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FastTrak SX4000 User Manual v3a

1. 1 AN Start the system installation by booting from the Windows NT disk e Floppy install boot the system with the Windows NT installation diskettes e Floppyless install boot from floppy and type WINNT B After files have been copied the system will reboot On the reboot press the F6 key when the message Setup is inspecting your computer s hardware configuration appears e CD ROM disk install boot from the CD ROM disk and press the F6 key when the message Setup is inspecting your computer s hardware configuration appears When the Windows NT Setup window is generated press S to Specify an Additional Device s Press O to select Other and press the Enter key Insert the Promise Technology FastTrak SX4000 driver diskette into drive A and press the Enter key Choose WinNT Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller from the list that appears on screen and then press the Enter key The Windows NT Setup screen will appear again saying Setup will load support for the following mass storage devices The list will include WinNT Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller Note If you need to specify any additional devices to be installed do so at this time Once all devices are specified continue to the next step From the Windows NT Setup screen press the Enter key Setup will now load all device files and then continue the Windows NT installation After a successful installation the SCSI Adap
2. e Floppyless Install Boot from floppy and type winnt After files have been copied the system will reboot On the reboot press F6 after the message Setup is inspecting your computer s hardware configuration appears e CD ROM Install Boot from the CD ROM Press F6 after the message Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver appears 2 When the Windows 2000 Setup window is generated press S to Specify an Additional Device s 3 Insert the Promise Technology driver diskette into drive A and press Enter key 4 Choose Win2000 Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller from the list that appears on screen and then press the Enter key 5 The Windows 2000 Setup screen will appear again saying Setup will load support for the following mass storage devices The list will include Win2000 Promise FastTrak SX4000 controller Note If you need to specify any additional devices to be installed do so at this time Once all devices are specified continue to the next step A 6 From the Windows 2000 Setup screen press the Enter key Setup will now load all device files and then continue the Windows 2000 installation 23 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Installing Driver in Existing Windows 2000 System Warning If you plan move the boot drive containing the existing card the FastTrak SX4000 driver MUST be loaded to the T Windows 2000 operating system to the FastTrak SX4000 hard
3. the remaining working drive for example a 20 5 GB drive would be rounded down to 20 GB This can be helpful in the event that a drive fails and an exact replacement model is no longer available Warning Without this feature enabled FastTrak SX4000 will not permit A the use of a replacement drive that is slightly smaller than the remaining working drive For the Gigabyte Boundary feature to work the Gigabyte Boundary feature must be set to ON when the original array is created When enabled the Gigabyte Boundary feature rounds the drive capacity of all drives to the common whole GB drive size For example with the Gigabyte Boundary feature enabled the 13 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual remaining working drives can be 20 5 GB and the replacement drive can be 20 3 since all are rounded down to 20GB This permits the smaller drive to be used Please note that users will lose a small amount of available storage capacity from each drive in order to arrive at a common drive size Creating a RAID 0 Array In the Define Array Definition Menu section see Figure 6 use the Spacebar to cycle through array types and select RAID 0 for RAID Level You will be joining the drives you assign to this array together and splitting or striping data writes among the members of the array Each member of such an array will no longer be readable as an independent drive if removed from the array The capacity of the array will equal the capacity
4. In the Drive Assignments menu use the Down Arrow to select from the available drives to assign them as members of the new array Use the Spacebar to toggle between Yes or No or press Y under the Assignment column to assign the drive N unassigns the drive When you are finished assigning drives as array members press the Ctrl Y keys to save the array member assignment The utility will return to the Define Array Definition Menu screen and the new array will now be visible in the list Deleting an array from the Delete Array screen 1 2 3 From the Main Menu press 3 to display the Delete Array Menu From the Delete Array Menu highlight the array you wish to delete using the Up Arrow or Down Arrow keys and press the Del key Press the Ctrl Y keys to confirm deletion Setting the Halt On Error Option 2 In the Main Menu press 4 to display the Controller Configuration screen In the Controller Configuration Options screen use the Spacebar to toggle the Enable Disable option of the Halt On Error feature Press the Ctrl Y keys to save the changes Chapter 3 FastBuild Utility FastTrak BIOS Reference When the FastTrak SX4000 BIOS loads during system boot time it displays pertinent information about the RAID arrays that it finds then displays Press Ctrl F to enter Array BIOS Configuration Utility see below FastTrak SX4000 tm BIOS Version 1 10 02 c 2001 Promise Technology Inc All rights reserved
5. Main Menu View Drive Assigments View Define Array Delete Array Controller Configuration Figure 3 FastBuild Array Utility Main Menu Note This menu uses number keys 1 through 4 to select options Many of the subsequent menu windows use arrow pad keys to highlight options Use the spacebar to cycle through choices for the selected option Enter return to select a highlighted option ESC Escape to exit the menu 10 Chapter 3 FastBuild Utility View Drive Assignments By pressing 1 on the Main Menu screen the View Drive Assignments screen is displayed see below This screen does not allow modifications to any of the four fields FastBuild Array Utility 1 10 c 2001 Promise Technology Inc View Drive Assignments Channel ID Drive Model Capacity MB Assignment CH 1 Mas XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXKXX Free CH 2 Mas XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXKXX Free CH 3 Mas XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXKXX Free CH 4 Mas XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXKXX Free Keys Available Tt Up 1 Down ESC Exit Figure 4 View Drive Assignments screen Channel ID This field shows the FastTrak SX4000 controller channel ID 1 4 to which a particular drive is attached Drive Model This field identifies the manufacturer model and model number if applicable of each drive installed on the FastTrak SX4000 card Capacity MB This field reflects the capacity in MB megabytes of each drive Assignment This field identifies the array to which
6. Menu screen displays the Delete Array Menu see below FastBuild Array Utility 1 10 c 2001 Promise Technology Inc Delete Array Menu Array No RAID Level Total Drv Capacity MB Status Array 1 RAIDO 13044 Functional Array 2 Functional Figure 8 Delete Array Menu Note Deletion of an existing disk array could result in the loss of all data from the hard drives of the affected array Record all array information including array type disk members and stripe block size in case you wish to undo a deletion Arrays may possibly be recovered after deletion by immediately re defining the array with information identical to the original configuration To delete an array highlight the Array you wish to delete and press the Del key Confirm yes to the following warning message see Figure 9 by pressing the Ctrl Y keys to continue array delete Press any other key to abort the deletion process Are you sure you want to delete this array Press Ctrl Y to Delete or other to abort Figure 9 Delete Array Dialog Box 19 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Controller Configuration By pressing 4 on the Main Menu screen displays the Controller Configuration Options screen see below This screen allows you to modify the Halt On Error option enable disable by pressing the Spacebar Halt On Error is enabled if you want the system to halt processing during bootup if the FastTrak SX4000 BIOS determines tha
7. data after installing the product Promise is not liable for any damage to equipment or data loss resulting from the use of any product 46 Index Arrays Bootable f M 17 Creating 11 15 16 Critical amp Offline 27 Deleting 8 18 Hot Spare Drives 17 Partitioning Formatting 28 RAD Otsen 14 RAID EE 16 RAID Tasse 15 16 RAID D ze 16 Rebuilding 28 Recognition order 18 Saved information 18 Synchronizing een 28 BIOS Sr 7 Creating arrays 11 Deleting arrays 8 18 31 Start up sequence 9 Using FastBuild 9 Block Size CHANGING ie asus 14 16 17 Bootable Array ASSIONING nie 17 31 Cache Installalon nern neri t erga 5 Drivers Windows XP new OS 21 26 Windows 2000 existing OS 24 47 Windows 2000 new OS 23 Windows NT4 existing OS 26 Windows NT4 new OS 25 Windows XP existing OS 22 Errors Halt Oo em 8 Gigabyte Boundary 13 Hard drives Assignment of 11 14 15 16 17 Hot Spare annen neen 29 Hot Spare annae 17 Installation nnn 5 View Assignment of 11 Hardware Cable EH 4 FastTrak controller 3 Processor mem
8. drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller Do not attach the boot drive to the FastTrak SX4000 card before completing this step After installing the FastTrak SX4000 card and rebooting your system Windows 2000 setup will show a New Hardware Found dialog box Under Windows 2000 the PCI RAID Controller will be displayed Click Next Choose Display a list of known drivers for this device so that can choose a specific driver Click Next In the Install Drivers dialog box click Have disk When the Install From Disk appears insert the Promise Technology FastTrak SX4000 diskette in drive A Type A Win2000 in the text box Press Enter Choose Win2000 Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller from the list that appears on screen and then press the Enter key When the System Settings Change dialog box appears remove the floppy diskette and click Yes to restart the system Windows 2000 will then restart for the driver installation to take effect Confirming Windows 2000 Installation 1 2 3 From Windows 2000 open the Control Panel from My Computer followed by the System icon Choose the Hardware tab and then click the Device Manager tab Click the in front of SCSI amp RAID Controllers hardware type The driver Win2000 Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller should appear 24 Chapter 4 Driver Installation Windows NT4 Installing Drivers During Windows NT 4 0 Installation
9. each drive belongs Assigned drives are labeled with their disk array 1 2 3 etc Unassigned drives are labeled free and are considered hot spares to provide fault tolerance Unassigned drives may also be used to create a new array at any time Define Array By pressing 2 on the Main Menu screen the Define Array Menu screen is displayed see below This screen may already display existing arrays The Define Array Menu screen allows users to manually begin the process of defining both drive elements and RAID levels for each disk array Users will commonly create one or two drive arrays with FastTrak SX4000 11 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual To manually create arrays from the Define Array Menu below use the arrow keys to highlight an array number you wish to define and press Enter to select The Define Array Definition Menu will next appear that allows drive assignments to the disk array see Page 13 FastBuild Array Utility 1 10 c 2001 Promise Technology Inc Define Array Menu Array No RAID Level Total Drv Capacity MB Status Figure 5 Define Array Menu screen Array No The Array Number column displays all arrays defined or undefined addressable by the FastTrak SX4000 RAID Level This column indicates the RAID type applied to a particular array Total Drv This column displays the number of drives configured for the array Capacity MB The values in this column reflect the total capacity i
10. 00 User Manual RAID 5 BLOCK AND PARITY STRIPING RAID 5 is similar to RAID 3 as described above except that the parity data is distributed across the physical drives along with the data blocks In each case the parity data is stored on a different disk than its corresponding data block RAID 5 makes efficient use of hard drives and is the most versatile RAID Level It works well for file database application and web servers Distributed Parity Data Blocks Disk Drives Figure 14 RAID 5 Stripes all Drives with Data and Parity Information The capacity of a RAID 5 array is the smallest drive size multiplied by the number of drives less one Hence a RAID 5 array with four 100 GB hard drives will have a capacity of 300 GB An array with two 120 GB hard drives and one 100 GB hard drive will have a capacity of 200 GB 40 Appendix C Technical Support Promise Technical Support provides several support options for Promise users to access information and updates We encourage you to use one of our electronic services which provide product information updates for the most efficient service and support If you decide to contact us please have the following information available e Product model and serial number e BIOS and driver version numbers e A description of the problem situation e System configuration information including motherboard and CPU type hard drive model s IDE ATAPI drives amp devices and other controll
11. B instead would have 100 GB of usable storage when set up in a mirrored array Similar to RAID O striping if drives of different capacities are used there will also be unused capacity on the larger drive 38 Appendix B Technology Background RAID 0 1 STRIPING MIRROR Striping mirroring combines both of the previous array types It can increase performance by reading and writing data in parallel while protecting data with duplication At least four drives are needed for RAID 0 1 to be installed With a four drive disk array drive pairs are striped together with one pair mirroring the first pair The data capacity is similar to a standard mirroring array with half of the total storage capacity dedicated for redundancy An added plus for using RAID 0 1 is that in many situations such an array offers double fault tolerance Double fault tolerance may allow your data array to continue to operate depending on which two drives fail Data Stripe nn Data Mirror Disk Drives Figure 13 RAID 0 1 Striping and Mirroring of Two Drive Pairs Due to data redundancy of mirroring the drive capacity of the array is only one half the capacity of the combined drives For example four 100 GB drives which have a combined capacity of 400 GB instead would have 200 GB of usable storage when set up in a striped mirrored array If drives of different capacities are used there will also be unused capacity on the larger drives 39 FastTrak SX40
12. CA 95035 Other Countries Return the product to your dealer or retailer Contact them for instructions before shipping the product You must follow the packaging guidelines for returning products Use the original shipping carton and packaging or similar packaging if the original is not available e Include a summary of the product s problem s e Write an attention line on the box with the RMA number e Include a copy of proof of purchase You are responsible for the cost of insurance and shipment of the product to Promise Note that damage incurred due to improper transport or packaging is not covered under the Limited Warranty When repairing returned product s Promise may replace defective parts with new or reconditioned parts or replace the entire unit with a new or reconditioned unit In the event of a replacement the replacement unit will be under warranty for the remainder of the original warranty term from purchase date or 30 days whichever is longer Promise will pay for standard return shipping charges only You will be required to pay for any additional shipping options such as express shipping 45 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Your Responsibilities You are responsible for determining whether the product is appropriate for your use and will interface with your equipment without malfunction or damage You are also responsible for backing up your data before installing any product and for regularly backing up your
13. ID MODE SIZE TRACK MAPPING STATUS 1 1x2 Mirror 8629M 1108 255 63 Functional Press lt Ctrl F gt to enter Array BIOS Configuration Utility Figure 2 FastTrak SX4000 BIOS Startup The information displayed in the form of a small table contains the following properties ID These represent a unique ID number assigned to each RAID array identified by the BIOS Mode This identifies the RAID mode configuration that the array is defined as Size This is the MB Megabyte data size of the indicated array Track Mapping This is the CHS Cylinder Head Sector equivalent of the array geometry as hosted by the FastTrak SX4000 BIOS int 13h disk services FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Status Shows one of three possible array status conditions Functional The array is fully operational and no problems are present Critical The array is operational but has lost its fault tolerance For RAID array levels 1 0 1 and 5 the array contains a failed drive The user should identify and replace the failed drive Offline The array is no longer operational and the FastBuild utility cannot rebuild the array The array must be rebuilt from the last tape backup or other device The user should identify and replace the failed drives For RAID levels 1 and 5 at least two or more drives in the array have failed For a RAID O array at least one drive has failed Main Menu FastBuild Array Utility 1 10 c 2001 Promise Technology Inc
