-5

1-6 Overview

Chapter 2 Introduction to RAID

This chapter introdu ces importan t RAID concepts. It contains th e following sections:

· Section 2.1, “R AID Benefits”

· Section 2.2, “MegaRAI D SCSI 320-0 – Host-Ba sed RAID Solution”

· Section 2.3, “RAID Overview”

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Di sks) is a dat a storage meth od in which data, along with par ity information, is distr ibuted among two or more hard disks (called an array) to improve performance and reliability. The RAID array appears to the host computer as a single storage unit or as multiple logical u nits. I/O is expedited because several disks can be accessed simultan eously. RAID system s provide improved data s torage reliability and fault tolerance compared to single-dr ive computers. If a disk drive in a RAID a rray fails, data can be recons tructe d from th e data and parity inform ation on the remaining disk drives.

2.1 RAID Benefits

RAID is widely used be ca us e it im pr oves I/O performanc e a nd i nc reas es storage subsystem r eliability. RAID provides data se curity through fault tolerance and redundant dat a storage. The MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 management software co nfigures and monitors RAID d isk arrays.

2.1.1 Improved I/O

Although disk dr ive capabilities have improved drastically, actual performance of individ ual disk drives has been i mproved only three to four times in the last decade. RAI D provides a way to achieve much better data throughput.

MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 Hardware Guide 2-1

2.1.2 Increased Reliability

The electromechan ical components of a d isk subsystem operate mor e slowly, require more power, and generate more noise and vibra tion than electronic devices. These factors reduce the reliab ility of data stored on disks. RAID provides a way to achieve much better fault tolerance and data reliability.

2.2 MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 – Host-Based RAID Solution

RAID products are ei ther host-based or external. The MegaRAID SCSI 3 20-0 controller is a hos t-based RAID solutio n.

The MegaRAID SCSI 3 20-0 is a PCI adapter card that is installed in a PCI expansion slot in a host system with a motherboard that contains the LSI Logic 53C1030 S CSI chip.

2.2.1 Host-Based RAID

A host-based RAID pr oduct puts all of the RAID in telligence on an adapter card that is in stalled in a network se rver. A host-based RAID product provides the best performance. MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 is part of the file server, so it can transmit dat a directly across th e computer’s buses at data transfer speeds up to 1 32 Mbytes/s.

The available sequential data transfer rate is de termined by the following factors:

· The sustained data transfer rate on the mot herboard PCI bus

· The sustained data transfer rate on the i96 0RM PCI to PCI bridge

· The sustained data transfer rate of the SCSI controller

· The sustained data transfer rate of the SCSI devices

· The number of SCSI chan nels

· The number of SCSI disk d rives

Host-based solu tions must provide operating sy stem-specific dr ivers.

2-2 I ntroduction to RAID

2.2.2 SCSI-to-SCSI External RAID

A SCSI-to-SCSI extern al R AID produ ct puts the RA ID inte llige nce ins ide the RAID chassis and uses a plain SCSI hos t adapter installed in th e network ser ver. The data transfer rate is limited to the bandwidth of the SCSI channel. A SCSI-t o-SCSI extern al RAID product t hat h as two wid e SCSI channels operati ng at speeds up to 320 Mbytes /s must squeeze the data into a single wide SCSI (320 Mbytes/s) channel back to the host computer.

In SCSI-to-SCSI extern al RAID pr oducts, the di sk dr ive subsystem us es only a single SCSI ID, which allows you to connect multip le drive subsystems to a si ngle SCSI controller.

2.3 RAID Overview

RAID is a collection of specifications that describes a system for ensuring the reliability and stability of data stored on large disk subsy stems. A RAID system can be implemented in a number of different versions (or RAID levels). MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 supp orts standard RA ID levels 0, 1, and 5, and RAID levels 10 and 50, special RAID versions suppor ted by MegaRAID SCSI 320-0.

2.3.1 Physical Array

A RAID array is a collection of physical disk drives governed by the RAID management software. A RAID array appears to th e host computer as one or more logical drives.

2.3.2 Logical Drive

A logical drive is a par tition in a physical array of disks that is made up of contiguous data s egments on the physical disk s. A logical drive can consist of any of the following:

· An entire physical array

· More than one entire p hysical array

· A part of an array

· Parts of more than on e array

RAID Overvi ew 2-3

· A combination of any two of the above conditions

2.3.3 Consistency Check

A consistency check verifies the correctness of redundant data in a RAID array. For example, in a system with d istributed parity, checking consistency means c omputing the parit y of the data drives and comparing the results to the contents of the parity dri ves.

2.3.4 Fault Tolerance

Fault tolerance is achieved through auto detection of failed drives, rebuilds with hot spare drive, the ability to hot swap drives, Configuration on Disk capability, and support for self-monitor ing a nalys is and r eporting technology (SMART). MegaRAID SCSI 320- 0 provides hot swapping through the hot spare feature. A ho t spare drive is an unused onl ine available drive that MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 can i nstantly plug into the system when an active dr ive fails.

After the hot sp are is automa tically moved into the RAID subsy stem, the failed drive is automaticall y rebuilt. The RAID disk array continues to handle request while the rebuild occurs.

2.3.5 Disk Striping

Disk striping writes data across multiple disk drives instead of just one disk drive, as shown in Figure 2.1.

2-4 I ntroduction to RAID

Figure 2.1 Disk Striping

MegaRAID Controller

Disk striping involves partitioning each disk d rive’s storage space into stripes that can vary in size from 2 to 128 Kbytes. These stripes are interleaved in a repeated, sequ ential manner. The combined storage space is composed of s tripes from each dr ive. MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 suppor ts stripe sizes of 2, 4, 8, 1 6, 32, 64, or 128 Kbytes.

