ICP ICPCON, RAID Navigator, RAID Console User Manual

1

User's Manual

ICP RAID Console

and

ICP RAID Navigator

1st Edition

© Copyright 1998-2000

ICP vortex Computersysteme GmbH

Konrad-Zuse-Str. 9

74172 Neckarsulm - Germany

ICP vortex Corporation

4001 E. Broadway / B-20

Phoenix, AZ 85040, USA

All Rights and Changes Reserved.

01

2

3

Limited Warranty

Limited WarrantyLimited Warranty

Limited Warranty

ICP vortex Corporation ("ICP vortex") guarantees that this product is free from defects in material
and workmanship. Subject to the conditions and limitations set forth below, ICP vortex will, at its
own option, either repair or replace any part of this product which proves to be defective by reasons
of improper workmanship or materials. Parts used to repair products or replacement products will
be provided by ICP vortex on an exchange basis, and will be either new or refurbished to be func­tionally equivalent to new.
This warranty does not cover any damage to this product, which results from accident, abuse, mis­use, natural or personal disaster, Acts of God, or any unauthorized disassembly, repair or modifica­tion. The duration of this warranty is one year from the date of original retail purchase.

Warranty Claim Requirements

Warranty Claim RequirementsWarranty Claim Requirements

Warranty Claim Requirements

To obtain warranty service, return the defective product, freight prepaid and insured, to your local
authorized ICP vortex dealer or distributor, or to ICP vortex Corporation, 4001 E. Broadway, B-20,
Phoenix, AZ 85040. Please note the following: You must include the product serial number, and a
detailed description of the problem you are experiencing. You must also include proof of the date of
original retail purchase as evidence that the product is within the warranty period.
If you need to return the product to ICP vortex, you must first obtain a Return Material Authorization
(RMA) number by calling ICP vortex Corporation at 602-414-0414. This RMA number must be dis­played on the outside of your package. Products must be properly packaged to prevent damage in
transit. ICP vortex accepts no responsibility for products which are damaged on arrival due to poor
freight service.

Disclaimers

DisclaimersDisclaimers

Disclaimers

The foregoing is the complete warranty for ICP vortex products and supersedes all other warranties
and representations, whether written or oral. Except as expressly set forth above, no other warranties
are made with respect to ICP vortex products. ICP vortex expressly disclaims all warranties not stated
herein, including, to the extent permitted by applicable law, any implied warranty of merchantability
or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will ICP vortex be liable to the purchaser, or to any
user of the ICP vortex product, for any data loss, data corruption, damages, expenses, lost reve­nues, lost savings, lost profits, or any other incidental or consequential damages arising from the
purchase, use or inability to use the ICP vortex product, even if ICP vortex has been advised of the
possibility of such damages.
ICP vortex is not liable for, and does not cover under warranty, any costs associated with servicing
and/or installation of ICP vortex products.

This manual has been validated and reviewed for accuracy. The sets of instructions and descrip­tions were accurate for ICP Disk Array Controllers at the time of this manual’s production. How­ever, succeeding Controllers, software and manuals are subject to change without notification.
Therefore, ICP vortex assumes no liability for damages incurred directly or indirectly from errors,
omissions or discrepancies between the Controller, software and the manual.

4

Pick up the phone

if you need technical support

and dial the numbers:

For Europe: [phone]

For the USA: 602-414-0414

or send us a FAX:
For Europe:
[phone]
For the USA: 602-414-0444

or send us an E-Mail:

For Europe: [e-mail]

For the USA: [e-mail]

or check our Website:
http://www.icp-vortex.com

5

Important Note

Using modern RAID Systems significantly increases data security and availability. Under no
circumstances does it relieve you from a careful and daily backup on tape or a similar backup

media. This is the only method to protect your valuable data against total loss (e.g.,
through fire or theft), accidental deletion, or any other destroying impacts.

Many Thanks to all my Friends

Monika & Wolfgang (the grandmasters)

AnnDee, Lois, Jeniffer, Valerie, Carl, Frank, Ken (the right one) and William (the Phoenix Crew)

Achim, Dieter, Günter, Hooshiar, Johannes, Jörg, Norbert, Otto, Ralph, Sam, Steffen, Winfried

Brigitte, Alfred (AB, "We need clustering. I say we have it") and Ruediger

Andreas (AK, or "Kopf nur mit ö")
Michael (Mipf, "where is my CPU ?")
Jürgen (Jogo, "Hi, is Jurgen there ?")