14. PROMISE TECHNOLOGY INC Fastirak SN4000 Copyright 2002 Promise Technology Inc Copyright by Promise Technology Inc Promise Technology No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed written permission of Promise Technology Trademarks Promise and the Promise logo are registered in U S Patent and Trademark Office All other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies Important data protection information You should back up all data before installing any drive controller or storage peripheral Promise Technology is not responsible for any loss of data resulting from the use disuse or misuse of this or any other Promise Technology product Notice Although Promise Technology has attempted to ensure the accuracy of the content of this manual it is possible that this document may contain technical inaccuracies typographical or other errors Promise Technology assumes no liability for any error in this publication and for damages whether direct indirect incidental consequential or otherwise that may result from such error including but not limited to loss of data or profits Promise Technology provides this publication as is without warranty of any kind either express or implied including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose The publishe
15. UR 33 POSTHIMS TAN AU ON M N 34 Appendix A Technical Specifications nenn nenne nenn enen venen ennen 35 DISK Array Features ee eier 35 Hardware E ge 36 System Requirements alle 36 Operating System Support au see Ee 36 Advanced IES werden etn everts deter aan sin M 36 Physical amp Environmental naan anenan err nne nns 36 Appendix B Technology PBackoround annen oenen eenen eneen eneen eenen saneren 37 Idee Leen Mio gee 37 RAID OS STRIPING terende eor os o Cosa oder deden om eten ee 37 RAID TS MIKRORING 2a al 38 RAID OFL STRIPING MIRROR 22 ee 39 RAID 5 BLOCK AND PARITY STRIPING nennen nnnnnne nennen 40 Appendix C Technical Support 41 Technical Support Services aci mcn ic boob Noa Due ih 41 TITIES GW VAINLY et TS 43 Disclaimer of other warranties ccccccssececcsececceseeeceesecseusecseueeesaeeeessaaeees 43 Returning Product For RSDAP terde ve escape aav Arbo a tu ERE EN E ONERE sdetdde 45 Your Responsibilities oan enan en ennenenerenenennrvenerenenenenennnenenennerenen ens 46 Te E es Ase cette a E E Nene a 47 vi Chapter 1 Introduction What is FastTrak SX4000 FastTrak SX4000 is a RAID controller and a software management suite that provides an enterprise wide ATA RAID solution When used with the Promise Array Management PAM FastTrak SX4000 offers a feature rich secure versatile and expandable RAID environment that allows users and administrators to configure manage an
16. a FastTrak SX4000 array and access it directly with a different controller such as the one integrated on the motherboard A Yes but only under certain configurations The following array configurations will allow the drive s to be accessed individually on another controller mirror RAID 1 or single drive striped RAID 0 Multiple striped drives will not work Also the other controller must address the drives as LBA not CHS Q If have a problem with one of the drives on the FastTrak SX4000 how can low level format it to correct the problem A Do not do this Low level formatting ATA drives is unnecessary and generally does not correct problems that might be experienced during use Errors such as bad sectors or ECC CRC failure are best remedied by completely replacing the drive For this reason drives attached to the FastTrak SX4000 controller should not be low level formatted Q Do have to install disk management software on my array in order to access the full storage capacity of drives A No The purpose of disk management software is to provide support for hard drives larger then 504MB to those systems that have no intrinsic support Since the FastTrak SX4000 provides all the large disk support you need to access your array s this software is unnecessary and in 32 Chapter 6 Troubleshooting some cases may even cause accessibility problems Q What system BIOS CMOS settings do use for the drives on the FastTr
17. ak SX4000 controller A None The drives on the FastTrak SX4000 controller are supported by the FastTrak BIOS and or operating system drivers not by your system BIOS Installation Issues NT Drive Capacity Booting IRQ Settings Q Why doesn t Windows NT 2000 XP see my FastTrak SX4000 controller A You need to install the FastTrak SX4000 drivers to be able to see the card and the attached drives arrays Q Why are some drives recognized by the FastTrak SX4000 Array Setup utilities with only partial capacity A Some hard drive models are shipped with a jumper that reduces the addressable capacity of the drive This is to prevent problems with older systems that won t support larger drives Consult the documentation accompanying the hard drive to set the jumper appropriately in order to utilize the full capacity of the drive Q Can make an array on the FastTrak SX4000 bootable A Yes The FastTrak SX4000 BIOS provides minimal system level support for the array as an int 13h drive Use the BIOS FastBuild setup utility to create an array in the Array 1 slot position Then partition and format the new array accordingly for the operating system to boot Make sure the boot sequence assigns the FastTrak SX4000 array as the boot device if you have drives running from the motherboard or another controller card Q How can change the system boot sequence in order to boot from the FastTrak SX4000 array or SCSI A The boot sequen
18. array number indicating it as bootable see below 17 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual AN Note Your PC or server must be configured to use FastTrak SX4000 as the bootable controller The system will then use the bootable array as the fixed boot C drive FastBuild Array Utility 1 10 c 2001 Promise Technology Inc Delete Array Menu Array No RAID Level Total Drv Capacity MB Status Array 1 RAIDO 13044 Functional Array 2 Functional Figure 7 Assigning Bootable Array Disk Array Recognition Order During startup the disk arrays on the FastTrak SX4000 are recognized in this order 1 The array set to bootable in the FastBuild setup 2 Bythe Array number i e Array 1 Array 2 This would be involved in determining which drive letters will be assigned to each disk array Saved Disk Array Information A All disk array data is saved within the reserved sector of each arrayed drive Note Promise suggests that users record their disk array information for future reference Another feature of the FastTrak SX4000 disk array system is to recognize drive members even if drives are moved to different ATA channels on FastTrak SX4000 Since each drive s array data identifies itself to the array it is possible to reorder the drives without modifying the array setup This is valuable when adding drives or during a rebuild 18 Chapter 3 FastBuild Utility Delete Array By pressing 3 from the Main
19. ation M E WN Aa K A Install memory into the DIMM slot at DIMM1 see Figure 1 The minimum memory requirement is 64 MB You may use up to 256 MB ECC or non ECC unbuffered 168 pin PC100 or higher SDRAM Install the controller card into an available PCI slot on the system motherboard and secure it in place Set the hard drives to Master Cable Select or Single depending on drive specification Next install hard drives into the PC chassis Attach black end of Ultra ATA 100 cable and power cable to back of each drive Connect the blue end of the Ultra ATA 100 cable to any ATA channel available on the FastTrak SX4000 Note Device support for drives is provided by the FastTrak SX4000 system No changes are necessary in the motherboard CMOS BIOS Setup for resources or drive types regarding hard drive configuration Changes may or may not be necessary for PCI device setup Software Installation E HRH RN NA Promise FastTrak SX4000 BIOS is loading correctly at system boot At least one array has been created with the drive s attached to the FastTrak SX4000 using FastBuild or PAM If the array is to be a system drive it is partitioned amp formatted appropriately FastTrak SX4000 Message Agent is installed If this system is to be a monitoring gateway or server the FastTrak SX4000 Message Server is installed If this system is to be used for monitoring FastTrak SX4000 server systems FastTrak SX4000 PAM util
20. cal Support 86 0 10 687 23941 9 00 6 00pm China Time Promise Technology China Attn Technical Support Room 3217 No 11 South Zhong Guan Cun Street Hai Dian District Beijing 100081 P R China 42 Appendix C Technical Support Limited Warranty Promise Technology Inc Promise warrants that for Two 2 years from the time of the delivery of the product to the original end user a the product will conform to Promise s specifications b the product will be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service This warranty a applies only to products which are new and in cartons on the date of purchase b is not transferable C is valid only when accompanied by a copy of the original purchase invoice This warranty shall not apply to defects resulting from a improper or inadequate maintenance or unauthorized modification s performed by the end user b operation outside the environmental specifications for the product C accident misuse negligence misapplication abuse natural or personal disaster or maintenance by anyone other than a Promise or a Promise authorized service center Disclaimer of other warranties This warranty covers only parts and labor and excludes coverage on software items as expressly set above Except as expressly set forth above Promise disclaims any warranties expressed or implied by statute or otherwise regarding the product incl
