Compaq Infortrend User Manual

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Infortrend

External RAID Controller & Subsystem

Generic Operation Manual

Revision 1.61

Firmware Version: 3.31

Asia Pacific

(International hea dquarter) Infortrend Technology, Inc.

8F, No. 102 Chung-Shan Rd., Sec. 3 Chung-Ho City, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan

Tel: (886)-2-2226-0126 Fax: (886)-2-2226-0020

sales@infortrend.com.tw support@infortrend.com.tw www.infortrend.com.tw

Americas

Infortrend Corporation

3150 Coronado Drive, Unit C Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA

Tel: (408) 988-5088 Fax: (408) 988-6288

sales@infortrend.com support@infortrend.com www.infortrend.com

China

Infortrend Technology, Limited

Room 1236 Tower C Corporate Square No. 35 Financial Street Xicheng District Beijing China 100032

Tel: (86)-10-88091540 Fax: (86)-10-88092126

sales@infortrend.com.cn support@infortrend.com.cn www.infortrend.com.cn

This Edition First Published 2003

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without the prior written consent of Infortrend Tec hnology, Inc.

Disclaimer

Infortrend Technology makes no representations or warr anties with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Furthermore, Infortrend Technology reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation to notify any person of such revisions or changes.

Product specifications are also subject to change without notice.

Europe

Infortrend Europe Limited

Ground Floor, Chancery House St. Nicholas Way, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 1JB, United Kingdom

Tel:+44-(0)20 8770 1838 Fax:+44-(0)20 8770 7409

sales@infortrend-europe.com support@infortrend-europe.com www.infortrend-europe.com

Trademarks

Infortrend and the Infortrend logo are registered trademarks and SentinelRAID, EonRAI D, EonStor, RAIDWatch, and other names prefixed with “IFT” are trademarks of Infortrend Technology, Inc.

PowerPC is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation and Motorola Inc.

DEC and Alpha are registered trademarks of Compaq Computer Corp. (formerly of Digital Equipment Corporation). Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT and MS- DOS a re r egistered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. SCO, OpenServer, and UnixWare are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.

Solaris is a trademark of SUN Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the U.S. and other countries. All other names, brands, products or services are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

RMA Policy

Please visit our websites

(www.infortrend.com/www.infortrend.com.tw/ww.infortrend.com.cn/ www.infortrend-europe.com) where our RMA policy is given a

detailed explanation.

Supported Models

This manual supports the following Infortrend controllers/subsystems:

• SentinelRAID: SCSI-based external RAID controllers (including the 5.25” full-height and 1U canister configuration)

• EonRAID: Fibre-based external RAID controllers (including the 5.25” full-height and 1U canister configuration)

• EonStor: subsystems that come with SCSI or Fibre host channels.

• IFT-6230 and 6330 series ATA RAID subsystems.

Printed in Taiwan

iii

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 RAID Functions: An Introduction

1.1 Logical Drive...................................................................................................1

1.2 Logical Volume...............................................................................................1

What is a logical volume?..................................................................................1

1.3 RAID Levels.....................................................................................................2

What are the RAID levels? ................................................................................ 2

NRAID................................................................................................................3

JBOD.................................................................................................................3

RAID 0...............................................................................................................4

RAID 1...............................................................................................................4

RAID (0+1).........................................................................................................4

RAID 3...............................................................................................................5

RAID 5...............................................................................................................5

1.4 Spare Drives ...................................................................................................6

Global and Local Spare Drives..........................................................................6

1.5 Identifying Drives...........................................................................................8

Flash Selected SCSI Drive................................................................................8

Flash All SCSI Drives ........................................................................................ 8

Flash All but Selected Drives.............................................................................8

1.6 Rebuild ............................................................................................................9

Automatic Rebuild and Manual Rebuild.............................................................9

1. Automatic Rebuild ........................................................................................9

2. Manual Rebuild...........................................................................................10

3. Concurrent Rebuild in RAID (0+1)..............................................................11

1.7 Logical Volume (Multi-Level RAID)............................................................. 12

What is a logical volume?................................................................................12

Spare drives assigned to a logical volume? ....................................................14

Limitations:.......................................................................................................15

Partitioning - partitioning the logical drive or partitioning the logical volume? .15

Different write policies within a logical volume?............................................... 16

RAID expansion with logical volume?..............................................................16

Different controller settings using logical volume? .......................................... 16

A logical volume with logical drives of different levels?...................................17

Multi-level RAID systems.................................................................................17

Chapter 2 RAID Planning

2.1 Considerations...............................................................................................1

2.2 Configuring the Array:................................................................................... 5

2.2.1 Starting a RAID System...........................................................................5

2.3 Operation Theory ...........................................................................................7

2.3.1 I/O Channel, SCSI ID, and LUN .............................................................. 7

2.3.2 Grouping Drives into an Array .................................................................7

2.3.3 Making Arrays Available to Hosts............................................................ 9

2.4 Tunable Parameters.....................................................................................10

Chapter 3 Accessing the Array through Serial Port and Ethernet

3.1 RS-232C Serial Port....................................................................................... 1

3.1.1 Configuring RS-232C Connection via Front Panel ..................................2

3.1.2 Starting RS-232C Terminal Emulation.....................................................3

3.2 Out-of-Band via Ethernet..............................................................................4

What Is the “Disk Reserved Space?”.................................................................4

Other Concerns..................................................................................................5

Web-Based Management..................................................................................5

Requirements.....................................................................................................5

3.2.1 Connecting Ethernet Port:........................................................................5

3.2.2 Configuring the Controller........................................................................6

3.2.3 NPC Onboard ..........................................................................................9

The SNMP_TRAP section ...............................................................................10

The EMAIL section...........................................................................................10

The BROADCAST section...............................................................................10

Chapter 4 LCD Screen Messages

4.1 The Initial Screen............................................................................................1

4.2 Quick Installation Screen...............................................................................1

4.3 Logical Drive Status.......................................................................................2

4.4 Logical Volume Status...................................................................................3

4.5 SCSI Drive Status ...........................................................................................4

4.6 SCSI Channel Status......................................................................................5

4.7 Controller Voltage and Temperature ............................................................6

4.8 Cache Dirty Percentage .................................................................................7

4.9 View and Edit Event Logs..............................................................................7

Chapter 5 LCD Keypad Operation

5.1 Power on RAID Enclosure ............................................................................1

5.2 Caching Parameters......................................................................................1

Optimization Modes ...........................................................................................1

Optimization Mode and Stripe Size....................................................................2

Optimization for Random or Sequential I/O .......................................................3

Write-Back/Write-Through Cache Enable/Disable ............................................3

5.3 View Connected Drives:................................................................................5

5.4 Creating a Logical Drive................................................................................6

Choosing a RAID Level:.....................................................................................6

Choosing Member Drives: .................................................................................6

Logical Drive Preferences:.................................................................................6

Maximum Drive Capacity:..................................................................................7

Spare Drive Assignments: .................................................................................7

Disk Reserved Space: .......................................................................................7

Write Policy:.......................................................................................................7

Initialization Mode: .............................................................................................7

Stripe Size:.........................................................................................................8

Beginning Initialization........................................................................................8

5.5 Creating a Logical Volume..........................................................................10

Initialization Mode ............................................................................................10

Write Policy......................................................................................................10

5.6 Partitioning a Logical Drive/Logical Volume .............................................12

5.7 Mapping a Logical Volume/Logical Drive to Host LUN.............................13

5.8 Assigning Spare Drive and Rebuild Settings.............................................14

Adding a Local Spare Drive .............................................................................14

Adding a Global Spare Drive............................................................................15

Rebuild Settings...............................................................................................15

5.9 Viewing and Editing Logical Drives and Drive Members.........................16

Deleting a Logical Drive...................................................................................16

Deleting a Partition of a Logical Drive.............................................................. 17

Assigning a Name to a Logical Drive...............................................................18

Rebuilding a Logical Drive...............................................................................18

Regenerating Logical Drive Parity...................................................................19

Media Scan......................................................................................................20

Write Policy......................................................................................................21

5.10 Viewing and Editing Host LUNs................................................................. 22

Viewing and Deleting LUN Mappings..............................................................22

Pass-through SCSI Commands ......................................................................22

5.11 Viewing and Editing SCSI Drives...............................................................23

Scanning New SCSI Drive...............................................................................23

Identifying a Drive............................................................................................ 24

Deleting Spare Drive (Global / Local Spare Drive) .......................................... 25

5.12 Viewing and Editing SCSI Channels .........................................................25

Redefining Channel Mode...............................................................................25

Setting a SCSI Channel’s ID - Host Channel...................................................26

Viewing IDs......................................................................................................26

Adding a Channel ID........................................................................................26

Deleting a Channel ID......................................................................................27

Setting a SCSI Channel’s Primary ID - Drive Channel ...................................27

Setting a SCSI Channel’s Secondary ID - Drive Channel ...............................28

Setting Channel Bus Terminator .....................................................................28

Setting Transfer Speed....................................................................................29

Setting Transfer Width..................................................................................... 30

Viewing and Editing SCSI Target - Drive Channel ..........................................30

Slot Number.....................................................................................................31

Maximum Synchronous Transfer Clock ..........................................................31

Maximum Transfer Width................................................................................ 31

Parity Check .................................................................................................... 32

Disconnecting Support.....................................................................................32

Maximum Tag Count ....................................................................................... 32

Restore to Default Setting................................................................................33

5.13 System Functions ....................................................................................... 34

Mute Beeper....................................................................................................34

Change Password ........................................................................................... 34

Changing Password.........................................................................................34

Disabling Password.........................................................................................35

Reset Controller...............................................................................................35

Shutdown Controller........................................................................................35

Controller Maintenance....................................................................................36

Saving NVRAM to Disks.................................................................................. 36

Restore NVRAM from Disks............................................................................36

5.14 Controller Parameters................................................................................. 37

Controller Name ..............................................................................................37

LCD Title Display Controller Name..................................................................37

Password Validation Timeout..........................................................................37

Controller Unique Identifier..............................................................................37

Controller Date and Time ................................................................................38

Time Zone .......................................................................................................38

Date and Time.................................................................................................39

5.15 SCSI Drive Utilities......................................................................................40

SCSI Drive Low-level Format .......................................................................... 40

SCSI Drive Read/Write Test............................................................................ 41

Chapter 6 Terminal Screen Messages

6.1 The Initial Screen............................................................................................1

6.2 Main Menu.......................................................................................................2

6.3 Quick Installation............................................................................................2

6.4 Logical Drive Status.......................................................................................4

6.5 Logical Volume Status...................................................................................5

6.6 SCSI Drive Status ...........................................................................................6

6.7 SCSI Channel’s Status...................................................................................7

6.8 Controller Voltage and Temperature ............................................................9

6.9 Viewing Event Logs on the Screen.............................................................10

Chapter 7 Terminal Operation

7.1 Power on RAID Enclosure .............................................................................1

7.2 Caching Parameters.......................................................................................1

Optimization Modes ...........................................................................................1

Optimization Mode and Stripe Size....................................................................3

Optimization for Random or Sequential I/O .......................................................3

Write-Back/Write-Through Cache Enable/Disable ............................................3

7.3 Viewing the Connected Drives......................................................................4

7.4 Creating a Logical Drive.................................................................................5

Choosing a RAID Level:.....................................................................................6

Choosing Member Drives: .................................................................................6

Logical Drive Preferences:.................................................................................6

Maximum Drive Capacity:..................................................................................6

Assign Spare Drives: .........................................................................................7

Disk Reserved Space ........................................................................................7

Logical Drive Assignments:................................................................................7

Write Policy........................................................................................................7

Initialization Mode ..............................................................................................8

Stripe Size..........................................................................................................8

7.5 Creating a Logical Volume...........................................................................10

7.6 Partitioning a Logical Drive/Logical Volume .............................................11

7.7 Mapping a Logical Volume to Host LUN ....................................................13

7.8 Assigning Spare Drive, Rebuild Settings...................................................15

Adding Local Spare Drive ................................................................................15

Adding a Global Spare Drive............................................................................16

7.9 Viewing and Editing Logical Drive and Drive Members ...........................16

Deleting a Logical Drive...................................................................................17

Deleting a Partition of a Logical Drive..............................................................17

Assigning a Name to a Logical Drive...............................................................17

Rebuilding a Logical Drive ...............................................................................18

Regenerating Logical Drive Parity....................................................................19

Media Scan......................................................................................................19

Write Policy......................................................................................................20

7.10 Viewing and Editing Host LUNs..................................................................21

Viewing or Deleting LUN Mappings .................................................................21

Edit Host-ID/WWN Name List..........................................................................21

Pass-through SCSI Commands.......................................................................21

7.11 Viewing and Editing SCSI Drives................................................................22

Scanning New Drive.........................................................................................23

Slot Number.....................................................................................................23

Drive Entry .......................................................................................................23

Identifying Drive ...............................................................................................23

vii

Deleting Spare Drive (Global / Local Spare Drive) .......................................... 24

7.12 Viewing and Editing SCSI Channels ..........................................................25

Redefining Channel Mode...............................................................................25

Viewing and Editing SCSI IDs - Host Channel ................................................26

Viewing and Editing SCSI IDs .........................................................................26

Adding a SCSI ID (Primary/Secondary Controller ID) .....................................26

Deleting an ID.................................................................................................. 27

Setting a Primary Controller’s SCSI ID - Drive Channel..................................27

Setting a Secondary Controller’s SCSI ID - Drive Channel .............................28

Setting Channel Terminator.............................................................................28

Setting a Transfer Speed.................................................................................28

Drive Channel.................................................................................................. 28

Setting the Transfer Width............................................................................... 29

Viewing and Editing SCSI Target / Drive Channel........................................... 30

Slot Number.....................................................................................................30

Maximum Synchronous Transfer Clock ..........................................................31

Maximum Transfer Width................................................................................ 31

Parity Check .................................................................................................... 31

Disconnecting Support.....................................................................................32

Maximum Tag Count ....................................................................................... 32

Data Rate.........................................................................................................32

7.13 System Functions ........................................................................................ 34

Mute Beeper....................................................................................................34

Change Password ........................................................................................... 34

Changing the Password...................................................................................35

Setting a New Password..................................................................................35

Disabling the Password...................................................................................36

Reset Controller...............................................................................................36

Shutdown Controller........................................................................................36

7.14 Controller Parameters.................................................................................. 37

Controller Name ..............................................................................................37

LCD Title Display Controller Name..................................................................37

Saving NVRAM to Disks.................................................................................. 38

Restore NVRAM from Disks............................................................................38

Password Validation Timeout..........................................................................39

Controller Unique Identifier..............................................................................39

Set Controller Date and Time..........................................................................41

Time Zone .......................................................................................................41

Date and Time.................................................................................................41

7.15 Drive Information..........................................................................................42

View Drive Information.....................................................................................42

SCSI Drive Utilities ..........................................................................................42

SCSI Drive Low-level Format .......................................................................... 43

SCSI Drive Read/Write Test............................................................................ 44

Chapter 8 Fibre Operation

8.1 Overview .........................................................................................................1

8.2 Major Concerns ..............................................................................................2

8.3 Supported Features ....................................................................................... 4

Fibre Chip..........................................................................................................4

Multiple Target IDs:............................................................................................4

Drive IDs:........................................................................................................... 5

In-band Fibre and S.E.S. Support:.....................................................................5

8.4 Configuration: Host and Drive Parameters .................................................6

Channel Mode: .................................................................................................. 6

viii

Primary and Secondary Controller IDs:..............................................................6

Redundant Controller Cache Coherency Channel (RCC Channel):..................7

View Channel WWN..........................................................................................7

View Device Port Name List (WWPN)...............................................................8

View and Edit Fibre Drive...................................................................................8

User-Assigned ID (Scan SCSI Drive) ................................................................8

View Drive Information.......................................................................................9

View and Edit Host-Side Parameters.................................................................9

1. Fibre Channel Connection Type:................................................................10

View and Edit Drive-Side Parameters..............................................................10

2. Drive-Side Dual Loop:.................................................................................10

Controller Unique Identifier ..............................................................................11

Controller Communications over Fibre Loops .................................................12

8.5 Multi-Host Access Control: LUN Filtering..................................................14

Creating LUN Masks........................................................................................15

WWN Name List..............................................................................................16

Logical Unit to Host LUN Mapping...................................................................16

LUN Mask (ID Range) Configuration: ..............................................................18

Filter Type: Include or Exclude.........................................................................18

Access Mode: Read Only or Read/Write.........................................................19

Sample Configuration: .....................................................................................20

Configuration Procedure:.................................................................................20

Chapter 9 Advanced Configuration

9.1 Fault Prevention..............................................................................................1

S.M.A.R.T. .........................................................................................................1

9.1.1 Clone Failing Drive:..................................................................................2

Replace after Clone: ..........................................................................................2

Perpetual Clone: ................................................................................................3

9.1.2 S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology ) ........5

Configuration Procedure....................................................................................7

Enabling the S.M.A.R.T. Feature.......................................................................7

Examining Whether Your Drives Support S.M.A.R.T. .......................................7

Using S.M.A.R.T. Functions...............................................................................8