Jürgen (JB, "diesbezüglich & hinsichtlich or probably")

Markus (Malu, "Luuuuu...."), Uwe, Ralf

All the fantastic "rest" of this incredible company.

It is not only a pleasure to work here, it is a passion.

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FCC Compliance

FCC ComplianceFCC Compliance

FCC Compliance Statement

Statement Statement

Statement

Information for the User

NOTE: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B
digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide
reasonable protection against harmful interference in residential installations. This equip­ment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy, and if not installed and used
in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communica­tions. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installa­tion. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception,
which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to
try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

- Reorientate or relocate the receiving antenna.

- Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver.

- Plug the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is

powered.

- If necessary, consult the dealer or an experienced radio/T.V. technician for additional
suggestions.

The use of a non-shielded interface cable with the referenced device is prohibited.
Changes or modifications not expressly approved by ICP vortex Computersysteme GmbH
could void the authority to operate the equipment.

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Table of Contents

I. The Program ICPCON......................................................................................................................................12

I.1 Loading ICPCON .....................................................................................................................................12

I.1.1 Loading the ICPCON Program Under NetWare......................................................................................12

I.1.2 Loading the ICPCON Program Under Solaris 7 .....................................................................................13

I.1.3 Loading the ICPCON Program Under Windows NT / 2000.....................................................................13

I.1.4 Loading the ICPCON Program Under Windows 95/98...........................................................................13

I.1.5 Loading ICPCON Under SCO UNIX ......................................................................................................13

I.1.6 Loading ICPCON Under LINUX............................................................................................................14

I.2 The ICPCON Program ..............................................................................................................................14

I.2.1 Select Interface ................................................................................................................................15

I.2.2 Select Controller ...............................................................................................................................16

I.2.3 The two Menu Areas „Monitor“ and „Express/Advanced Setup“ ............................................................16

I.3 The Menu Monitor ..................................................................................................................................17

I.3.1 Menu Monitor: View Statistics............................................................................................................17

I.3.2 Menu Monitor: View Events ...............................................................................................................18

I.3.3 Menu Monitor: View Hard Disk Info....................................................................................................18

I.3.4 Menu Monitor: Save Information........................................................................................................19

I.4 The Menu Express/Advanced Setup...........................................................................................................20

I.4.1 Menu Express Setup: Configure Host Drives .........................................................................................20

I.4.2 Menu Express Setup: Repair Array Drives.............................................................................................24

I.4.3 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Controller ........................................................................................26

I.4.3.1 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Controller, Controller Settings..................................................26

I.4.3.2 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Controller, Firmware Update ...................................................27

I.4.3.3 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Controller, Intelligent Fault Bus...............................................27

I.4.3.4 Menu Advanced Setup: Conf. Controller, Non-Intelligent Enclosures.............................................27

I.4.3.5 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Controller, Advanced Settings..................................................29

I.4.3.6 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Controller, Cluster Settings ......................................................29

I.4.3.7 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Controller, Clear Log Buffer .....................................................29

I.4.4 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Physical Devices...............................................................................29

I.4.4.1 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Phys. Devs., SCSI Parameter /Initialize ....................................31

I.4.4.2 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Phys. Devs., Format Disk ........................................................32

I.4.4.3 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Phys. Devs., Check Surface......................................................32

I.4.4.4 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Phys. Devs., View Status/Defects .............................................32

I.4.4.5 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Phys. Devs., Deinitialize Disk...................................................32

I.4.4.6 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Phys. Devs., Lock/Unlock Disk.................................................33

I.4.4.7 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Phys. Devs., Enclosure Status..................................................33

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I.4.5 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Logical Drives ..................................................................................35

I.4.6 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives.....................................................................................36

I.4.6.1 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Change Drive Name ............................................37

I.4.6.2 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Expand Array Drive..............................................37

I.4.6.3 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Add RAID 1 Component .......................................37

I.4.6.4 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Replace Array Component ....................................37

I.4.6.5 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Remove RAID 1 Component .................................37

I.4.6.6 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Remove Array Drive.............................................38

I.4.6.7 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Add Hot Fix Drive................................................38

I.4.6.8 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Remove Hot Fix Drive ..........................................39

I.4.6.9 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Hot Fix Pool Access..............................................39

I.4.6.10 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Parity Verify .....................................................39

I.4.6.11 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Parity Recalculate .............................................39

I.4.6.12 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Build/Rebuild Progress ......................................39

