Compaq 166207-B21 - Smart Array 5302/32 RAID Controller, 5300 Reference Manual

Advanced Data Guarding for the Smart Array 5300 Controller
Reference Guide
First Edition (December 2000) Part Number 188270-001 Compaq Computer Corporation

Notice

© 2000 Compaq Computer Corporation
COMPAQ, the Compaq logo, SmartStart, registered United States Patent and Trademark Office.
SoftPaq is a trademark of Compaq Information Technologies Group, L.P.
Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
All other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Compaq shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. The information in this document is subject to change without notice.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS INFORMATION REMAINS WITH RECIPIENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL COMPAQ BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION), EVEN IF COMPAQ HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT OR TORT, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE.
The limited warranties for Compaq products are exclusively set forth in the documentation accompanying such products. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting a further or additional warranty.
Advanced Data Guarding for the Smart Array 5300 Controller Reference Guide First Edition (December 2000) Part Number 188270-001

Contents

About This Guide
Text Conventions ........................................................................................................ v
Symbols in Text .........................................................................................................vi
Symbols on Equipment .............................................................................................. vi
Important Safety Information....................................................................................vii
Getting Help .............................................................................................................. vii
Compaq Technical Support................................................................................ vii
Compaq Website ............................................................................................... viii
Compaq Authorized Reseller ............................................................................viii
Chapter 1
Introduction: RAID ADG
Chapter 2
Installation
Preliminary Steps .....................................................................................................2-1
Locating the Connector ............................................................................................2-2
Installing the RAID ADG Enabler Module.............................................................. 2-3
Removing the Enabler Module.................................................................................2-4
Chapter 3
System Setup
Configuring a New System for RAID ADG ............................................................3-2
Windows NT and Windows 2000.....................................................................3-2
NetWare ............................................................................................................3-3
Migrating an Existing Logical Drive to RAID ADG ...............................................3-4
Windows NT and Windows 2000.....................................................................3-4
NetWare ............................................................................................................3-5
Assigning an Online Spare Drive.............................................................................3-5
iv Advanced Data Guarding for the Smart Array 5300 Controller Reference Guide
System Setup
continued
Performance Tuning ................................................................................................ 3-7
Changing the Cache Read/Write Allocation..................................................... 3-7
Optimizing the Stripe Size................................................................................ 3-8
Changing the Fault Tolerance Mode .............................................................. 3-10
Appendix A
Regulatory Compliance Notices
Federal Communications Commission Notice ........................................................A-1
Class A Equipment...........................................................................................A-2
Class B Equipment ...........................................................................................A-2
Modifications....................................................................................................A-3
Cables ...............................................................................................................A-3
Canadian Notice (Avis Canadien) ...........................................................................A-3
Class A Equipment...........................................................................................A-3
Class B Equipment ...........................................................................................A-4
European Union Notice ...........................................................................................A-4
Japanese Notice .......................................................................................................A-4
Taiwanese Notice ....................................................................................................A-5
Appendix B
Electrostatic Discharge
Preventing Electrostatic Damage.............................................................................B-1
Grounding Methods................................................................................................. B-2
Appendix C
Reliability Data
Appendix D
Additional POST Error Messages
Appendix E
Questions and Answers
Index
This guide describes the features of RAID ADG and the installation of the
RAID ADG Enabler Module onto the Smart Array 5300 controller board.

Text Conventions

This document uses the following conventions to distinguish elements of text:
Keys Keys appear in boldface. A plus sign (+) between
USER INPUT User input appears in a different typeface and in
FILENAMES File names appear in uppercase italics.

About This Guide

two keys indicates that they should be pressed simultaneously.
uppercase.
Menu Options, Command Names, Dialog Box Names
COMMANDS, DIRECTORY NAMES, and DRIVE NAMES
Type When you are instructed to type information, type
Enter When you are instructed to enter information, type
These elements appear in initial capital letters.
These elements appear in uppercase.
the information without pressing the Enter key.
the information and then press the Enter key.
vi Advanced Data Guarding for the Smart Array 5300 Controller Reference Guide

Symbols in Text

These symbols may be found in the text of this guide. They have the following meanings.
WARNING: Text set off in this manner indicates that failure to follow directions in the warning could result in bodily harm or loss of life.
CAUTION: Text set off in this manner indicates that failure to follow directions could result in damage to equipment or loss of information.
IMPORTANT: Text set off in this manner presents clarifying information or specific instructions.
NOTE: Text set off in this manner presents commentary, sidelights, or interesting points of information.

Symbols on Equipment

These icons may be located on equipment in areas where hazardous conditions may exist.
Any surface or area of the equipment marked with these symbols indicates the presence of electrical shock hazards. Enclosed area contains no operator serviceable parts. WARNING: To reduce the risk of injury from electrical shock hazards, do not open this enclosure.
Any RJ-45 receptacle marked with these symbols indicates a Network Interface Connection. WARNING: To reduce the risk of electrical shock, fire, or damage to the equipment, do not plug telephone or telecommunications connectors into this receptacle.
Any surface or area of the equipment marked with these symbols indicates the presence of a hot surface or hot component. If this surface is contacted, the potential for injury exists. WARNING: To reduce the risk of injury from a hot component, allow the surface to cool before touching.
Power Supplies or Systems marked with these symbols indicate the equipment is supplied by multiple sources of power.
WARNING: To reduce the risk of injury from electrical shock, remove all power cords to completely disconnect power from the system.

