Acer SmartRAID V- User Manual

1-1 SmartRAID VDocumentation A chapter-by-chapter tour of thedocumentation set. This includesthe User ’s Manual you arereading, a Quick Install Guideand the Storage Manager HelpFiles. Installation Roadmap The SmartRAID V installationprocess at a glance, with cross-references to specific chapters int...

Read This First! 1-2 About the Documentation The complete documentation set for the SmartRAID V product lineconsists of three parts: • The User ’s Manual (this book), which contains information that helps you to configure and install your SmartRAID V product and using theStorage Manager software. Th...

1-3 Read This First! Chapter 5, Software Installation – This chapter providesinstructions for installing DPT drivers and Storage Manager forall supported operating systems. After the hardware is configuredand the disk arrays created, you can install the operating system,SmartRAID V drivers and the f...

1-5 Read This First! What’s In the Box? All SmartRAID V controller kits include a controller, utility diskettes(containing drivers and the Storage Manager software for supportedoperating systems), and documentation. The documentation set consistsof this User’s Manual, a Quick Install Guide, and the ...

Read This First! 1-6 Safety Information Throughout this manual are various notices that indicate procedures orpractices that can result in loss of data, damage to equipment or personalinjury. Be sure to read the following sections for additional informationregarding electrical shock hazards and prev...

1-7 Read This First! Working with Electricity Any device that uses electricity must be treated with caution. Follow theseguidelines to ensure general safety. • Keep the chassis area clear and dust-free during and after installation. • Do not perform any action that creates a potential hazard to peop...

Read This First! 1-8 Preventing Electrostatic Discharge CAUTION Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage electroniccomponents and equipment. ESD occurs when electroniccomponents are improperly handled and can result incomplete or intermittent failures. Always follow ESD-prevention procedures when re...

2-1 C H A P T E R 2 : About Your New Controller Feature Overview A look at the features common toSmartRAID V hardware. Millennium Specific features of our highperformance RAID controller. Decade and Century What makes our low cost RAIDcontrollers so powerful, and howyou can upgrade them to meet your...

2-2 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller Introduction DPT SmartRAID V products incorporate the latest intelligent controllertechnology to deliver optimum performance for desktop systems, fileservers or multi-user host systems. NOTE ECC-protected cache is available when you use DPT SM4050 orDM4050/...

2-3 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller Product List The following SmartRAID V products and accessories are documented inthis manual: Model Description PM3755F64-bit PCI to F ibre Channel RAID Controller PM3755U2B 64-bit PCI to Ultra2 Wide SCSI RAID Controller (w/battery backup capability) PM3754...

2-4 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller Product Feature Overview All SmartRAID V controllers include: • Support for I 2 O OSMs provided by major operating system vendors; DPT provides drivers for some operating systems. See Chapter 5,“Software Installation” for a list of drivers supplied by DPT. ...

2-5 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller SmartRAID V Millennium Features SmartRAID V Millennium products are high-performance RAIDcontrollers for host computers with a PCI expansion bus. Key features of the Millennium include: • High-performance RISC processor (80 MIPs) • Hardware RAID 0, 1, and 5...

2-7 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller SmartRAID V Decade and Century Features SmartRAID V Decade and Century controllers are designed to providehigh performance solutions for workstations and servers in environmentswhere cost is a factor. The following Decade and Century controllers are availab...

2-8 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller The Century controller provides a single Ultra2 SCSI channel andsupports up to two additional channels with an SX405x Bus ExpansionModule. The SX405x is available in three models, providing either one ortwo additional SCSI channels or one Fibre Channel Arbi...

2-9 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller SX405x modules attach to the SmartRAID V controller and do not requirean additional slot in the host system: • A single channel SX405xU2-1 Ultra2 SCSI Bus Expansion Module addsone SCSI channel and provides one external Very High Density CableInterconnect (V...

2-10 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller BB4050 Battery Module Features The BB4050 Battery Module adds battery backup for the data cache on aSmartRAID V PM3755U2B controller using DPT DM4050 or DM4060memory modules. The following features of the BB4050 provide additional data security forhigh-rel...

2-11 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller SmartRAID V Controller LEDs SmartRAID V controllers provide nine LEDs that let you visually monitorcontroller activity. Several different controller states are indicated by theLED as outlined in the following sections. Two additional LEDs indicatethe statu...

2-12 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller LED Display During Controller Active When the power-up sequence is complete, viewing the LEDs can help youdetermine the operating status of the controller. These LED patterns arealso useful for troubleshooting. Refer to Appendix B, “Troubleshooting” formor...

2-13 About Your New Smar tRAID V Controller BB4050 LED Indicators The BB4050 module has two LED indicators labeled CHARGE and TRICKLE. These LEDs indicate the following conditions: Status TRICKLE LED CHARGE LED Initial Powerup 1 Momentary flash On Fast Charge Off On Trickle Charging On Off Charge in...

3-1 Configure Devices Prepare your SCSI peripherals foruse by setting their SCSI IDs andtermination. Fibre Channel disksand peripherals will configurethemselves automatically duringboot. Attach Modules Assemble the various parts of yourDPT controller, which can includethe base controller, a RAIDAcce...