I.4.6.13 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Array Drives, Create new Array Drive ......................................40

I.4.7 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Host Drives......................................................................................41

I.4.7.1 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Host Drives, Change Drive Name .............................................42

I.4.7.2 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Host Drives, Swap Host Drives.................................................42

I.4.7.3 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Host Drives, Remove Host Drives .............................................42

I.4.7.4 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Host Drives, Split Host Drive....................................................42

I.4.7.5 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Host Drives, Merge Host Drives................................................42

I.4.7.6 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Host Drives, Partition Host Drives.............................................42

I.4.7.7 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Host Drives, Overwrite Master Boot Code ..................................42

I.4.7.8 Menu Advanced Setup: Configure Host Drives, Drive Type (Cluster)..............................................42

II. ICP RAID Navigator.......................................................................................................................................44

II.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................44

II.2 The ICP RAID Navigator "Controls"...........................................................................................................45

II.2.1 The Toolbar.....................................................................................................................................45

II.2.2 The Status Bar ................................................................................................................................45

II.2.3 "Window" Menu Commands .............................................................................................................45

II.2.4 "Help" Menu Commands..................................................................................................................46

II.2.5 "File" Menu Commands....................................................................................................................46

II.2.6 "View" Menu Commands..................................................................................................................46

II.2.7 The "Chart" Menu............................................................................................................................47

II.2.8 The "Configuration" Menu Commands................................................................................................47

II.3 Select Controller ....................................................................................................................................48

II.4 Physical Configuration Window ...............................................................................................................48

II.4.1 Controllers ......................................................................................................................................49

II.4.2 I/O Processors.................................................................................................................................51

II.4.3 Direct Access Devices........................................................................................................................52

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II.4.4 Non direct access devices (raw devices)..............................................................................................56

II.5 Logical Configuration Window.................................................................................................................57

II.5.1 The Host Drive Information Window ..................................................................................................60

II.5.2 The Array Drive Information Window .................................................................................................60

II.5.3 The Logical Drive Information Window...............................................................................................62

II.5.4 Change the name of a Drive .............................................................................................................63

II.5.5 Remove a Host Drive .......................................................................................................................63

II.5.6 Create a new Host Drive...................................................................................................................63

II.5.7 Parity Verify....................................................................................................................................64

II.5.8 Parity Recalculate............................................................................................................................64

II.5.9 Progress Information........................................................................................................................65

II.5.10 Expansion of an Array....................................................................................................................65

II.5.11 Add a Hot Fix Drive........................................................................................................................66

II.5.12 Remove a Hot Fix Drive..................................................................................................................67

II.5.13 Hot Fix Pool Access........................................................................................................................67

II.5.14 Add a RAID 1 Component (Mirror a Drive)........................................................................................67

II.5.15 Remove a RAID 1 Component (Remove a Mirror Drive)......................................................................68

II.5.16 Replace a Logical Drive ..................................................................................................................68

II.5.17 The Different States of an Array Drive ..............................................................................................68

II.6 The Statistics Window ............................................................................................................................71

II.7 The Controller Events Window.................................................................................................................72

II.8 ICP RAID Navigator Help ........................................................................................................................73

II.9 ICP Service and ICP Mail ........................................................................................................................74

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Chapter I

ICP RAID Console

ICP RAID ConsoleICP RAID Console

ICP RAID Console

ICPCON

ICPCONICPCON

ICPCON

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I. The Program ICPCON

ICP RAID Console (ICPCON) is an extremely helpful and flexible setup and diagnosis tool
for the configuration, monitoring, maintenance and tuning of mass storage subsystems
which are based on one or more ICP Controllers. Different to the ICP RAID Navigator (a
GUI-style application for Windows 9x/NT/2000), ICPCON's user interface is character­oriented and available for all operating systems. (Information on the ICP RAID Navigator
can be found in a separate chapter of this User's Manual.). In addition to that ICPCON is
also part of the ICP Controller’s Flash-RAM and can be loaded at system boot level by
pressing <CTRL><G>.
Some of the key features of ICPCON:

 ICPCON includes both, diagnosis and configuration functions

 ICPCON is available as both, an executable program under various operating sys-

tems, and rom-resident program loadable with <CTRL>-<G> at system boot level
(i.e., without any operating system)

 Host Drives can be setup and configured under normal operation

 Online Capacity Expansion of existing Disk Arrays

 Enhanced repair functions for Disk Arrays with failed drives

 Monitoring functions indicate the performance of the various components, Cache

statistics

 Available for MSDOS, NetWare 3.x/4.x/5.x, Windows 9x, Windows NT, Windows 2000,

Linux, SCO Unix

 Loadable locally (on the server) or remotely from an authorized workstation (support

of various protocols); NetBIOS, IPX/SPX, TCP/IP.