Important Safety Information

Before installing this product, read the Important Safety Information document
provided.
About This Guide vii

Getting Help

If you have a problem and have exhausted the information in this guide, you
can get further information and other help in the following locations.

Compaq Technical Support

You are entitled to free hardware technical telephone support for your product
for as long you own the product. A technical support specialist will help you
diagnose the problem or guide you to the next step in the warranty process.
In North America, call the Compaq Technical Phone Support Center at
1-800-OK-COMPAQ
Outside North America, call the nearest Compaq Technical Support Phone
Center. Telephone numbers for world wide Technical Support Centers are
listed on the Compaq website. Access the Compaq website by logging on to
the Internet at www.compaq.com.
1
For continuous quality improvement, calls may be recorded or monitored.
1
. This service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
viii Advanced Data Guarding for the Smart Array 5300 Controller Reference Guide
Be sure to have the following information available before you call Compaq:
Technical support registration number (if applicable)
Product serial number (s)
Product model name(s) and numbers(s)
Applicable error messages
Add-on boards or hardware
Third-party hardware or software
Operating system type and revision level
Detailed, specific questions

Compaq Website

The Compaq website has information on this product as well as the latest drivers and Flash ROM images. You can access the Compaq website by logging on to the Internet at www.compaq.com.

Compaq Authorized Reseller

For the name of your nearest Compaq Authorized Reseller:
In the United States, call 1-800-345-1518.
In Canada, call 1-800-263-5868.
Elsewhere, see the Compaq website for locations and telephone numbers.
Chapter
1
Introduction: RAID ADG
RAID ADG is similar to RAID 5 in that data protection is achieved by writing
parity information to the physical drives in the array. With RAID ADG,
however, two sets of parity data are used (Figure 1-1). These two sets are
different, and each set occupies a capacity equivalent to that of one of the
constituent drives. (For further information about other RAID levels, refer to
the Compaq Smart Array 5300 Controller User Guide.)
B1
B3
P5,6
P7,8
Figure 1-1. RAID ADG, showing data blocks (B) and two sets of parity data (P)
RAID ADG is most useful when data loss cannot be accepted, but low cost of
implementation is also desirable. The probability that a system will suffer data
loss when configured with RAID ADG is less than when configured with
either RAID 1 or RAID 5 (see Appendix C for reliability data).
B2
P3,4
P5,6
B7
P1,2
P3,4
B5
B8
P1,2
B4
B6
P7,8
1-2 Advanced Data Guarding for the Smart Array 5300 Controller Reference Guide
The main advantages of RAID ADG are:
High read performance
High data availability – any two drives can fail without loss of critical data
The only significant disadvantage is a relatively low write performance (lower than RAID 5), due to the need for two sets of parity data.
The following table summarizes the most important features of the different varieties of RAID available. The decision chart in Figure 1-2 may help you determine which RAID option is best for your situation.
Table 1-1
Summary of RAID Features
RAID 0 RAID 1 / RAID 0+1 RAID 5 RAID ADG
Alternative name Striping (no
fault tolerance)
Usable drive space* 100% 50% 67% to 93% 50% to 96%
Usable drive space formula
Minimum number of hard drives
Tolerant of single hard drive failure?
Tolerant of multiple simultaneous hard drive failure?
Read performance High High High High
Write performance High Medium Low Low
Relative cost Low High Medium Medium
*Note: The value for usable drive space is calculated assuming a maximum of 14 hard drives of the same capacity (or a maximum of 56 for RAID ADG) with no online spares. Compaq recommends that these maximum figures (excluding any allowable online spares) are not exceeded when configuring a drive array, due to the increased likelihood of logical drive failure with more hard drives.
n n/2 (n-1)/n (n-2)/n
12 34
No Yes Yes Yes
No In RAID 0+1, only
Mirroring Distributed
Data Guarding
No Yes when the failed drives are not mirrored to each other
Advanced Data Guarding
Introduction: RAID ADG 1-3
M
OST IMPORTANT
Fault tolerance
Cost effectiveness
I/O performance
Figure 1-2. Choosing a RAID method
A
LSO IMPORTANT
Cost effectiveness
I/O performance
Fault tolerance
I/O performance
Cost effectiveness
Fault tolerance
S
UGGESTED
RAID ADG
RAID 0+1
RAID ADG
RAID 5 (RAID 0 if fault tolerance is not required)
RAID 5 (RAID 0 if fault tolerance is not required)
RAID 0+1
RAID L
EVEL
For Advanced Data Guarding to be available as a fault-tolerance option on your system, the RAID ADG Enabler Module must be installed on the Smart Array 5300 controller in the server. Also, you will need to have at least 64 MB of read/write cache on the controller.

Preliminary Steps

WARNING: To reduce the risk of personal injury or damage to the equipment,
consult the safety information and user documentation provided with your computer before attempting the installation.
Many computers are capable of producing energy levels that are considered hazardous. These computers are intended to be serviced by qualified personnel trained to deal with those hazards. Do not remove enclosures or attempt to bypass any interlocks that may be provided for the purpose of removing these hazardous conditions.
Chapter
2
Installation
CAUTION: Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage electronic components. Be
sure you are properly grounded before beginning this procedure. See Appendix B for ESD information.
Before installing or removing the RAID ADG Enabler Module:
1. Perform a normal system shutdown.
CAUTION: In systems using external data storage, be sure the server is the first unit powered down and the last to be powered back up. This will ensure that the system will not erroneously mark the drives as failed.
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