3-2 Adapter Configuration and Installation Installation Overview The process of installing a SmartRAID V controller consists of thefollowing steps: 1. If you are using a RAIDstation storage cabinet, configure it asdescribed in the RAIDstation User ’s Manual. 2. Configure device IDs, cables and termi...

3-3 Adapter Configuration and Installation Configuration DPT Fibre Channel controllers and attached Fibre Channel devices areplug-and-play and will configure themselves automatically during boot. SCSI devices in the system must be configured prior to use. Thisconfiguration includes enabling SCSI ter...

3-4 Adapter Configuration and Installation Configuring SCSI Termination The devices on each physical end of a SCSI cable must be terminated.Depending upon how you configure your system, you will either terminatetwo SCSI devices, or the SCSI controller and one peripheral SCSI device. NOTE The SCSI ca...

3-6 Adapter Configuration and Installation Configuring Device IDs The SCSI specification allows up to 7 SCSI devices (and a controller) to beconnected to a single 8-bit SCSI bus. A Wide SCSI bus can support up to 15devices (and a controller). Up to 126 devices can be attached to a singleFibre Channe...

3-7 Adapter Configuration and Installation Installation NOTE SmartRAID V Millennium controllers and Century or Decade controllers with an RA4050 module should have at least 16MBof cache installed. Several optional modules are available to upgrade the performance ofyour SmartRAID V controller: • RA40...

3-8 Adapter Configuration and Installation Installing the RA4050 RAID Accelerator SmartRAID V Century controllers can be upgraded to support RAID 5,0+5 and data caching by installing the RA4050 RAID Accelerator module. A Decade (PM1554U2) controller has built-in RAID 5 and 0+5 supportwithout an RA40...

3-9 Adapter Configuration and Installation Installing an SX405x Bus Expansion Module SmartRAID V controllers accept the following Bus Expansion Modules: Model Description SX4054U2-1 Single Ultra2 SCSI Bus, 32-bit Expansion Module. Adds one SCSI bus with one internal and one external connector. SX405...

3-11 Adapter Configuration and Installation Installing SIMMs SmartRAID V PM3754U2 and PM3755F Millennium controllers support upto 256MB of cache using four onboard SIMM sockets. One to four memorymodules of the same type and capacity can be installed. SmartRAID V Decade and Century controllers can u...

3-13 Adapter Configuration and Installation Installing DIMMs IMPORTANT All installed DIMMs must be the same type and capacity. At least one DIMM must be installed.Use only DPT DM4050 or DM4060 DIMMs.Do not use DPT Smar tCorrect DM4000 DIMMs. The SmartRAID V Millennium model PM3755U2B has four onboar...

3-14 Adapter Configuration and Installation Installing the BB4050 Battery Backup Module The BB4050 Battery Backup Module is used only on a PM3755U2BMillennium controller. To install the BB4050 Module: 1. Before installing the BB4050 module, be sure the battery packelectrical connector is plugged in ...

3-15 Adapter Configuration and Installation Installing the Controller 1. Connect the computer’s disk activity LED cable to connector P6 onthe controller. See Appendix A, “Assembly Drawings” for thelocation of this connector. Pins 1 and 3 of P6 are connected to +5V and pins 2 and 4 areconnected to GN...

3-16 Adapter Configuration and Installation Determining the Booting Controller The controller whose BIOS has the lowest address will take control overthe boot process and that controller will become the booting controller.Therefore, in a system with multiple controllers, you must ensure that theDPT ...

3-17 Adapter Configuration and Installation NVRAM Reset SmartRAID V controllers retain their setup parameters even whenpowered off. These parameters are stored on the controller in an area ofnonvolatile memory (NVRAM). There is a possibility that, throughimproper configuration, the controller can be...

3-18 Adapter Configuration and Installation Using Microsoft Cluster Server The information presented in this section is intended to help you configureSmartRAID V controllers and a storage subsystem for host systems thatuse Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) to provide fault-tolerant networkserver resou...

3-20 Adapter Configuration and Installation How SmartRAID V Works with MSCS When MSCS is operating on a server cluster, the servers continuouslysend a heartbeat to each other across the private network connection.When a server does not receive this signal for a preset interval, itautomatically begin...

4-1 C H A P T E R 4 : Storage Manager on ROM Storage Manager on ROM (SMOR) is aBIOS-based setup utility that lets youconfigure your DPT SmartRAID V controllerwithout starting an operating system andusing Storage Manager. You can also useSMOR to perform basic array configuration.SMOR makes the initia...

4-2 SMOR Overview To configure your hardware and create disk arrays when StorageManager is not available, run Storage Manager on ROM (SMOR) duringthe system boot. This is especially useful for a new system where you needto create disk arrays before you install the operating system. After your storag...

4-3 SMOR Keyboard Reference The navigation keys work in a similar fashion to those of WindowsExplorer. Use these keys to move around in SMOR: Menu Control Alt + (Menu Highlight) Select the corresponding menu or menuitem. Enter Initiate an action. Up/Down Arrows Move between menu choices. Esc Return ...

4-4 SMOR Menu Reference The SMOR Main Menu changes dynamically depending on what isselected in the tree view. The following is a complete list of possibleselections: FILE Read System Config Rescan the system – unsaved configurationchanges are lost. Set System Config Save and enable configuration cha...