I.1 Loading ICPCON

As mentioned before, the ICPCON program is available for various operating systems.
It can be used either locally or remotely. This means that all ICP Controllers in a network
can be monitored and serviced from one (or several) workstation(s).

I.1.1 Loading the ICPCON Program Under NetWare

The ICPCON program for NetWare is part of the ICP System CDROM.
ICPCON can be used either under NetWare 3.x, NetWare 4.x, or NetWare 5.x. There are two
different methods of loading ICPCON:

- loading ICPCON on the fileserver

- loading ICPCON on an authorized workstation (remote)

Loading ICPCON on the fileserver. Beforehand, the ICP NetWare driver and the auto­loading module CTRLTRAN must have been loaded on the fileserver.

LOAD ICPCON ENTER

on the fileserver.

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Loading ICPCON on a workstation. In this case, too, the ICP NetWare driver and the auto­loading module CTRLTRAN must have been previously loaded on the fileserver console. In
addition, the module CTRLIPX.NLM has to be loaded. This module searches for a file
named CTRLIPX.CFG. This file must be located in the same directory as CTRLIPX.NLM.

The system administrator has to set up a user group named ICP_OPERATOR. All users be­longing to this group are given access (through ICPCON) to the ICP Controller(s) in this
specific fileserver (Access level 0). Now, the ICPCON program can be loaded from one (or
more) workstation(s):

ICPCON ENTER

I.1.2 Loading the ICPCON Program Under Solaris 7

The ICPCON program for Solaris 7 is part of the ICP System CDROM. To load the program
under Solaris 7, enter:

ICPCON ENTER

I.1.3 Loading the ICPCON Program Under Windows NT / 2000

The ICPCON program for Windows NT / 2000 is part of the ICP System CDROM. To load the
program under Windows NT / 2000, enter:

ICPCON ENTER

For using ICPCON to monitor the server(s) remote, the MON4SOCK.DLL has to be loaded
in addition (must be located in the same directory as ICPCON). It supports SPX/IPX and
TCP/IP network protocols (for NetBIOS you can load instead MON4NETB.DLL).

I.1.4 Loading the ICPCON Program Under Windows 95/98

The ICPCON program for Windows 95/98 is part of the ICP System CDROM. To load the pro­gram under Windows 95/98, enter:

ICPCON ENTER

For using ICPCON to monitor the server(s) remote, the MON4SOCK.DLL has to be loaded
in addition (must be located in the same directory as ICPCON). It supports SPX/IPX and

ICPCON ENTER

I.1.5 Loading ICPCON Under SCO UNIX

In order to be able to use the ICPCON program under SCO UNIX (2.x, 4.x and 5.x), it be­comes necessary to substitute the standard terminal entry by a new one:

cd /usr/lib/terminfo ENTER
tic gdt386.src ENTER

Before each loading of ICPCON, this terminal has to be activated by:

TERM = gdt386 ENTER
export TERM ENTER

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These two lines can also be inserted in the .profile file and will then be automatically
processed during each login. The ICPCON program itself is copied during the SCO UNIX
installation into the /etc directory. ICPCON is loaded by entering:

icpcon ENTER

I.1.6 Loading ICPCON Under LINUX

The ICP System CDROM includes two archives:

Icpcon.tgz ICPCON and object files (intel)
icpcona.tgz ICPCON and object files (alpha)

These archives include all object files to create ICPCON, as well as an executable ICPCON
compiled on a current Linux version. If you encounter problems with this executable
ICPCON, you can easily compile a new ICPCON on your own Linux system:

unpack the tgz-file: 'tar xvfz icpcon.tgz'
compile ICPCON: 'make'
start ICPCON: './icpcon'