21. ce is controlled by the system BIOS You can access your BIOS settings when your computer first starts Press the specified key such as Del to bring up the BIOS setup screen Among the settings is one for boot sequence Follow the on screen instructions to make and save your change This is a feature of the BIOS Boot Specification which provides for the user to tell the BIOS in what order to access bootable devices A bootable device is one capable of loading the operating system such as a disk drive Note that when you specify a SCSI device and there are multiple SCSI devices in your system the BIOS calls them in order Typically that order 33 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual is their position in the PCI slots If you have more than one bootable SCSI device and your computer is booting from the wrong one shut down the computer switch the controller cards and boot again How can change the IRQ setting for the FastTrak SX4000 controller The FastTrak SX4000 controller is fully PCI PnP This means all the resources that it uses are assigned by the PCI BIOS on the motherboard While FastTrak SX4000 supports the IRQ sharing feature this will only work if all the PCI devices used support it If your motherboard allows you to control the assignment of these resources you may be able to change them manually see motherboard BIOS documentation for how to perform this task If not resource assignments may otherwise be changed by switchi
22. d information in the manual is subject to change without notice Promise Technology reserves the right to make changes in the product design layout and driver revisions without notification to its users Radio Frequency Interference Statement This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction 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 e Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna e Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver e Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected e Consult Promise Technology Inc or an experienced radio TV technician for help This device complies with Part 5 of the FCC Rules Operation is subject to the following conditions 1 This device may not cause harmf
23. d monitor everything from single arrays on local systems to array networks residing in offsite locations At its core FastTrak SX4000 provides advanced RAID management functions creating arrays monitoring them keeping them online and operating at optimum efficiency FastTrak SX4000 can also perform many other tasks such as e Create arrays at various RAID levels 0 1 0 1 and 5 depending on the application being used e Set up a network of FastTrak SX4000 RAID servers all running under different RAID levels and monitor those servers from any workstation on the network e Create a series of FastTrak SX4000 RAID networks at any number of offsite locations e Monitor and or repair FastTrak SX4000 RAID arrays using the Internet from an offsite location all without compromising the integrity of secure servers The FastTrak SX4000 controller has a Hardware XOR accelerator which offloads the parity calculation workload from the main CPU and transfers it to the controller card boosting the performance of the entire system Each FastTrak SX4000 card can support up to four 4 Ultra ATA 100 hard drives configured as RAID levels 0 1 0 1 or 5 Attached drives can be hot swapped when used with the optional SuperSwap drive enclosures See Appendix A for a complete list of features requirements and specifications On the software side Promise Array Management PAM comprises three modules Console Message Server and Message Agen
24. d regardless of whether Promise has been advised of the possibility of such damages Promise is not an insurer If you desire insurance against such damage you must obtain insurance from another party Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages for consumer products so the above limitation may not apply to you This warranty gives specific legal rights and you may also have other rights that vary from state to state This limited warranty is governed by the State of California 44 Appendix C Technical Support Returning Product For Repair If you suspect a product is not working properly or if you have any questions about your product contact our Technical Support Staff through one of our Technical Services making sure to provide the following information e Product model and serial number required e Return shipping address e Daytime phone number e Description of the problem e Copy of the original purchase invoice The technician will assist you in determining whether the product requires repair If the product needs repair the Technical Support Department will issue an RMA Return Merchandise Authorization number Return only the specific product covered by the warranty do not ship cables manuals diskettes etc with a copy of your proof of purchase to USA and Canada Promise Technology Inc Customer Service Dept Attn RMA 1745 McCandless Drive Milpitas
25. e Universal 5V and 3 3V PCI Signaling Environment OMB Installed Optimal amount of memory depends on RAID application 36 Appendix B Technology Background Introduction to RAID RAID Redundant Array of Independent Disks allows multiple hard drives to be combined together to form one large logical drive or array As far as the operating system is concerned the array represents a single storage device and treats it as such The RAID software and or controller handles all of the individual drives on its own The benefits of a RAID can include higher data transfer rates for increased server performance increased overall storage capacity for a single drive designation such as C D E etc data redundancy fault tolerance for ensuring continuous system operation in the event of a hard drive failure Different types of arrays use different organizational models and have varying benefits The following outline breaks down the properties for each type of RAID array RAID 0 STRIPING When a disk array is striped the read and write blocks of data are interleaved between the sectors of multiple drives see Figure 11 Performance is increased since the workload is balanced between drives or members that form the array Identical drives are recommended for performance as well as data storage efficiency The disk array s data capacity is equal to the number of drive members multiplied by the smallest array member s capac
26. er usage of RAID Please see Appendix B for more details on the functionality of RAID systems RAID Management and Operation This segment covers issues pertaining to general RAID system management operation and terminology Critical and Offline Arrays A fault tolerant array goes critical when a drive is removed or fails Due to the fault tolerance of the array the data is still available and online However once the array goes critical the array has lost its fault tolerance and performance may be adversely affected If the fault was caused by a drive that was removed the drive should be replaced by another drive either identical or larger in order for the RAID system to rebuild and restore optimal configuration Only a failed drive should be removed from the array Removing any other drive may cause the array to become unavailable When notified either by the FastTrak SX4000 BIOS or the PAM utility that a drive has failed note the channel number of the failed drive to determine the physical location of the failed drive Figure 1 on page 4 shows the channel numbers for the FastTrak SX4000 In arrays where a hot spare is already installed the hot spare automatically replaces the failed drive When the failed drive is replaced the new drive becomes the new hot spare A non fault tolerant array goes offline when a drive is removed or fails Since the array is not fault tolerant the data stored in the array is no longer accessib
27. ers Technical Support Services Promise Online Web Site http www promise com tech documents drivers utilities etc USA Tech Support Center E mail Support support promise com Fax Technical Support 408 228 6401 Attention Technical Support Phone Technical Support 408 228 6402 7 30 5 00pm M F Pacific Standard Time If you wish to write us for Promise Technology Inc support Attn Technical Support 1745 McCandless Drive Milpitas CA 95035 USA 41 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual European Tech Support E mail Support Fax Technical Support Phone Technical Support If you wish to write us for support Pacific Rim Sales Office E mail Support Fax Technical Support Phone Technical Support If you wish to write us for support China Office E mail Support Fax Technical Support Phone Technical Support If you wish to write us for support support romise nl 31 0 40 256 9463 Attention Technical Support 31 0 40 235 2600 8 30 5 00pm The Netherlands Time Promise Technology Europe B V Attn Technical Support Luchthavenweg 81 125 5657 EA Eindhoven The Netherlands support promise com tw 886 3 578 2390 Attention Technical Support 886 3 578 2395 Ext 8830 9 00 6 00pm Taiwan Time Promise Technology Inc Attn Technical Support 2F No 30 Industry E Rd IX Science based Industrial Park Hsinchu Taiwan R O C support china promise com 86 0 10 687 23940 Attention Techni