9.2 Host-side and Drive-side SCSI Parameters ...............................................11

Foreword: SCSI Channel, SCSI ID and LUN...................................................11

9.2.1 Host-side SCSI Parameters...................................................................11

Maximum Concurrent Host LUN Connection (“Nexus” in SCSI): ....................11

Number of Tags Reserved for each Host-LUN Connection: ...........................12

Maximum Queued I/O Count: ..........................................................................13

LUNs per Host SCSI ID ...................................................................................13

LUN Applicability:.............................................................................................13

Peripheral Device Type:...................................................................................14

In-band (SCSI or Fibre):...................................................................................14

Peripheral Device Type Parameters for Various Operating Systems:.............15

Cylinder/Head/Sector Mapping:.......................................................................16

9.2.2 Drive-side Parameters:..........................................................................18

SCSI Motor Spin-Up.........................................................................................18

SCSI Reset at Power-Up.................................................................................19

Disk Access Delay Time ..................................................................................20

SCSI I/O Timeout.............................................................................................20

Maximum Tag Count (Tag Command Queuing) .............................................21

Detection of Drive Hot Swap Followed by Auto Rebuild..................................22

SAF-TE and S.E.S. Enclosure Monitoring .......................................................22

Periodic Drive Check Time ..............................................................................22

Idle Drive Failure Detection ............................................................................. 23

Periodic Auto-Detect Failure Drive Swap Check Time....................................23

9.3 Monitoring and Safety Mechanisms...........................................................25

Dynamic Switch Write-Policy...........................................................................25

View Peripheral Device Status ........................................................................25

Controller Auto-Shutdown - Event Trigger Option ...........................................26

9.4 Disk Array Parameters................................................................................. 27

Rebuild Priority.................................................................................................27

Verification on Writes.......................................................................................28

Chapter 10 Redundant Controller

10.1 Operation Theory ......................................................................................10-1

10.1.1 Setup Flowchart................................................................................10-2

10.1.2 Considerations Related to Physical Connection...............................10-2

SCSI-Based Controllers................................................................................10-2

Fibre-Based Controllers................................................................................10-3

10.1.3 Grouping Hard Drives and LUN Mapping.........................................10-4

Logical Drive, Logical Volume, and Logical Partitions..................................10-5

System Drive Mapping:.................................................................................10-6

Primary and Secondary IDs..........................................................................10-6

Mapping........................................................................................................10-7

10.1.4 Fault-Tolerance ................................................................................10-8

What Is a Redundant Controller Configuration?...........................................10-8

How does Failover and Failback Work?.......................................................10-9

A. Channel Bus............................................................................................10-9

B. Controller Failover and Failback............................................................10-11

C. Active-to-Active Configuration:..............................................................10-11

D. Traffic Distribution and Failover Process ..............................................10-12

Symptoms...................................................................................................10-13

Connection:.................................................................................................10-13

10.2 Preparing Controllers .............................................................................10-14

10.2.1 Requirements: ................................................................................10-14

Cabling Requirements:...............................................................................10-14

Controller Settings:.....................................................................................10-15

10.2.2 Limitations.......................................................................................10-16

10.2.3 Configurable Parameters................................................................10-16

Primary or Secondary.................................................................................10-16

Active-to-Active Configuration ....................................................................10-17

Active-to-Standby Configuration.................................................................10-17

Cache Synchronization...............................................................................10-17

Battery Support...........................................................................................10-17

10.3 Configuration...........................................................................................10-19

10.3.1 Via Front Panel Keypad..................................................................10-20

Redundant Configuration Using Automatic Setting ....................................10-20

Enable Redundant Controller .....................................................................10-20

Autoconfig...................................................................................................10-20

2. Controller Unique ID...............................................................................10-20

Redundant Configuration Using Manual Setting.........................................10-21

1. Enable Redundant Controller .................................................................10-21

2. Controller Unique ID...............................................................................10-21

Starting the Redundant Controllers ............................................................10-22

Creating Primary and Secondary ID...........................................................10-22

Drive Channel.............................................................................................10-22

Host Channel..............................................................................................10-23

Assigning a Logical Drive/Logical Volume to the Secondary Controller.....10-23

Mapping a Logical Drive/Logical Volume to the Host LUNs .......................10-24

Front Panel View of Controller Failure........................................................10-25

When and how is the failed controller replaced?........................................10-25

10.3.2 Via Terminal Emulation...................................................................10-26

Redundant Configuration Using Automatic Setting.....................................10-26

Redundant Configuration Using Manual Setting.........................................10-28

Creating Primary and Secondary ID ...........................................................10-29

Assigning Logical Drives to the Secondary Controller................................10-29

Mapping a Logical Drive/Logical Volume to the Host LUNs .......................10-31

Terminal Interface View of Controller Failure..............................................10-32

What will happen when one of the controllers fails?...................................10-32

10.3.3 When and How Is the Failed Controller Replaced?........................10-32

Forcing Controller Failover for Testing........................................................10-34

RCC Status (Redundant Controller Communications Channel) .................10-35

Secondary Controller RS-232.....................................................................10-35

Remote Redundant Controller ....................................................................10-35

Cache Synchronization on Write-Through..................................................10-35

Chapter 11 Record of Settings

11.1 View and Edit Logical Drives.........................................................................1

Logical Drive Information ...................................................................................1

Partition Information...........................................................................................2

11.2 View and Edit Logical Volumes.......................................................................3

Logical Volume Information ...............................................................................3

Partition Information...........................................................................................3

11.3 View and Edit Host LUN’s ................................................................................4

LUN Mappings ...................................................................................................4

Host-ID/WWN Name List...................................................................................4

11.4 View and Edit SCSI Drives ...............................................................................6

11.5 View and Edit SCSI Channels..........................................................................7

11.6 View and Edit Configuration Parameters .......................................................8

Communication Parameters..............................................................................8

PPP Configuration..............................................................................................8

Caching Parameters ..........................................................................................9

Host Side SCSI Parameters ..............................................................................9

Drive Side SCSI Parameters .............................................................................9

Disk Array Parameters.....................................................................................10

Redundant Controller Parameters ...................................................................10

Controller Parameters......................................................................................10

11.7 View and Edit Peripheral Devices..................................................................11

Set Peripheral Device Entry.............................................................................11

Define Peripheral Device Active Signal............................................................11

View System Information .................................................................................11

11.8 Save NVRAM to Disk, Restore from Disk......................................................12

11.9 RAID Security: Password...............................................................................12

RAID Security...................................................................................................12

Chapter 12 Array Expansion

12.1 Overview ...........................................................................................................1

12.2 Mode 1 Expansion: ..........................................................................................4

Adding Drives to a Logical Drive........................................................................4

Add-Drive Procedure .........................................................................................4

12.3 Mode 2 Expansion: ..........................................................................................7

Copy and Replace Drives with Drives of Larger Capacity.................................7

Copy and Replace Procedure............................................................................7

12.4 Making Use of the Added Capacity: Expand Logical Drive......................... 9

12.5 Expand Logical Volume................................................................................11

12.6 Configuration Example: Volume Extension in Windows 2000

Server....12

Appendix A LCD Keypad Navigation Map

Appendix B Firmware Functionality

Specifications ...........................................................................................................1

Basic RAID Management:........................................................................................1

Advanced Features:..................................................................................................2

Caching Operation: ..................................................................................................3

RAID Expansion:....................................................................................................... 4

On-line RAID Expansion...........................................................................................4

Fibre Channel Support:............................................................................................ 5

S.M.A.R.T. Support:.................................................................................................. 6

Redundant Controller:..............................................................................................6

Data Safety:...............................................................................................................7

System Security:....................................................................................................... 8

Environment Management: .....................................................................................9

SAF-TE/S.E.S. support.............................................................................................9

User Interface:......................................................................................................... 10

RAIDWatch on-board..............................................................................................10

RS-232C Terminal...................................................................................................10

Remote Manageability:...........................................................................................10

JBOD-Specific:........................................................................................................ 11

Others:.....................................................................................................................11

Appendix C System Functions: Upgrading Firmware

Upgrading Firmware.................................................................................................1

New Features Supported with Firmware 3.21........................................................1

Background RS-232C Firmware Download: ..........................................................1

Redundant Controller Rolling Firmware Upgrade:................................................1

Redundant Controller Firmware Sync-version:.....................................................2

Upgrading Firmware Using In-band SCSI + RAIDWatch Manager....................... 2

Upgrading Firmware Using RS-232C Terminal Emulation ...................................4

Appendix D Event Messages

xii

Functional Table of Contents

This functional table of contents helps you to quickly locate the descriptions of firmware fu nc tions.

Chapter 1 Functional Description

Identifying Drives 1-8

1.4.2

Flash Selected SCSI Drive 1-8 Flash All SCSI Drives 1-8 Flash All but Selected Drives 1-8 Automatic rebuild and manual rebuild 1-9

1.4.3

Automatic rebuild 1-9 Manual rebuild 1-10 Concurrent Rebuild in RAID (0+1) 1-11

1.4.4

Chapter 3 Out-of-Band via Serial Port and

Ethernet

Communication Parameters: configuring RS-232 connection Configuring Ethernet connection: reserved sp ace and portIP3-6

NPC Onboard 3-9

Chapter 4 LCD Screen Messages

View and Edit Event Logs 4-7

Page number

3-1

Page number

Chapter 5 / Chapter 7

5.2/7.2

5.3/7.3

5.4/7.4

5.5/7.5

Starting RAID via the LCD Panel/Terminal Emulation

Starting RAID Configuration

Caching Parameters 5-1/7-1 Optimization mode and stripe size 5-2/7-3 Optimization for sequential or random I/O 5-3/7-3 Write-Back/Write-Through Cache Enable/Disable 5-3/7-3 Viewing Connected Drives 5-5/7-4 Creating a Logical Drive 5-6/7-5 Choosing a RAID Level 5-6/7-6 Choosing Member Drives 5-6/7-6 Maximum Drive Capacity 5-7/7-6 Spare Drive Assignments 5-7/7-7 Logical Drive Assignments 7-7 Disk Reserved Space 5-7/7-7 Write Policy 5-7/7-7 Initialization Mode 5-7/7-8 Stripe Size 5-8/7-8 Creating a Logical Volume 5-10/7-10 Initialization Mode 5-10/7-10

Page number: LCD/ Terminal

xiii

xiv

5.6/7.6

5.7/7.7

5.8/7.8

5.9/7.9

5.10/7.10

5.11/7.11

5.12/7.12

5.13/7.13

5.14/7.14

Write Policy 5-10/7-10 Partitioning a Logical Drive/Logical Volume 5-12/7-11 Mapping a Logical Drive/Logical Volume to Host LUN 5-13/7-13 Assigning Spare Drive, Rebuild Settings 5-14/7-15 Adding a Local Spare Drive 5-14/7-15 Adding Global Spare Drive 5-15/7-16 (Logical Drive) Rebuild Settings 5-15

Viewing and Editing Logical Drives and Drive Members

Deleting a Logical Drive 5-16/7-17 Deleting a Partition of a Logical Drive 5-17/7-17 Assigning a Logical Drive Name 5-18/7-17 Rebuilding a Logical Drive 5-18/7-18 Regenerating Logical Drive Parity 5-19/7-19 Media Scan 5-20/19 Write Policy 5-21/20

Viewing and Editing Host LUNs

Viewing and Deleting LUN Mappings 5-22/7-21 Pass-through SCSI Commands 5-22/7-21

Viewing and Editing SCSI Drives

Scanning a New SCSI Drive 5-23/7-23 Identifying a Drive 5-24/7-23 Deleting Spare Drive (Global/Local S pare Drive) 5-25/7-24

Viewing and Editing SCSI Channels

Viewing and Re-defining Channel Mode 5-25/7-25 Setting Channel ID/Host Channel 5-26/7-26 Viewing channel ID 5-26/7-26 Adding a Channel ID 5-26/7-26 Deleting a Channel ID 5-27/7-27 Setting a Channel’s Primary ID/Drive Channel 5-27/7-27 Setting a Channel’s Secondary ID/Drive Channel 5-28/7-28 Setting a SCSI Channel’s Terminator 5-28/7-28 Setting the Transfer Speed 5-29/7-28 Setting the Transfer Width 5-30/7-29 Viewing and Editing a SCSI Target/Drive Channel 5-30/7-30 Slot Number 5-31/7-30 Maximum Synchronous Transfer Clock 5-31/7-31 Maximum Transfer Width 5-31/7-31 Parity Check 5-32/7-31 Disconnecting Support 5-32/7-32 Maximum Tag Count 5-32/7-32 Restoring the Default Setting (SCSI Bus) 5-33 Data Rate 7-32

System Functions

Mute Beeper 5-34/7-34 Change Password 5-34/7-34 Disabling the Password 5-35/7-36 Reset Controller 5-35/7-36 Shutdown Controller 5-35/7-36

Saving Configuration Data

Saving NVRAM to Disks 5-36/7-38 Restore NVRAM from Disks 5-36/7-38

Controller Parameters

Controller Name 5-37/7-37 LCD Title Display Controller Name 5-37/7-37 Time Zone 5-38/7-41 Date and Time 5-39/7-41

Setting Password

5-16/7-16

5-22/7-21

5-23/7-22

5-25/7-25

5-34/7-34

5-37/7-37

5.15/7.15

Password Validation Timeout 5-37/7-39

Controller Unique Identifier SCSI Drive Utilities

Low-level format 5-40/7-43 Read/Write test 5-41/7-44

5-37/7-39 5-40/7-42

Chapter 8 Fibre Operation

Host and Drive Parameters

8.5 View and Edit Fibre Channel

Channel Mode 8-6 Primary and Secondary Controller IDs 8-6 Communications Channel (for cache co herency) 8-7 View Channel WWN 8-7 View Device Port Name List (WWPN) 8-8

View and Edit Fibre Drives

User-Assigned ID (Scan Fibre Drive) 8-8 View Drive Information 8-9 View and Edit Host-side Parameters 8-9 Fibre Connection Types 8-10 View and Edit Drive-side Parameters 8-10 Connecting Drives with Dual Loop 8-10 Controller Unique Identifier 8-11 Controller Communications over Fibre Loops 8-12

Multi-host Access Control: LUN Filtering

8.5

Creating LUN Masks 8-15 WWN Name List 8-16 Logical Unit to Host LUN Mapping 8-16 LUN Mask (ID Range) Configuration 8-18 Filter Type: Include or Exclude 8-18 Access Mode: Read Only or Read/Write 8-19 Configuration Procedure 8-20

Page number

8-6 8-6

8-8

8-14

Chapter 9 Advanced Configurations

9.1 Fault Prevention

Clone Failing Drive 9 -2 Replace after Clone 9-2 Perpetual Clone 9-3

S.M.A.R.T. with enhanced features

9.1.2

S.M.A.R.T. Features (Enablin g S.M.A.R.T.) 9-7 “Detect Only” 9-7 "Detect, Perpetual Clone" 9-7 “Detect, Clone + Replace” 9-8

9.2 Host-side & Drive-side SCSI Parameters Host-side SCSI Parameters

9.2.1

Number of Tags Reserved for each Host-LUN Connection Maximum Queued I/O Count 9-13 LUNs per Host SCSI ID 9-13 LUN Applicability 9-13 Peripheral Device Type 9-14 In-band SCSI/Fibre 9-14 Peripheral Device Type for Various Operating Systems 9-15 Peripheral Device Type Settings 9-15

Page number

9-1

9-5

9-11 9-11 9-12

Cylinder/Head/Sector Mapping 9-16

Drive-side Parameters

9.2.2

SCSI Motor Spin-up 9-18 SCSI Reset at Power-up 9-19 Disk Access Delay Time 9-20 SCSI I/O Timeout 9-20 Maximum Tag Count (Tag Command Queuing) 9-21 Detection of Drive Hot Swap Followed by Auto Rebuild 9-22 SAF-TE and S.E.S. Enclosure Monitoring 9-22 Periodic Drive Check Time 9-22 Idle Drive Failure Detection 9-23 Periodic Auto-Detect S wap Check Time 9-23

Monitoring and Safety M echanisms

9.3

Dynamic Switch Write-Policy 9-25 View Peripheral Device Status (enclosure modules) 9-25 Controller Auto-Shutdown – Event Trigger Option 9-26

Logical Drive Integrity - Disk Array Parameters

9.4

Rebuild Priority 9-27 Verification on Writes 9-28

9-18

9-25

9-27

Chapter 10 Redundant Controller Configuration

10.3 Configuration

10.3.1

10.3.2

10.3.3

Via Front Panel Keypad

Redundant Configuration Using Automatic Setting 10-20 Redundant Configuration Using Manual Setting 10-21 Starting the Redundant Controllers 10-22 Creating Primary and Secondary IDs 10-22 Assigning a Logical Drive/Logical Volume to the Secondary Controller Mapping a Logical Drive/Logi cal Volume to the Host LUNs Front Panel View of Controller Failure 10-25 When and How is the Failed Controller Replaced 10-25