In order to be able to compile ICPCON you need the C-compiler and the Kernel sources on
your system. The link /usr/src/linux has to point to the Kernel sources which correspond
with the currently booted Kernel of your system. This is important for "signature.c" to use
the right magic for the communication with the driver. Otherwise it may happen that you
get "Wrong signature" when trying to start ICPCON.
ICPCON is loaded by entering:

icpcon ENTER

I.2 The ICPCON Program

As mentioned before, the ICPCON program appears identical for all operating systems.
Thus, we can demonstrate the use and functioning of this program regardless of the oper­ating system used. In previous chapters we have already described the hierarchical struc­ture of the ICP firmware. We have defined 4 different levels of hierarchy: Level 1 where the
physical devices named Physical Devices are found, level 2 containing the Logical Drives
(made up of one or several Physical Drives), level 3 where we have the Array Drives, and fi­nally, level 4 where the Host Drives are. Only the latter ones are known to the operating sys­tem. The drive of a given level of hierarchy is always set up by using the drives of the next
lower level as components. Accordingly, ICPCON has various menu options, each referring
to one level of hierarchy

Host Drives Level 4
Arrays Drives Level 3
Logical Drives Level 2
Physical Devices Level 1

The following summary gives you an overview of all Host Drive types you can create with
the ICP Firmware. The ICP Controller can simultaneously control several Host Drives of
most various types. For instance, MS-DOS drive C could be a Host Drive of the type disk
(consisting of a single hard disk), MS-DOS drive D is a type RAID 5 Array Drive, MS-DOS
drive E is a Host Drive of the type chain, and MS-DOS drive F is a CD-ROM which commu­nicates with MS-DOS through corelSCSI and the GDT ASPI manager.

15

Type of Host Drive Description of Host Drive Minimum number of hard disks

Disk 1:1 assignment: Host Drive to hard disk

(sometimes also called JBOD)

1

Chain Concatenation of several hard disks 2
RAID 1 Mirroring 2
RAID 0 Data Striping 2
RAID 4 Data Striping with parity drive 3
RAID 5 Data Striping with striped parity 3

RAID 10 Combined RAID 0 and 1 4

After loading ICPCON, the following screen appears (by pressing F10 you may toggle be­tween black and white display or colored display).

I.2.1 Select Interface

„Interface“ represents the method of how ICPCON connects with the ICP Controller.
In this example „Win. 9x/NT/2k“ means that this ICPCON is the Windows version and is
loaded on a Windows system.
If you press ENTER, ICPCON scans this local system for ICP Controllers. Instead of „Win.
9x/NT/2k“ you could also find here „Linux“, „NetWare“, etc.

Selecting „Sockets“ allows for the remote connection of this workstation with servers using
ICP Controllers. You can either choose TCP/IP or IPX/SPX network protocols. In order to ac­cess the servers with ICP Controllers, the corresponding remote service must be loaded on
the server. In addition the supervisor has to setup users and assign access rights (Name,
password, see also chapter II.9)

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After selecting „Sockets“ and „TCP/IP“ you may enter the IP address of the server (if you
would have chosen „SPX/IPX“ ICPCON would scan the network for suitable servers, which
have SPX/IPX protocol). After that you may enter your user name and password.

I.2.2 Select Controller

After this login procedure ICPCON delivers a list of ICP RAID Controllers which are installed
in this server (in this example one GDT7563RN). This list contains information on the con­troller name, the PCI Bus system (0=primary, 1=secondary, etc.) and separated with a slash
the PCI slot number, the controller`s features (C=Chaining, 0=RAID 0, 1=RAID 1, 4=RAID 4,

5=RAID 5, 10=RAID 10) and the firmware level. After selecting the controller with ENTER,
all further settings and changes to these settings within ICPCON refer to this ICP Controller
and the connected devices.

I.2.3 The two Menu Areas „Monitor“ and „Express/Advanced Setup“

ICPCON offers two fundamentally different operating modes:

 Express Setup / Advanced Setup with configuration functions
 Monitor with monitoring functions

The various menu options can be selected either with the cursor up/down keys, or by
pressing the high-lighted character. F4 allows the switching between the Advanced Setup
and Express Setup modes.

Monitor Express Setup / Advanced Setup

 With „View Statistics“ you may super-

vise the performance of the different
components of the RAID subsystem.

 „View Events“ is an enhanced event

recorder for RAID and controller spe­cific events.

 With „View Hard Disk Info“ you can

view detailed information on the con­nected devices (important are the re­tries, reassigns, grown defects and last
status information)

 „Configure Controller“ allows you to

setup the ICP Controller. Here, you can
change the Cache settings, the termina­tion, the memory test, etc.

 With „Configure Physical Devices“ you

can initialize the devices at physical
level, e.g., change the SCSI protocol,
transfer rates, etc.

 „Configure Logical Drive“ allows you to

configure or create Logical Drives.