28. have pressed Ctrl Y You will see the array defined You may ESC to exit and return to the Main Menu of FastBuild Setting the Gigabyte Boundary For RAID 5 arrays FastTrak SX4000 will allow you to toggle the Gigabyte Boundary ON or OFF The default is ON To toggle Gigabyte Boundary press the Arrow keys to highlight the field and the Spacebar to toggle between ON and OFF Creating a Single Drive Array A single drive may be made a RAID 0 array Follow the procedure for creating a RAID on page 13 Hot Spare Drives Any extra drive designated as Free in the FastBuild View Drive Assignments screen that is not assigned to a fault tolerant disk array RAID 1 0 1 or 5 will be recognized as a Spare Drive Such a drive is automatically added to an array once a disk member of the array has been detected as failed To restore fault tolerance as quickly as possible FastTrak SX4000 begins to perform an automatic data rebuild on the spare drive in the background without the need to restart the system At a later time the failed drive can be physically removed and an extra drive added in its place to function as the spare drive Setting a Disk Array As Bootable You may select which defined array will be used as the bootable array from the Define Array Menu press 2 in the Main Menu Highlight the desired array and press the Spacebar The system will now recognize this as the first array and an asterisk will appear next to the
29. he disk array Continue to add drives to the array until you assigned all four drives Press Ctrl Y to save the disk array information Defining the Array as a RAID 0 1 In the Define Array Definition Menu section use the Spacebar to cycle through array types and select RAID 0 1 for RAID Level You will be creating two pairs of striped drives with identical data on them The capacity of the array will be half that of the total number of mirrored drives within the array In a 4 drive RAID 0 1 you can set the stripe size for the two pairs of striped drives Save the information with Ctrl Y FastBuild automatically creates the RAID 0 1 array and returns you to the Define Array Menu where the array will be shown Changing the Stripe Block Size For RAID 0 1 arrays FastTrak SX4000 will allow you to change the stripe block size The default is 64K However certain application environments may perform optimally with different stripe block sizes To change the stripe block size use the Arrow keys to highlight the field and the Spacebar to cycle through the available size selections 16 32 or 64K Setting the Gigabyte Boundary For RAID 0 1 arrays FastTrak SX4000 will allow you to toggle the Gigabyte Boundary ON or OFF The default is ON To toggle Gigabyte Boundary use the Arrow keys to highlight the field and the Spacebar to toggle between ON and OFF Creating a RAID 5 Array In the Define Array Definition Menu section press the Spaceba
30. in the array No stripe block size option is available when mirroring 2 drives In a 4 drive RAID 0 1 array you can set the stripe size for the two pairs of striped drives Creating a Mirroring Array with Two New Drives As described above if you select a mirroring array and wish to use two new drives follow the directions here Under the Drive Assignments section assign both new drives to the array and save the information by pressing Ctrl Y Once the process is complete you will be returned to the Define Array Menu where the array will be shown as defined Note You may choose to attach an unassigned third drive to FastTrak SX4000 to act as a hot spare replacement see Page 17 Changing the Stripe Block Size For RAID 1 arrays FastTrak SX4000 does not permit the user to change the Stripe Block size This feature is not available for RAID 1 arrays Setting the Gigabyte Boundary For RAID 1 arrays FastTrak SX4000 will allow you to toggle the Gigabyte Boundary ON or OFF The default is ON To toggle Gigabyte Boundary use the Arrow keys to highlight the field and the Spacebar to toggle between ON and OFF 15 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Creating a RAID 0 1 Array Four drives must be assigned to an array before this feature becomes available Assigning Drives to a RAID 0 1 Array Under the Drive Assignments section highlight a drive and with the Spacebar bar change the Assignment option to Y to add the drive to t
31. ion procedure normally On the reboot press F6 after the message Setup is inspecting your computer s hardware configuration appears e CD ROM Install Boot from the CD ROM Press F6 after the message Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver appears 2 When the Windows XP Setup window is generated press S to Specify an Additional Device s 3 Insert the Promise Technology driver diskette into drive A and press Enter key 4 Choose WinXP Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller from the list that appears on screen and then press the Enter key 5 Press S to use the driver on the floppy disk and then press Enter to continue with installation 6 The Windows XP Setup screen will appear again saying Setup will load support for the following mass storage devices The list will include WinXP Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller Note If you need to specify any additional devices to be installed do so at this time Once all devices are specified continue to the next step AN 7 From the Windows XP Setup screen press the Enter key Setup will now load all device files and then continue the Windows XP installation 21 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Installing Driver in Existing Windows XP System Warning If you plan to move the boot drive containing the existing T Windows XP operating system to the FastTrak SX4000 card the FastTrak SX4000 driver MUST be
32. ity For example one 100 GB and three 120 GB drives will form a 400 GB 4 x 100 GB disk array instead of 460 GB The stripe block size value can be set logically from 16KB 32KB and 64KB This selection will directly affect performance Larger block sizes are better for random disk access like email POS or web servers while smaller sizes are better for sequential access 4 Pata Stripe Disk Drives Figure 11 RAID 0 Striping Interleaves Data Across Multiple Drives 37 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual RAID 1 MIRRORING When a disk array is mirrored identical data is written to a pair of drives while reads are performed in parallel The reads are performed using elevator seek and load balancing techniques where the workload is distributed in the most efficient manner Whichever drive is not busy and is positioned closer to the data will be accessed first With RAID 1 if one drive fails or has errors the other mirrored drive continues to function This is called Fault Tolerance Moreover if a spare drive is present the spare drive will be used as the replacement drive and data will begin to be mirrored to it from the remaining good drive Data Mirror nn Disk Drives Figure 12 RAID 1 Mirrors Identical Data to Two Drives Due to the data redundancy of mirroring the drive capacity of the array is only one half the capacity of the drives combined For example two 100 GB drives which have a combined capacity of 200 G
33. ity is installed FastTrak SX4000 User Manual BIOS Utility The FastTrak SX4000 BIOS utility called FastBuild must be used to create the first array s on the FastTrak SX4000 Arrays may subsequently be created through the PAM utility You must have an array on FastTrak SX4000 in order to use the drives for data storage See Chapter 3 for more information about using the FastBuild BIOS utility to create an array See the Promise Array Management User Manual for more information Chapter 3 FastBuild Utility This chapter contains a Setup Task Quick Reference that is a checklist of tasks needed to initialize your FastTrak SX4000 system followed by a step by step instructional breakdown of each task The second half of this chapter is a visual and technical description reference including software screen shots Setup Task Quick Reference Use this reference to make sure you have completed all the tasks necessary to get your FastTrak SX4000 server running See Appendix B for more information on RAID arrays Setup Checklist M Power up the system and watch for the Promise FastTrak SX4000 BIOS messages v Enter the FastBuild utility when prompted by pressing Ctrl F M If you are defining more than one array and booting from one of these arrays make sure to select the appropriate array as the boot array from the Define Array menu Use the up down arrow keys to highlight the array and press the Spacebar v Restart the system fo
34. le If the drive was removed then it should be replaced to restore accessibility to the 27 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual array If the drive failed then the entire array must be deleted and re initialized since all data is considered lost Rebuilding Synchronizing Fault Tolerant Arrays Though a critical array can continue storage operations it no longer offers fault tolerance and should be addressed as soon as possible by replacing the missing or failed drive s Rebuild takes a replacement drive assigns it to the array and then writes the redundancy data to it Once the rebuild process is complete the array status is upgraded from critical to functional and fault tolerance is restored Synchronization is a preventative maintenance measure used to avoid problems with data integrity Synchronizing simply recalculates redundant data similar to the rebuild process and matches the data on the drive s Synchronization is a process that may be manually initialized or can be scheduled You may choose to synchronize your array once per hour day week or month Partitioning amp Formatting Arrays Like any other type of fixed disk media in your system a RAID array must be partitioned and formatted before use Depending on the operating system you use there may or may not be various capacity limitations applicable for the different types of partitions Use the same method of partitioning and formatting on an array as you would any