Via Terminal Emulation

Redundant Configuration Using Automatic Setting 10-26 Redundant Configuration Using Manual Setting 10-28 Creating Primary and Secondary IDs 10-29 Assigning a Logical Drive/Logical Volume to the Secondary Controller Mapping a Logical Drive/Logi cal Volume to the Host LUNs Terminal View of Controller Failure 10-32 When and How is the Failed Controller Replaced 10-34 Forcing Controller Failure for Testing 10-35 RCC status (RCC channels) 10-35 Secondary Controller RS-232 10-35 Remote Redundant Controller 10-35 Cache Synchronization on Write-Through 10-35

Page number: LCD/Terminal

10-19 10-20

10-23

10-24

10-26

10-29

10-31

Chapter 12 Array Expansion

12.1 RAID Expansion

12.2 Mode 1 Expansion: Adding Drive to a logical drive

xvi

Page number

12-1 12-4

12.3 Mode 2 Expansion: Copy & Replace Drive with drives

of larger capacity Expand Logical Drive (Making use of the added

12.4

capacity) Expand Logical Volume 12-11

12.5

Example: RAID Expansion in Windows 2000 12-12

12.6

12-7

12-9

Appendix C Controller Maintenance

Upgrading Firmware

New Feature s Supported wit h Firmware 3.21

Background RS-232 Firmware Download C-1 Redundant Controller Rolling Firmware Download C-1 Redundant Controller Firmware Sync-version C-2

Upgrading Firmware Using In-band SCSI + RAIDWatch Manager

Establish the In-band SCSI connection in RAIDWatch Manager Upgrade Both Boot Record and Firmware Binaries C-3 Upgrade the Firmware Binary Only C-4

Upgrading Firmware Using RS-232 Terminal Emulation

Establishing the connection for the RS-232 Terminal Emulation Upgrading Both Boot Record and Firmware Binaries Upgrading the Firmware Binary Only C-6

Page number:

C-1 C-1

C-2

C-4

C-5

xvii

List of Tables

Chapter 1

Table 1 - 1 RAID Levels..................................................................................1-2

Chapter 2

Table 2 - 1 RAID Levels..................................................................................2-4

Table 2 - 1 Controller Parameter Settings....................................................2-10

Chapter 8

Table 8 - 1 Supported Configurations with Redundant Controller:............................. 8-8

Chapter 9

Table 9 - 1 Peripheral Device Type Parameters .........................................9-15

Table 9 - 2 Peripheral Device Type Settings: ..............................................9-16

Table 9 - 3 Cylinder/Head/Sector Mapping under Sun Solaris....................9-16

Chapter 10

Table 10 - 1 ID Mapping Status (Normal Operation)..................................10-10

Table 10 - 2 ID Mapping Status (Controller Failed) ....................................10-10

xviii

List of Figures

Chapter 1

Figure 1 - 1 Logical Drive................................................................................1-1

Figure 1 - 2 NRAID.........................................................................................1-3

Figure 1 - 3 JBOD...........................................................................................1-3

Figure 1 - 4 RAID 0.........................................................................................1-4

Figure 1 - 5 RAID 1.........................................................................................1-4

Figure 1 - 6 RAID (0+1)..................................................................................1-4

Figure 1 - 7 RAID 3.........................................................................................1-5

Figure 1 - 8 RAID 5.........................................................................................1-5

Figure 1 - 9 Local (Dedicated) Spare .............................................................1-6

Figure 1 - 10 Global Spare .............................................................................1-6

Figure 1 - 11 Global Spare Rebuild................................................................1-6

Figure 1 - 13 Automatic Rebuild.....................................................................1-9

Figure 1 - 14 Manual Rebuild .......................................................................1-10

Figure 1 - 15 Logical Volume........................................................................1-12

Figure 1 - 16 Logical Drive Composed of 24 Drives.....................................1-13

Figure 1 - 17 Logical Volume with 4 Logical Drives......................................1-13

Figure 1 - 18 Logical Volume with Drives on Different Channels.................1-14

Chapter 2

Figure 2 - 1 Optimization Setting.....................................................................2-3

Figure 2 - 2 Array Configuration Process........................................................2-5

Figure 2 - 3 SCSI ID/LUNs..............................................................................2-7

Figure 2 - 4 Connecting Drives .......................................................................2-7

Figure 2 - 5 Physical locations of drive members ...........................................2-8

Figure 2 - 6 Partitions in Logical Configurations .............................................2-8

Figure 2 - 7 Mapping Partitions to Host ID/LUNs............................................2-9

Figure 2 - 8 Mapping Partitions to LUNs under ID..........................................2-9

Chapter 5

Figure 5 - 1 Drive Space Allocated to the Last Partition ...............................5-17

Chapter 7

Figure 7 - 1 Drive Space Allocated to the Last Partition ...............................7-17

Chapter 8

Figure 8 - 1 Storage Pool..............................................................................8-14

Figure 8 - 2 Host-LUN Mapping....................................................................8-15

Figure 8 - 3 LUN Mask..................................................................................8-15

Figure 8 - 4 LUN Filtering - Configuration Sample........................................8-20

Chapter 9

Figure 9 - 1 SCSI ID/LUNs............................................................................9-11

Chapter 10

Figure 10 - 1 Redundant Controller Configuration Flowchart .......................10-2

Figure 10 - 2 Dual-Controller Using SCSI-Based Controllers.......................10-2

Figure 10 - 3 Dual-Controller Configuration Using Fibre-Based Controllers.10-3

Figure 10 - 4 Grouping Hard Drives..............................................................10-6

Figure 10 - 5 Partitioning of Logical Units.....................................................10-6

Figure 10 - 6 Mapping System Drives (Mapping LUNs) ...............................10-7

Figure 10 - 7 Mapping System Drives (IDs)..................................................10-8

Figure 10 - 8 Redundant Controller Channel Bus.........................................10-9

Figure 10 - 9 Controller Failover .................................................................10-10

Figure 10 - 10 Traffic Distribution................................................................10-12

Figure 10 - 11 Controller Failover ...............................................................10-13

Chapter 12

Figure 12 - 1 Logical Drive Expansion..........................................................12-3

Figure 12 - 2 Expansion by Adding Drive......................................................12-4

Figure 12 - 3 Expansion by Copy & Replace................................................12-7

xix

About This Manual

This manual provides all of the nece ssary information tha t a system administrator needs to configure and maintain one of Infortrend’s external RAID controllers or subsystems. For hardware-related information, please refer to the Hardware Manual that came with your RAID controller. Also available is the User’s Manual for the Java-based GUI RAID manager for remote and concurrent management of RAID systems.

The order of the chapters is arranged in accordance with the steps necessary for creating a RAID.

The terminal screen displays as well as the LCD messages may vary when using controllers running different firmware versions.

Chapter 1 introduces basic RAID concepts and configurations,

including RAID levels, logical drives, spare drives, and the use of logical volumes. It is recommended that users unfamiliar with RAID te chnologies should read this chapter before creating a configuration.

Chapter 2 tells the user how to begin with a RAID. At the

beginning of this chapter, we raise some basic questions of which the user should know the answers prior to creating a RAID.

Chapter 3 teaches the user how to configure the RS-232C

terminal emulation interface and the connection through a LAN port.

Chapter 4 helps the user to understand screen messages on the

LCD display.

Chapter 5 gives step-by-step instructions on creating a RAID

using the LCD keypad panel.

Chapter 6 teaches the user how to interpret the information

found on the RS-232 terminal emulation.

Chapter 7 gives step-by-step instructions on how to create a

RAID via the RS-232 session.

Chapter 8 includes all the Fibre channel-specific functions

implemented since the firmware release 3.12.

Chapter 9 provides the advanced options for RAID

configuration. Some of the new functions from firmware release 3.11 and above are given the detailed explanations in this chapter.

Chapter 10 addresses the concerns regarding the redundant

controller configuration and the configuration process.

Chapter 11 provides the recording forms with which a system

administrator can make a record of his configuration.

Chapter 12 shows how to expand a configured array or logical

volume.

Appendix A outlines the menu structure of the LCD front panel

operation.

Appendix B lists the important firmware features supported with

the firmware version, arranged in accordance with the latest firmware version as of press date.

Appendix C teaches the user how to upgrade firmware and boot

record.

Appendix D lists all of the controller event messages.

Firmware Version & Other Information

Firmware version: 3.31E and above Part number for this manual: M0000U0G16 Date: 6/25/03

Revision History:

Version 1.0: Version 1.1: Version 1.2:

Version 1.3:

initial release

•

added redundant c ontr oller configuration

•

Added host-side and drive-side SCSI

•

parameters added S.M.A.R.T. with implemented Fault-

•

Prevention methods. added system functions

•

added Fault-bus configuration to be

•

compatible with 3101 and 3102 series added Host-side interface installation

•

details added Event Messages for error message

•

identification added all advanced functions available

•

since 2.23K and 3.11F upward added a functional table of content for

•

quick searching functions moved SCSI/Fibre Cable Specifications to

•

Hardware Manual added Chapter 8 "Fibre Operation" for the

•

new functions available since firmware release 3.12.

xxi

Version 1.4: • added firmware features available with

firmware revisions 3.14, 3.15, and 3.21

• revised details about redundant controllers,

host LUN mapping, etc. modified string definitions in Chapter 14

•

"In-band SCSI Drives and Utilities" section Corrected descriptions of "Controller

•

Unique Identifier" Added the configuration proc ess for out-of-

•

band configuration via LAN port

Version 1.5:

Removed Chapter 14

•

Revised the descriptions for some

•

functional items

• Added firmware features available from

revision 3.25

Version 1.61:

Added features available by revision 3.31

•

Removed Appendix E

•

Moved array expansion to Chapter 12

•

Added variable stripe size, write policy per

•

array Added media scan

•

Added controller immediate array

•

availability, time zone, date and time setting Added IO channel diagnostics

•

Added controller Auto-Shutdown and

•

cache-flush mechanisms Added system monitoring via enclosure

•

modules Added disabling cache coherency using

•

write-through mode Added descriptions about new firmware

•

utility items Added details about enabling RAIDWatch

•

and its sub-modules via Ethernet port

xxii

Chapter

ChapterChapter

RAID Functions: An Introduction

Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks, or RAID, offers the following advantages: Availability, Capacity, and Performance. Choosing the right RAID level and drive failure management can increase Capacity and Performance, subsequently increasing Availability. Infortrend's external RAID controllers provide complete RAID functionality and enhanced drive failure management.

1.1 Logical Drive

Figure 1 - 1 Logical Drive

The advantages mentioned above are achieved by creating “logical drives.” A logical drive is an array of independent physical drives. The logical drive appears to the host as a

Logical Drive

contiguous volume, the same as a local hard disk drive does. The following section describes the dif ferent methods to crea te

logical arrays of disk drives, such as spanning, mirroring and data parity. These methods are referred to as “RAID levels.”

1.2 Logical Volume

What is a logical volume?

The concept of a logical volume is very similar to that of a logical drive. A logical volume is the combination of one or several logica l drives. These logical drives are combined into a larger capacity using the RAID 0 method (striping). When data is written to a logical volume, it is first broken into data segments and then striped across different logical drives in a logical volume. Each logical drive

Functional Description

1-1

then distributes data segments to its member drives according to the specific RAID level it is composed of.

The member logical drives can be composed of the same RAID level or each of a different RAID level. A logical volume ca n be divided into a maximum of 64 partitions. Dur ing operation, the host sees a non-partitioned logical volume or a pa rtition of a logical volume as one single physical drive.

1.3 RAID Levels

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. Using a RAID storage subsystem has the following advantages:

• Provides disk spanning by weaving all connected drives into one single volume.

• Increases disk access speed by breaking data into several blocks when reading/writing to several drives in parallel. With RA ID, storage speed increases as more drives are added as the channel bus allows.

• Provides fault-tolerance by mirr or ing or parity operation.

1-2

What are the RAID levels?

Table 1 - 1 RAID Levels

RAID Level Description Capacity Data Availability

NRAID RAID 0 RAID 1 (0+1)

RAID 3 RAID 5

RAID 10 (Logical Volume) RAID 30 (Logical Volume) RAID 50 (Logical Volume)

NOTE: Drives on different channels can be included in a logical drive and logical drives of different RAID levels can be used to

Non-RAID N Disk Striping N ==NRAID Mirroring Plus Striping (if

N>1) Striping with Parity on dedicated disk Striping with interspersed parity

Striping with RAID 1 logical drives

Striping with RAID 3 logical drives

Striping with RAID 5 logical drives

N/2 >>NRAID

==RAID 5

N-1 >>NRAID

==RAID 5

N-1 >>NRAID

==RAID 5

/ >>NRAID

>>RAID 5

/ >>NRAID

>>RAID 5

/ >>NRAID

>>RAID 5

Infortrend

configure a logical volume. There are more combinations than RAID 10, 30, and 50.

RAID Level Performance Sequential Performance Random

NRAID RAID 0

RAID 1 (0+1) RAID 3 RAID 5

NRAID

Disk Spanning

Figure 1 - 2 NRAID

Drive Drive R: Highest

W: Highest R: High W: Medium R: High W: Medium R: High W: Medium

R: High W: Highest R: Medium W: Low R: Medium W: Low R: High W: Low

2 GB Ha rd Drive

3 GB Ha rd Drive

1 GB Ha rd Drive

2 GB Ha rd Drive

2 + 3 + 1 + 2 = 8 G B Logical Drive

Figure 1 - 3 JBOD

2 GB

3 GB

NRAID stands for Non-RAID. The capacity of all the drives is combined to become one logical drive (no block striping). In other words, the capacity of the logical drive is the total capacity of the physical drives. NRAID does not provide data redundancy.

JBOD

Single Drive Control

2 GB Har d Dr iv e

3 GB Har d Dr iv e

NRAID

Minimum

1 Disks required Capacity N Redundancy No

JBOD

Minimum Disks required Capacity 1 Redundancy No

1 GB

2 GB

1 GB Har d Dr iv e

Functional Description

2 GB Har d Dr iv e

JBOD stands for Just a Bunch of Drives. The controller treats each drive as a stand-alone disk, therefore each drive is an independent logical drive. JBOD does not provide data redundancy.

1-3

RAID 0

Disk Striping

Figure 1 - 4 RAID 0

Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Block 5 Block 6 Block 7 Block 8

Block 1 Block 3 Block 5 Block 7

RAID 1

Disk Mirroring

Figure 1 - 5 RAID 1

Block 2 Block 4 Block 6 Block 8

RAID 0

Minimum

2 Disks required Capacity N Redundancy No

RAID 0 provides the highest performance but no redundancy. Data in the logical drive is striped (distributed) across several physical drives.

Logical Drive

Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Block 5 Block 6 Block 7 Block 8

Physical Disks

Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4

RAID (0+1)

Disk Striping with Mirroring

Figure 1 - 6 RAID (0+1)

Physical Disks

Logical Drive

Block 1

Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Block 5 Block 6 Block 7 Block 8

. .

Block 3 Block 5 Block 7

. .

Mirror 1 Mirror 3 Mirror 5 Mirror 7

. .

Mirrorin

Striping

Mirror

Striping

Mirror 1 Mirror 2 Mirror 3 Mirror 4

Block 2 Block 4 Block 6 Block 8

. .

Mirror 2 Mirror 4 Mirror 6 Mirror 8

. .

RAID 1

Disks required 2 Capacity N/2 Redundancy Yes

RAID 1 mirrors the data stored in one hard drive to another. RAID 1 can only be performed with two hard drives. If there are more than two hard drives, RAID (0+1) will be performed automatically.

RAID (0+1)

Minimum

4 Disks required Capacity N/2 Redundancy Yes

RAID (0+1) combines RA ID 0 a nd RA ID 1 Mirroring and Striping. RAID (0+1) allows multiple drive failure because of the full redundancy of the hard drives. If there are more than two hard drives assigned to perform RAID 1, RAID (0+1) will be automatically applied.

1-4

Infortrend

IMPORTANT!

•

“RAID (0+1)” will not appear in the list of RAID levels supported by th e controller. If you wish to perform RAID 1, the controller will determine whether to perform RAID 1 or RAID (0+1). This will depend on the number of drives that has been selected for the logical d rive.

RAID 3

Disk Striping with Dedicated Parity Disk

Figure 1 - 7 RAID 3

Logical Drive

Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Block 5 Block 6 Block 7 Block 8

. .

Block 1 Block 3 Block 5 Block 7

Striping

. .

sical Disks

Block 2 Block 4 Block 6 Block 8

. .

RAID 5

Striping with Interspersed Parity

Figure 1 - 8 RAID 5

Logical Drive Physical Disks

Block 1 Block 2 Block 3

Block 4 Block 5

Block 6 Block 7 Block 8

. .

Striping + non-dedicated Parity

Block 1

Parity (3,4)

Block 6 Block 7

. .

Block 2 Block 3

Parity (5,6)

Block 8

. .

Dedicated

Parity

Parity (1,2) Parity (3,4) Parity (5,6) Parity (7,8)

. .

Parity (1,2)

Parity (7,8)

RAID 3

Minimum

3 Disks required Capacity N-1 Redundancy Yes

RAID 3 performs Block Striping with Dedicated Parity. One drive member is dedicated to storing the parity data. When a drive member fails, the controller can recover/regenerate the lost data of the failed drive from the dedicated parity drive.