17

 „Save Information“ creates a complete

protocol file of the current RAID sub­system including all settings of the ICP
Controller and the drives. This file can
be used for documentary reasons or for
remote diagnosis.

 „Configure Array Drives“ allows you to

configure or create Array Drives.

 With „Configure Host Drives“ you can

either configure already existing Host
Drives, or create new ones. I.e., you can
create under normal operation new
Host Drives without shutting down the
computer.

 The „Repair Array Drives“ menu offers

very powerful menu-guided functions to
repair Array Drives which have failed
drives.

I.3 The Menu Monitor

I.3.1 Menu Monitor: View Statistics

In each of these menus, ICPCON displays the performance of the drives of the correspond­ing level of hierarchy. The throughput of the drives is displayed
in KB/s (KiloBytes per second) and IO/s (I/Os per second,
number of IO’s on the controller). The performance figures
reflect the load being on the controller and not necessarily the
maximum performance the controller can deliver.

After selecting one of the Drives Statistics ICPCON displays a list of all Drives of this level
(for this example the Physical Drives, i.e., level 1). In addition to the performance report on
the Drives, you are given additional information on each device. The ICP I/O channel the
hard disk is connected to, which ID the hard disk has, the name of the hard disk, the gross

18

capacity (1MB = 1024KB). The figures shown at TOTAL represent the overall performance of
the Host Drives as a whole. With the ← and → keys you may change the scale of the
graphical KB/s indication. With the ↑ and ↓ keys you can scroll the screen to see further
Drives (if available).

After selecting the menu option „Cache Statistics“ you can view the utilization of the ICP
Controller’s Caches, separated in the Read Cache and the Write Cache.
This menu also displays the size of the Cache in KB and the settings of both Caches (On, or
Off). The figures for „Cache Hits“ show the how often requests can be serviced out of the
cache, i.e., without triggering an immediate Disk IO.

By setting the „Sample Rate”, you can choose the interval at which the ICP Controller deliv­ers new measurements. According to the operating system used, the sampling rate can be
set to a maximum of 60 seconds. The default setting is 1 second.

With „Logging On/Off“, you may create a log file which records all the statistic values over a
longer period. If you choose On, ICPCON asks for the path/name of the log file.

I.3.2 Menu Monitor: View Events

With „View Events“ ICPCON displays all ICP Controller Events. They can also be recorded
and saved into a log file. This function gives the administrator a good help to analyze and
supervise ICP Controllers with Array Drives.

I.3.3 Menu Monitor: View Hard Disk Info

This menu shows for all Drives :

19

 the SCSI channel
 the SCSI-ID
 the vendor and type
 Retries/Reassigns, Grown Defects and the Last Status

(1) The Retries counter is incremented by one unit whenever the ICP Controller retries to ac-
cess a hard disk. If this counter continues to increase (possibly on other hard disks, too) it
is very likely that the cable is not good enough for the selected data transfer rate (cable too
long, poor quality of cable and connectors), or that the SCSI bus is not properly terminated
(too many terminators on the cable, or missing terminator). In very few cases is the hard
disk concerned defective. The retry counter also increases when the SCSI parameters of a
hard disk are changed (see further ahead). Obviously, retries due to this do not imply bad
cabling.

(2) The reassign counter reflects the number of media defects which occur on the hard disk
drive. Defective blocks of the hard disk are assigned substitute blocks (spare blocks) which
are either on the same track, or on alternate ones if all spare blocks on the same track are
already in use. The administration of the reassignments is carried out by the hard disk
through according reassignment tables. Note: If a hard disk works with alternate tracks, it
is generally no longer suitable for applications with high performance expectations. When­ever a defective block is being accessed, the read/write actuator has to move to an alternate
position and this requires extra time.
If you observe that the number of reassigns is constantly increasing, you may suspect that
something is wrong with this drive.

(3) The Grown Defects counter shows the number of media defects which have occurred
since the first time the device was operated with an ICP Controller. A specific hard disk is in
a good condition when it has 0 grown defects. When this counter increases, there is defi­nitely something wrong with the device.

(4) The Last Status information should always be 0x00000000. After a device failure or other
significant events, a different value may be displayed here. This value is volatile and is reset
to 0x00000000 after each power up and/or reset.

If you press ENTER on a Drive,
ICPCON display further informa­tion on the SCSI parameter set­tings.

I.3.4 Menu Monitor: Save Information

The Save Information option gives you the possibility to save the configuration information
regarding the selected ICP Controller and its devices in an ASCII-file. This may help if you
require support and is also good for your system documentation.