35. loaded on to this hard drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller Do not attach the boot drive to the FastTrak SX4000 card before completing this step After installing the FastTrak SX4000 card and rebooting your system Windows XP setup will show a Found New Hardware dialog box Under Windows XP Mass Storage Controller will be displayed 1 2 9 4 5 In the A drive insert the FastTrak SX4000 driver diskette Choose Install the software automatically and press the Enter key Choose WinXP Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller from the list that appears on screen and then press the Enter key If using a driver that has not been digitally signed by Microsoft you will be asked if you want to continue the installation Click Continue anyway When the New Hardware Wizard has finished installing the software click Finish Confirming Windows XP Installation prog BO Der cm From Windows XP open the Control Panel from My Computer Click on Performance and maintenance Click on the System icon Choose the Hardware tab and then click the Device Manager tab Click the in front of SCSI controllers WinXP Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller should appear 22 Chapter 4 Driver Installation Windows 2000 Installing Driver During New Windows 2000 Installation 1 Start the installation e Floppy Install Boot the computer with the Windows 2000 installation diskettes
36. m Windows NT 4 x a oe E In Start Button choose Control Panel in Setup group In Control Panel select SCSI Adapter next choose Drivers label Click the Remove button After successful removal the SCSI Adapter Setup box will show that WinNT Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller has been removed Linux Operating Systems Go to the Promise website at http www promise com click on Support then Linux Support to obtain drivers and installation instructions 26 Chapter 5 RAID Setup This chapter discusses the various types of RAID arrays their applications including performance and reliability considerations and general maintenance information Given the variety of applications for RAID systems the various RAID levels each have advantages and disadvantages Determining what RAID level to use for your system is an important step To help guide you we have divided this chapter into two parts e RAID Management and Operation covers various fault scenarios rebuilding synchronization of drives and drive partitioning formatting which may be encountered during typical use e Configuration Ideas cover organizational models of array systems that use the previously documented array types It also points out additional advantages of various options This is certainly not intended as a complete nor definitive reference on RAID technology applications but merely serves as a first step to understanding the principles and prop
37. n MB megabytes for that array Status This column displays the status information for each array Status definitions can be found on page 10 12 Chapter 3 FastBuild Utility Define Array Definition Menu Selecting an Array from the Define Array Menu brings up the Define Array Definition Menu screen see Figure 6 below You must first assign the type of RAID Level you want In the Define Array Definition Menu section use the Spacebar to cycle through array types RAID O Striping RAID 1 Mirroring RAID 5 Data Parity Striping See for more information AN Note Promise recommends the use of identical drives when creating a new array for best results FastBuild Array Utility 1 10 c 2001 Promise Technology Inc Define Array Definition Menu Array No RAID Level Total Drv Status Array 1 RAID 5 3 Functional Stripe Block 4 KB Gigabyte Boundary ON Drive Assignments Channel ID Drive Model Capacity MB Assignment 1 Master MAXTOR87000A8 2 Master MAXTOR87000A8 3 Master MAXTOR87000A8 4 Master MAXTOR87000A8 Figure 6 Define Array Definition Menu screen Gigabyte Boundary The Gigabyte Boundary feature is designed for fault tolerant arrays RAID 1 0 1 and 5 in which a drive has failed and the user cannot replace the drive with the same capacity or larger Instead the Gigabyte Boundary feature permits the installation of a replacement drive that is slightly smaller within 1 gigabyte than
38. ne e A3 drive RAID 5 array with 1 hot spare for double fault tolerance under RAID 5 29 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual 30 Chapter 6 Troubleshooting This chapter provides information on how to interpret error conditions as reported by the FastTrak SX4000 This includes LED display codes FastTrak BIOS Error Messages and Installation amp Runtime Problems The information contained here covers the most common error conditions that occur with FastTrak SX4000 installations FastTrak SX4000 BIOS Error Messages On boot up the FastTrak SX4000 BIOS will initialize Should an error be detected the following messages will appear on screen and the boot up process halted Message No Array is defined Cause Either no drives are detected or the drives detected are not assigned to an array You must use the FastBuild utility to define an array using drives attached to the FastTrak SX4000 Message Problem is detected with Array X Cause There is a critical or offline array A fault tolerant array will require one of the drives to be replaced if a hot spare has not already been invoked A non fault tolerant array will be pulled completely offline and is no longer accessible Frequently Asked Questions This section lists frequently asked questions involving pre installation drive issues installation and post installation Pre Installation Speed Device Types Capacity Cabling Q What kind of hard drives can u
39. nesnessseneenennnnnnennnnnnnnennennnn nennen 17 HotSpare Re ae 17 Setting a Disk Array As Bootable AAA 17 Disk Array RECOGNITION Order EE 18 Saved Disk Array Information nnne 18 Delete EE 19 Controller Configuration reelle 20 Chapter 4 Installing Drivers zisnea II ae 21 Windows AP an era ern 21 Installing Driver in Existing Windows XP Gvsiem nennen 22 Confirming Windows XP Installation RR nenn nennen nennen 22 WTA OWS Eege ees 23 Installing Driver in Existing Windows 2000 Gvstem nun nnvenn 24 Confirming Windows 2000 Installation uns nannen een enenennennenenn 24 WAV O WS INE aaa sinne 25 Installing Drivers During Windows NT 4 0 Installation 25 Installing Driver with Existing Windows NT AU 26 Removing the Driver from Windows NT Axe 26 V FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Linux Operating Systems sun 26 Chapter 5 RAID Set e eerden nds eenen tanende ee eeen sien edad 27 RAID Management and Operation 27 Critical and Online Arrays nck en ee eredi ica beo ea 27 Rebuilding Synchronizing Fault Tolerant Arrays nenne nennen 28 Partitioning amp Formatting Arrays una nnnnsenenenserenenerrennnenseensenenenenn enen 28 Configuration Ideas anne ee 29 Fait TOleETance ce 29 FOL Spare Divels nenn er 29 Chapter 6 TroubleShOOting ar ash un 31 FastTrak SX4000 BIOS Error Messages 31 Frequently Asked COuestons ennemis 31 Pre Installation a2 Reel 31 IVS ISSUCS ten atd N en 32 Stalaton ISSUSS an ne HO
40. ng the PCI slot that the controller is in Post Installation Power Up BIOS Initialization Memory Managers Caching Booting Q Q A Q Why does my FastTrak SX4000 take so long to power up and get a signal to the VGA monitor now that the FastTrak SX4000 card is installed The process should only take a few seconds at most The FastTrak SX4000 controller performs an intensive memory check each time at power up This assures the integrity of your system data during normal data caching operation The greater the amount of RAM installed on the controller the longer this process takes to verify memory The memory scan places a hold on the PCI bus and suspends system boot temporarily until the scan is complete Why can t see the drives on the FastTrak SX4000 under FDISK If you have not created an array the physical drive s attached to the FastTrak SX4000 card will not be recognized by the operating system The FastTrak SX4000 controller is dedicated to RAID array management and does not provide any means of addressing individual hard drives through the int 13h interface used by FDISK In order to access drives on the FastTrak SX4000 from MSDOS at all you must first create a RAID array Why cant see the array just created with PAM under the Windows NT 2000 XP Disk Administrator Since Windows NT 2000 does not yet support any method of dynamically adding and or removing logical devices to from the system you must re