4-5 SMOR Screen Layout The SMOR interface works like the Windows Explorer tree-structuredinterface. The screen is divided into three major components: a menu baracross the top of the screen and two display panes below the menu bar. Menu Bar Information & Configuration Tab Pages Tree View The Men...

4-6 SMOR The Left Pane – Tree View The Tree View, displayed in the left pane, is the central control for SMOR.This view displays a tree structure that represents the organization of theDPT storage subsystem. This includes DPT controllers, storage devicesand arrays detected by SMOR. By moving the hig...

4-8 SMOR Running SMOR Start SMOR by pressing Ctrl+D when the DPT I 2 O BIOS message appears on the screen during the boot sequence. The letters that appear during the initial device scan process are: C CD-ROM D Disk drive E Scanner, SAF-TE or intelligent RAID enclosure, or a secondcontroller (MSCS)....

4-9 SMOR Information/Configuration Windows When you highlight an item within the Tree View, the correspondingInformation View is displayed. DPT I 2 O BIOS Settings The example above is the default Information View when SMOR starts.The settings in this view affect the DPT I 2 O BIOS and all the DPT c...

4-11 SMOR Controller Information Windows To view or change the configuration of a DPT RAID Controller, highlightthe controller in the Tree View. Two tabs are available: Information andConfiguration. Controller Information Tab The Information Tab for a Controller displays general informationreported ...

4-13 SMOR HBA Configuration Tab To modify the hardware parameters for the highlighted SmartRAIDcontroller, press Alt+C to display the Configuration tab. Select Default to reset the parameters on this tab to their default values. NOTE Depending on the specific hardware, some items displayed in the Co...

4-15 SMOR Device Information Individual devices are listed in the Tree View under the controller to whichthey are connected. Highlight a device to view its configurationinformation. The Device Information view displays general device information andhardware configuration. This view is divided into t...

4-17 SMOR Array and Array Group Information SmartRAID V controllers implement RAID 0, 1 or 5 disk arrays inhardware. RAID 0 arrays are composed of any combination of individualdrives. RAID 1 arrays are always composed of two drives. RAID 5 arrayscontain three or more drives. After the arrays have be...

4-19 SMOR Building The array is being built. Created The array or device is defined but not initialized. Dead A write-back cache to the array command failed. This is an unrecoverable failure. Degraded A single drive in the array has failed; array performance is affected. Impacted A verification is b...

4-20 SMOR Array Operations You can use SMOR to create or manage disk arrays. The followingsections describe how to use SMOR to create arrays and parity groups,delete arrays, assign hot spare drives, and rebuild an array. Refer to the Chapter 7, “Theory of Operation” for a complete discussion ofRAID ...

4-22 SMOR Creating a Parity Group Creating a parity group (RAID 0+1 or 0+5) is similar to creating a normalRAID 1 or RAID 5 array group. Do the following to create a RAID 0+1 orRAID 0+5 parity group: 1. Create and build your array groups as described in the precedingsection (Creating an Array). Do n...

4-24 SMOR Rebuilding a Failed Array If a drive in a RAID 1 or RAID 5 array fails and the drive is not protectedby a Hot Spare, use the following procedure to replace the failed drive. 1. Remove and replace the failed drive according the procedures inyour hardware documentation. 2. When the failed dr...

4-25 SMOR Managing Controller Firmware SMOR includes several features that let you upgrade, save and restore thefirmware on your SmartRAID V controller. These options are listed on the Action menu when a controller is selected in the Tree View. The Flash HBA feature lets you install the latest DPT c...

4-27 SMOR Saving Controller Firmware to a Disk Image This feature provides you with a way to save the current ROM softwareand NVRAM settings for your controller to a bootable diskette. Theresulting diskette is a bootable disk and contains a copy of the threecontroller software components: firmware, ...

4-28 SMOR Creating a Firmware Disk Image To create the firmware backup diskette: 1. Press Ctrl+D when the DPT I2O BIOS banner appears during system startup to start SMOR. 2. Move the highlight to the controller that you want to backup. 3. Insert a blank, formatted diskette into the host diskette dri...

5-1 C H A P T E R 5 : Software Installation Your new SmartRAID V controller uses I 2 O drivers that may be supplied by DPT or youroperating system vendor. This chapterdiscusses driver and operating systeminstallation when using SmartRAID Vcontrollers. After you install the operating system, youcan i...

5-3 Software Installation There are three driver installation scenarios for Windows NT 4.0: • Installing the SmartRAID V controller into a new system, theninstalling Windows NT 4.0 • Upgrading an existing Windows NT 4.0 system • Adding a SmartRAID V controller into an existing Windows NT 4.0system, ...

5-5 Software Installation Upgrading an Existing System NOTE If you have already installed a SmartRAID V controller into your system and want to change drivers, refer to the Adding toan Existing System section instead of this procedure. To upgrade an existing Windows NT 4.0 system to a SmartRAID Vcon...

5-7 Software Installation Windows 95/98 The DPT SmartRAID V driver for Windows 95/98 provides support for bothdisk drives and other devices, such as CD-ROMs and scanners. There are several driver installation scenarios under Windows 95/98: • Installing the SmartRAID V controller into a new system, t...

5-13 Software Installation Installing Storage Manager for Windows When the SmartRAID V controllers are properly recognized by Windows,run SETUP.EXE from the DPT Windows 95/98 diskette and follow the on-screen prompts to install the Storage Manager software. The installation program detects which ver...