RAID 5

Minimum

3 Disks required Capacity N-1 Redundancy Yes

RAID 5 is similar to RAID 3 but the

Block 4 Block 5

. .

parity data is not stored in one dedicated hard drive. Parity information is interspersed across the drive array. In the event of a failure, the controller can recover/regenerate the lost data of the failed drive from the other surviving drives.

RAID 30 an RAID 50 are implemented as logical volumes,

please refer to the proceeding discussions for more details.

Functional Description

1-5

1.4 Spare Drives

Global and Local Spare Drives

Figure 1 - 9 Local (Dedicated) Spare

When one member

Local

Spare

Drive

Logical Drive

drive fails, the Local Spare Drive joins the logical drive and automatically starts to rebuild.

Local Spare Drive is a standby drive assigned to serve one specified logical drive. When a member drive of this specified logical drive fails, the Local Spare Drive becomes a member drive and automatically starts to rebuild.

Figure 1 - 10 Global Spare

Global Spare Drive

Logical Drive 0

Logical Drive 1

Global Spare Drive

Logical Drive 2

Figure 1 - 11 Global Spare Rebuild

Global Spare Drive not only serves one specified logical drive. When a member drive from any of the logical drive fails, the Global Spare Drive will join that logical drive and automatically starts to rebuild.

Global Spare Drives serve any logical drive.

The external RAID controllers provide both Local Spare Drive and Global Spare Drive functions. On certain occasions, applying these two functions together will better fit various needs. Take note though that the Local Spare Drive always has

higher priority than the Global Spare Drive.

1-6

When a member drive from any logical drive fails, the Global Spare Drive joins that logical drive and automatically starts to rebuild.

Functional Description

In the example shown below, the member of Logical Drive 0 are 9 GB drives, and the members in Logical Drives 1 and 2 are 4 GB drives.

Figure 1 - 12 Mixing Local and Global Spares

Local Spare Drive

(9GB)

(9GB)(9GB)

(9GB)

Logical Drive 0

A Local Spare always has higher priority than a Global Spare.

Global Sp ar e D r ive

(4GB) (4GB)

Logical Drive 1

It is not possible for the 4 GB Global Spare Drive to join Logical Drive 0

(4GB)

because of its insufficient capacity. However, using a 9GB drive as the Global Spare drive for a failed drive that comes from Logical Drive 1 or 2 will bring huge amount of excess capacity since these logical drives require 4 GB

(4GB) (4GB)

Logical Drive 2

only. In the diagram below, the 9 GB Local Spare Drive will aid Logical Drive

0 once a drive in this logical drive f ails. If the failed drive is in Logical Drive 1 or 2, the 4 GB Global Spare drive will immediately give aid to the failed drive.

Infortrend

1-7

1.5 Identifying Drives

Assuming there is a failed drive in the RAID 5 logical drive, make it a point to replace the failed drive with a new, healthy drive to keep the logical drive working.

If, when trying to remove a failed drive you mistakenly remove the wrong drive, you will no longer be able to access the logical drive because you have inadequately failed another drive.

To prevent this from happening, the controller provides an easy way to identify the faulty drive. By forcing certain drive LEDs to light for a configurable period of time, the faulty drive can be identified, and thus reducing the chance of removing the wrong drive. This function is especially helpful in an installation site operating with hundreds of drives.

R/W LED

Flash Selected SCSI Drive

R/W LED

LED Steadily ON

The Read/Write LED of the drive you selected will light steadily for a configurable period of time, from 1 to 999 seconds.

R/W LED

LED

R/W

LED

Flash All SCSI Drives

The Read/Write LEDs of all connected drives will light for a configurable period of time. If the LED of the defective drive did not light on the “Flash

Selected SCSI Drive” function, use “Flash All SCSI Drives” to verify the fault. If the “Flash All SCSI Drives” function is executed, and the defective drive’s LED still does not respond, it can be a drive tray problem or the drive is dead.

LED Steadil y ON

Flash All but Selected Drives

Except the selected drive, the Read/Write LEDs of all connected drives will light for a configurable period of time ra nging from 1 to 999 seconds. If an administrator can not be sure of the exact location of specific drive, this function will help to indicate where it is. This can prevent removal of the wrong drive when a drive fails and is about to be replaced.

The drive identifying function can be selected from “Main Menu”/”View and Edit SCSI Drives”/”Identify SCSI Drives.”

Functional Description

1-8

1.6 Rebuild

Automatic Rebuild and Manual Rebuild

1. Automatic Rebuild

Figure 1 - 13 Automatic Rebuild

One member drive fails in logical drive

Waiting for spare drive to be added or manual rebuild

Rebuild with Spare:

Any

local spare drive

assigned to logical

drive?

Any

global spare drive

assigned to logical

drive?

“Periodic

Auto-Detect Failure

Drive Swap Check Time”

enabled?

Yes

Has the

failed drive been

swapped?

Keep detecting if drive has been swapped or

spare drive has been

added

When a member drive in a logical drive

Yes

Rebuild using the

local spare drive

Rebuild using the global spare drive

Rebuild using the

swapped drive

fails, the controller will first examine whether there is a Local Spare Drive assigned to this logical drive. If yes, rebuild is automatically started.

If there is no Local Spare available, the controller will search for a Global Spare. If there is a Global Spare, rebuild automatically begins using the Global Spare.

1-9

Failed Drive Swap Detect:

If neither Local Spare Drive nor Global Spare Drive is available, and the "Periodic Auto-Detect Failure Drive Swap Check Time" is "Disabled," the controller will not attempt to rebuild unless the user applies a forced-manual rebuild.

When the "Periodic Auto-Detect Failure Drive Swap Check Time" is "Enabled" (i.e., a check time interval has been selected), the controller will detect whether a faulty drive has been swapped (by checking the failed drive's channel/ID). Once the failed drive has been replaced by a healthy drive, the rebuild will begin immediately.

Infortrend

If the failed drive is not swapped but a local spare is added to the

logical drive, rebuild will begin with the spare. If the S.M.A.R.T. function is enabled on drives and the reaction

scheme is selected for securing data on a failing drive, spare will also be used for restoring data. Please refer to Chapter 9, Advanced Functions, for more details.

2. Manual Rebuild

When a user applies forced-manual rebuild, the controller will f irst examine whether there is any Local Spare assigned to the logical drive. If yes, it will automatically start to rebuild.

If there is no Local Spare available, the controller will search for a Global Spare. If there is a Global Spare, logical drive rebuild will be automatically conducted.

Figure 1 - 14 Manual Rebuild

User applies

forced-manual

Any

Local Spare Drive

assigned to this

logical drive?

Any

Global Spare Drive

assigned to this

logical drive?

Has the failed drive

laced?

been re

Wait for

manual rebuild

Yes

Rebuild using the

Local Spare Drive

Rebuild using the

Global Spare Drive

Rebuild using the

replaced drive

I If none of the spares are available, the controller will examine the SCSI channel and ID of the failed drive. Once the failed drive has been replaced by a healthy one, it starts to rebuild using the new drive. If there is no available drive for rebuilding, the controller will not attempt to rebuild until the user applies another forced-manual rebuild.

Functional Description

1-10

3. Concurrent Rebuild in RAID (0+1)

RAID (0+1) allows multiple drive failures and rebuild to be concurrently conducted on more than one of its members. Drives newly swapped must be scanned and set as Local Spares. These drives will be used for rebuild at the same time (you do not need to repeat the rebuild process for each member drive).

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Infortrend

1.7 Logical Volume (Multi-Level RAID)

What is a logical volume?

Figure 1 - 15 Logical Volume

……. …….

…….

Logical

Volume

Logical

Drive

…..

Logical

Drive

…..

Logical

Drive

…..

Physical Drive s

A logical volume is a combination of RAID 0 (Striping) and other RAID levels. Data written to a logical volume is first broken into smaller data segments and striped across different logical drives in a logical volume. Each logical drive then distributes data segments to its member drives according to its mirroring, parity, or striping scheme. A logical volume can be divided into a maximum of eight partitions. During normal operation, the host sees a non- partitioned logical volume or a partition of a partitioned logical volume a s one single physical drive.

The benefits of using a logical volume have been achieved by:

Extending the MTBF (mean time between failure) by using more

redundancy drives (spare drives).

Decreasing the time to rebuild and reducing the chance of data

loss by simultaneous drive failures because drives are included in different drive groups using a multi-level logical structure.

Avoiding the chance of data loss by channel bus failure with

flexible drive deployment.

As diagramed below, numerous drives can be included in a logical drive, and one of them is used f or redundancy. By grouping these drives into several logical drives, and then into a logical volume, chance of failing two drives in a logical unit is greatly reduced. Each logical drive can have one or more local spares. A failed drive can be immediately replaced by a local spare, reducing the risk of losing data if another should fa il soon afterwards.

Functional Description

1-12

Figure 1 - 16 Logical Drive Composed of 24 Drives

RAID 5 Logical Drive

24 drives, 1 redundancy drive

Configuration A - One logical drive with all 24 drives

As illustrated above, Configuration A is a RAID 5 logical drive consisting of 24 physical drives. Configuration B is a logica l volume made of four RAID 5 logical drives.

Figure 1 - 17 Logical Volume with 4 Logical Drives

1-13

Configuration B can help to reduce the chance of encountering points of failure:

a) Higher Redundancy: Configuration A has one dedicated spare, while Configuration B allows the configuration of four spares. In Configuration B, the risk of simultaneous drive failure in a logical drive is significantly reduced than in Configuration A. The total array capacity is comparatively smaller by the use of spares.

b) Less Rebuild Time: The time during rebuild is a time of hazard. For example, a RAID 5 logical drive can only withstand single d rive failure, if another drive fails during the rebuild process, data will be lost. The time span for rebuilding a faulty drive should be

Infortrend

minimized to reduce the possibility of having two drives to fail at

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               

 

the same time.

Configuration A is a large logical drive and takes a long time to rebuild. All members will be involved during the rebuild process. In Configuration B, the time span is shorter beca use only 6 member s will participate when rebuilding any of the logical drives.

c) Channel Failure Protection: Channel failure may sometimes result from absurd matters like a cable failure. A channel failure will cause multiple drives to fail at the same time and inevitably lead to a fatal failure. Using a logical volume with drives coming from different drive channels can get around this point of failure.

Figure 1 - 18 Logi cal Volume with Drives on Different

Channels

CH4

CH5

CH1

CH2

CH3

CH6

Functional Description

RAID 5 Logical

Drive

RAID 5 Logical

Logical Volume

24 drives, 4 redundancy drive

Configuration C - One logical volume with 4 logical drives

Drive

RAID 5 Logical

Drive

RAID 5

Logical

Drive

CH1/ID0

CH1/ID1

CH1/ID2

CH1/ID3

CH2/ID0

CH2/ID1

CH2/ID2

CH2/ID3

CH3/ID0

CH3/ID1

CH3/ID2

CH3/ID3

CH4/ID0

CH4/ID1

CH4/ID2

CH4/ID3

CH5/ID0

CH5/ID1

CH5/ID2

CH5/ID3

CH6/ID0

CH6/ID1

CH6/ID2

CH6/ID3

As illustrated above, should one of the drive channels fail, each logical drive loses one of its members. Logical drives still have the chance to rebuild its members. Data remains intact and the rebuild can be performed after the failed channel is recovered. No access interruptions to the logical volume will be experienced from the host side.

Spare drives assigned to a logical volume?

A Local Spare can not be assigned to a L ogical Volume. If a drive fails, it fails as a member of a logical drive; theref ore, the controller allows Local Spare's assignment to logical drives rather than logical volumes.

1-14

Limitations:

The logical volume can not have any logical drive stated as "fatal failed.” If there is any failed drive in any of its member logical drives, controller will start to rebuild that logical drive. Should a ny of the member logical drives fail fatally, the logical volume fails fatally and data will not be accessible.

To avoid a logical volume failure:

Logical drives as members to a logical volume should be

configured in RAID levels that provide redundancy - RAID levels 1 (0+1), 3, or 5.

Rebuild the logical drive as soon as possible whenever a drive

failure occurs. Use of local spares is recommended.

A logical drive should be composed of physical drives from

different drive channels. Compose the logical drive with drives from different drive channels to avoid the fatal loss of data caused by bus failure.

Partitioning - partitioning the logical drive or partitioning the logical volume?

Once a logical drive has been divided into partitions, the logical drive can no longer be used as a member of a logical volume. The members of a logical volume should have one partition only with the entire capacity.

If you want to use a partitioned logical drive for a logical volume, delete the other partitions in this logical drive until there remains one partition only with the entire capacity. Mind that deleting the partition of the logical drive will also destroy all data. Da ta should be backed up before making partition configuration.

When a logical drive is used as a member to a logica l volume, this logical drive can no longer be partitioned in “View a nd Edit L ogical Drives.” Instead, the Logical Volume can be partitioned into 8 in “View and Edit Logical Volume.”

The procedure for partitioning a logical volume is the same as that for partitioning a logical drive. After the logical volume has been partitioned, map each partition to a host ID/LUN to make the partitions available as individual drives.

1-15

Infortrend

Different write policies within a logical volume?

As members of a logical volume, all logical drives will be forced to adopt a consistent write policy. Whenever the write policy of a logical volume is changed, for example, the corresponding setting in its members will also be changed.

RAID expansion with logical volume?

The Logical Volume can also be expanded using the RAID expansion function. The concept of expanding a logical volume is similar to that of expanding a logical drive. To perform RAID expansion on a logical drive, replace each member physical drive with a drive of larger capacity or add a new drive, then perform logical drive expansion to utilize the newly-added capacity. For information about RAID expansion, please refer to Chapter 9 "Advanced Configurations."

To perform RAID expansion on a logical volume, expand each member logical drive, then perform “RAID Expansion” on the logical volume.

Steps to expand a Logical Volume:

1. Expand each member logical drive.

2. Expand the logical volume.

3. M ap the newly-added capacity ( in the form of a new par tition)

to a host LUN.

IMPORTANT!

•

If a logical unit has already been partitioned, and you wish to expand its capacity, the added capacity will be appended to the last partition. You will not be able to proceed with expansion using firmware version earlier than 3.27 when the unit already has 8 partitions.

•

Unless you move your data and merge two of the partit ions, you will be not allowed to expand your logical volume. This is a precautionary limitation on logical unit expansion.

Different controller settings using logical volume?

Redundant Controller:

Without logical volume - logical drives can be assigned to the

primary or the secondary controller. The host I/Os directed to a logical drive will be managed by the controller which owns the

Functional Description

1-16

logical drive. If a controller fails, the host I/Os originally assigned to the failed controller will be taken over by the existing controller. When the controller fails back (failed controller being replaced by a new one), logical drives will be returned to the replacement controller in its original configuration.

With logical volume - logical volumes can also be assigned to different controllers. The only difference is logical volumes will be used as base units when shifting control during controller failure.

A logical volume with logical drives of different levels?

Multi-level RAID systems

RAID (0+1)

controllers. It brings the benefits of RAID 1 (high availability) and RAID 0 (enhanced I/O performance through striping). Simply choose multiple drives (more than two) to compose a RAID 1 logical drive, RAID (0+1) will be automatically implemented.

RAID (3+0)

implementation by its own rights. A logical volume is a logical composition which stripes data across several logical drives (the RAID 0 method). A logical volume with several RAID 3 members can be considered as a RAID (3+0), or RAID 53 as defined in "The RAID Book" (from The RAID Advisory Board).

RAID (5+0)

- this is a standard feature of Infortrend RAID

- a logical volume is a multi-level RAID

- a logical volume with several RAID 5 members.

1-17

Infortrend

Chapter

ChapterChapter

RAID Planning

This chapter summarizes the procedures and provides some useful tools for first-time configuration:

2.1 Considerations: things you should know before setting up

2.2 Configuring the

Array:

2.3 Operation Theory: the theory behind data bus and system

2.4 Functional Table of

Contents

the most common configuration procedure

drive mapping a useful tool that helps you to quickly locate a firmware function

2.1 Considerations

After you understand the basic ideas behind RAID levels, you may still be wondering about how to begin. Here are the answers to some questions that may help you through the decision making.

1. How many physical drives do you have ?

When initially creating the drive groups, you should know how many drives you have in your RAID system or in the JBOD attached to the RAID controlling unit.

2. How many drives on each drive channel?

The optimal system planning is always a compromise between pros and cons. As a general rule, the number of drives you should connect on each channel equals the data bus bandwidth divided by the maximum transfer rate you can get from each of your hard drives. Knowing the mechanical performance of your hard drives can help to determine how many drives should be connected over a drive c hannel.

Always use fast and large drives of the same capacity for your disk array. A logical drive composed of a n adequate number of

RAID Planning

2-1

larger drives can be more efficient than that of many but smaller drives.

3. How many drives would you like to appear to the host computer?

It must be decided what capacity will be included in a logical configuration of drives, be it a logical drive or a logical volume. A logical configuration of drives will appear to the host as a single capacity volume.

You may compose a large logical volume consisting of drives on different drive channels, and have it partitioned into smaller partitions. Each partition will appear as an independent capacity volume. In a perf ormance -oriented configur ation, you may configure the same number of drives into several RAID 0 logical drives just to get the most out of the array performance.