41. of the smallest drive multiplied by the number of drives within the array Changing Stripe Block Size For RAID 0 arrays FastTrak SX4000 will allow you to change the stripe block size The default is 64K However certain application environments may perform optimally with different block size To change the block size use the Arrow keys to highlight the field and the Spacebar to cycle through the available size selections 16 32 or 64K Note A You cannot change the block size after the array has been created Assigning Drives to a RAID 0 Array Under the Drive Assignments section highlight a drive and with the Spacebar change the Assignment option to Y to add the drive to the disk array Press Ctrl Y to save the disk array information The initial Define Array Menu screen will appear after you have pressed Ctrl Y You will see the array defined You may select another Array number to define or you may ESC to exit and return to the Main Menu of FastBuild Setting the Gigabyte Boundary For RAID 0 arrays FastTrak SX4000 sets the Gigabyte Boundary to OFF 14 Chapter 3 FastBuild Utility Creating a RAID 1 Array In the Define Array Definition Menu section use the Spacebar to cycle through array types and select RAID 1 for RAID Level You will be creating two drives or two pairs of striped drives 4 drives total with identical data on them The capacity ofthe array will be half that of the total number of mirrored drives with
42. ory 20 Step by step install 5 Linux Operating Systems 26 Message Agent nnen 1 Message Server nnen 1 Mirroring Array Using new drives in 15 RAD em edt tee eeatinaese See Arrays Management 27 Safeguards annen 29 Software Installation 5 Quick install sans asien 5 Synchronization 28 31
43. other fixed disk 28 Chapter 5 RAID Setup Configuration Ideas This part of the chapter covers additional ideas that are helpful to bear in mind while considering RAID configurations Fault Tolerance Since FastTrak SX4000 maintains four independent data channels and assigns just one drive per channel users are protected in case a single drive or an entire data channel fails This provides an added level of protection than other RAID controllers such as those that allow connecting two or more drives to the same channel connector Hot Spare Drive s A good precaution to protecting your array integrity in the event of drive failure is maintaining a hot spare drive A hot spare is a drive that is connected to the array system but is not assigned as a member of the array In the event of the failure of a drive within a functioning fault tolerant array the hot spare is activated as a member of the array The spare drive effectively takes the place of the failed drive and the RAID system immediately begins to rebuild data on the drive When the rebuild is complete the array is returned to fault tolerant status Once the failed drive is replaced the new drive is automatically recognized as a hot spare in the event of a subsequent drive fault Some possibilities for making use of hot spares can include e A 2 drive mirrored array with 2 hot spare drives This allows for triple drive fault tolerance before the array would be set offli
44. perSwap only Depends on hard drive speed Requires standby disk of equal or greater capacity Allows for replacing a failed drive with a drive of a slightly less capacity within 999 MB difference 35 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Hardware Features e 32 bit 66MHz PCI interface compliant to PCI Rev 2 2 e PCI bus mastering DMA with hardware scatter gather engine for maximum performance e Supports 266MB sec burst data transfer rate across PCI bus e PCI Plug and Play support e Supports ACPI S1 S3 and S4 e Single 168 pin DIMM slot for cache memory 64 MB minimum 256 MB maximum ECC or non ECC unbuffered PC100 or above e Supports multiple concurrent data requests from OS e Co exists with built in ATA channels or other SCSI controllers e Supports dual controller operation cannot stripe across controllers System Requirements e 1 bus mastering PCI slot PCI v 2 2 or 2 1 compliant e One to four Ultra ATA hard drive s for dedicated use in the RAID array Operating System Support e Microsoft Windows XP e Microsoft Windows 2000 e Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Utilities e Built in FastBuild BIOS utility for configuration e Auto configuration and optimization e View Create Delete Expand array e Rebuilds data on replacement disks Physical amp Environmental e Size 9 84 x 3 82 inches 25 0 x 9 7 cm e Operating temperature 32 to 122 F 0 to 50 C e Relative humidity 596 to 9096 non condensing
45. r the changes to take effect M Watch for the Promise FastTrak SX4000 BIOS messages ensuring that the messages reflect the array s you have created Common Tasks The following portion of the Quick Reference Setup is a listing of steps necessary to complete each type of task required for setting up the FastTrak SX4000 system through the FastBuild BIOS utility The tasks are not intended to be a complete step by step guide to setting up the FastTrak SX4000 system successfully AN Note There are some advanced RAID array configuration options that require the PAM utility to set up FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Entering the BIOS FastBuild Utility When the system boots you will see the Promise FastTrak SX4000 BIOS sign on banner appear on the screen Once the BIOS identifies the arrays attached to the FastTrak SX4000 controller it will offer an option to enter the FastBuild utility Press Ctrl F to initialize FastBuild and display the Main Menu Creating an array from the Define Array screen 1 2 In the Main Menu press 2 to display the Define Array screen In the Define Array screen select the array number you want to define using the arrow keys and press Enter to display the Define Array Definition Menu screen In the Define Array Definition Menu highlight the RAID Level column using the Tab key and then cycle through the choices using the Spacebar to select the RAID level you wish to use for the new array
46. r to cycle through array types and select RAID 5 for RAID Mode You must configure such an array using a minimum of three drives because of parity data generation If your array has three drives assigned you will join two drives together and split or stripe data among them If your array has four drives assigned you will join three drives Each member of such an array will no longer be readable as an independent drive if removed from the array The capacity of the array will equal the capacity of the smallest drive multiplied by one less than the total number of drives assigned to the array 16 Chapter 3 FastBuild Utility Note If you choose to use less than 4 drives an additional unassigned drive can be your hot spare drive in case of drive failure see below Changing Stripe Block Size for RAID 5 Array For RAID 5 arrays FastTrak SX4000 will allow you to change the stripe block size The default is 64K However certain application environments may perform optimally with different values To change the block size press the Arrow keys to highlight the field and the Spacebar to cycle through the available size selections AN Assigning Drives to a RAID 5 Array Under the Drive Assignments section highlight a drive and with the Spacebar change the Assignment option to Y to add the drive to the disk array Press Ctrl Y to save the disk array information The initial Define Array Menu screen will appear after you
47. se with a FastTrak SX4000 array A You can use any Ultra ATA 100 or Ultra ATA 33 66 hard drive s to create arrays on the FastTrak SX4000 However you should use matching drives for multiple drive arrays to maximize capacity usage as well as performance Ultra ATA 100 drives are recommended for highest performance You can use Ultra ATA 133 drives but their data throughput will be at the Ultra ATA 100 rate Q Can use ATAPI devices on the FastTrak SX4000 controller A No There is no driver layer on the FastTrak SX4000 controller that will support ATAPI packet messages 31 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Q Can substitute any other type of Ultra ATA 100 or ATA cables for FastTrak SX4000 cables if need to use a longer data cable A No The FastTrak SX4000 data cables are made to Ultra ATA data transfer requirements with special shielding and a maximum ATA specification length of 18 inches 46 cm Q Does the FastTrak SX4000 controller work with my system s ACPI A Yes The FastTrak SX4000 controller supports ACPI S1 S3 and S4 standby modes Drive Issues Q Can take a set of drives which make up an array created on one FastTrak SX4000 controller and move it to another FastTrak SX4000 controller A Yes All FastTrak SX4000 controllers read the arrays the same way Once the drives are all connected you must restart the system for it to recognize the newly inserted array configuration Q Can take a drive used in