5-14 Software Installation SCO UNIX A diskette for SCO UNIX 3.2V4.2 and SCO UNIX OpenServer 5 (3.2V5.x) isincluded with your SmartRAID V controller. The DPT diskette for SCOcontains the drivers for both versions of SCO. A second diskette contains aMotif version of DPT Storage Manager for each versio...

5-17 Software Installation Novell NetWare You must follow the procedures in the following sections to installing aSmartRAID VI controller for Novell NetWare, especially as a bootingcontroller. There are specific steps that must be completed to ensure thatNetWare will recognize the DPT controller and...

5-18 Software Installation NetWare 4.11 – Boot Controller This section describes how to install a SmartRAID VI controller as a bootdevice for NetWare 4.11 servers. NOTE Part of this procedure requires that you have enough free space on your C: drive to hold the contents of the NetWareCD-ROM. 1. Down...

5-19 Software Installation NetWare 4.11 – Secondary Controller This section describes how to integrate a DPT SmartRAID VI controllerinto a new or existing Novell NetWare 4.11 system as a secondarycontroller. Ensure that your NetWare version is at the minimum patchlevel specified by Novell. NOTE The ...

5-20 Software Installation NetWare 4.2 – Boot Controller This procedure is for installing a SmartRAID VI controller as the bootdevice in a NetWare 4.2 server. 1. Install the SmartRAID VI controller as the primary controller andattach the disk drives or storage subsystem. Ensure that you are using a ...

5-21 Software Installation NetWare 4.2 – Secondary Controller This section describes how to integrate a DPT SmartRAID VI controllerinto a new or existing Novell NetWare 4.2 system as a secondary controller.Ensure that your NetWare version is at the minimum patch level specifiedby Novell. NOTE NetWar...

5-22 Software Installation NetWare 5.0 – Boot Controller Use the following procedure to install support for a SmartRAID VIcontroller during installation of NetWare 5. The controller should beinstalled at the beginning of the procedure so that it can be detected by theinstall routine. 1. Install the ...

5-23 Software Installation NetWare 5.0 – Secondary Controller This section describes how to integrate a DPT SmartRAID VI controllerinto a new or existing Novell NetWare 5.0 system as a secondary controller.Ensure that your NetWare version is at the minimum patch level specifiedby Novell. NOTE NetWar...

5-24 Software Installation Installing Remote Communication Support 1. Insert the DPT NetWare diskette in the server’s floppy disk drive. 2. Enter the following command at the prompt: LOAD A:\DPTINST.NLM 3. You will be prompted to choose whether to load the remotecommunication support immediately or ...

5-26 Software Installation 5. When prompted, insert the DPT driver diskette and press OK . 6. You will be prompted for the language and keyboard type. 7. You will be asked to specify the location of the media packages tobe installed. If you are installing from CD-ROM, select Local CD-ROM . If you se...

6-1 C H A P T E R 6 : Storage Manager DPT’s Storage Manager gives you completecontrol over your storage subsystem. Youcan manage your storage locally, remotelyacross a network or by using a modem. Storage Manager brings out the best in yourDPT hardware, from checking your equip-ment configuration – ...

6-3 Storage Manager Running Storage Manager You can run Storage Manager: • On the same computer that contains the DPT hardware andperipheral devices (local operation). • Remotely, across a TCP/IP network. This lets you view and configureservers from remote locations. • In demo mode, where Storage Ma...

6-4 Storage Manager Storage Manager on ROM Storage Manager on ROM (SMOR) is a ROM-based version of StorageManager which is provided on your SmartRAID V controller. If you areinstalling a new system, use SMOR to configure your RAID subsystemprior to installing your operating system. You can access SM...

6-6 Storage Manager Logical Configuration View On the right side of the Logical Configuration View window are all physicaldevices that are attached to DPT controllers. On the left side of thewindow are the associated logical devices as seen by the host computer. Non-disk devices use the same icon fo...

6-7 Storage Manager Logical Device Address Every device and array is assigned a logical device address by StorageManager. This is the address used by the host operating system to accessthe device or array. Logical device addresses appear in parentheses underthe logical device and LSU icons on the Lo...

6-8 Storage Manager Device The unique ID for that device. For an array, this is the lowest ID amongthe drives that make up the array. LUN Logical Unit Number for that device (normally 0). NOTE Array groups are automatically assigned an address that corresponds to the lowest logical device address us...

6-10 Storage Manager Information Windows Double click on a controller or device icon to display an Informationwindow for that controller or device. Host Bus Adapter Information Window The Host Bus Adapter Info window displays configuration informationreported by that controller. The Controller secti...

6-11 Storage Manager Battery Backup Configuration NOTE During the initial calibration cycle for a BB4050 module, the controller disables automatic, low-battery write-through mode.After the calibration, use the Battery Backup Configurationdialog to set a threshold for entering write-through mode when...

6-13 Storage Manager Battery Maintenance (BB4050) IMPORTANT The BB4050 module will not be able to provide backup capability during thisoperation. The Maintenance operation can be used to ensure the battery remainscapable of accepting a full charge. The Maintenance cycle completelydischarges and then...

6-15 Storage Manager Buttons available are: Test Alarm – lets you test the audible alarm on the controller. Flash – displays the Flash Configuration dialog to update the controller firmware and BIOS. Caching – allows you to select the controller cache parameters. Defaults – resets the controller con...