4. What kind of host application?

The frequency of read/write activities can vary from one host application to another. The application can be a SQL server, Oracle server, Informix, or other data base server of a transaction-based nature. Applications like video playback a nd video post-production editing require read/write activities of larger files coming in a sequential order.

Choose an appropriate RAID level for what is the most important for a given application – capacity, availability, or performance. Before cr eating your RAID, you need to choose an optimization scheme and optimize each array/contr oller for your application. Stripe size and write policy can be adjusted on a per logical drive basis.

5. Dual loop, hub, or switch?

Unpredictable situations like a cable coming loose can cause system down time. Fibre channel dual loop or r edundant data paths using flexible LUN mapping method can guarantee there is no single point of failure. The use of Fibre channel hub or switch makes cabling and topology more flexible. Change the channel mode, connection type, a nd other assoc iated se ttings to adjust the controller to your demands.

2-2

Infortrend

Optimization Mode

Figure 2 - 1 Optimi zat ion Setting

You should select an optimization scheme best suite d to your applications before configuring a RAID array. Once the optimization mode is selected, it will be applied to all arrays managed by the RAID controller.

Two options are available: Sequential I/Os and Random I/Os. You may refer to the “Caching Parameters” section in Chapter 5 and Chapter 7 for the stripe size variables and its relations with RAID levels.

Numerous controller parameters are tuned for each optimization mode. Although stripe size c an be adjusted on a per logical drive basis, users are not encouraged to make a change to the default values.

For example, smaller stripe sizes are ideal for I/Os that are transaction-based and randomly accessed. However, using the wrong stripe size can cause problems. When an array of the 4KB stripe size receives files of 128KB size, each drive will have to write many more times to store data fragments of the size of 4KB.

Unlike the previous firmware versions, controller optimization mode can be changed without changing the array stripe size.

The default values in optimization modes guarantee the optimal performance for most applications. C onsult Table 2-2 for all the controller parameters that are related to system performance and fault- tolerance.

7. What RAID level?

Different RAID levels provide varying levels of performance and fault tolerance.

RAID Planning

2-3

Table 2 - 1 RAID Levels

RAID Level Description Capacity Data Availability

NRAID Non-RAID N N/A RAID 0 Disk Striping N ==NRAID RAID 1 (0+1) Mirroring Plus Striping (if N>1) N/2 >>NRAID

==RAID 5

RAID 3 Striping with Parity on

dedicated disk

RAID 5 Striping with interspersed

parity Logical Volume

RAID Level Performance Sequential Performance Random

NRAID Drive Drive RAID 0 R: Highest

RAID 1 (0+1) R: High RAID 3 R: High RAID 5 R: High Logical Volume Depends on its members;

Striping one or more logical

drives of different RAID levels

W: Highest W: Medium W: Medium W: Medium see above

N-1 >>NRAID

==RAID 5

N-1 >>NRAID

==RAID 5

* Higher; depends

on its members

R: High W: Highest R: Medium W: Low R: Medium W: Low R: High W: Low Depends on its members

8. Any spare drives?

(Swap Drive Rebuild / Spare Drive Rebuild) Spare drives allow for the unattended rebuilding of a failed drive, heightening the degree of fault tolerance. If there is no spare drive, data rebuild has to be manually initiated by replacing a failed drive with a healthy one.

As is often ignored, a spare d rive (whethe r dedic ated or globa l) must have a capacity no smaller than the members of a logical drive.

9. Limitations?

Firmware 3.31 and above support 64-bit LBA. A maximum of 64TB capacity can be included in single logical drive.

Up to 128 members can be included in each logical drive. Extreme array sizes can cause operational problems with

system backup and should be avoided.

2-4

Infortrend

2.2

Configuring the Array:

2.2.1 Starting a RAID System

Here is a flowchart illustrating basic steps to be taken when configuring a RAID system. Hardware installation should be completed before any configuration takes place.

Figure 2 - 2 Array Configuration Process

Drives must be configured and the controller properly initialized before a host computer can access the storage capacity.

1. Use the LCD panel, terminal program, or the RAIDWatch manager to start configuring your array.

2. When powered on, the controller scans all the hard d rives that are connected through the drive channels. If a hard drive is connected after the controller completes initialization, use the "Scan SCSI Drive" function to let the controller recognize its presence.

3. Optimize controller's parameters for your applications.

4. Configure one or more logical drives to contain your hard drive s based on the desired RAID level, and/or partition the logical drive or logical volume into one or several partitions.

RAID Planning

2-5

NOTE:

•

A "Logical Drive" is a set of drives grouped toget her to operate under a given RAID level and it appears as a single contiguous volume. The controller is capable of grouping drives into as many as 128 logical drives, configured in the same or different RAID levels.

•

A total of 32 "Logic al Volumes" can be creat ed each from one or several logical drives. A logical drive or logical volume can be divided into a maximum of 64 "Partitions."

5. The next step is to make logical drives or storage partitions available through the host ports. When associated with a host ID or LUN number, each capacity volume appears as one system drive. The host SCSI or Fibre adapter will recognize the system drives after the host bus is re-initialized.

6. The last step is to save your configuration profile in the host system drive or to the logical drives you created.

The controller is totally independent from host operating system. Host operating system will not be able to tell whether the attached storage is a physical hard drive or the virtual system drives created by the RAID controller.

2-6

Infortrend

2.3 Operation Theory

2.3.1 I/O Channel, SCSI ID, and LUN

Depending on the interface used by a RAID system, a SCSI drive channel (SCSI bus) can connec t up to 15 drives ( excluding the RA ID controller itself). A Fibre channel 125 drives in a loop. Each device occupies one unique ID.

Figure 2 - 3 SCSI ID/LUNs

The figure on the left illustrates the idea of mapping a system drive to host ID/LUN combinations. The host ID is like a cabinet, and the drawers are the LUNs (LUN is short for Logical Unit Number). Each cabinet (host ID) can have up to 32 drawers (LUNs). Data can be made av aila ble through one of the LUNs of a host ID. Most host adapters treat a LU N like a nother device.

2.3.2 Grouping Drives into an Array

Figure 2 - 4 Connecting Drives

The physical connection of a RAID controller should be similar to the one shown above. Drives are conne cted through I/O paths that have been designated as drive channels.

The next diagram shows two logical c onfigurations of drives and the physical locations of its members. Using drives from different channels can lower the risk of fatal failure if one of the drive channels should fail. There is no limitation on the locations of spares.

RAID Planning

2-7

Figure 2 - 5 Physical locations of drive members

A drive can be assigned as the Local Spare Drive that serves one specific logical drive, or as a Global Spare Drive that participates in the rebuild of any logical drive. Spares automatica lly joins a logical drive when a drive fails. Spares are not applicab le to logical drives that have no data redundancy (NRAID and RAID 0).

Figure 2 - 6 Partitions in Logical Configurations

You may divide a logical drive or logical volume into partitions of desired capacity, or use the entire capacity as single volume.

1. It is not a requirement to partition any logical configuration. Partitioning helps to manage a massive capacity.

2. Note that a logical drive can not be includ ed in a logica l volume if it has already been partitioned.

2-8

Infortrend

2.3.3 Making Arrays Available to Hosts

Figure 2 - 7 Mapping Partitions to Host ID/LUNs

Host ID mapping is a process that associates a logical configuration of drives with a host channel ID/LUN. To avail logical partitions on host channel(s), map each par tition to a host ID or one of the LUNs under host IDs. Each ID or LUN will appear to the host adapter as one virtual hard drive.

There are alternatives in mapping for different purposes:

1. Mapping a logical configuration to IDs/LU Ns on different host channels allows two host computers to access the same array. This method is applicable when the array is shared in a clustering backup.

2. Mapping partitions of an array to IDs/LUNs across separate host channels can distribute workload over multiple data paths.

3. Mapping across separate host channels also helps to make use of all bandwidth in a multi-path configuration. Firmware automatically manages the process when one data path f ails a nd the workload on the failed data path has to be shifted to the existing data paths.

Figure 2 - 8 Mapping Partitions to LUNs under ID

RAID Planning

2-9

2.4 Tunable Parameters

Fine-tune the controller and the array parameters for your host applications. Although the factory defaults guarantee the optimize d controller operation, you may refer to the table below to facilitate tuning of your array. Some of the performance and fault-tolerance settings may also be changed later during the preparation pr ocess of your disk array.

Take this table as a check list and make sure you have each item set to an appropriate value.

Table 2 - 2 Controller Parameter Settings

➀➀➀➀ ➁➁➁➁

➂➂➂➂

Parameters that should be configured at the initial stage of system configuration

Parameters that can be changed later Non-critical

User-Defined Parameters

Fault Management:

➀

Automatic Logical

Drive Rebuild - Spare Drive

➀

S.M.A.R.T.

➂

Clone Failing Drive

➀

Rebuild Priority

➀

Verification on Write

➂

SDRAM ECC

➀

Event Notification

➀

System Events

Default Alternate Settings

Enabled when Spare Drive is available

Disabled Detect Only

Manual function Replace After Clone

Low (higher priority requi re s more system resource) Disabled On LD Initialization

Disabled Enabled Reports to user

interface and onboard alarm

System default Upper and Lower event triggering

RAID 1 + Local Spare RAID 3 + Local Spare RAID 5 + Local Spare Global Spare

Perpetual Clo ne Clone + Replace

Perpetual Clo ne Low Normal Improved High

On LD Rebuild On Normal Drive Writes

Over Dial-out Modem Over SNMP Trap Over Java-Based Management Software

thresholds configurable

2-10

Controller:

➀

Channel Mode

➀

Host and Drive channel IDs

➀

Controller Unique

Identifier

➁

Data rate

* Host, Drive, RCCOM, Drive +

Preset on some models Auto Depends on problems solving

RCCOM

hex number from 0 to FFFFF (FW 3.25 and above)

RAID Planning

➀

Date and time

➀

Time zone

Optimization Mode:

N/A + 8 hrs

➀

Write-back Cache

➀

Array stripe size

➀

Optimization for

Random/Sequential

➁

Array write policy

SCSI Parameters:

➀

Data Transfer Rate

➀

Maximum Tag Count

➀

Maximum Queued

I/O Count

➁

LUN’s per SCSI ID

➀

Periodic Drive Check

Time

➀

Periodic SAF-TE and

SES Device Check Time

➀

Periodic Auto-Detect

Failure Drive Swap Check Time

➀

Number of Host-LUN

Connection

➀

Tag per Host-LUN

Connection

➀

Wide Transfer

➀

Parity Check

Enabled Disabled Related to controller general

setting Sequential Either (sequential for LD larger than

512MB and can not be changed)

Related to controller general setting

* Async. To 100.0MHz 32 1-128 32 32 to 1024

8Up to 32 Disabled Enabled

5 Disabled to 60 seconds

Disabled 5 to 60 seconds

32 1 to 1024

32 1 to 256

* Enabled/Disabled Disabled Enabled

4KB to 256KB

W/B or W/T

Infortrend

Spin-Up Parameters:

➀

Motor Spin-Up

➀

Reset at Power-UP

➀

Initial Disk Access

Delay

Disabled Enabled Enabled Disabled * None to 75 seconds

Fibre Channel Parameters:

➀

Fibre Connection

Options

➀

Fibre Channel Dual-

Loop

➀

Host ID/WWN name

list

➀

LUN Filtering

➀

RCC through Fibre

channel

* Loop Only

Enabled Enabled by cabling

* User configurable

* Host Access Filter Control

* Dedicated or sharing drive channel(s)

Point-to-Point Only Loop Preferred Point-to-Point Preferred

Configurable - filter type - access right - name

2-11

Array Configuration:

➀

Disk reserved space

➁

Array assignment

➀

Array partitio ning

Others:

➂

Password

➂

LCD Display

Controller Name

256MB 64KB – backward compatible Primary

controller 1Up to 64

N/A User-De fined; Password

N/A User-Defined

Secondary controller

Validation Timeout: 1 to Always Check Configurable

RAID Planning

2-12

Chapter

ChapterChapter

Accessing the Array through Serial Port and Ethernet

3.1 RS-232C Serial Port

Infortrend’s controllers and subsystems can be configured via a PC running a VT-100 terminal emulation program, or a VT-100 compatible terminal. RAID enclosures usually provide one or more DB-9 RS-232C ports. Simply use an RS-232C cable to connect between the controller/enclosure’s RS-232C port and the PC serial (COM) port.

Make sure you use the included null modem (IFT-9011) to convert the serial port signals. A null modem might have been provided inside your enclosure. The Null Modem has the serial signals swapped for connecting to a standa r d PC serial interface.

The following are guidelines on using the serial port:

• The serial port’s default is set at 38400 baud, 8 bit, 1 stop bit and no parity. Use the COM1 serial port of the controller.

• In most ca ses, connecting RD, TD, and SG is enough to establish the communication with a terminal.

• If you are using a PC as a terminal, any VT-100 terminal emulation software will suffice. Microsoft terminal emulation program as presented with the “(Hyper) Terminal” icon in the Acce ssories window.

• For other details of connecting serial port, please refer to the Hardware Manual that came with your controller.

Windows includes a

Out-of-Band via Serial Port and Ethernet

3-1

3.1.1 Configuring RS-232C Connection via Front Panel

Take the following steps to change the baud rate using the front panel keypad:

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Configuration ..", then press ENT.

Select "Communication Parameters ..", then press ENT.

Select "RS-232 Configuration ..", then press ENT.

Select "COM1 Configuration ..", then press ENT.

Select "Baud-rate 38400 ..", then press ENT.

The baud rate default is 38400. If other baud rate is preferred, press ▼ or ▲ to select the baud rate, then press ENT for 2 seconds to confirm the selected baud rate. Set identical baud rate to your RAID array and your terminal computer.

View and Edit Config Parms ↕

Communication Parameters ..

RS-232C Configuration ..

COM1 Configuration ..

Baud-rate 38400 ..

Baud-rate 38400 Change to 19200?

3-2

• The following baud rates are available: 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200 and 38400.

• Terminal connection should work properly using the above setting. You may check the following options in your COM port configuration if you encounter problems:

1. “Comm Route Dir ..”: The communication route should be

configured as “direct to port” instead of “through PPP”.

2. “Term Emul. Enab ..”: Make sure the terminal function has

not been accidentally disabled.

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3.1.2 Starting RS-232C Terminal Emulation

The keys used when operating via the terminal are as follows:

←←←← →→→→ ↑↑↑↑ ↓↓↓↓ [Enter] [Esc] [Ctrl] [L]

To select options To go to a submenu or to execute a selected option To escape and go back to the previous menu The controller will refresh the screen information

IMPORTANT!

•

If the RS-232C cable is connected while the controller is powered on, press [Ctrl] [L] to refresh the screen information.

The initial screen appears when the controller finishes self-test and is properly initialized. Use ↑↑↑↑ ↓↓↓↓ arrow keys to select terminal emulation mode, then press [ENTER] to enter the Main Menu.

Choose a functional item from the ma in menu to begin configuring your RAID.

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3.2 Out-of-Band via Ethernet

The RAIDWatch manager software provides graphical interface to the subsystem. Before you can access the RAID system using the software manager, your must:

1. Create a reserved space on your array(s)

2. Set up the related TCP/IP configurations to enable the Ethernet

port and the http service

3. FTP RAIDWatch program files to the controller IP address

What Is the “Disk Reserved Space?”

RAIDWatch and Reserved Space:

•

There is no need to install the RAIDWatch program to your management computer if you access the software using the controller Ethernet port. In order to simplify the installation process, system firmware already contains important software agents.

•

User’s configuration data and the manager’s main programs are kept in a small section of disk space on each data drive. The segregated disk space is called a “Disk Reserved Space.” When configuring a

logical drive, firmware automatically segregates a 256MB of disk space from each of the member drives.

•

Because the manager’s main program is run from the reserved space on drives, in the event of RAID controller failure, the manager interface can “failover” to a counterpart controller. Operators’ access to the system will not be interrupted.

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Other Concerns

Availability Concern:

For safety reason, it is better to create a reserved space on more than one logical drive.

Whatever data is put into the reserved space, firmware will automatically duplicate and distribute it to the reserved section on every data drive. Even if one hard drive or one logical drive fails, an exact replica still resides on other drives.

Web-Based Management

The controller firmware has embedded http server. Once properly configured, the controller/subsystem’s Ethernet port behaves like an HTTP server.

Requirements

Controller/subsystem running

[3.25 onwards has embedded NPC (Notification Processing Center) support]

Firmware revision 3.21 and above

2. Management Station:

Pentium or above compatible (or equivalent PC) running Windows NT 4/Windows 2000; Solaris 7 & 8 (SPARC, x86); AIX 4.3; or Red Hat Linux 6.1 (kerne l v2.2.xx); Red H at 7/8, SUSE 7, WIN95/98 , or Windows Me/XP

Standard Web Browser.

4. A management station (computer) accessing RAIDWatch manager must

support:

- TCP/IP

Java Runtime:

it can be downloaded from SUN Microsystems’ web site.

a package is bundled with RAIDWatch installer or

5. A static IP address

3.2.1 Connecting Ethernet Port:

Use a LAN cable to connect the Ethernet port(s) on the subsystem’s RAID controller unit(s). Use only shielded cable to avoid radiated emissions that may cause interruptions. Connect the cable between controller’s LAN port and a LAN port from your local network.