For example, in a four-disk system using on ly disk striping (as in RAID level 0), segment 1 is written to d isk 1, segment 2 is wri tten to disk 2, and so on. Disk stripi ng enhances p erformance be cause multip le dri ves are accessed simultane ously; but disk striping does not provide data redundancy.

2.3.5.1 Stripe Width

Stripe width i s a measure of the number of disks involved in an array where striping is implemented. For example, a four-disk array with disk striping has a st ripe width of four.

Segment 1 Segment 5 Segment 9

Segment 2 Segment 6

Segment 10

Segment 3 Segment 7

Segment 11

Segment 4 Segment 8

Segment 12

RAID Overvi ew 2-5

2.3.5.2 Stripe Size

The stripe s ize is the length of the interl eaved data segments that MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 wr ites across multipl e drives. MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 suppor ts stripe sizes o f 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 K bytes.

2.3.6 Disk Mirroring

With disk mirroring (used in RAID 1), data wr itten to one disk dr ive is simultaneously wr itten to another disk dr ive, as shown in Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2 Disk Mirroring

MegaRAID Controller

Segment 1 Segment 2 Segment 3 Segment 4 Segment 4 Duplicated

If one disk drive fails, the contents of the other disk dr ive can be used to run the system and reconstr uct the failed drive. The primary advantage of disk mirroring i s that it provides 100% data r edundancy. Since the contents of the disk d rive are completely wr itten to a second dri ve, it does not matter if o ne of the drives fails. Both drives contain th e same data at all times. Either drive can act as the operationa l drive.

Although disk mirror ing provides 100% redund ancy, it is expensive because each dr ive in the system must be duplic ated.

2-6 I ntroduction to RAID

Segment 1 Duplicated Segment 2 Duplicated Segment 3 Duplicated

2.3.7 Disk Spanning

Disk spanning allows multiple disk drives to function like one bi g drive. Spanning overcomes lack of disk s pace and simplifies storag e management by combinin g existing resources or adding rel atively inexpensive resources. For example, four 60 Gbyte disk drives can be combined to appear to t he operating system as one single 240 Gbyte drive.

Disk spanning alone does not provide reliability or performance enhancements. Spanned logical drives must have the same stripe s ize and must be contiguous. In Figure 2.3, two RAID 1 arrays are turned into a RAID 10 array.

Figure 2.3 Disk Spanning

MegaRAID Controller

Data Flow

Segment 1 Segment 3 Segment 5

RAID 1

Disk 1 Disk 4Disk 3

Segment 1 Segment 3 Segment 5

Disk 2

Segment 2 Segment 4 Segment 6

RAID 0

RAID 1

Segment 2

Segment 2 Segment 4

Segment 4 Segment 6

Segment 6

RAID Overvi ew 2-7

Table 2.1 describes how disk sp ann in g is us ed for RAID 10 an d RA ID 50 .

Table 2.1 Spanning for RAID 10 and RAID 50

Level Description

10 Configure RAID 10 by spanning two contiguous RAID 1 logical drives.

The RAID 1 logical drives must have the same stripe size.

50 Configure RAID 50 by spanning two contiguous RAID 5 logical drives.

The RAID 5 logical drives must have the same stripe size.

2.3.8 Parity

Parity generates a set of redunda ncy data f rom two or more par ent data sets. The redundancy data can be use d to reconstr uct one of the pa rent data sets. Parity data does not f ully duplicate the pa rent data sets. In RAID, this method is applied to entire dr ives (dedicated parity ) or to stripes acros s all disk drives in an array (distributed parit y).

RAID 5 combines distributed parity with disk striping. If a single disk drive fails, it can be rebuilt from the parity an d the data on the remaining drives. Parity provides redundancy for one dr ive failure without duplicating the c ontents of entire disk dr ives, but parity generation can slow the write process.

2.3.9 Hot Spares

A hot spare is an extra, unused disk drive that is par t of the disk subsystem. It is usually in standby mode, ready for service if a drive fails. Hot spares permit you to replace failed drives without syste m shutdown or user inter vention.

Note:

Spanning two conti guous RAID 0 logical d rives does not produce a new RAID level or add fault tolerance. It does increase the si ze of the logical volume and imp roves performance by doubling the number of spindles.

MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 implements automatic and transparent rebuilds using hot spare dr ives, providing a high degree of fault tolerance and zero downtime. The MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 RAID Management software allows you to specify physical drives as hot spares. When a hot spare is needed, the MegaRAID SC SI 320 -0 controller assigns the hot s pa re that

2-8 I ntroduction to RAID

Acer SCSI 320-0 User Manual

Preface

Contents

1.1 Features

1.2 NVRAM and Flash ROM

1.3 Single-Ended and Differential SCSI Buses

1.4 Maximum Cable Length for SCSI Standards

1.5 SCSI Bu s Widths and Maximum Throughput

1.6 Documentation

1.6.1 MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 ZCR Hardware Guide

1.6.2 MegaRAID Configuration Software Guide

1.6.3 MegaRAID Operating System Driver Installation Guide

2.1 RAID Benefits

2.1.1 Improved I/O

2.1.2 Increased Reliability

2.2 MegaRAID SCSI 320-0 – Host-Based RAID Solution

2.2.1 Host-Based RAID

2.2.2 SCSI-to-SCSI External RAID

2.3 RAID Overview

2.3.1 Physical Array

2.3.2 Logical Drive

2.3.3 Consistency Check

2.3.4 Fault Tolerance

2.3.5 Disk Striping

2.3.5.1 Stripe Width

2.3.5.2 Stripe Size

2.3.6 Disk Mirroring

2.3.7 Disk Spanning

2.3.8 Parity

2.3.9 Hot Spares