6-16 Storage Manager The current controller Model , Firmware Version and Type are displayed. To specify an image file for the flash operation, you can type a path andfilename in the Filename field or click on Browse to use the standard file selection dialog. Firmware images are contained in a xxxxxx...

6-17 Storage Manager Device Information Window This window displays the following information: Description The manufacturer and model. Revision The drive firmware version. Address The logical address of the device. Capacity Storage capacity of the device in megabytes. For removable media disk device...

6-18 Storage Manager Various buttons are available depending upon the type of device. Diskdrive devices will have an Event Log and I/O Stats button. Disk drives that are not members of arrays have Make HotSpare , Configure and Format buttons. Print is always available. Disk drives that are members o...

6-19 Storage Manager Predictive caching is a feature of SmartRAID V controllers that attemptsto reduce average disk access time by determining when the host isrequesting data that it read previously and reading in additional sequentialdata before it is actually requested. This feature can provide en...

6-22 Storage Manager Creating an Array Group To create an Array Group, do the following: 1. Click the Create Array Group button. 2. The Select Array Type dialog appears. Specify whether or not you want Drive fault tolerance (RAID 1 or 5) or No fault tolerance (RAID 0) Select whether the array is to ...

6-24 Storage Manager If you want to monitor the progress of the build operation, display theArray Group Information window for the new array group. The buildprogress is displayed as a percentage of completion in the Status field. You can also view the Information window for an array that is a member...

6-25 Storage Manager NOTE There is a significant impact on system performance during array expansion. The relative priorities given to systemperformance and the array expansion process can be adjustedby use of the Background Task Priority setting in StorageManager. Dynamic Array Expansion maintains ...

6-26 Storage Manager NOTE If a drive fails during expansion, the expansion will complete successfully. However, the new, larger array will be in adegraded state until the problem is fixed. If there is a Hot Spare associated with the array, the degraded array is rebuilt using the Hot Spare. If there ...

6-27 Storage Manager 7. When you are finished choosing drives, click Done . The icon for the Array Group appears with a black flag until the expansion processis started. 8. Select File – Set System Configuration to start the array expansion. The status flag on the Array Group turns blue and the flag...

6-28 Storage Manager Deleting an Array Group To delete an Array Group, do the following: 1. From the Logical Configuration View window, select the LSU orArray Group icon of the array you want to delete. Then click Delete Array Group . 2. Click OK when the confirmation message appears to complete the...

6-29 Storage Manager Events Events are generated for detected fault conditions as well as subsystemstatus changes. The events are grouped into four categories as follows: 1 – Soft ErrorAn operation on a disk drive that caused an error but was successfulafter a retry. 2 – Recoverable Hard ErrorAn err...

6-30 Storage Manager Event Logging When events occur, they are automatically logged in the cache on theSmartRAID V controller where they occurred. In addition, you can specifythat Storage Manager maintain an event log on disk (see EventNotification). The contents of the event log can be displayed by...

6-31 Storage Manager Event Notification If your operating system supports a Broadcaster, Storage Manager letsyou specify that event messages be sent to users, groups, devices, throughe-mail, to the system error log and the DPT Log File. Select Options – Event Broadcast Control to display the Event B...

6-33 Storage Manager Pager Event Messaging DPT Storage Manager for Windows NT can also send event messages toalphanumeric paging devices. The messages are sent as e-mail to pagersthat support e-mail text message delivery. NOTE: This feature should work with any alphanumeric paging system that suppor...

6-34 Storage Manager Broadcasters Broadcasters are provided on the DPT diskettes for Windows NT, SCOUNIX and SCO UnixWare. The Broadcaster collects events logged by DPTcontrollers in the host computer on which that broadcaster is running.The Broadcaster records these events to disk files for each co...

6-35 Storage Manager Broadcaster for SCO UNIX Systems DPT provides a Broadcaster for SCO UNIX 3.2V4.2, SCO OpenServer 5and SCO UnixWare 7. The Broadcaster collects events from DPTcontrollers and saves them to files in the /usr/dpt directory for use by Storage Manager. Events can also be sent to an A...

6-36 Storage Manager Broadcaster for Windows NT The Windows NT Broadcaster collects events from DPT controllers andrecords them to files in the \ DPTMGR directory for use by Storage Manager. Additionally, events are sent to the Windows NT Event Viewer. Installing the Broadcaster When the DPT install...

6-38 Storage Manager Formatting Drives SmartRAID V controllers can perform a low-level format on attachedfixed disk drives. This function is available from the SCSI DeviceInformation window in Storage Manager. SmartRAID V controllers formatdrives in standard 512-byte format. A low-level format is no...

6-39 Storage Manager Drive Failures Drive failures are indicated by flags on the icons associated with the ArrayGroup, array and individual drives. Failure conditions are indicated asfollows: A drive belonging to an Array Group failsThe drive icon displays a red flag in both the Physical and Logical...

6-40 Storage Manager Rebuilding a Degraded Array NOTE You can select Rebuild even if the failed drive has not been replaced and try using the drive again. If the rebuild attempt isnot successful, replace the drive before starting anotherrebuild. When a drive in a RAID 1 or RAID 5 array fails, and th...