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At the end of this protocol is a chronological listing of boot messages and other events
stored in the Flash-RAM of the ICP Controller. If the buffer is full, the oldest events are de­leted first.

In the menu „Configure Controller“ the logging buffer can be cleared with „Clear Log Buffer“.
The logging list is a good source to analyze complex events and problems.

I.4 The Menu Express/Advanced Setup

I.4.1 Menu Express Setup: Configure Host Drives

This function allows a very easy installation of new Host Drives and does not require any
special knowledge. Apart from minor differences, this menu option is identical with the
menu option „Configure Host Drives“ in the Advanced Setup (in Express Setup, the user
may not select a stripe size (defaults to 128KB) or use the Split/Merge functions.)

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After selecting Configure Host Drives, ICPCON displays a list of already existing Host
Drives. With a new system this list will show no entries. In this example there is already one
Host Drive available. It’s name is ”RAID 5“ and it is an RAID 5 Array Drive (with approx.
17GB capacity). The status is “ready”. I.e., this Host drive is fully available and redundant.
The following states for RAID Host Drives are possible:

"Idle" State

This state is characterized by the fact that the redundant information of the disk array has
never been entirely created. The disk array is in this state after its first configuration and
until you quit ICPCON. If an error should occur while the array is in the build state, the array
returns to the idle state (exception: if during build mode the dedicated drive of RAID 4 fails,
the mode changes to fail).

"Build" State

After the disk array has been configured for the first time, it assumes the build state as soon
as you quit ICPCON. While the array is in the build state, redundancy information is calcu­lated and stored to the hard disks of the array.

"Ready" State

The disk array is fully operational when in the ready state. All redundant information is pre­sent, that is, a hard disk can fail without impairing the functionality of the disk array. This is
the normal state of a disk array. The state ready/expand indicates, that the RAID level and/or
capacity are currently migrated/expanded.

"Fail" State

The disk array changes to the fail state whenever a Logical Drive fails. Redundancy informa­tion is still present, thus allowing the remaining hard disks to continue working. This state
should be eliminated as soon as possible by replacing the defective hard disk. If a so-called
Hot Fix drive has previously been assigned to a disk array with ICPCON, the controller will
automatically replace the defective drive and start the reconstruction of the data and the
redundant information. Therefore, under these circumstances the fail state is only tempo­rary and will be eliminated by the controller itself.

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"Rebuild" State

The disk array will assume this state after the automatic activation of a Hot Fix drive or after
a manual replacement carried out with ICPCON. The data and the redundant information
are reconstructed and stored to the new drive.

"Expand" State

If the capacity or RAID level of an existing disk array is changed, the disk array changes its
state into expand. As soon as the expansion or migration is completed, the state changes
back to ready.

"Error" State

If a second hard disk should fail while the disk array is in the fail or rebuild state, it is not
possible to continue the working session without restrictions. The disk array is still avail­able for I/Os, but data loss and error messages on the host level are possible.
The following state diagram of the disk array summarizes the states described above and
the transitions from one state to another.

Some of these states may become the addendum patch (e.g. build/patch, ready/patch).
This word indicates that the original Array Drive went through a significant procedure. I.e.,
the parity information was recalculated anew.
Or, the Array Drive has been patched from the error state into the fail state. This may be­come extremely helpful in a situation where two Logical Drives of an Array Drive, fail at the
same time, but only one of the two Logical Drives is really defective and the other was
blocked out, since it was connected with the same SCSI channel as the defective one. The
Array Drive's state is error and normally all data would be lost. The ICP Controllers include
some functions, which allow the patch of this Array Drive from the error state into the fail
sate. Before the actual patch, the defective drive has to be physically removed from the Ar­ray Drive. Such a patch-procedure is a real sheet-anchor and should only be used, after a
detailed consultation with a trained support person (a printout of the Save Information file, is
extremely helpful).

Pressing F4 delivers level by level detailed information on a Host Drive and its components.
This may assist to get an easy overview of a specific Host Drive. After pressing F5 the ICP
Controller switches the LEDs (if available) of the hard disks belonging to that Host Drive on
and off.

After selecting „Configure new Host Drive“, the ICP Controller scans all channels for free
hard disks (i.e., hard disks which are not yet part of a Host Drive) and displays these units
in a list. Use the Space bar to select/deselect hard disks and the cursor up down keys to
move the selection bar from one hard disk to another. Marked hard disks show an “*" in the
first column. In the choose Type windows all possible Host Drive types are displayed (the
possible types depend on the number of selected hard disks and the firmware level of the
ICP Controller).