48. start Windows NT 2000 After restarting the array will show under Disk Administrator 34 Appendix A Technical Specifications Disk Array Features Supported RAID Levels e RAID 0 striping for performance e RAID 1 disk mirroring e RAID 0 1 mirrored stripe set e RAID 5 striped data striped parity Hardware XOR accelerator Offers sustained data transfers up to 266MB sec Supports up to four logical drives Supports variable stripe block sizes Supports standard ATA drives Ultra ATA Ultra DMA Supports Ultra ATA 100 Ultra ATA 66 Supports Ultra ATA 133 drives with ATA 133 speed on data reads and ATA 100 speed on data writes Identical hard drives are recommended Supports Logical Block Addressing Large LBA support for drives above 137GB Drive fault detection Supports hot swap of failed drives Supports hot spares Offers transparent data recovery and rebuilds drive in background BIOS Driver support for rounding actual drive capacities to nearest gigabyte Data handling optimizations include tagged command queuing elevator seek and load balancing Arrays are bootable with built in BIOS Supports the BIOS Boot Specification LED Connector supports drive activity and drive status LED output Optimized caching algorithm for parity calculations RAID 5 Remote monitoring of all arrays from network stations Local maintenance of arrays with drag and drop support Monitors enclosure temperature fan and power Su
49. t These modules use TCP IP connections to communicate with one another allowing communication across a network This allows system administrators to monitor and rebuild the FastTrak RAID system from a local console or a remote workstation over the Internet With controlled user group administration secure data encryption and flexible control options FastTrak SX4000 s PAM software package is an all in one modular solution FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Chapter 2 Getting Started This chapter is designed to help you prepare FastTrak SX4000 for installation Please read through this chapter carefully before attempting to install FastTrak SX4000 Users should record their current CMOS system setup settings before making any changes This preventative measure is aimed at protecting such information from loss which may happen unpredictably during any hardware installation Unpacking FastTrak SX4000 The FastTrak SX4000 package should contain the following items e FastTrak SX4000 controller card e FastTrak SX4000 Quick Start Guide e FastTrak SX4000 OS drivers diskette 1 e CD containing Utilities and Documentation 1 e Internal 18 inch 46 cm Ultra ATA 80 wire 40 pin hard drive cables 4 e Y cable power splitters 2 If any of the items are missing or appear damaged please contact your dealer or distributor immediately FastTrak SX4000 Controller Card Seen in Figure 1 the FastTrak SX4000 controller card has several ph
50. t there is an array error Halting the boot process allows you to diagnose the problem so you can take corrective action FastBuild Array Utility 1 10 c 2001 Promise Technology Inc Controller Configuration Options Halt on Error Enable System Resources Configuration Driver Version PROMISE RAID ISM Ver 47rm Number of Channels 4 Installed Memory 32 MB Keys Available T Up 1 Down Space Change Option ESC Exit Ctrl Y Save Figure 10 Controller configuration screen All other information in the System Resources Configuration section is for display only The information presented here is as follows Installed Memory Shows the size of the DIMM plugged into the FastTrak SX4000 controller card 20 Chapter 4 Installing Drivers This chapter details the FastTrak SX4000 driver installation when used with various operating systems The software includes the driver necessary to identify FastTrak SX4000 to the operating system Note A Always visit the Promise Website for the latest device drivers Go to http www promise com Windows XP Installing Driver During New Windows XP Installation 1 Start the installation e Floppy Install Boot the computer with the Windows XP installation diskettes e Floppyless Install Boot to DOS At the command prompt type the drive letter of your CD ROM or DVD ROM drive Type cd i386 and press Enter Type winnt and press Enter Follow the installat
51. ter Setup box will show that the WinNT Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller driver has been installed 25 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Installing Driver with Existing Windows NT 4 0 Warning If you plan to move the boot drive containing the existing the FastTrak SX4000 driver MUST be loaded on to this hard T Windows NT operating system to the FastTrak SX4000 card 11 12 drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller Do not attach the boot drive to the FastTrak SX4000 card before completing this step Choose Settings from the Start menu Choose Control Panel from the Settings menu Double click on the SCSI Adapters icon which generates the SCSI Adapters dialog box Choose Drivers then click Add In the Install Drivers dialog box click Have Disk When the Install From Disk appears insert the FastTrak SX4000 Driver diskette in drive A Type A NT4 in the text box window then click OK When the Install Driver dialog box appears select WinNT Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller and then click OK When the Select SCSI Adapter Option dialog box appears click Install After a successful installation the SCSI Adapter Setup box will show that the WinNT Promise FastTrak SX4000 Series Controller has been installed Power off your system If moving the boot drive to the FastTrak card now attach the hard drives otherwise reboot Removing the Driver fro
52. uding without limitation any warranties for fitness for any purpose quality merchantability non infringement or otherwise Promise makes no warranty or representation concerning the suitability of any product for use with any other item You assume full responsibility for selecting products and for ensuring that the products selected are compatible and appropriate for use with other goods with which they will be used Promise does not warrant that any product is free from errors or that it will interface without problems with your computer system It is your responsibility to back up or otherwise save important data before installing any product and continue to back up your important data regularly 43 FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Promise s sole responsibility with respect to any product is to do one of the following a replace the product with a conforming unit of the same or superior product b repair the product C recover the product and refund the purchase price for the product Promise shall not be liable for the cost of procuring substitute goods services lost profits unrealized savings equipment damage costs of recovering reprogramming or reproducing of programs or data stored in or used with the products or for any other general special consequential indirect incidental or punitive damages whether in contract tort or otherwise notwithstanding the failure of the essential purpose of the foregoing remedy an
53. ul interference and 2 this device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation AN Note Only digital device equipment CERTIFIED CLASS B should be attached to this equipment and that must have shielded cables FastTrak SX4000 User Manual Table of Contents Chapter ETH 1 What is FastTrak SX4000 nennen nnnnne nennen 1 Chapter 2 Getting Started vann srennseneenneer vennen v ennen enenenr ennen vennen eeens 3 Unpacking FastTrak SX4000 aaan oan eenoenenen err ennsene nennen eneen vensenenn 3 FastTrak SX4000 Controller Card 3 GADES C etende ea E 4 QuieklnstallCheckliste seen T 5 Hardware Installation aaa aa nn 5 Sottware installation Bu Ue ann 5 chapter o FasiBuild CIV uoi ars HE en 7 Setup Task Quick Reference ei d eec a 7 EE El ee ee ee Ee 7 common seals ome ETT 7 Entering the BIOS FastBuild ul 8 Creating an array from the Define Array screen 8 Deleting an array from the Delete Array screen 8 Setting the Halt On Error option 8 FastTrak BIOS Reference nenne eene nnne nnne nnne 9 Main Mendera sner E R E 10 View DIIVE ASSIGNMENIS ce c EN 11 Define Nd nen ae 11 Define Array Definition Menu 13 Creating a RAID O Array nennen nnennnnnnnnnnnnennnn nennen nnnnnn 14 Creating amp RAID EE 15 Creating a RAID OFT Array nn na 16 Creating a RAID SAFTaAYE Zee heben 16 Creating a Single Drive Array uus
54. ysical features of interest for purposes of installation A DIMM socket for memory minimum 64 MB required and four ATA channel connections one master drive per channel ZA AN Attention The FastTrak SX4000 controller card like every other valuable part of your PC is sensitive to static electricity Be sure that you are properly grounded Promise recommends that you wear an anti static strap or place a free hand ona grounded object and that your PC is unplugged before installing any of the FastTrak SX4000 components FastTrak SX4000 User Manual ATA Channel Connectors PROMISE TEC HNOLOGY INC Cache Memory Cache Memory DIMM Socket Figure 1 FastTrak SX4000 controller card Cables Ultra ATA drive cables are provided with the FastTrak SX4000 controller card These cables must be used with Ultra ATA 133 Ultra ATA 100 and Ultra ATA 66 drives in order to realize their full performance specifications Ultra ATA cables differ from older 40 wire 40 pin ATA cables by adding an extra ground wire between each data wire resulting in an 80 wire 40 pin cable Note Do not use cables that are longer than 18 inches 46 cm Such cables are out of spec and can cause data integrity problems Chapter 2 Getting Started Quick Install Checklist Refer to this checklist to ensure that all hardware and software components necessary for your FastTrak SX4000 to operate efficiently are installed Hardware Install

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