6-41 Storage Manager Hot Spares To assign a drive as a Hot Spare, click Make Hotspare in the drive’s SCSI Device Information window. Click Remove Hotspare to reassign an existing Hot Spare drive as a normal drive. Any drive that is not assigned to an array can be assigned as a Hot Spare.Hot Spares a...

6-42 Storage Manager Verify NOTE Data inconsistencies should not occur under normal conditions. However, a power failure that interrupts an arraywrite operation can cause inconsistencies. Using the Verifyfunction to make the data consistent does not ensure thatthe new consistent data is the correct ...

6-43 Storage Manager Background Task Priority You can run rebuild and verification operations without taking an arrayoffline. These functions are performed as background tasks on theSmartRAID V controller and are transparent to the host operating system.However, the controller interleaves I/O from t...

6-44 Storage Manager I/O Statistics SmartRAID V controllers keep a cumulative record of I/O operations incache RAM for use in analyzing the efficiency of the storage subsystem.You can view this data by selecting I/O Stats in the Information window for any, controller, drive or array. By analyzing th...

6-45 Storage Manager Command Statistics To ta l C o m m a n d s The total number of commands received from the host computer. This includes read and write commands and other commands that may not involve device I/O. M is a lig n e d Tra n s fe r The number of commands that required data to be transf...

6-48 Storage Manager Remote Communication The Storage Manager Remote Communication feature lets you useStorage Manager running on your local workstation to manage remoteserver systems that contain DPT controllers. The Available Connectionswindow shows the types of connections you can use and any pre...

6-49 Storage Manager Communicating Across a Network Storage Manager can run as a client/server application across a networkusing a TCP/IP connection. The Storage Manager client runs on asupported workstation operating system and connects to one of thesupported networked servers running the DPT commu...

6-50 Storage Manager You must configure Remote Communication before it can be used. Forboth workstations and servers, this is done by editing the DPTconfiguration file ( DPTMGR.INI ). There may be additional server configuration steps, depending on your operating system. You must havephysical connec...

6-51 Storage Manager Setting up the Server If you are using an operating system that supports the DPTcommunication server and selected the Communication Server optionduring Storage Manager setup, the server was automatically installed atthat time. Additional steps may be required to complete the ins...

6-52 Storage Manager SCO UNIX Under SCO UNIX, a communication server entry is placed into the rc.d files, which causes it to be started when the system is booted into multi-user mode. During installation, the file dptcom.chk is created in the directory into which Storage Manager is installed. The ow...

6-53 Storage Manager Connecting to Remote Systems Select Communication–Make Connection to use Storage Manager to manage DPT hardware in a remote server system using the remotecommunication feature. This menu item displays the AvailableConnections window. NOTE: You can also use the IP= address comman...

6-54 Storage Manager Making a Manual Connection Under the Manual Connections section of the Available Connections window, there is an icon the TCP/IP protocol that you configured in the DPTMGR.INI file, and an icon for the system you are using ( Local ). To make a connection to a remote system, clic...

6-55 Storage Manager Using the Phonebook You can save the server name, address, user name and protocol ofsystems you frequently access in the Phonebook. After you have entereddata for a system, you can place an icon under Custom Connections to make future connections to that system without having to...

6-56 Storage Manager Using a Custom Connection Under the Custom Connections section of the Available Connectionswindow, there is one icon for each system that you marked for display inthe Phonebook. To make a connection to a remote system, double-click the icon. TheConnection Information dialog appe...

7-1 C H A P T E R 7 : Theory of Operation Chapter Topics: • Intelligent RAID Controllers • Pipelined Parallel Processing • Caching Algorithms • RAID Levels • Controller Architecture • I 2 O Messaging • PCI Data Transfer • On-board Microprocessor • SCSI Interface • Cabling and Termination • Fibre Cha...

7-2 Theory of Operation Intelligent RAID Controllers File servers achieve maximum throughput when the performance of theircomponent subsystems is optimized for the CPU bandwidth. If anycomponent is not capable of supplying data at an optimum rate, thatcomponent will restrict the data path performanc...

7-3 Theor y of Operation Intelligent I/O To maximize the performance of a busy server requires a data storagesubsystem that incorporates intelligent I/O. Such a subsystem would havea microprocessor embedded in the I/O and storage subsystem that isdedicated to handling interrupt requests and I/O proc...

7-4 Theory of Operation I 2 O and Intelligent RAID Controllers Several information technology industry leaders have formed a SpecialInterest Group (SIG) to promote intelligent I/O standards for the entireindustry. These standards, referred to as the Intelligent I/O (I 2 O) specification, address the...

7-5 Theor y of Operation Pipelined Parallel Processing (P 3 ) Traditional RAID controller designs execute host commands sequentially.Each command initiates a sequence of hardware activities that areprocessed one after the other until the command is complete. If any ofthese activities are delayed, ha...

7-6 Theory of Operation • Hardware RAID Processor – DPT’s P 3 architecture is based on a new DPT-exclusive ASIC. This specially designed integrated circuit providesmemory-to-memory and disk-to-memory data transfers that are fullyconcurrent with controller CPU execution. Depending on whether thePCI b...

7-7 Theor y of Operation Software and Hardware Caching The SmartRAID V cache is designed to enhance performance inenvironments that are already software cached, such as UNIX, Novell andWindows NT. Although software caches are beneficial, hardware cachingoffers a significant advantage in larger, heav...