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3.2.2 Configuring the Controller

To prepare the controller for using the RAIDWatch manager, do the following:

1. Use a Terminal Emulator to Begin Configuration

Connect the subsystem’s serial port to a PC running a VT-100 terminal emulation program or a VT -100 compatible terminal.

Make sure the included Null Modem is already attached to enclosure serial port or the host computer’s COM port. The Null Modem converts the serial signals for connecting to a standard PC serial interface. For more details, please refer to the descriptions above in section 3.1.

2. Create a Reserved Space on Drives

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Create one or more logical drives and the reserved space option will be automatically available. The default size is 256MB, and it is recommended to keep it as is. A reserved disk space will be formatted on every member drives.

If you delete a logical drive later, the reserved space will remain intact. Unless you manually remove the reserved space, data kept in it will be unaffected. These drives can later be used to create a new logical drive without making additional changes.

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When formatted, a meta-filesystem is created on the 256MB reserved space. A drive configured with a reserved space will be stated as a “formatted drive.”

3. Assign an IP Address to Ethernet Port:

Assign an IP address to the controller Ethernet port and specify the Net Mask and gateway values. Power off your system and then power on again for the configuration to take effect.

Select "View and Edit Configuration Parameters" from the main menu. Select "Communication Parameters" -> "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" -> press [ENTER] on the chip hardware address -> and then select "Set IP Address."

Provide the IP address, NetMask, and Gateway values accordingly.

PING the IP address from your management computer to make sur e the link is up and running.

4. FTP Manager Programs to the Controller IP

There are several RAIDWatch programs that need to be FTP’ed to the controller IP address.

1. Necessary program files can be found in a zip file (GUI.zip) in the CD-

2. Open a DOS prompt. You may use an FTP program to complete the

Connecting Terminal

Address

ROM that came with your machine. Unzip “grem.htm”, “grem.jar”, “grm.htm”, and “grm.jar” to your PC. Files are available in the following directory: X:\Java where X is the CD-ROM letter.

same process. Key in “ftp xx.xx.xx.xx” (controller IP address).

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3. Login as “root” and there is no password for the first login. Press Enter

to skip password entry.

4. Use the “put” command to transfer the following files:

put grm.htm put grm.jar put grem.htm put grem.jar

5. Proceed to install Java Run-time environment from the CD (If the

management station is a P4-based computer, it is required to install Java JRE version1.3.1).

6. Reset the RAID subsystem using the Reset command for the

configuration to take effect.

5. Starting the Manager:

Start your web browser and enter the IP address assigned to the controller followed by “grm.htm” as your URL (e.g., http://xx.xx.xx.xx/grm.htm).

Enter the IP address followed by “grem.htm” to start Event Monitor.

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3.2.3 NPC Onboard

NPC is short for Notification Processing Center, a sub-module for use with system event notification.

To activate the NPC module, do the following:

1. Create an NPC configuration file (in a simple text file format) using a text editor program.

2. Save it in the name of “agent.ini”

3. FTP it to the controller IP address, and then reset the controller for the configuration to take effect.

Listed below is the sample configuration. Specify your configuration using simple defining para me ters as shown below.

[SNMP_TRAP] ENABLED=0 (1=on; 0=off) SEVERITY=1 COMMUNITY=public RECEIVER1=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX,2 ("2" specifies the level of events to be received by this receiver) [EMAIL] ENABLED=0 SEVERITY=1 SUBJECT=Event Message SENDER_MAIL_BOX=XXXX@XXXXX.XXX SMTP_SERVER=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX RECEIVER1=XXXX@XXXXX.XXX,3 RECEIVER2=XXXX@XXXXX.XXX,1 RECEIVER3=XXXX@XXXXX.XXX,2 RECEIVER4=XXXX@XXXXX.XXX,1 [BROADCAST] ENABLED=0 SEVERITY=1 RECEIVER=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX, 1 RECEIVER=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX, 1

The configuration file is comprised of three maj or sections: SNMP, Email and Broadcast. Each notifying method can be separately enabled or disabled.

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NOTE:

NPC will be automatically activated if any of the notifier settings (email, SNMP, or broadcast) is set to “enabled.”

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The SNMP_TRAP section

[SNMP_TRAP] – section header [ENABLED] – 1=enabled, 0=disabled (applies to this section only) [SEVERITY] - level of severity of the messages to be received:

1. notification, 2. warning, 3. alert. “1” covers events of all levels. “3” sends only the most serious events.) [COMMUNITY] – SNMP community name of the destination/ receiver [RECEIVER] – The IP address of the receiver computer. Add additional lines to specify multiple receivers. Up to 4 receivers can be configured.

The EMAIL section

[EMAIL] – section header [ENABLED] – 1=enabled, 0=disabled (applies to this section only) [SEVERITY] - level of severity of the messages to be received: notification, 2. warning, 3. alert. “1” covers events of all levels. “3” sends only the most serious events.) [SUBJECT] – add a topic to email. This can be used to specify the location of the RAID system, if there are many. [SENDER_MAIL_BOX] – a valid email address to be used as the “from” part of the email message. [SMTP_SERVER] – SMTP server used to send email. IP address only, do not enter a host name here. [RECEIVER#] – receiver’s email address. The receiver’s number followed by an “=” mark, an email address, “comma,” and the number to specify the message severity level. * * * *

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The BROADCAST section

[BROADCAST] – section header [ENABLED] – 1=enabled, 0=disabled (applies to this section only) [SEVERITY] – level of severity of the messages to be received:

1. notification, 2. warning, 3. alert. “1” covers events of all levels. “3” only the most serious events will be broadcast.) [RECEIVER#] – The IP address of the receiver computer. Add additional lines to specify multiple receivers. Up to 4 receivers can be configured.

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Chapter

ChapterChapter

LCD Screen Messages

4.1 The Initial Screen

Product Model

Firmware Version

SR2500 v3.** Ready

Status/Data Transfer Indicator

Status/Data Transfer Indicator:

Ready There is at least one logical drive or logical volume

mapped to a host ID/LUN.

No Host LUN

❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚

No logical drive created or the logical drive has not yet been mapped to any host ID/LUN.

Indicates data transfer. Each block indicates 256Kbytes of data throughput.

4.2 Quick Installation Screen

Quick Logical Drive Install

Press [ENT] to create a logical drive, the controller will start initialization of one logical drive with all the connected SCSI drives and automatically map the logical drive to L UN 0 of the first host channel. The “Quick Installation” can only be performed when there is no Logical Drive.

LCD Screen Messages

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4.3 Logical Drive Status

Logical Drive

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3

LG=0 RAID5 DRV=3

2021MB GD SB=1

Logical Drive status

Logical Drive: RAID level: Drive numbers:

Logical Drive status:

XxxxMB The capacity of this logical drive. SB=x Standby drives available to this logical

xxxxMB INITING The logical drive is now initializing. xxxxMB INVALID For firmware version before 3.31:

The Logical Drive number. The RAID level used in this logical drive The number of physical drives included in

this configuration.

drive. Except the spares dedicated to other logical configurations, all spare drive(s) will be counted in this field, including Global and Local Spares.

The logical drive has been created with “Optimization for Sequential I/O”, but the current setting is “Optimization for Random I/O.”

The logical drive has been created with “Optimization for Random I/O,” but the current setting is “Optimization for Sequential I/O.”

Number of drivesRAID level

-OR-

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Firmware version 3.31 has separate settings for array optimization and array stripe size. This message will not appear when the

optimization mode is changed. xxxxMB GD SB=x The logical drive is in good condition. xxxxMB FL SB=x One drive failed in this logical drive. xxxxMB RB SB=x Logical Drive is rebuilding. xxxxMB DRVMISS One of the drives is missing. INCOMPLETE

ARRAY

Two or more drives failed in this logical

drive.

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4.4 Logical Volume Status

Logical Volume

ID Status

LV=0 ID=09816DE9

00002021MB DRV=1

Volume capacity

Logical Volume: DRV=x:

Logical Volume ID:

Logical Volume Status: xxxMB DRV=X:

Number of drives

The Logical Volume number. The number of logical drive(s) contained

in this logical volume. The unique ID number of the logical

volume (controller random generated).

The capacity of this logical volume. The number of member logical drive(s) in

this logical volume.

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4.5 SCSI Drive Status

SCSI Channel

C=1 I=0 1010MB

C=1 I=0

LG=0 LN SEAGATE

LG=0 LN

Logical Drive

Number

Drive Status: LG=x IN LG=x LN

LG=x RB LG=x SB GlobalSB NEW DRV BAD DRV ABSENT MISSING SB-MISS

SCSI ID

Drive Status

Initializing On-line (already a member of a logical

configuration) Rebuilding Local Spare Drive Global Spare Drive New drive Failed drive Drive does not exist Drive missing (drive was once there) Spare drive missing

Drive Capacit

Drive Vendor

LCD Screen Messages

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4.6 SCSI Channel Status

Channel Number

CH0=Host PID

CH0=Host =

SID=NA SXF=80.0M

Channel

Mode

SCSI ID

SID=NA

Secondary Controller

SCSI ID Mapping

Channel Mode:

Host Host Channel mode Drive Drive Channel mode

Default SCSI Bus Sync Clock:

80.0M The default setting of this channel is

80.0MHz in Sync hronous mode

Async The default setting of this SCSI channel

is in Asynchronous mode

Primary Controller SCSI ID Mapping:

* Multiple SCSI ID’s applied (Host

Channel mode only)

(ID number)

NA No SCSI ID applied (Drive Channel

Secondary Controller SCSI ID Mapping:

* Multiple SCSI ID’s applied (Host

(ID number)

NA No SCSI ID applied (Drive Channel

Primary Controller is using this SCSI ID for host LUN mapping.

mode only)

Channel mode only) Secondary Controller is using this SCSI

ID for host LUN mapping.

mode only)

Default Bus

Sync. Clock

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4.7 Controller Voltage and Temperature

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Peripheral Dev,” then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select "Ctlr Peripheral Device Config..”, press ENT and then choose “View Ctlr Periph Device Status..”, then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to choose either “Voltage Monitor”, or “Temperatur e Monitor”.

Select “Temperature and Voltage Monitor” by pressing Enter. Press ▼ or ▲ to browse through the various voltage and temperature statuses.

View and Edit Peripheral Dev ↕

Ctlr Peripheral Device Config..

View Ctlr Periph Device Status..

Voltage Monitor ..

Temperature Monitor ..

[+12V] 12.077V O

eration Normal

[+5v] 4.938v Operation Normal

[+3.3V] 3.384V Operation Normal

[CPU] 43.5 in Safe Range

[+12v] 12.077v Operation Normal

[CPU] 43.5 in Safe Range

[Board]46.5 in Safe Range

[Board1]46.5 in Safe Range

LCD Screen Messages

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4.8 Cache Dirty Percentage

The LCD panel indicates the cache dirty percentage. The ambercolored “busy” light blinking on front panel also indicates that the cache is being accessed.

4.9 View and Edit Event Logs

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Event Logs,” then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to browse through the existing event log items.

To delete a specified item and all events prior to this event, press ENT for 2 seconds.

View and Edit Event Logs ↑

UPS Power Failure Detected

Press 2 Seconds to Clear Events

IMPORTANT!

•

The event log will be cleared after the cont roller is powered off or reset.

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Chapter

ChapterChapter

LCD Keypad Operation

5.1 Power on RAID Enclosure

Before you start to configure a RAID system, make sure that hardware installation is completed before any configuration takes place. Power on your RAID enclosure.

5.2 Caching Parameters

Optimization Modes

Mass storage applications can be categorized into two a ccording to its read/write characteristics: database and video/imaging. To optimize the controller for these two categories, the controller has two embedded optimization modes with controller behaviors adjusted to different read/write parameters. They are the Optimization for Random I/O and the Optimization for Sequentia l I/O.

Limitations:

modes.

1. You can select the stripe size of each array (logica l drive) during the initial configuration. However, changing stripe size is only recommended for experienced engineers who have tested the effects tuning stripe sizes for different applications.

2. The array stripe size can only be changed during the initial configuration process.

3. Once the controller optimization mode is applied, access to

different logical drives in a RAID system will follow the same optimized pattern. You can change the optimization mode later without having to re-organize your arr ay.

There are limitations on the use of optimization

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Database and Transaction-based Applications:

This kind of applications usually include SQL server, Oracle server, Informix, or other data base se rvices. These applications keep the size of each transaction d own to the minimum, so that I/Os can be rapidly processed. Due to its transaction-based nature, these applications do not read or write a bunch of data in a sequential order. Access to data occur s ra ndomly. T he tra nsact ion size usua lly ranges from 2K to 4K. Transaction performance is measured in “I/Os per second” or “IOPS.”

Video Recording/Playback and Imaging Applications:

This kind of applications usually includes video playback, video post-production editing, or other similar applications. These applications have the tendency to read or write large files from and into storage in a sequential order. The size of each I/O can be 128K, 256K, 512K, or up to 1MB. The efficiency of these applications is measured in “MB/Sec.”

When an array works with applications such as video or image oriented applications, the application reads/writes from the drive a s large-block, sequential threads instead of small and randomly accessed files.

The controller optimization modes have read-ahead buffer and other R/W characteristics tuned to obtain the best perf ormance for these two major application categories.

Optimization Mode and Stripe Size

Each controller optimization mode has pr eset values for the stripe size of arrays created in different RAID levels. If you want a different value for your array, you may change the controller optimization mode, reset the controller, and then go back to create the array. Once the array is created, stripe size can not be changed.

Using the default value should be sufficient for most applications.

Opt. For Sequential I/O Opt. for Random I/O

RAID0 128 32 RAID1 128 32 RAID3 16 4 RAID5 128 32

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Optimization for Random or Sequential I/O

Select from main menu “View and Edit Config Parms,” “Caching Parameters,” and press ENT. Choose “Optimization for Random I/O” or “Optimization for Sequential I/O,” then press ENT for two seconds to confirm. Press ESC to leave and the setting will take effect after the controller is restarted.

Caching Parameters ..

Optimization I/O Random ..

Optimization for Sequential I/O?

IMPORTANT!

•

The original 512GB threshold on array optimization mode is canceled. If the size of an array is larger than 16TB, only the optimization for sequential I/O can be applied. Logical drives of this size are not practical; therefore, there is actually no limitation on the optimization mode and array capacity.

Write-Back/Write-Through Cache Enable/Disable

As one of the submenus in "Caching Parameters," this option controls the cached write function. Press ENT to enable or disable “Write-Back Cache.” Press ENT for two seconds to confirm. The current status will be displayed on the LCD.

Write-Back Cache Enabled ..

The Write-through mode is safer if your controller is not configured in a redundant pair and there is no battery backup.

Write-back caching can dramatically improve write performance by caching the unfinished writes in memory and let them be committed to drives in a more efficient manner. In the event of power failure, a battery module can hold cached data for days. In the event of controller failure, data cached in the failed controller has an exact replica on its counterpart controller and therefore remains intact.

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Disable Write

-Back Cache ?

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IMPORTANT!

•

Every time you change the Caching Parameters, you must reset the

controller for the chang es to take effect.

•

In the Redundant Controller configuration, write-back will only be

applicable when there is a synchronized cache channel between partner controllers.

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5.3 View Connected Drives:

A RAID system consists of many physical drives that can be modified and configured as the members of one or several logical drives.

Press the front panel ENT button for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Use ▼ or ▲ to navigate through the menus. Choose "View and Edit SCSI Drives," then press ENT.

Use ▼ or ▲ to scroll down the list of connected drives’ information sc r eens.

You may first examine whether there is any drive installed but not shown here. If there is a drive installed but not listed, the drive may be defective or not installed correctly, please check your enclosure installation and contact your system vendor .

Press ENT on a drive. Choose "View Drive Information" by pressing ENT. Use ▼ or ▲ to navigate through the screens.

The Revision Number of the selected SCSI drive will be shown. Press ▼ to see other information.

Other information screens include "Serial Number" and "Disk Capacity" (displayed in blocks- each block equals 512K Bytes).

View and Edit SCSI Drives

C=2 I=0 1010MB New DRV SEAGATE

View Drive Information ..

Revision Number: 0274

•

Drives of the same brand/model/capacity might not have the same block number.

•

The basic read/write unit of a hard drive is block. If members of a logical

drive have different block numbers (capacity), the smallest block number will be taken as the maximum capacity to be used in every drive. Therefore, use drives of the same capacity.

•

You may assign a Local/Global Spare Drive to a logical drive whose

members has a block number equal or smaller than the Local/Global Spare Drive but you should not do the reverse.

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IMPORTANT!

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5.4 Creating a Logical Drive

To create a logical drive, press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Use ▼ or ▲ to navigate through the menus. Choose "View and Ed it L ogica l Drives," and then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a logical drive entry, then press ENT for two seconds to proceed. "LG" is short for Logical Drive.

Choosing a RAID Level:

Press ▼ or ▲ to choose the desired RAID level, then press ENT for two seconds. "TDRV" (Total Drives) refers to the number of available SCSI drives.