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Finish the selection by pressing ENTER.

ICPCON displays a security message pointing out that all existing data on the selected hard
disks will be destroyed after confirming with Yes.

After pressing “Y” the user may limit the capacity per hard disk which will be used for the
Host Drive. This can be very helpful for the procurement of future spare hard disks. After

that ICPCON automatically creates and configures thew new Host Drive and adds it to the
list. All SCSI parameters are adjusted to optimum values.

After leaving ICPCON or after pressing F10 (for refresh) the ICP Controller starts the build
process on this Host Drive. In our example it calculates the parity information and writes it
to the hard disks. The status during this process is build. When the build is successfully
finished the status changes into ready.

If you press ENTER on a Host Drive the following options
become available:

“Change Drive Name” allows you to change the name of a
Host Drive. The name serves to identify a Host Drive with
ICPCON. E.g., you could name the boot Host Drive “Boot”
and the data Host Drive “Data”.

“Swap Host Drives”. When the PCI computer is switched
on, the Host Drives are initialized in the order of the Host

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Drive list, which means that the operating system is booted from the Host Drive having the
lowest number. For reasons of flexibility, a Host Drive's position in the list can be changed.
However, the position of the Host Drive from which the operating system is booted and the
position of the Host Drive from which ICPCON (disk version) was started (both can be the
same), cannot be changed. If you wish to change the position of these drives, you have to
boot the operating system and ICPCON from a floppy disk or use the ICPCON from the
Flash-RAM of the ICP Controller. To change the position of a Host Drive in the Host Drive
list, highlight the Host Drive and confirm with ENTER. Then, type on the new position and
press ENTER.

“Remove Host Drives”. Removing a Host Drive is a serious action. All data will be lost after
removal. If you want to remove a Host Drive belonging to an Array Drive for which several
Host Drives exist (after capacity expansion, or after splitting), all other Host Drives will also
be removed.

“Split Host Drive”. For some purposes it might of interest to split an existing Host Drive
into two or several Host Drives. Each Host Drives looks to the operating system just like a
single hard disk. Since the new Host Drives have smaller capacities ICPCON has to write
new header information on the two Host Drives. All data will be lost.

“Merge Host Drives”. This function reverses the Split Host Drive option. Only such Host
Drives can be merged which belong to the same Array Drive or Logical Drive. Since the new
Host Drives has a larger capacity ICPCON has to write a new header information on the new
Host Drives. All data will be lost.

“Partition Host Drive”. This option is not available, when loading ICPCON from the Flash­RAM of the ICP Controller. Before you can partition a new Host Drive it may become neces­sary to reboot the system, first. The partitioning menu has similar functions as the MS-DOS
program FDISK. You can create and delete a partition and also change the active partition.
MS-DOS can only be booted from an active partition. Just like FDISK, ICPCON can handle
primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives within the extended partitions.

“Add Hot Fix Drive” allows you to add a Hot Fix drive to an existing RAID 1, RAID 4, RAID 5,
or RAID 10 Array Drive. There are two different types of Hot Fix drives: Private and Pool Hot
Fix drives. A Pool Hot Fix Drive is a spare drive within the so-called Hot Fix Pool. A drive in a
Hot Fix Pool is available for several Array Drives as a Hot Fix drive. Thus, several Array
Drives can share one Hot Fix drive. Of course, once this drive has been used by one of the
Array Drives, it is no longer available for the others.
A Private Hot Fix drive is dedicated to one RAID 1, RAID 4, RAID 5 or RAID 10 Array Drive.
“Remove Hot Fix Drive” allows you remove a previously assigned Hot Fix drive.

“Overwrite Master Boot Code“. This option creates a valid and consistent master boor rec­ord on the selected Host Drive and should be carried out on any new Host Drive on which
Windows NT is installed. Never use this function when the Host Drive contains valid data, all

data will be lost.

The option “Drive Type (Cluster)“ is available only with ICP Controllers which are equipped
with Cluster RAIDYNE® (GDTx6xxx) and allows to assign one Host Drive to several ICP
Controllers (Type Cluster).

I.4.2 Menu Express Setup: Repair Array Drives

This function allows the online repair of Array Drives which show failed drives. After select­ing this menu option, ICPCON displays a summary of all installed Array Drives (in this ex­ample 2) and the number of Array Drives which are in critical states.