7-8 Theory of Operation HEAVILY LOADED SYSTEM Without Hardware Cache Application programs write to OS cache: Bus activity: OS cache flushes to disk (~11ms per write) Idle time Idle time HEAVILY LOADED SYSTEM With Hardware Cache Application programs write to OS cache System Bus activity OS cache flus...

7-9 Theor y of Operation DISK WRITES Without Elevator Sorting: 11ms average disk write 31 65 27 11 17 93 4 DISK WRITES With Elevator Sorting: 1-5ms average disk write 31 65 27 11 17 93 4 Caching SmartRAID V controllers can operate in write-back or write-throughmode and also use a predictive caching ...

7-10 Theory of Operation Flush Strategy DPT SmartRAID V controllers continually flush all dirty cache pages todisk, with bursts occurring every second and increasing to 4 times persecond as the number of dirty pages increases. The data is written to diskin elevator sorted order. The cache flushing r...

7-11 Theor y of Operation Pre-Fetch The SmartRAID V pre-fetch algorithm analyses disk access patterns todetect whether the host is reading data that it previously read. By usingrecords stored in virtual cache, the caching algorithm determines theboundaries of the contiguous block of previously read ...

7-12 Theory of Operation Caching Host Reads Because there is no advantage in using controller cache to duplicate theoperating system cache, SmartRAID V controllers with cache only cachepredictive and dirty data. Read cache misses are transferred directly fromdisk to host, bypassing the controller ca...

7-13 Theor y of Operation RAID The basic idea of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is tocombine multiple inexpensive disk drives into an array of disk drives toobtain performance, capacity and reliability that exceeds that of a singlelarge drive. The array of drives appears to the host com...

7-14 Theory of Operation STRIPING DISK DRIVES Data stripes from each drive are interleaved to create one logical drive. Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3 Disk 4 159 13 26 1014 37 1115 48 1216 By striping the drives in the array with stripes large enough so that eachrecord falls entirely within one stripe, most r...

7-19 Theor y of Operation Creating Data Redundancy RAID 5 offers improved storage efficiency over RAID 1 because only theparity information is stored, rather than a complete redundant copy ofall data. The result is that three or more drives can be combined into aRAID 5 array, with the storage capaci...

7-21 Theor y of Operation Degraded Mode When a drive fails in a RAID 0 array, the entire array fails. In a RAID 1array, a failed drive reduces read performance by 50%, as data can only beread from the remaining drive. Write performance is increased slightlybecause only one drive is accessed. A RAID ...

7-22 Theory of Operation SmartRAID V Architecture SmartRAID V controllers can process commands from the operatingsystem using two different protocols: • ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programming Interface), which is compatiblewith tape and CD-ROM application software. • I 2 O Messaging, which uses the full pe...

7-23 Theor y of Operation Command Processing The I 2 O messaging protocol is based on the existence of a messaging FIFO (first-in, first-out) queue and a reply FIFO queue. Each queueconsists of a list of message frames. The messaging queue containsrequests for I/O processing that are read by the HDM...

7-24 Theory of Operation Command Queuing I 2 O messaging allows the controller to queue multiple commands from the host and execute them out of order for greater efficiency. When acommand is complete, the controller transfers status information to hostmemory. This status message contains information...

7-25 Theor y of Operation PCI Data Transfer and Bus Mastering The Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus provides a means tointerconnect peripheral chips and expansion cards to the computerbackplane. PCI is optimized for peripheral device controllers that transferdata in blocks. PCI allows for ...

7-26 Theory of Operation On-Board Microprocessor SmartRAID V controllers use embedded processors to maximize theirperformance when installed in fully loaded servers. The onboardmicroprocessor performs high-level processing of commands from thehost and controls the sequencing of command execution on ...

7-27 Theor y of Operation Logical Unit Numbers (LUN) A SCSI device may contain up to eight sub-devices or Logical Units,assigned Logical Unit Numbers (LUN) 0 – 7. SmartRAID V controllerssupport multiple LUNs. However, most devices other than bridgecontrollers consist of only one LUN and are accessed...

7-28 Theory of Operation Transfer Padding and Residue Reporting In unusual cases, a SCSI peripheral device might read or write more datathan was requested by the host. If this occurs during a write operation,SmartRAID V controllers automatically transfer pad data by addingadditional bytes to the end...

7-29 Theor y of Operation Multi-Mode SCSI To ensure backward compatibility with existing SCSI devices, allSmartRAID V Ultra2 controllers support both LVD and single-endeddevices. This is referred to as multimode SCSI. Both types of devices canbe attached to the same SCSI bus with the following restr...

7-30 Theory of Operation The original SCSI specification synchronous transfer rates of up to 5MHz.The SCSI-2 specification increased the maximum synchronous rate to10MHz. Devices that support the faster 10MHz rate are called Fast SCSIdevices. The SCSI-3 specification defines transfer rates up to 20M...

7-33 Theor y of Operation SCSI Termination SCSI termination for SmartRAID V controllers is controlled throughStorage Manager or SMOR. Refer to Chapter 3, “Configuration andInstallation” for information about setting SCSI termination forSmartRAID V controllers. SmartRAID V controllers contain onboard...