Choosing Member Drives:

Press ENT for two seconds, a message, “RAID X selected To Select drives”, will prompt. Confirm your selection by pressing ENT.

View and Edit Logical Drives

LG=0 Not Defined ?

TDRV=4 Create LG Level=RAID5 ?

RAID X Selected To Select drives

Press ENT, then use ▼ or ▲ to browse through the available drives. Press ENT again to select/deselect the drives. An asterisk (*) mark will appear on the selected drive(s). To deselect a drive, press ENT again on the selected drive. The (*) mark will disappear. "C=1 I=0" refers to "C hannel 1, SCSI ID 0".

After all the desired drives have been selected, press ENT for two seconds to continue. Press ▼ or ▲ to choose “Create Logical Drive,” then press ENT for two seconds to start initializing the logical drive.

Logical Drive Preferences:

You may also choose “Change Logical Drive Parameter,” then press ENT to change related parameters before initializing the logical drive.

C=1 I=0 1010MB NEW DRV SEAGATE

Create Logical Drive ?

Change Logical Drive Parameter?

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Maximum Drive Capacity:

Choose “Maximum Drive Capacity,” then press ENT. The maximum drive capacity refers to the maximum capacity that will be used in each member drive.

Use ▼ and ▲ to change the maximum size that will be used on each drive.

Spare Drive Assignments:

Local Spare Drive can also be assigned here. Press ▼ or ▲ to choose “Spare Drive Assignments,” then press ENT.

Available drives will be listed. Use ▼ or ▲ to browse through the drive list, then press ENT to select the drive you wish to use as the Local Spare Drive. Press ENT again for two seconds.

Disk Reserved Space:

This menu allows you to change the size of disk reserved space. Default is 256MB. We recommended using the default value.

Maximum Drive Capacity ..

MaxSiz= 1010MB Set to 1010MB?

Spare Drive Assignments ..

C=1 I=15 1010MB *LG=0 SL SEAGATE

Disk Rev. Space 256MB ..

Choices are 256MB and 64KB. With 64KB, logical drives are backward compatible to RAID controllers running earlier firmware versions. Press ENT and use the ▼ or ▲ keys to choose the size you prefer. You may also refer to Appendix E for more details about disk reserved space.

Write Policy:

This menu allows you to set the caching mode policy for this specific logical drive. “Default” is a neutral value that is coordinated with the controller’s caching mode setting. Other choices are “Write-Back” and “Write-Through.”

Write Policy Default ..

Initialization Mode:

This menu allows you to determine if the logical drive is immediately accessible. If the Online method is used, data can be written onto it before the array’s initialization is completed.

Initialization Mode Online..

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Users may proceed with array configuration, e.g., including this array in a logical volume.

Array initialization can take a long time especially for those comprised of large capacity. Setting to “Online” means the arra y is immediately accessible and that the controller will complete the initialization when IO demands become less intensive.

Stripe Size:

This menu allows you to change the array stripe size. Setting to an incongruous value can severely drag the performance. This item should only be changed when you can be sure of the performance gains it might bring you.

Listed below are the default values for an array. The default value for stripe size is determined by controller Optimization Mode and the RAID level chosen for an array.

Opt. for Sequential I/O Opt. for Random I/O

RAID0 128 32 RAID1 128 32 RAID3 16 4 RAID5 128 32

Stripe size Default ?

When you are done with setting logical drive preferences, press ESC and use your arrow keys to select “Create Logical Drive?”. Press ENT for two seconds to proceed.

Beginning Initialization

Press ESC to return to the previous menu. Use ▼ or ▲ to choose “Create Logical Drive,” then press ENT for two seconds to start initializing the logical drive.

The On-Line Mode:

If online initialization method is applied, the array will be available for use immediately. The array initialization runs in the background while data can be written onto it and users can continue configuring the RAID system.

Create Logical Drive ?

LG=0 Creation Completed!

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The Off-Line Mode:

The controller will start to initialize the array parity if using the “Off-line” mode. Note that if NRAID or RAID 0 is selected, initialization time is short and completes almost immediately.

The logical drive’s information displays when the initialization process is completed. If “On-line” mode is adopted, array information will be displayed immediately.

Initializing090% Please Wait!

LG=0 Initializat Ion Completed

LG=0 RAID5 DRV=3 2012MB GD SB=0

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5.5 Creating a Logical Volume

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Logical Volume," then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select an undefined entry for logical volume, then press ENT for two seconds to proceed. "LV" is short for Logical Volume.

Proceed to select one or more logical drives. Press ENT to proceed. “LD” is short for Logical Drive.

Use ▼ or ▲ to browse through the logical drives. Press ENT again to select/deselect the drives. An asterisk (*) mark will appear when the logical drive is selected. After all the desired logical drive(s) have been selected, press ENT for two seconds to continue.

Two submenus will appear.

View and Edit Logical Volume ↕

LV=0 Not Defined ?

LV=0 Selected To Select LD Drives?

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 2021MB GD SB=0

Initialization Mode

Array initialization can take a long time especially for those comprised of large capacity. Setting to “Online” means the array is immediately accessible and that the controller will complete the initialization when IO demands become less intensive.

Write Policy

This menu allows you to set the caching mode policy for this specific logical volume. “Default” is a neutral value that is coordinated with the controller’s caching mode setting. Other choices are “Write-Back” and “Write-Through.”

When finished with setting the preferences, press ENT for two

Initialization Mode Online..

Write Policy Default ..

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seconds to display the confirm box. Press ENT for two seconds to start initializing the logical volume.

The logical volume has been successfully created.

Press ESC to clear the message. Another message will prompt, press ESC to clear it.

Create Logical Volume ?

Lv=0 Creation Completed

Lv=0 ID=07548332 0024488MB DRV=2

Logical volume information will be displayed below.

Logical Volume Assignment

If you have two controllers, you may choose to assign this logical volume to the secondary controller. The assignment can be done during or afte r the initial configuration.

If the redundant controller func tion has been enabled, secondary controller IDs assigned to IO channels, the assignment menus should appear as listed on the right.

If settings related to redundant controllers have not been accomplished, you may find the option after the volume is successfully created.

Create Logical Volume Successed

Change Logical Volume Params ?

Logical Volume Assignments ..

Red Ctlr Assign to Sec. Ctlr ?

Logical Volume Assignment ..

Press ENT on a configured logical volume. Use arrow keys to select “Logical Volume Assignment..”, and press ENT to proceed. Press ENT for two seconds to confirm.

Press ESC, and the LCD will display the logical volume’s information when

initialization is finished

Front Panel Operation

Red Ctlr Assign to Sec. Ctlr ?

LV=0 ID=685AE502 2021MB DRV=1

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5.6 Partitioning a Logical Drive/Logical Volume

Partitioning, as well as the creation of logical volume, are not the requirements for creating a RAID system. The configuration processes for partitioning a logical drive are the same as those for partitioning a logical volume.

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Logical Volume," then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a logical volume, then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Partition Logical Volume,” then press ENT.

The total capacity of the logical volume will be displayed as the first partition (partition 0). Press ENT for two seconds to change the size of the first partition.

Use ▼ or ▲ to change the number of the flashing digit, (see the arrow mark) then press ENT to move to the next digit. After changing all the digits, press ENT for two seconds to confirm the capacity of this partition. You may also use arrow keys to move down to the next partition.

The rest of the drive space will be automatically allocated as the last partition. You may go on to create up to 32 partitions using the same method as described above.

View and Edit Logical Volume ↕

LV=0 ID=685AE502 2021MB DRV=1

Partition Logical Volume..

LV=0 Part=0: 2021MB ?

LV=0 Part=0: 2021MB

LV=0 Part=0: 700MB ?

LV=0 Partition=1 1321MB ?

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Press ESC for several times to go back to the main menu.

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5.7 Mapping a Logical Volume/Logical

Drive to Host LUN

The process of mapping a logical drive is identical to that of mapping a logical volume. The process of mapping a logical volume is used as an example.

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Host Luns," then press ENT.

Note some details before proceeding:

1. A logical group of drives (logical drive/logical volume) previously assigned to the primary controller can not be mapped to a secondary ID. Neither ca n those assigned to the seconda ry controller be mapped to a primary ID.

2. For a SCSI-based controller, ID 7 is reserved for the controller itself. If there are two controllers, controllers might occupy ID 6 and ID 7. Please check your system Hardware Manual for details on preserved IDs.

Press ▼ \or ▲ to select a configured host ID, and then press ENT for two seconds to confirm. IDs are available as Primary or Secondary Controller IDs.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select the type of logical configuration. Available choices are “Map to Logical Volume,” “Map to Logical Drive,” or “Map to Physical Drive.” Confirm your choice by pressing ENT.

View and Edit Host Luns ↕

CH=0 ID=000 Pri. Ctlr ..

Map to Logical Volume ?

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a LUN number, then press ENT to proceed.

Press ENT for two seconds to confirm the selected LUN mapping.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a partition from the logical volume. Press ENT for two seconds to map the selected partition to this LUN. If the logical configuration has not been part itioned,

Front Panel Operation

CH=0 ID=0 LUN=0 Not Mapped

Map Host LUN ?

LV=0 ID=685AE502 2021MB DRV=1

LV=0 PART=0 700MB ?

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you can map the whole capacity to a host LUN.

Mapping information will be displayed on the subsequent screen. Press ENT for two seconds to confirm the LUN mapping.

With any of the Host ID/LUN successfully associated with a logical capacity, the “No Host LUN” message in the main menu will change to “Ready.”

If you want to create more host IDs, please move to section 5.11 for more details on channel mode a nd channel IDs setting.

CH=0 ID0 LUN0 MAP to LV=0 PRT=0?

5.8 Assigning Spare Drive and Rebuild Settings

Adding a Local Spare Drive

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Drives," then press ENT.

View and Edit SCSI Drives ↕

5-14

SCSI drive information will be displayed on the LCD. Press ▼ or ▲ to select a drive that is stated as “NEW DRV” or “USED DRV” that has not been assigned to any logical drive, as spare drive or failed drive, then press ENT to select it.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Add Local Spare Drive,” then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select the logical drive where the Local Spare Drive will be assigned, then press ENT for two seconds to confirm.

The message “Add Local Spare Drive Successful” will be displayed on the LCD.

C=2 I=4 1010MB NEW DRV SEAGATE

Add Local Spare Drive ..

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 2012MB GD SB=0

Add Local Spare Drive Successful

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Adding a Global Spare Drive

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Drives," then press ENT.

SCSI drive information will be displayed on the LCD. Press ▼ or ▲ to select a SCSI drive that has not been assigned to any logical drive yet, then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Add Global Spare Drive,” then press ENT.

Press ENT again for two seconds to add the spare drive. The message “Add Global Spare Drive Successful” will be displayed on the LCD.

Rebuild Settings

View and Edit SCSI Drives ↕

C=2 I=4 1010MB NEW DRV SEAGATE

Add Global Spare Drive ..

Add Global Spare Drive Successful

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Config Parms," then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Disk Array Parameters,” then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Rebuild Priority Low,” then press ENT. “Low” refers to the temporary setting.

Press ENT again and the abbreviation mark “..” will change to question mark “?”. Press ▼ or ▲ to select priority “Low,” “Normal,” “Improved,” or “High”.

Press ENT to confirm and the question mark “?” will turn into “

”.

View and Edit Config Parms ↕

Disk Array Parameters..

Rebuild Priority Low ..

Rebuild Priority Low ?

Rebuild Priority High ..

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NOTE:

•

The rebuild priority determines how much of controller resources is conducted when rebuilding a logical drive. The default setting of the rebuild priority is “LOW.” Rebuild will have smaller impact on host I/O access, but rebuild will take a longer time to complete. Changing the rebuild priority to a higher level you will have a faster reb uild, but will certainly increase the Host I/O response time. The default setting “LOW” is recommended.

5.9 Viewing and Editing Logical Drives and Drive Members

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Logical Drives..,” then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select the logical dr ive, then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “View SCSI Drives..", then press ENT .

Press ▼ or ▲ to scroll through the list of member drives.

Deleting a Logical Drive

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Logical Drives," then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a logical drive, then press ENT.

View and Edit Logical Drives ↕

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 2012MB GD SB=1

View SCSI Drives ..

C=1 I=0 1010MB LG=0 LN SEAGATE

View and Edit Logical Drives ↕

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 2012MB GD SB=1

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Delete Logical Drive," then press ENT .

Press ENT for two seconds to delete. The selected logical drive has now been deleted.

Front Panel Operation

Delete Logical Drive ..

LG=0 Not Defined ?

5-16

Deleting a Partition of a Logical Drive

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Logical Drives..,” then press ENT. Press ▼ or ▲ to select a logical drive, then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to choose “Partition Logical Drive," then press ENT.

The first partition’s information will be shown on the LCD. Press ▼ or ▲ to browse through the existing partitions in the logical drive. Select a partition by pressing ENT for two seconds.

Use ▼ or ▲ to change the number of the flashing digit to “0," then press ENT to move to the next digit. After changing all the digits, press ENT for two seconds.

The rest of the drive space will be automatically allocated to the last partition as diagrammed below.

View and Edit Logical Drives ↕

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 2012MB GD SB=1

Partition Logical Drive ..

LG=0 Partition=1 200MB ?

LG=0 Partition=1 300MB ?

LG=0 Partition=2 600MB ?

Figure 5 - 1 Drive Space Allocated to the Last Partition

Logical Drive

1000MB

Partition 0 - 100MB

Partition 1 - 200MB

Partition 2 - 300MB

Partition 3 - 400MB

Delete

Partition 1

Logical Drive

1000MB

Partition 0 - 100MB

Partition 1 - 300MB

• The capacity of the deleted

partitions will be added to the last partition.

Partition 2 - 600MB

400 + 200

WARNING!

•

Whenever there is a partition chang e, data will be erased, and all host LUN mappings will be removed. T herefore, every tim e the size of a pa rtition has been changed, it is necessary to re-co nfigure all host LU N mapp ings of the associated partitio ns.

Front Panel Operation

5-17

Assigning a Name to a Logical Drive

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Logical Drives..," then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a logical drive, then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Logical Drive Name," then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to change the character of the flashing cursor. Press ENT to move the cursor to the next space. The maximum number of characters for a logical drive name is 25.

Rebuilding a Logical Drive

If you want the controller to auto-detect a replacement drive, make sure you have the following items set to enabled:

1. Periodic Drive Check Time

2. Periodic Auto-Detect Failure Drive Swap Check Time

View and Edit Logical Drives ↕

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 2012MB GD SB=1

Logical Drive Name ..

Enter LD Name: _

These two configuration options can be found under “V iew and Ed it Configuration Parameters” -> “ Drive-Side SCSI Parameters”.

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Logical Drives..", then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select the logical d rive that has a failed member, then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Rebuild Logical Drive," then press ENT.

Press ENT for two seconds to start rebuilding the logical drive.

The rebuilding progress will be displayed (as a percentage) on the LCD.

Front Panel Operation

View and Edit Logical Drives ↕

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 2012MB FL SB=0

Rebuild Logical Drive ..

Rebuild Logical Drive ?

Rebuilding 25% Please Wait!

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When rebuilding is already started or the logical drive is being rebuilt by a Local Spare Drive or Global Spare Drive, choose “Rebuild Progress” to see the rebuild progress.

IMPORTANT!

•

The Rebuild function will appear only if a logical drive (with RAID level 1, 3 or 5) has a failed member.

•

Use the "Identify Drive" function to check the exact location of a failed drive. Removing the wrong drive may cause a logical drive to fail and data loss is unrecoverable.

Regenerating Logical Drive Parity

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 2012MB RB SB=0

Rebuild Progress ..

If no verifying method is applied to data writes, this function can be manually performed to ensure that parity errors can be mended.

From the Main Menu, press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Logical Drives."

If you have more than one logical drive, use the ▼ or ▲ to select the logical drive you would like to check the parity for; and then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select "Regenerate Parity" and then press ENT.

To stop the regeneration process, press ESC and enter the submenu to select “Abort Regenerate Parity”.

View and Edit Logical Drives

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 4095MB GD SB=0

Regenerate Parity ..

Abort Regenerate Parity ..

IMPORTANT!

•

If Parity Regenerating process is stopped by a drive failure, the process cannot restart until the log ical drive is rebuilt.

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Media Scan

Media Scan is used to examine drives and is able to detect the presence of bad blocks. If any data blocks have not been properly committed, data from those blocks are automatically recalculated, retrieved and stored onto undamaged sectors. If bad blocks are encountered on yet another drive during the rebuild process, the block LBA (Logical Block Address) of those bad blocks will be shown. If rebuild is carried out under this situation, rebuild will continue with he unaffected sectors, salvaging a majority of the stored data.

From the Main Menu, press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Logical Drives".

The first logical drive displays. If you have more than one logical drive, use the ▼ or ▲ keys to select the logical drive you want to scan; and then press

ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select "Media Scan" and then press ENT.

Press ENT again to display the first configuration option. Press ENT on it and use arrow keys to select an option. Press ENT to confirm the change on priority level.

Use arrow keys to move one level down to another option, “Iteration Count”. This option determines how many times the scan is performed on the logical drive. If set to the continuous, the scan will run in the background continuously until it is stopped by user.