7-36 Theory of Operation DPT I 2 O BIOS SmartRAID V controllers are shipped with the DPT I 2 O BIOS loaded on an EEPROM. This BIOS intercepts and processes Int13 requests with anembedded DOS driver. The host system Plug-and-Play BIOS can automatically disable or changethe address of the I 2 O BIOS R...

A-1 A P P E N D I X A : Assembly Drawings This chapter contains outline drawings ofDPT’s SmartRAID V products with jumpersand connectors labeled for easy reference. See the SmartRAID V Controller LEDssection in Chapter 2 for specific informationabout the LED indicators on your controlleror module. M...

A-10 Assembly Drawings SX4055F FC-AL Bus Expansion Module P5 P3 P2 P2 Fibre Channel (FC-AL) Connector (Bus 1) P3 64-bit Smar tRAID V Adapter Connector P5 Mating Connector for Smar tRAID V Controller

A-12 Assembly Drawings BB4050 Battery Module Board shown without Stability Bracket Mounting Hole Mounting Holes J1 P12 TRICKLE CHARGE Stability Brac ket mounting location J1 Battery Cable Connector P12 Connector for Smar tRAID V PM3755U2B TRICKLE LED indicator for trickle charge activity CHARGE LED ...

B-1 A P P E N D I X B : Troubleshooting This chapter provides answers to manycommonly asked questions. If a situationoccurs that is not covered in this chapter, orif the recommendations here do not correctthe problem, contact DPT Technical Sup-port. We are always ready to assist you. DPT Technical S...

C-1 A P P E N D I X C : Specifications This chapter lists the electrical and environ-mental specifications for the SmartRAID Vproduct line. Specifications: • DC Power Requirements • Environmental Specifications • Memory Requirements • Battery

C-2 Specifications DC Power Requirements Voltage: 5 V ± 5% Ripple and Noise: 50mv peak-to-peak max Component Current (typical) PM3754U2B 1.82A PM3755U2B 1.90A PM3755F1.82A PM2654U2 1.63A (with SX4054U2) 1.60A (with SX4055F) 1.35A (with RA4050; no cache) PM2554U2 1.15A PM1554U2 1.15A RA4050 0.20A SX4...

C-3 Specifications Environmental Specifications Ambient Temp (operating): 10° C to 50° C 10° C to 40° C (PM3755U2B with BB4050) Relative Humidity (operating): 10% to 90% non-condensing Altitude (operating): 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) NOTE Maximum ambient temperature is 40°C when using a BB4050 modul...

C-4 Specifications DIMMs DIMMs to be installed in SmartRAID V controllers must be DPT DM4050or DM4060 memory modules only. Use of non-DPT DIMMs can result indata corruption. Battery The following applies to the BB4050 module only: Type: Nickel Metal Hydride Capacity: 3800mAH (minimum) Backup time: 7...

D-1 A P P E N D I X D : SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol(SNMP) is an industry-wide standardprotocol designed to allow you to re-motely manage your computer network.By using the DPT SNMP subagent andan SNMP-based management console,you can get the DPT hardware configu-ration and information fo...

D-2 Simple Network Management Protocol Introduction Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) lets you obtainbasic DPT hardware configuration and status informationfrom an SNMP-based management console. You can alsoreceive SNMP Traps, which are messages about changes inthe hardware status. These mes...

D-3 Simple Network Management Protocol Every system resource to be managed is represented as anobject and the MIB is a collection of these objects. In a networkenvironment each system (workstation or server) maintains acopy of the MIB containing the current status of the objectswhich it defines. The...

D-6 Simple Network Management Protocol What’s Included The DPT SNMP software components are included on thediskettes in the DPT controller package. Specific componentsvary by operating system. The Windows 95/98 and Windows NT components are on theDPT Windows diskette. The components are as follows: ...

D-7 Simple Network Management Protocol Operating System Support The following table lists the environments in which DPThardware is manageable from an SNMP management console: Operating System Comments Novell NetWare Versions 4.11, 4.2 and 5.0 Windows 95/98 Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and Server versi...

D-8 Simple Network Management Protocol Installing SNMP for Microsoft Windows 95 If your operating system is Windows 95, the SNMP Servicemust be installed by following these steps: 1. Insert the Windows 95 Installation CD-ROM into yourCD-ROM drive. If the Autostart window appears, closethe window. 2....

D-9 Simple Network Management Protocol Operation Before you can view information about your DPT hardware,you must install the DPT Management Information Base(MIB) into the Management Console database. During theinstallation of the SNMP feature, the DPT MIB is installed bydefault as DPTMGR\DPTSCSI.MI...

D-11 Simple Network Management Protocol DPT SNMP Trap Broadcaster Module The SNMP Trap implementation uses the Broadcaster featureof the DPT Event Logger. The Event Logger has individualbroadcast modules that have complete control over howevents are received from the Event Logger. The modulesdefine ...

G-1 This glossary provides brief definitions ofselected terms and acronyms used through-out this manual. Glossary

I-1 Index Index A address controller 3-16, 4-13I2O BIOS 7-36logical device 6-7 alarm audible 2-13, 6-39disable 2-13, 6-39testing 6-15 architecture, SmartRAID V 7-22array group building with SMOR 4-21building with Storage Manager 6-23caching configuration 6-18copying data 6-23creating 4-20, 6-22delet...