View and Edit Logical Drives

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 4095MB GD SB=0

Media Scan ..

Priority Normal ..

Priority To High ?

Iteration Count Single ..

Iteration Count to Continuous ?

Press ENT on your option to confirm. Press ENT for two seconds to display

the confirm message, press ENT to start scanning the array.

Front Panel Operation

Execute Media Scanning ?

5-20

Write Policy

From the Main Menu, press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Logical Drives".

The first logical drive displays. If you have more than one logical drive, use the ▼ or ▲ keys to select the logical drive you want to change the write policy of; and then press ENT.

Use arrow keys to select "Write Policy" and then press ENT.

The Write-Back cache setting is configurable on a per array basis. Setting to the default value means the array setting is coordinated with the controller’s general setting. The controller’s general setting option can be found in “View and Edit Config Parms” - > “Caching Parameters” -> “Write-Back Cache”. Note that cached writes are lost if power failure should occur unless cached data has been duplicated to a partner controller and a battery is supporting cache memory.

View and Edit Logical Drives

LG0 RAID5 DRV=3 4095MB GD SB=0

Write Policy ..

Write Policy Write-Back ?

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5.10 Viewing and Editing Host LUNs

Viewing and Deleting LUN Mappings

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Host Luns", then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a host ID, then press ENT to proceed.

Press ▼ or ▲ to browse through the LUN number and its LUN mapping information.

Press ENT on the LUN you wish to delete.

Press ENT for two seconds to confirm deletion. The deleted LUN has now been unmapped.

For LUN Filtering functions, e.g., Create Host Filter Entry, Edit HostID/WWN Name List, please refer to Chapter 8 “Fibre Operation.”

View and Edit Host Luns ↕

CH=0 ID=002 Sec. Ctlr ..

CH=0 ID=0 LUN=0 Mapto LG0 PRT0

Delete CH0 ID0 LUN=00 Mapping ?

CH=0 ID=0 LUN=0 Not Mapped

Pass-through SCSI Commands

Pass-through SCSI commands facilitate functions like download ing firmware for drives or devices (not controller firmware), setting SCSI drive mode parameters, or monitoring a SAF-TE/S.E.S. device directly from the host. To perform such a function, the S CSI device must be mapped to a host SCSI ID.

From the Main Menu, press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit Host LUNs."

If you have primary and secondary controllers, use the ▼ or ▲ to select the controller for the device that you would like to map.

Press ▼ or ▲ to choose to map a SCSI ID to "Physical Drive" or other device and then press ENT.

Front Panel Operation

View and Edit Host Luns

Map Channel=0 ID=0 Pri Ctlr ?

Map to Physical Drive ?

5-22

WARNING!

•

Pass-through SCSI Com mands are only intended to perform maint enance functions for a drive or device on the drive side. Do not perform any destructive command s to a disk drive (i.e., any commands tha t write data to a drive media). If a disk drive is a spare drive or a member of a logical drive, such a destructive command may cause a data inconsistency.

•

When a drive/device is mapped to a host SCSI ID so that Pass-through SCSI Commands can be used, the data on that drive/device will not be protected by the controller. Users who employ Pass-through SCSI Commands to perform any write co mmands to drive media do so at their own risk.

5.11 Viewing and Editing SCSI Drives

Scanning New SCSI Drive

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Drives," then press ENT.

SCSI drive information will be displayed on the LCD. Press ENT on a drive. Use ▼ or ▲ to select “Scan New SCSI Drive," then press ENT again.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a SCSI channel, then press ENT for two seconds.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a SCSI ID, then press ENT for two seconds.

The information of the scanned SCSI drive will be displayed on the LCD.

If the drive was not detected on the selected SCSI channel and ID, the LCD will display “Scan Fail!”

View and Edit SCSI Drives ↕

Scan new SCSI Drive ..

Scan Channel=1 ?

Scan Channel=1 ID= 01 ?

C=1 I=0 1010MB NEW DRV SEAGATE

Scan Channel=1 ID=1 Scan Fail!

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An empty drive entry is added for this channel/SCSI ID for enclosure management. The drive status is “ABSENT.”

C=1 I=1 ABSENT

To clear the empty drive entry, press ENT and use arrow keys to select “Clear Drive Status,” then press ENT to proceed.

Press ENT for two seconds to confirm the drive entry’s deletion. Information of other drives will be displayed instead.

Identifying a Drive

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Drives," then press ENT.

SCSI drive information will be displayed. Press ▼ or ▲ to select a SCSI drive, then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Identify Drive,” then press ENT to continue.

Clear Drive Status ..

Clear Drive Status ?

View and Edit SCSI Drives ↕

C=1 I=0 1010MB GlobalSB SEAGATE

Identify Drive ..

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Flash All Drives”, “Flash Selected Drive”, or “Flash All But Selected Drive”. Press ENT for two seconds to flash the read/write LEDs of all the connected drives.

Or, press ▼ or ▲ to select “Flash Selected SCSI Drives," then press ENT for two seconds to flash the read/write LED of the selected drive. The read/write LED will light for a configurable time period from 1 to 999 seconds.

Front Panel Operation

Flash All Drives ?

Flash Selected SCSI Drives ?

Flash all But Selected Drives?

5-24

Deleting Spare Drive (Global / Local Spare Drive)

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Drives," then press ENT.

SCSI drive information will be displayed on the LCD. Press ▼ or ▲ to select the spare drive you wish to delete, then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Delete Spare Drive," then press ENT to continue.

Press ENT for two seconds to delete the spare drive.

View and Edit SCSI Drives ↕

C=1 I=0 1010MB GlobalSB SEAGATE

Delete Spare Drive ..

Delete Spare Drive Successful

5.12 Viewing and Editing SCSI Channels

Redefining Channel Mode

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Channels," then press ENT.

Channel information will be displayed. Press ▼ or ▲ to browse through the information of all channels. Press ENT on the channel you wish the channel mode changed.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Redefine Channel Mode,” then press ENT.

Press ENT for two seconds to change the channel mode.

The new setting will be displayed.

View and Edit SCSI Channels ↕

CH0=Host PID=0 SID=NA SXF=20.0M

Redefine Channel Mode ..

Redefine? CHL=0 To=Drive Channel

CH0=Drive PID=7 SID=NA SXF=20.8M

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IMPORTANT!

•

Every time you change channel mode, you must reset the controller for the changes to take effect.

Setting a SCSI Channel’s ID - Host Channel

Viewing IDs

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Channels," then press ENT.

Channel information will be displayed. Press ENT on the host channel you wish the ID changed.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Set SCSI Channel ID," then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to browse through the existing ID settings. Press ENT on any to continue.

Adding a Channel ID

Press ENT on a host channel, on “Set SCSI Channel ID”, and then on an existing ID.

View and Edit SCSI Channels ↕

CH0=Host PID=0 SID=NA SXF=20.0M

Set SCSI Channel ID ..

CHL=0 ID=0 Primary Ctrl ..

Press ▼ or ▲ to choose “Add Cha nnel SCSI ID", then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to choose “Primary Controller” or “Secondar y Controller”, then press ENT for two seconds to confirm.

Press ▼ or ▲ to choose the SCSI ID you wish to add, then press ENT for two seconds to complete the process.

Front Panel Operation

Add Channel SCSI ID ..

Primary Controller ?

Add CHL=0 ID=2 Primary Ctlr ?

5-26

Deleting a Channel ID

Press ENT on an existing host channel ID you want to delete. Press ▼ or ▲ to choose “Delete Channel SC SI ID," then press ENT.

Press ENT for two seconds to confirm.

Delete Channel SCSI ID ..

Delete ID=2 Primary Ctlr ?

IMPORTANT!

•

Every time you make changes to channel IDs, you must reset the controller for the configuration to take effect.

•

The reserved IDs for SCSI-ba sed controllers are shown below:

Single controller configuration (S CSI-based controllers): Drive channels – “7” Redundant controller configuration: Drive channels – “8” and “9”

For IDs reserved in different controller configurations, please refer to t he hardware manual that came with your system. For controllers connected through back-end PCBs, firmware can detect its board type and automatically apply the p reset IDs. There is no need to set IDs for these models.

5-27

•

In single controller mode, you should set the Secondary Co ntroller’s ID to “NA.” If a secondary controller exists, you need to set a n ID for it o n each of your drive channels.

•

Multiple target IDs can be applied to Host channels while each Drive channel has only one or two IDs (in redundant mode).

•

At least a controller’s ID has to be present on each channel bus.

Setting a SCSI Channel’s Primary ID - Drive Channel

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Channels," then press ENT.

View and Edit SCSI Channels ↕

Infortrend

Channel information will be displayed. Press ENT on the drive channel you wish the ID changed.

CH1=Drive PID=7 SID=NA SXF=80.0M

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Set SCSI Channel Pri. Ctlr ID..”, then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a new ID, then press ENT for two seconds to confirm.

Set SCSI Channel Pri. Ctlr ID ..

Set Pri. Ctlr ID= 7 to ID: 8 ?

Setting a SCSI Channel’s Secondary ID - Drive Channel

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Channels," then press ENT.

Channel information will be displayed. Press ENT on the drive channel you wish the ID changed.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Set SCSI Channel Sec. Ctlr ID..”, then press ENT.

View and Edit SCSI Channels ↕

CH1=Drive PID=7 SID=NA SXF=20.0M

Set SCSI Channel Sec. Ctlr ID ..

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a new ID, then press ENT for two seconds to confirm.

Setting Channel Bus Terminator

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Channels," then press ENT.

Channel information will be displayed. Press ▼ or ▲ to select a channel. Press ENT on a channel you wish the terminator mode changed.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Set SCSI Channel Terminator,” then press ENT.

Front Panel Operation

Set Sec. Ctlr ID=NA to ID: 9 ?

View and Edit SCSI Channels ↕

CH0=Host PID=0 SID=NA SXF=20.0M

Set SCSI Channel Terminator ..

5-28

Its current status will be displayed on the LCD. Press ENT to continue.

SCSI Terminator Enabled ..

Press ENT again for two seconds to change the terminator mode to the alternate setting.

•

You can use terminator jumpers on t he controller board to control SCSI bus termination of the SentinelRAID series controllers. When using jumpers to control, firmware termination setting must be disabled. To disable SCSI termination of a SCSI bus, th e associat ed term inator jump ers must be left open, and firm w a re setting must be disabled.

Setting Transfer Speed

Transfer speed refe rs to the SCSI bus speed in synchronous mode. Asynchronous mode is also available in this option setting. In Ultra/Ultra Wide SCSI, the maximum synchronous speed is

20.8Mhz.

CHL=0 Disable Terminator ?

IMPORTANT!

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Channels," then press ENT.

Channel information will be displayed. Press ▼ or ▲ to select a channel. Press ENT on the channel you wish the transfer speed changed.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Set Transfer Speed," then press ENT.

The current speed of this SCSI c hannel will be displayed. Press ▼ or ▲ to select the desired speed, then press ENT for two seconds to confirm.

View and Edit SCSI Channels ↕

CH0=Host PID=0 SID=NA SXF=80.0M

Set Transfer Speed ..

CHL=0 Clk=80.0M Change to=40.0M?

IMPORTANT!

•

Every time you change the Transfer Speed, you must reset the controller for the changes to take effect.

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Setting Transfer Width

The controller supports 8-bit SCSI and 16-bit SCSI. Enable “Wide Transfer” to use the 16-bit SCSI function. Disabling “Wide Transfer” will limit the channel transfer speed to 8-bit SCSI.

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Channels," then press ENT.

Channel information will be displayed. Press ▼ or ▲ to browse through the channels. Press ENT on the channel you wish the transfer width changed.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “Set Transfer Width," then press ENT.

The current mode will be displayed. Press ENT to continue.

Press ENT again for two seconds.

IMPORTANT!

View and Edit SCSI Channels ↕

CH0=Host PID=0 SID=NA SXF=20.0M

Set Transfer Width ..

Wide Transfer Enabled ..

Disable Wide Transfer ?

•

Every time you change the SCSI Transfer Width, you must reset the controller for the changes to take effect.

Viewing and Editing SCSI Target - Drive Channel

Press ENT for two seconds to enter the Main Menu. Press ▼ or ▲ to select "View and Edit SCSI Channels," then press ENT.

SCSI channel information will be displayed on the LCD. Press ENT on the drive channel you wish the SCSI ID changed.

Front Panel Operation

View and Edit SCSI Channels ↕

CH1=Drive PID=7 SID=NA SXF=20.0M

View and Edit SCSI Target ..

5-30

Press ▼ or ▲ to select “View and Edit SCSI Target,” then press ENT.

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a SCSI target, then press ENT.

SCSI Target CHL=1 ID=0 ..

Slot Number

To set the Slot number of the SCSI target, choose “Slot Assignment, " then press ENT. The current slot number will be displayed.

Press ▼ or ▲ to change the slot number, then press ENT for two seconds.

Slot Assignment Default No Set..

Slot Assignment Set to # 9 ?

Maximum Synchronous Transfer Clock

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a SCSI target, then press ENT.

To set the maximum synchronous clock of this SCSI target, choose “Max. Synchronous Xfer Clock," then press ENT. The current clock setting will be displayed on the LCD.

Press ▼ or ▲ to change the clock, then press ENT for two seconds.

Maximum Transfer Width

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a SCSI target, then press ENT.

To set the maximum transfer width of this SCSI target, choose “Max. Xfer Narrow Only” or “Max. Xfer Wide Supported,” then press ENT. The

SCSI Target CHL=1 ID=0 ..

Max Synchronous Xfer Clock# 12..

Period Factor Def= 12 to --?

SCSI Target CHL=1 ID=0 ..

Max Xfer Wide Supported ..

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current clock setting will be displayed on the LCD.

Press ENT for two seconds to change the setting.

Parity Check

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a SCSI target, then press ENT.

Max Xfer Narrow Only ?

SCSI Target CHL=1 ID=0 ..

Choose “Parity Check," then press ENT. The current clock setting will be displayed on the LCD.

Press ENT for two seconds to change the setting.

Disconnecting Support

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a SCSI target, then press ENT.

Choose “Disconnect Support," then press ENT. The current clock setting will be displayed on the LCD.

Press ENT for two seconds to change the setting.

Parity Check Enabled ..

Disable Parity Checking?

SCSI Target CHL=1 ID=0 ..

Disconnect Support Enabled

Disable Support Disconnect ?

Maximum Tag Count

Press ▼ or ▲ to select a SCSI target, then press ENT.

Choose “Max Tag Count," then press ENT. The current clock setting will be displayed on the LCD.

Press ▼ or ▲ to change the setting, then press ENT for two seconds to change the setting.

Front Panel Operation

SCSI Target CHL=1 ID=0 ..

Max Tag Count: Default( 32) ..

Tag Cur=32 Set to:Default ?

5-32

Compaq Infortrend User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Functional Table of Contents

About This Manual

1.1 Logical Drive

1.2 Logical Volume

1.3 RAID Levels

What are the RAID levels?

NRAID

JBOD

RAID 0

RAID 1

RAID (0+1)

RAID 3

RAID 5

1.4 Spare Drives

Global and Local Spare Drives

1.5 Identifying Drives

Flash Selected SCSI Drive

Flash All SCSI Drives

Flash All but Selected Drives

1.6 Rebuild

Automatic Rebuild and Manual Rebuild

manual rebuild

1.7 Logical Volume (Multi-Level RAID)

What is a logical volume?

Spare drives assigned to a logical volume?

Limitations:

Partitioning - partitioning the logical drive or partitioning the logical volume?

Different write policies within a logical volume?

RAID expansion with logical volume?

Different controller settings using logical volume?

A logical volume with logical drives of different levels?

Multi-level RAID systems

2.1 Considerations

Configuring the Array:

2.2.1 Starting a RAID System

2.3 Operation Theory

2.3.1 I/O Channel, SCSI ID, and LUN

2.3.2 Grouping Drives into an Array

2.3.3 Making Arrays Available to Hosts

2.4 Tunable Parameters

3.1 RS-232C Serial Port

3.1.1 Configuring RS-232C Connection via Front Panel

3.1.2 Starting RS-232C Terminal Emulation

3.2 Out-of-Band via Ethernet

What Is the “Disk Reserved Space?”

Other Concerns

Web-Based Management

Requirements

3.2.1 Connecting Ethernet Port:

3.2.2 Configuring the Controller

3.2.3 NPC Onboard

The SNMP_TRAP section

The EMAIL section

The BROADCAST section

4.1 The Initial Screen

4.2 Quick Installation Screen

4.3 Logical Drive Status

4.4 Logical Volume Status

4.5 SCSI Drive Status

4.6 SCSI Channel Status

4.7 Controller Voltage and Temperature

4.8 Cache Dirty Percentage

4.9 View and Edit Event Logs

5.1 Power on RAID Enclosure

5.2 Caching Parameters

Optimization Modes

Optimization Mode and Stripe Size

Optimization for Random or Sequential I/O

Write-Back/Write-Through Cache Enable/Disable

5.3 View Connected Drives:

5.4 Creating a Logical Drive

Choosing a RAID Level:

Choosing Member Drives:

Logical Drive Preferences:

Maximum Drive Capacity:

Spare Drive Assignments: