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Installation Guide and User Manual

1. 2 2 Higher Performance 0 ceeeeeseeeeeneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesneeeeeeeeees 2 2 Data Redundancy and Fault Tolerance cseceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 2 2 What Are RAID Levels ss 2 3 RAID O Striping chriiin adigai gente 2 5 RAID 1 Mirroring senn a E a a es 2 6 RAID 0 1 Striping and Mirroring seessssrcerrirrerrreernn 2 7 Which RAID Level Should Choose For My Storage Subsystem 2 8 Capacity Availability Performance 2 8 The Cost Factor nat Moin eee 2 8 Important Questions for RAID Level Selection eee 2 8 Maximizing Capacity C P A or C A P oo eeeeseeesereeeeneeees 2 10 Maximizing Data Availability A P C or A C P eessen 2 10 Maximizing Performance P A C or P C A esee 2 11 Selecting a Stripe Size eee ceeenceeeeeeeeeeeececeeeeeeseeeeseneeenenseeeenaes 2 11 Assigning a HOt Spare ou eee ceeeseeeeeee erence ceeeeeeseeeeeeaeeeeeeeeeeseeeeees 2 12 RAID R leSs tnt ee RM street etant ait 2 12 Chapter 3 Getting Started OVEIVIOWs EE ies cee An ES 3 1 Windows 9x New Installation c eee seceeeesseeeeeeeeesaeeeeeneeeeseeeeenaes 3 2 Windows 9x Upgrading an Existing Controller or Installing a Secondary Controller a a aana 3 3 Windows NT New Installation oo ec eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeeesaeeeeeaeeseneaes 3 4 Manual No 771982 v Windows NT Upgrading an Existing Controller or Installi
2. Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSIl R vx x SCSI Configuration RAID Configuration Display RAID Sets Create RAID Set HA 0 RAID ID 0 RAID DRV1 G Delete RAID Set HA 0 RAID ID 1 RAID DRV2 G Maintenance Mode Ay Select lt Enter gt Accept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit 5 Select Yes The RAID Drive is deleted 6 Reboot the system 6 8 RAIDPlus User s Manual RAID Configuration Maintenance Mode From the Maintenance Mode menu option you can set the password create a hot spare and change the RAID Drive SCSI ID and name Note To perform additional RAID maintenance tasks such as monitoring integrity checks and RAID Drive rebuilds use the RAIDPlus Manager Set Password 1 Oy ee D Start AutoSCSI Select RAID Configuration and press lt Enter gt Select Maintenance Mode and press lt Enter gt Select Set Password and press lt Enter gt Enter a new password and press lt Enter gt Reenter the password and press lt Enter gt The password is set Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSIl R vx x SCSI Configuration RAID Configuration Display RAID Sets Create RAID Set Delete RAID Set Set Password Maintenance Mode Modify RAID Set Hot Spare Options Enter New Password Reenter the Password Ay Sel
3. Hardware Requirements Your PCI computer needs e One available PCI bus master expansion slot for each FlashPoint e A 3 5 floppy drive e DC power for internal SCSI drives or AC power for external subsystems You will need one or more of the following cables e A 50 pin flat ribbon cable to connect the FlashPoint adapter to internal devices included with adapter kit e A 68 pin flat ribbon cable to connect the FlashPoint adapter to internal 1 2 RAIDPlus User s Manual Introduction wide SCSI devices included with adapter kit e A 68 pin external cable with VHDCI Very High Density Connector Interface connectors also known as SCA connectors to connect the FlashPoint adapter to external wide SCSI devices e An optional cable to connect the drive activity LED on the host front panel to the FlashPoint adapter Note The device activity LED cable is usually supplied with the host system The peripherals you are attaching to the FlashPoint adapter should be SCSI 2 or SCSI 3 Common Command Set CCS compatible Software Requirements You may need the following software e Software for hard drive setup to perform partitioning and high level formatting e Operating system software for hard drives being installed e Device drivers located on the RAIDPlus Drivers diskette Supported Operating System Driver Support Mylex RAIDPlus support is available for the following operating systems e DOS 6 x e Windows 95
4. The controller combines the functions of both data striping RAID 0 and disk mirroring RAID 1 Benefits Optimizes for both fault tolerance and performance Provides excellent performance for all data needs Trade offs Requires half the available disk space for data redundancy the same as RAID level 1 Drives 4 6 or 8 AE MISTHSS dapat 2 MIRROR THE STRIPED SET with RADPUS RAID 1 H DRIVE 0 a SU x wo NEE Gon eG DRIVE 2 ro 1 STRIPE THE DRIVES p gi ee ae SDS Nas DRIVE 3 Manual No 771982 2 7 Which RAID Level Should Choose For My Storage Subsystem Which RAID Level Should I Choose For My Storage Subsystem Capacity Availability Performance Your task of selecting an appropriate RAID level as you set up your RAIDPlus storage subsystem should begin by considering the same three properties we have already discussed e Disk capacity utilization number of drives e Data redundancy data availability e Disk performance In particular determine if possible which one of the three factors above is most critical to your situation which is next most critical and which is least critical For example C A P indicates capacity is most important then data availability and least important is high performance The Cost Factor We haven t considered cost of hardware in our discussions so far but it may very well be an important factor in your selecti
5. in the FlashPoint Host Adapter User s Manual If you are installing this controller as a secondary controller and no FlashPoint controllers are currently installed install the RAIDPlus Device Driver See Installing the RAIDPlus Windows 9x Driver on page 5 2 Install the RAIDPlus Manager See Installing the RAIDPlus Manager on page 5 22 Use the RAIDPlus Manager to create a RAID Drive Refer to the RAIDPlus online help Partition the RAID Drive and format the newly created partitions See the Windows 9x User s Manual Note The primary partition of a RAID Drive cannot exceed two gigabytes 2GB on a Windows 9x system Additional partitions may be any size Manual No 771982 3 3 Windows NT New Installation Windows NT New Installation Installing a controller into a new Windows NT system is easy Simply create a RAID Drive using the AutoSCSI utility and Windows NT will recognize it as a standard SCSI drive To install a new controller for use in a new Windows NT system complete the following procedure 1 Install the physical drives See Chapter 4 Hardware Installation and the FlashPoint Host Adapter User s Manual Note RAIDPlus does NOT support striping across channels If you will use a RAID level that uses striping RAID 0 0 1 install all devices on the same channel 2 Low level format any physical devices you will use with the RAID Drive Because most hard drives are low l
6. 2 Press lt Space gt to add 6 Press lt Space gt to add 3 Press lt Space gt to add 7 Press lt Space gt to add Ay Select lt Enter gt Accept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit The device list is displayed ID lists the ID of the host adapter and device Vendor lists the drive manufacturer Size lists the devices size in megabytes Partition indicates whether the drive has an existing partition Select physical drives to assign to the RAID Drive To add a drive select a drive and press lt Enter gt When you are finished entering drives press lt Esc gt When you are finished configuring the new RAID Drive press lt Esc gt You are prompted to save the settings Confirm that the settings are acceptable If the settings are acceptable press lt Enter gt If the settings are not acceptable press lt Esc gt and configure the RAID Drive again Note These settings will not take effect until you reboot the system Manual No 771982 6 7 Starting AutoSCSI Delete RAID Set To delete a RAID Drive complete the following procedure WARNING All data on the RAID Drive will be destroyed Back up the RAID Drive before completing this procedure Start AutoSCSI Select RAID Configuration and press lt Enter gt Select Delete RAID Set and press lt Enter gt eS Select the RAID Drive to delete and Press lt Enter gt A confirmation message is displayed
7. FlashPoint controllers support either method However if you want hot swapping capability you must use external terminators Note To make your system hot swap capable each drive that belongs to the RAID Drive must be installed in a removable drive tray 4 2 RAIDPlus User s Manual Chapter 5 Installation Procedures Overview This chapter contains installation procedures for RAIDPlus e To complete Windows 9x specific procedures see Windows 9x on page 5 2 e To complete Windows NT specific procedures see Windows NT on page 5 11 e To complete general installation procedures installing the RAIDPlus Manager see General Procedures on page 5 22 Note For information on which procedures need to be completed for your installation see Chapter 3 Getting Started Manual No 771982 5 1 Windows 9x Windows 9x Installing the DOS CD ROM Drivers If you are installing Windows 95 from a SCSI CD ROM drive you must first install the DOS CD ROM driver To install the DOS CD ROM driver complete the following procedure 1 Exit to DOS 2 Insert the RAIDPlus Driver Diskette into the floppy drive 3 Type A INSTALL and press lt Enter gt 4 Follow the on screen instructions Installing the RAIDPlus Windows 9x Driver The following instructions explain how to install the RAID Plus Windows 9x Driver For more information on installing a FlashPoint host adapter for use with a RA
8. Installation Procedures Select Program Folder Adobe AlTech WaveWatcher TY PCI Online Services QuickTime for Windows 8 Select a program folder and click Next A summary of installation options is displayed 9 Click Next The program files are copied to the destination directory When the copying is complete you are prompted to reboot the system 10 Select Yes and click Finish The system reboots and the installation is complete Note You must reboot the system for the changes to take effect Manual No 771982 5 25 General Procedures 5 26 RAIDPlus User s Manual Chapter 6 RAID Configuration Starting AutoSCSl AutoSCSI is a menu driven utility for configuring Mylex FlashPoint host adapters It resides in Read Only Memory ROM AutoSCST is available whenever the system is powered up or rebooted To start AutoSCSI simply press lt Ctrl gt lt B gt when the BIOS banner is displayed Note To access AutoSCSI from the DOS prompt navigate to the RAIDPlus directory and type AUTOW Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSIl R vx x SCSI Configuration RAID Configuration Ay Select lt Enter gt Accept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit Figure 6 1 AutoSCSI Main Screen Note For more advanced configuration and monitoring functions use the RAIDPlus Manager The RAIDPlus Manager is a Windows Utility which uses the ful
9. e Windows NT 3 5x or 4 0 Reference Documents You should have the following documents on hand during installation e The installation and set up guide for your computer e The installation guide for your SCSI peripherals e g hard drive CD ROM or tape drive Manual No 771982 1 3 Reference Documents e Operating system installation and user s guide e FlashPoint Host Adapter User s Guide FlashPoint Software User s Guide 1 4 RAIDPlus User s Manual Chapter 2 RAID Basics Overview This chapter provides a basic introduction to RAID concepts as applied in the Mylex RAIDPlus product line Topics include The need for RAID We cover the three most important principles which have propelled RAID technology to the forefront as a key set of storage subsystem solutions e RAID levels implementation of RAID We introduce the concept of RAID levels and focus on the three significant RAID levels supported by Mylex RAIDPlus products e Selecting a RAID level Finally we present some simple strategies to help you decide which RAID level is best suited to the requirements of your storage subsystem Why Is RAID Needed RAID an acronym for Redundant Array of Inexpensive or Independent Disks is a set of standards designed to group disk drives together to serve functions that could not be accomplished with individual drives These drives are then presented to the operating system as a single drive or RAI
10. instructions provided with the operating system BOOT from setup diskette 1 of the Windows NT installation diskettes 2 Shortly after you are prompted for the second installation diskette the following screen is displayed Windows NT Workstation Setup Setup automatically detects floppy disk controllers and standard ESDI IDE hard disks without user intervention However on some computers detection of certain other mass storage devices such as SCSI adapters and CD ROM drives can cause the computer to become unresponsive or to malfunction temporarily For this reason you can bypass Setup s mass storage device detection and manually select SCSI adapters CD ROM drives and special disk controllers such as drive arrays for installation To continue Press ENTER Setup will attempt to detect mass storage devices in your computer To skip mass storage device detection press S Setup will allow you to manually select SCSI adapters CD ROM drives and special disk controllers for installation Exit ENTER Continu S Skip Detection 3 Press lt S gt When Windows NT Setup finishes copying temporary files to your hard disk and inspecting your computer s hardware Manual No 771982 5 19 Windows NT configuration it displays the following text based screen Windows NT Workstation Setup Setup has recognized the following mass storage devices in your computer none To specify additional SCSI adapters CD ROM dr
11. You can change the name and SCSI ID of a RAID Drive at any time To change the name or SCSI ID complete the following procedure 1 Start AutoSCSI 2 Select RAID Configuration and press lt Enter gt 3 Select Maintenance Mode and press lt Enter gt 4 Select Modify RAID Set and press lt Enter gt 6 12 RAIDPlus User s Manual RAID Configuration 5 Select Modify RAID Set and press lt Enter gt Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSI R vx x SCSI Configuration RAID Configuration Display RAID Sets Create RAID Set Delete RAID Set METNCRE TEAM LE Set Password RAID ID 03 Modify RAID Set RAID Name RAIDNAME Ay Select lt Enter gt Accept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit Enter a new RAID ID and or Enter a new RAID Drive name Press lt Esc gt You are prompted to save the changes D 0 SD Select Yes Note These settings will not take effect until you reboot the system Manual No 771982 6 13 Starting AutoSCSI 6 14 RAIDPlus User s Manual Appendix A Troubleshooting If a drive fails in a fault tolerant RAID Drive If a single drive fails in a fault tolerant RAID Drive this is not a problem although the failed drive must be replaced soon with a a hot spare or a new drive Replacing a failed drive with a hot spare Select from the following e If Auto rebuild is enabled and a
12. also important use RAID 1 instead of RAID 0 1 the latter of which has a higher minimum number of drives Standby Hot Spare Drives An added level of fault tolerance is possible under both RAID 1 and RAID 0 1 by adding one more drive A drive that is not included in any RAID group may be assigned as a standby or hot spare drive A hot spare drive becomes active if another drive fails in your mirrored or striped mirrored set When a drive fails RAIDPlus finds its mirrored partner and rewrites the data to the new hot spare drive The mirroring remains intact and the failed drive can be replaced later with a new hot spare 2 10 RAIDPlus User s Manual RAID Basics Maximizing Performance P A C or P C A If high performance is the critical factor for your subsystem your choice of RAID level depends on whether data availability is also a concern P A C With data availability fault tolerance running second to performance you should probably avoid RAID 0 even though its performance is excellent Go with RAID 0 1 to obtain the performance benefits of striping AND the data safety allowed by mirroring P C A With high performance and high capacity running neck and neck choose RAID 0 unless data availability is a very close third If so RAID 0 1 with the maximum number of drives may satisfy your performance and capacity needs while giving you fault tolerance The major trade off is expense this being the most costly solution
13. is displayed click once on the Drivers tab to bring the Drivers page to the foreground SCSI Adapters 2x Devices Drivers SCSI adapters and connected devices are listed below IDE CD ROM ATAPI 1 2 Dual channel PCI IDE Controller IDE CD ROM ATAPI 1 2 Dual channel PCI IDE Controller CF Mylex FlashPoint PCI SCSI Host Adapter 44 Properties Manual No 771982 5 13 Windows NT 4 With the Drivers page in the foreground of the SCSI Adapters dialog box click the FlashPoint PCI SCSI Host Adapter list entry to highlight it if it is not already highlighted and then click the Add button SCSI Adapters 24 x Devices Drivers Installed SCSI Adapter drivers are listed below DE CD ROM ATAPI 1 2 Dual channel PCI IDE Co Started Add Remove 5 The Creating driver list progress bar is displayed briefly and then the Install Driver dialog box is displayed as shown below Creating driver list DE 5 14 RAIDPlus User s Manual Installation Procedures Install Driver x Click the driver you want to install and then click OK Eli you have an installation disk for a driver that is not in the list click Have Disk Manufacturers SCSI Adapter Additional models Mylex FlashPoint PCI SCSI Host Adapter Standard mass storage co Adaptec Advanced Micro Devices AMI BusLogic Have Disk Cancel Click the Have Disk
14. 0 When the driver is installed the following window is displayed Press the OK button BusLogic FlashPoint LT PCI SCSI Host Adapter Prope Ki Eg C WINDO STEMMIOS S FlashPt mpd Manual No 771982 5 9 Windows 9x 11 The next dialog box suggests that you run a test on the adapter The test is not necessary Click Cancel PCI SCSI Bus Controller Has a ROM 12 Windows 95 prompts you to reboot the system Once you reboot the new driver is loaded 5 10 RAIDPlus User s Manual Installation Procedures Windows NT Installing the RAIDPlus Windows NT Driver Existing System Note This procedure must be completed before creating a RAID Drive Use the following procedure to update the FlashPoint device driver on a system running Windows NT 4 x 1 Click Start point to Settings and select Control Panel Control Panel _3 Printers Bi A Taskbar Windows NT Workstation Shut Down Manual No 771982 5 11 Windows NT 2 When the Control Panel window opens double click the SCSI Adapters icon File Edit View Help T e 6 amp Add Remove Console Date Time Devices Programs a Display Keyboard Microsoft Mail Modems Postoffice 2 7 sf 9 PC Card Ports Printers Regional Multimedia PCMCIA Settings Add R emove SCSI adapters and view their properties 5 12 RAIDPlus User s Manual Installation Procedures 3 When the SCSI Adapters dialog box
15. 1 RAID 0 The controller stripes data across multiple drives This offers very high data throughput especially for large files However it is not fault tolerant any drive failure will result in data loss Use RAID 0 in non critical applications requiring high performance RAID 1 The controller duplicates data from one drive to the other Manual No 771982 1 1 Hardware Requirements This provides 100 data redundancy If one drive fails the controller switches reads and writes to the other However this requires two drives for the storage space of one drive Use RAID 1 in applications and environments where data availability is most important RAID 0 1 The controller combines the functions of both data striping RAID 0 and disk mirroring RAID 1 This RAID level is optimized for fault tolerance and performance However this requires two drives for the storage space of one drive same as RAID 1 Use RAID 0 1 for most data needs e Easy to use Wizard interface makes creating and modifying RAID Drives simple e The RAIDPlus main window keeps you informed of the status of the RAID Drive s e Supports multiple hot spares for on the fly replacement of failed drives e Replacement of failed drives can occur automatically without user intervention e Integrity checking compares the data of mirrored drives and ensures data consistency e SCSI ID and RAID Drive name can be changed at any time e Password security
16. Appendix A Troubleshooting If a drive fails in a fault tolerant RAID Drive ceeeeeeeeeeeeees A 1 Replacing a failed drive with a hot spare ee eee eeeeeeeeeeeeee A 1 Replacing a failed drive with a new drive 0 0 eee eeeeeeeeeeeeee A 1 If a drive fails in a non fault tolerant RAID Drive A 3 Appendix B Glossary vi RAID Plus User s Manual Chapter 1 Introduction RAID PlusTM creates modifies monitors and maintains RAID Drives residing on Mylex RAID enhanced FlashPoint host bus adapters RAID Drive Creation Create RAID Drives using an intuitive wizard style interface Simply select a RAID level and RAIDPlus will do the rest e RAID Modification At any time you can change the RAID SCSI ID or RAID Drive name e RAID Maintenance Perform integrity checks to confirm a the consistency of data on fault tolerant RAID Drives b Resyncs to synchronize the data between devices and c Rebuilds to restore fault tolerance to RAID Drives ina Critical state e Raid Monitoring Monitor the status of RAID Drives integrity checks and Rebuilds Configuration Plug and Play Operation FlashPoint adapter configuration is handled by the PCI motherboard Operating parameters can be adjusted using AutoSCSI a menu driven utility residing in the adapter s flash memory Features The RAIDPlus host adapter has the following features e Supports RAID levels 0 1 and 0
17. D Drive also known as a disk array logical drive system drive or virtual drive Depending on the RAID level chosen a RAID Drive can offer some of the following advantages e Higher Storage Capacity create large drives composed of smaller drives e Higher performance data striping reads and writes data to multiple disks improving access time RAID 0 and RAID 0 1 only e Data Redundancy and Fault tolerance a single drive failure will not result in data loss RAID 1 and RAID 0 1 Manual No 771982 2 1 Why Is RAID Needed Higher Storage Capacity Requirements One important principle of RAID technology is that the combined capacities of small individual disk drives can be presented to the operating system as a single large disk drive with advantages over a single drive solution A key purpose for the development of RAID was the growing demand for larger storage capacities Applications tools and utilities are requiring more storage space Computing for the masses including Local Array Networks Wide Array Networks Internet etc all push the trend toward larger storage devices and other high capacity storage solutions Higher Performance In addition to satisfying the requirement for higher storage capacity an array of disk drives disk array or RAID Drive has an advantage over the use of a single high capacity storage device Disk arrays can often outperform single large disks Data residing on or dest
18. ID Drive see Chapter 3 Getting Started For complete details on installing Windows 95 see the Windows 95 User s Manual When you finish installing Window 95 and reboot your system a warning message may be displayed that states that the system is not configured for optimal performance and that all devices are running in MS DOS compatibility mode Ignore this warning as the Windows 95 driver resolves this problem when it is installed Select Yes to view the System Properties screen and then select OK to proceed To install the RAIDPlus Windows 9x Driver complete the following procedure 5 2 RAIDPlus User s Manual Installation Procedures 1 Click Start point to Settings and select Control Panel Control Panel 2 Double click the System icon in the Control Panel window J Control Panel D Mouse Multimedia Network Passwords aas 2 Printers Regional Sounds System Settings Manual No 771982 5 3 Windows 9x 3 Select the Device Manager tab in the System Properties window System Properties rx Device Manager Hardware Profiles Performance System Microsoft Windows 95 4 00 484 Registered to Mylex 24264 889 9850114 17409 Computer Pentium r 8 0MB RAM 5 4 RAIDPlus User s Manual Installation Procedures 4 Select the PCI SCSI Bus Controller under Other devices System Properties ll in amg omputer Display adapters amp 3 Floppy disk
19. ION AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for indirect special exemplary incidental or consequential damages in certain transactions therefore this statement may not apply to you Also you may have other rights which vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction Information in this publication is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Mylex Corporation Changes may be made periodically to the information herein these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication Mylex Corporation reserves the right to make improvements and or changes at any time in the product s and or program s described in this publication It is possible that this publication may contain reference to or information about Mylex Corporation products machines and programs programming or services that are not announced in your country Such references or information must not be construed to mean that Mylex Corporation intends to announce provide or make available such Mylex products programming or services in your jurisdiction Requests for technical information about Mylex Corporation products should be made to your Mylex authorized reseller or Mylex marketin
20. Low Level Formatting Physical Devices with AutoSCST in the FlashPoint Host Adapter User s Manual Create a RAID Drive See Create RAID Set on page 6 4 Install the DOS CD ROM Drivers See Installing the DOS CD ROM Drivers on page 5 2 Use the Windows 9x or DOS installation disk to partition the RAID Drive and format the newly created partitions See the Windows 9x User s Manual Note Due to limits of the DOS FAT 16 file system the boot partition of a RAID Drive cannot exceed two gigabytes 2GB Additional partitions may be any size Install Windows 9x See the Windows 9x User s Manual Install the RAIDPlus Device Driver See Installing the RAIDPlus Windows 9x Driver on page 5 2 Install the RAIDPlus Manager See Installing the RAIDPlus Manager on page 5 22 RAIDPlus User s Manual Getting Started Windows 9x Upgrading an Existing Controller or Installing a Secondary Controller 1 Install the physical drives See Chapter 4 Hardware Installation and the FlashPoint Host Adapter User s Manual Note RAID Plus does NOT support striping across channels If you will use a RAID level that uses striping RAID 0 0 1 install all devices on the same channel Low level format any physical devices you will use with the RAID Drive Because most hard drives are low level formatted at the factory this step is optional See Low Level Formatting Physical Devices with AutoSCST
21. MYLEX RAIS 2s Installation Guide and User Manual Part Number 771982 D01 Copyright 1997 Mylex Corporation All Rights Reserved All contents of this manual are copyrighted by Mylex Corporation The information contained herein is the exclusive property of Mylex Corporation and shall not be copied transferred photocopied translated on paper film electronic media or computer readable form or otherwise reproduced in any way without the express written permission of Mylex Corporation Notice This Manual describes the Mylex RAIDPlus Although reasonable efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of the information contained herein this publication could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors Mylex Corporation expressly disclaims liability for any error in this information and for damages whether direct indirect special exemplary consequential or otherwise that may result from such error including but not limited to loss of profits resulting from the use or misuse of the manual or information contained therein even if Mylex Corporation has been advised of the possibility of such damages Any questions or comments regarding this document or its contents should be addressed to Mylex Corporation at the address shown on the cover The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law MYLEX CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PUBLICAT
22. button 6 The Install From Disk dialog box is displayed as shown below The message in this dialog box asks you to insert the manufacturer s installation disk into the selected drive Insert the RAIDPlus Driver diskette and click OK Install From Disk x Insert the manufacturer s installation disk into the drive OK 4 selected and then click OK ok Cancel Copy manufacturer s files from Ey v Browse Manual No 771982 Windows NT 7 5 16 Another Install Driver dialog box is displayed This one lists the drivers Windows NT Setup found on the diskette Install Driver x Click the driver you want to install and then click OK Ifyou have an installation disk for a driver that is not in the list click Have Disk SCSI Adapter Mylex FlashPoint PCI SCS Host Adapter The correct device driver is already highlighted so just click the OK button RAIDPlus User s Manual Installation Procedures 8 The next dialog box asks you to choose between keeping the currently installed version of the FlashPoint PCI SCSI Host Bus Adapter driver and installing the new driver found on the diskette Click the New button Windows NT Setup The driver s for this Mylex FlashPoint PCI SCSI Host Adapter are already on the system Do you want to use the currently installed driver s or install new one s New Cancel Help 9 When the next dialog box is displayed the message it contains as
23. cept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit 4 6 4 Figure 6 4 Creating a RAID Drive Simple Select a RAID Level and press lt Enter gt The RAID Summary screen is displayed Confirm the settings are acceptable If the settings are acceptable press lt Enter gt If the settings are not acceptable press lt Esc gt and manually configure the drive see Advanced on page 6 5 RAIDPlus User s Manual Note RAID Configuration These settings will not take effect until you reboot the system Advanced Complete the following procedure 1 From the main menu highlight RAID Configuration and press Enter 2 Highlight Create RAID Set and press Enter 3 Highlight Advanced and press Enter The RAID Configuration screen is displayed Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSI R vx x RAID Name RAIDNAME RAID Level 0 Stripe Stripe Size 16 K Bytes DRIVE 0 Press lt Space gt to add 1 Press lt Space gt to add 2 Press lt Space gt to add 3 Press lt Space gt to add RAID Set 0 Capacity 0000 MB LIST 4 Press lt Space gt to add 5 Press lt Space gt to add 6 Press lt Space gt to add 7 Press lt Space gt to add Ay Select lt Enter gt Accept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit Figure 6 5 Creating a RAID Drive Advanced Table 6 2 lists all configurable fields and possible values for
24. configuring a new RAID Drive Values shown in BOLD indicate the default setting Manual No 771982 6 5 Starting AutoSCSI Table 6 2 RAID Configuration Field Descriptions Advanced Option Value Description RAID Name RAIDNAME Enter a name for the RAID Drive RAID Level 0 Select a RAID Level 1 0 1 Stripe Size 16K The stripe size is the size in kilobytes 1024 32K bytes of a single I O operation A stripe of 64K data data residing in actual physical disk K sectors which are logically ordered first to 128 last is divided over all disks in the RAID Drive A larger stripe size ensures better performance for large sequential data transfers A smaller stripe size is best suited for small random data transfers Capacity Displays the actual size in megabytes of the RAID Drive before it is created 4 Once you complete entering the options in Table 6 2 highlight an available RAID Drive and press lt Enter gt 6 6 RAIDPlus User s Manual RAID Configuration Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSI R vx x ID Vendor Size Partition HA 0 Tgt 00 Quantum 3067 MB No HA 0 Tgt 01 Quantum 3067 MB No HA 0 Tgt 02 Quantum 3067 MB No HA 0 Tgt 04 Quantum 3067 MB No RAID Name HA 0 Tgt05 Quantum 3067 MB Yes RAID Level Stripe Size lt Enter gt Add lt PgUp Dn More 4 Press lt Space gt to add 1 Press lt Space gt to add 5 Press lt Space gt to add
25. controllers E Hard disk controllers amp CMD CS4 6400E PCI to IDE Controller Keyboard Monitor Mouse Other devices PCI SCSI Bus Controller F Ports COM amp LPT H System devices Manual No 771982 5 5 Windows 9x 5 In the PCI SCSI Bus Controller Properties window select the Change Driver button 56 RAIDPIus Users Manual Installation Procedures 6 In the Select Hardware Type dialog box select Other devices Select Hardware Type Keyboard Memory Technology Drivers MTDs Modem Monitor Mouse Multi function adapters Network adapters Other detected devices Other devices 7 Inthe Select Device window click the Have Disk button Select Device Unsupported Device Manual No 771982 5 7 Windows 9x 8 The message in the Install From Disk dialog box instructs you to insert the diskette containing the driver you want to install Insert the RAIDPlus Driver diskette into the floppy drive and type the pathname to the device driver in the text entry box If you insert the diskette in drive A enter the path shown in the following dialog box Install From Disk x Cancel EEE Insert the manufacturer s installation disk into a the drive selected and then click OK Copy manufacturer s files from as wings X Browse 9 Select OK at the next dialog box to confirm installation of the driver 5 8 RAIDPlus User s Manual Installation Procedures 1
26. e and press lt Enter gt 4 Select Hot Spare Options and press lt Enter gt 6 10 RAIDPlus User s Manual 5 Select the first available space and press the spacebar RAID Configuration Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSIl R vx x HA x RAID ID x 0 Press lt Space gt to add 1 Press lt Space gt to add 2 Press lt Space gt to add YOGA o Ay Select lt Enter gt Accept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit 6 Select a drive to assign as a hot spare and press lt Enter gt The drive is assigned as a hot spare Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSIl R vx x HA x RAID ID x 0 Press lt Space gt to add 1 Press lt Snare gt to add ID Vendor Size Partition HA 0 Tgt 00 Quantum 3067 MB No HA 0 Tgt 01 Quantum 3067 MB Yes lt Enter gt Add lt PgUp Dn More Ay Select lt Enter gt Accept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit Manual No 771982 6 11 Starting AutoSCSI Note A hot spare s capacity must be equal to or larger than that of the smallest physical drive in any fault tolerant RAID Drive 7 Repeat this procedure for each hot spare When you are finished press lt Esc gt You are prompted to save the changes 8 Select Yes Note These settings will not take effect until you reboot the system Modify RAID Set
27. ect lt Enter gt Accept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit Figure 6 6 Setting the Password Manual No 771982 6 9 Starting AutoSCSI Note If a password already exists you will first be asked to type in the old password These settings will not take effect until you reboot the system Hot Spare Options A fault tolerant RAID Drive can continue to function if a single physical drive fails When a physical drive fails the RAID Drive is in a Critical state This means that another drive failure will result in loss of data In order to restore the RAID Drive to a Good state you must replace the failed drive This can occur one of two ways e You can drive to Fry s pick up another drive wait in line and risk leaving the array in a Critical state for an extended period of time e You can have a hot spare already configured A hot spare is a standby drive which is idle until one of a fault tolerant RAID Drive s physical drives fails The data is then copied to the hot spare rebuilt so the hot spare can replace the failed device Note RAID 0 Drives are not fault tolerant and therefore do not use a hot spare A hot spare s capacity must be equal to or larger than that of the smallest physical drive in any fault tolerant RAID Drive To create a hot spare complete the following procedure 1 Start AutoSCSI 2 Select RAID Configuration and press lt Enter gt 3 Select Maintenance Mod
28. er performance than is possible with individual drives especially for large files All available capacity is used Trade offs No redundancy fault tolerance is provided Uses Intended for non critical data requiring high performance or optimal capacity C and P 1 Mirroring Function Drives are paired and mirrored Benefits All data is 100 duplicated on an equivalent drive No data loss if one drive fails Trade offs Requires two drives for the storage space of one drive Users may experience reduced write performance in certain situations Uses When the most important factor is the reliable availability of critical data 0 1 or 6 Function A combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1 Stripes disks in an array RAID 0 then mirrors duplicates the striped set Benefits Combines the performance enhancements of RAID 0 s striping with the data redundancy of RAID 1 s mirroring Trade offs As in RAID 1 RAID 0 1 uses half the total available capacity to provide data redundancy increasing storage capacity overhead RAID Plus implementation of RAID 0 1 requires four drives minimum Uses Excellent performance for a wide variety of applications offers good data availability A and P 2 4 RAIDPlus User s Manual RAID Basics RAID 0 Striping The controller stripes data across multiple drives Benefits Very high data throughput especially for large files Trade offs Does not deliver a
29. evel formatted at the factory this step is optional See Low Level Formatting Physical Devices with AutoSCST in the FlashPoint Host Adapter User s Manual Create a RAID Drive See Create RAID Set on page 6 4 4 Perform a custom Windows NT installation using the RAIDPlus Windows NT Driver See Installing the RAIDPlus Windows NT Driver New System on page 5 19 5 Install the RAIDPlus Manager See Installing the RAIDPlus Manager on page 5 22 Note The primary partition of a RAID Drive cannot exceed 4095 megabytes on a Windows NT system Additional partitions may be any size 3 4 RAIDPlus User s Manual Getting Started Windows NT Upgrading an Existing Controller or Installing a Secondary Controller 1 Install the physical drives See Chapter 4 Hardware Installation and the FlashPoint Host Adapter User s Manual Note RAID Plus does NOT support striping across channels If you will use a RAID level that uses striping RAID 0 0 1 install all devices on the same channel Low level format any physical devices you will use with the RAID Drive Because most hard drives are low level formatted at the factory this step is optional See Low Level Formatting Physical Devices with AutoSCST in the FlashPoint Host Adapter User s Manual If you are installing this controller as a secondary controller and no FlashPoint controllers are currently installed install the RAIDPlus Dev
30. g representative Mylex is a registered trademark of Mylex Corporation RAIDPlus is a trademark of Mylex Corporation Microsoft and MS DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation Windows Windows 95 and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation Unless otherwise noted companies names and data used in examples herein are fictitious About This Manual Conventions Throughout the manual the following conventions are used Note Supplementary information that can have an effect on system performance A Caution Notification that a proscribed action has the potential to adversely affect equipment operation system performance or data integrity WARNING Notification that a proscribed action will definitely result in equipment damage data loss or personal injury Contents Chapter 1 Introduction Configuration issii es hr tingid 1 1 Features Het tent ne aa tt RE me en Mets ere 1 1 Hardware Requirements ccececceceseeceeeeeeeeneeeeeeeeeesaeeseeaeeenaeeeseas 1 2 Software Requirements ce eeeeceeeeceeeeceeeeeeeceenaeeeeeeeeeeneeeeneeeeeeneeeee 1 3 Supported Operating System Driver Support sesser 1 3 Reference Documents cecccceceseeceeneceseeceeteeeeeseaaeeeseneneeeaeeeteneetenees 1 3 Chapter 2 RAID Basics OV TVIQW tte rer Se i a eee 2 1 Why Is RAID Needed ou cecceccseeeeeeseeceeeeceeessaeceeeecaeseeeeenaeeeaaeeeeeeens 2 1 Higher Storage Capacity Requirement
31. g the failed drive with a new drive or hot spare and copying data from the other drive s to the replacement This can be manually accomplished through use of the RAID Plus Manager Stripe Size The size in kilobytes 1024 bytes of a single I O operation A stripe of data data residing in actual physical disk sectors which are logically ordered first to last is divided over all disks in the RAID Drive A larger stripe size ensures better performance for large sequential data transfers A smaller stripe size is best suited for small random data transfers The available stripe size values are 16k 32k 64k and 128k Striping See Data Striping on page B 1 Synchronization The process of making the data on two drives of a mirrored RAID Drive RAID 1 0 1 identical This process involves copying data from the primary drive to the secondary drive RAIDPlus User s Manual
32. ice Driver See Installing the RAIDPlus Windows NT Driver Existing System on page 5 11 Install the RAIDPlus Manager See Installing the RAIDPlus Manager on page 5 22 Use the RAIDPlus Manager to create a RAID Drive Refer to the RAIDPlus online help Partition the RAID Drive and format the newly created partitions See the Windows NT User s Manual Note The primary partition of a RAID Drive cannot exceed 4095 megabytes on a Windows NT system Additional partitions may be any size Manual No 771982 3 5 Windows NT Upgrading an Existing Controller or Installing a Secondary Controller 3 6 RAIDPlus User s Manual Chapter 4 Hardware Installation This chapter explains RAID specific installation information For detailed host adapter specific installation information refer to the Flashpoint Host Adapter User s Manual Connecting Devices This section explains how to optimize your RAID Drive s to achieve maximum performance The type of FlashPoint controller you purchased the number of controllers in your system the RAID level and the stripe size will all affect your device connection strategy Note In addition to this information please refer to the Flashpoint Host Adapter User s Manual The following are examples of different system environments Single controller single channel Place all devices on the one channel Place a terminated non disk device or an external terminator at
33. ined for different disks in the array can be accessed or written more quickly even in parallel while single large disk drives by their nature require data to be read or written in a serial fashion Data Redundancy and Fault Tolerance Let s face it hard drives crash A hard drive magnetically stores information in the form of 1 s and 0 s on iron oxide rust coated disks These wheels of rust currently spin at speeds up to 7200 RPM To make matters worse a single particle of loose dust inside the drive could damage the disks and result in lost data If a single disk drive encounters a catastrophic failure such as major data corruption or a crash all data on that disk drive will be lost Backed by RAID technology disk arrays can easily survive these situations This is accomplished by duplicating data residing on one disk and copying it to another disk The result is a complete redundancy of data This data redundancy leads to the concept of a fault tolerant storage 1 To put this in perspective if you were in a Honda Accord and the wheels were spinning at 7200 RPM you would be travelling at over 520 MPH 2 2 RAIDPlus User s Manual RAID Basics subsystem Because every bit of data stored on the disk array is represented twice the disk array subsystem can survive a failure of one of its component disk drives it is fault tolerant What Are RAID Levels RAID can be implemented in several ways depending o
34. installation instructions that are provided with Windows NT and or the instructions displayed by the Windows NT Setup program to complete the installation Manual No 771982 5 21 General Procedures General Procedures Installing the RAID Plus Manager To install the RAIDPlus Manager complete the following procedure 1 Insert RAIDPlus Manager Installation Diskette 1 into the floppy drive 2 Click Start on the taskbar Click Run The Run dialog box is displayed 3 Enter A SETUP where A is the path to the RAIDPlus Manager diskettes The Welcome screen is displayed 4 Click Next The User Information screen is displayed as shown User Information 5 Enter your name and company name Click Next The Software License Agreement screen is displayed 5 22 RAIDPlus User s Manual Installation Procedures Software License Agreement 6 To agree to the terms of the license agreement click Yes The Select Components screen is displayed Manual No 771982 5 23 General Procedures Select Components Y RaidPlus 7 Select which components to install To change the destination directory for the program files click Browse and select a new directory Click Next The Select Program Folder screen is displayed Note The RAIDPlus Manager may appear in the Select Components screen as RaidPlus Wizard 1 0 Fear not this is the correct component 5 24 RAIDPlus User s Manual
35. ive s capability of withstanding a drive failure drive crash drive loss of power drive removal without loss of data e g RAID 1 and RAID 0 1 Hot Spare A standby drive which is idle until one of a RAID Drive s physical drives fail The data is then copied to the hot spare so the hot spare can replace the failed device Hot Swapping Replacing a failed drive with a new drive without shutting off power to the computer system To make your system hot swap capable each drive that belongs to the RAID Drive must be installed in a removable drive tray and you must place an external terminator on the end of the SCSI chain e RAID Drive A disk array logical or virtual drive comprised of physical devices For example a RAID 0 Drive comprised of three 2GB drives would be viewed by the operating system as a single 6GB drive e Physical device or Physical drive definition A single physical hard disk drive RAID RAID an acronym for Redundant Array of Inexpensive or Independent Disks is a set of standards designed to group disk drives together to serve functions that can not be accomplished with individual drives These drives are then presented to the operating Manual No 771982 B 1 system as a single drive or RAID Drive also known as a disk array logical drive system drive or virtual drive Rebuild The process of restoring a fault tolerant RAID Drive to Good status This process consists of replacin
36. ive wait in line and risk leaving the array in a Critical state for an extended period of time e You can have a hot spare already configured A hot spare is a standby drive which is idle until one of a fault tolerant RAID Drive s physical drives fails The data is then copied to the hot spare rebuilt so the hot spare can replace the failed device Note RAID 0 Drives are not fault tolerant and therefore do not use a hot spare A hot spare must be equal to or larger than the smallest physical drive in a fault tolerant RAID Drive RAID Rules Follow these guidelines when creating RAID Drives under RAIDPlus e Up to eight devices can comprise a RAID 0 or RAID 0 1 RAID Drive e Two devices comprise a Mirrored RAID 1 Drive e Include drives of the same capacity in the same RAID Drive e Place the physical drives of a striped RAID 0 or 0 1 on one channel e When configuring hot spares a hot spare s capacity must be greater than or equal to the capacity of the smallest drive in all fault tolerant RAID Drives e When replacing a failed drive make sure the replacement drive is greater than or equal to the capacity of the smallest drive in all fault tolerant RAID Drives 2 12 RAIDPlus User s Manual Chapter 3 Getting Started Overview This section explains what you need to do to get your RAID Drive up and running Select from the following To install a new FlashPoint Controller for use in a new Windows 9x sy
37. ives or special disk controllers for use with Windows NT including those for which you have a device support disk from a mass storage device manufacturer press S If you do not have any device support disks from a mass storage or do not want to specify additional device manufacturer press ENTER mass storage devices for use with Windows NT ER Continue F3 Exit S Specify Additional Device 4 Press lt S gt Windows NT Setup displays the following screen 5 20 RAIDPlus User s Manual Installation Procedures Windows NT Workstation Setup You have asked to specify an additional SCSI adapter CD ROM drive or special disk controller for use with Windows NT To select a mass storage device from the following list use the UP or DOWN arrow key to move the highlight to the mass storage device you want and then press ENTER To return to the previous screen without specifying an additional mass storage device for use with Windows NT press ESC More Other requires disk provided by a hardware manufacturer ER Select F3 ESC Cancel 5 Press lt Enter gt 6 When the Setup program prompts you to insert the Manufacturer supplied hardware support disk insert the RAIDPlus Driver Diskette and press lt Enter gt 7 Windows NT Setup copies the driver file FLASHPNT SYS from the diskette and installs it as it continues the Windows NT installation Follow the
38. ks you to enter the full path to the driver file see below Ensure that the text box shows A for the path or the correct path to the floppy drive you are using and click the Continue button Windows NT Setup Please enter the full path to the Mylex FlashPoint PCI leant g SCSI Host Adapter files Then choose Continue Cancel Manual No 771982 5 17 Windows NT 10 A dialog box that contains a progress bar is displayed briefly while the driver file is copied from the diskette and then the Systems Settings Change dialog box is displayed as shown below System Settings Change x CA You must restart your computer before the new settings will take affect Do you want to restart your computer now Click the Yes button to restart the computer so the new driver can take effect 5 18 RAIDPlus User s Manual Installation Procedures Installing the RAIDPlus Windows NT Driver New System Use the following procedure to install the updated FlashPoint device driver during an installation of Windows NT 4 x Note The Windows NT Setup screens shown in the following procedure are reproduced from an installation of Windows NT Workstation 4 0 Although the screens from the Windows NT Server Setup program vary slightly from these the installation procedure provided here works equally well for both the Workstation and Server installations 1 Start the Windows NT installation according to the installation
39. l functionality of the host adapter and provides monitoring functions not available through AutoSCSI Manual No 771982 6 1 Starting AutoSCSI Configuring for RAID To access the RAID functionality of AutoSCSI do the following 1 Start AutoSCSI 2 Select RAID Configuration and press lt Enter gt Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSIl R vx x SCSI Configuration RAID Configuration Create RAID Set Delete RAID Set Maintenance Mode Ay Select lt Enter gt Accept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit Figure 6 2 RAID Main Screen The functions menu is displayed Select from the following options e Display RAID Sets displays RAID Drive configuration settings e Create RAID Set helps you create and configure RAID Drives e Delete RAID Set removes RAID Drives e Maintenance Mode modifies existing RAID Drive settings 3 To view currently configured RAID Drives their settings and their status select Display RAID Sets and press lt Enter gt 6 2 RAIDPlus User s Manual RAID Configuration Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSI R vx x SCSI Configuration RAID Configuration Create RAID Set Delete RAID Set Maintenance Mode HA x RAID ID x RAIDNAME G Ay Select lt Enter gt Accept lt Space gt Toggle lt Esc gt Exit Figure 6 3 Display RAID Sets Dis
40. n available hot spare exists you do not need to take any immediate action The RAID Drive will automatically be restored to a Good state The status of the rebuild is displayed in the main window Later replace the failed drive with a new drive and configure it as a hot spare e If Auto rebuild is disabled and an available hot spare exists select Rebuild to Spare from the Options menu in the RAIDPlus Manager Note To check if Auto rebuild is enabled use the RAIDPlus Manager and select Modify RAID Sets from the Configure menu or click the Modify button and check whether the Auto rebuild checkbox is selected Replacing a failed drive with a new drive To replace a failed drive with a new drive complete one of the following procedures e To replace a failed drive with a new drive without shutting the system down see Replacing a failed drive hot swap on page A 2 e To replace a failed drive with a new drive after shutting down the system see Replacing a failed drive cold swap on page A 2 Manual No 771982 A 1 If a drive fails in a fault tolerant RAID Drive Replacing a failed drive hot swap To replace a failed drive with a new drive without shutting down the system complete the following procedure ak SE 4 Note For your system to be hot swap capable each drive that belongs to the RAID Drive must be installed in a removable drive tray Remove the failed drive from the system and note it
41. n which properties you wish to optimize in your storage subsystem e Highest available capacity for use by the storage subsystem e Best possible performance of the storage subsystem e Most robust data redundancy and fault tolerance available to the storage subsystem Methods of implementing RAID technology are known as RAID levels Each RAID level attempts to optimize one or two of these properties RAID levels are generally designated by numbers or number combinations For the purposes of this document we will discuss only those RAID levels supported in the Mylex RAIDPlus product line Table 2 1 on page 2 4 summarizes the following information e RAID level designation e Description consisting of e Function of this RAID level e Benefits of this RAID level e Trade offs or limitations of this RAID level e Best use s of this RAID level e Property or properties optimized C Capacity A Availability of data P Performance 1 It is not possible to optimize all three factors capacity performance and data redundancy in the same RAID group For example increasing data redundancy requires a trade off in lower available capacity for data storage Manual No 771982 2 3 What Are RAID Levels Table 2 1 RAID Levels Available in Mylex RAIDPlus RAID Level Description Optimized Prop s 0 Striping Function Data is striped across multiple drives Benefits High data throughput Striping yields high
42. ng a Secondary Controller 2 eeceeesseeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeaeeeeenaeeeeeeeeeenaeeeeee 3 5 Chapter 4 Hardware Installation Gonn cting DeviCeS iiep mn daera iog 4 1 Single controller single Channel sseeseceeresrreerrerrrerererenns 4 1 Single controller dual channel cccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeseeteeeeeeeeees 4 1 Multiple controllers single channel seses 4 1 Multiple controllers dual channel cccceeeeeeeeseceeeeeeeeeeee 4 2 Terminating Devices 0 cece ceceececeeseceeecseceseneeeseeeeseneceesneeeeeneeereneneees 4 2 Chapter 5 Installation Procedures OVervieW 2 cecieriardsi tated ated Gaile casera atta 5 1 WIRGOWS 9X i025 china fete die A eshte ea abate tata EE 5 2 Installing the DOS CD ROM Drivers ee eeeeeeeeeeerteeeeeneeeens 5 2 Installing the RAIDPlus Windows 9x Driver ee ceeeeeeeeeeees 5 2 Windows NI iite patent hs rire atte ete a 5 11 Installing the RAID Plus Windows NT Driver Existing System 5 11 Installing the RAID Plus Windows NT Driver New System 5 19 General Procedures cccccccececeeeneeceeeeeeececeeeeeeeceeeeeaeeeeeeeieaeeeeees 5 22 Installing the RAID Plus Manager eessen 5 22 Chapter 6 RAID Configuration Starting AUOSCS IE Lente nt ne ig 6 1 Display RAID Sets Fields o oo eee eeeeeeesneeeeeneeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeeeeees 6 3 Create RAID Seti cic fo cctecees dep TE TET 6 4 Maintenance Mode ce ccccceeeeseececeeeeeeececeeeeeeaeeceseseeeeeeeeeaes 6 9
43. ny fault tolerance All data is lost if any drive in the array fails Uses Intended for non critical data requiring high performance Drives Minimum 2 Maximum 8 ro Carm Mylex Host Adapter with RAIDPlus Mylex 105 RAID 0 STRIPED ARRAY ow SAS DRIVE ID 0 ow SPs DRIVE ID 1 eee et BS DRIVE ID 2 DRIVE 0 DRIVE 1 DRIVE 2 Block 0 Block 2 Block 3 Block 5 Block 6 Block 8 Block 9 Block 11 Block 12 Block 14 a Block n Block n 1 Block n 2 Manual No 771982 2 5 What Are RAID Levels RAID 1 Mirroring The controller duplicates data from one drive to another Benefits Provides 100 data redundancy Should one drive fail the controller simply switches reads and writes to the other drive Trade offs Requires two drives for the storage space of one drive While a controller is rebuilding a drive users will experience reduced performance if they try to read or write data Uses When array availability is most important Drives Minimum 2 Maximum 2 CET Mylex Host Adapt ylex HOS apter with RAID Plus RAID 1 Es aie MIRRORED ARRAY gt n Cay Identical data on both drives TEN 2 6 RAIDPlus User s Manual RAID Basics RAID 0 1 Striping and Mirroring
44. on of a RAID level For example you may wish to set up the most robust fault tolerant system available but the cost for the required number of disk drives host adapters and other supporting hardware may be prohibitive Once you ve pondered the issue of emphasizing capacity performance or data redundancy see if cost might turn out to influence your decision as well Important Questions for RAID Level Selection What is the Purpose of Your Array That s the first question you Il need to ask yourself Will you be using the array to increase the capacity of your general purpose file and print server Will you be using it to support a database application that has to keep running 24 hours a day Is the array going to contain large files of audio or video clips that will be played back on demand Is the array going to be used as a repository for imaging systems 2 8 RAIDPlus User s Manual RAID Basics What is the Data Access Profile of Your Dominant Application s Each of the example applications above has a different access profile that means the type and frequency of read and write activity that is performed against the array over the course of time Identifying the data access profile will help you determine a strategy favoring capacity availability or performance For example so called video servers typically write data 1 e the video clip infrequently but read play back the data very often The ratio of
45. play RAID Sets Fields The Display RAID Sets screen contains RAID Drive characteristics These information fields are described in Table 6 1 Table 6 1 Display RAID Sets Field Descriptions Option Description HA Identifies which Mylex host adapter this RAID Drive belongs to RAID ID Identifies the SCSI ID assigned to this RAID Drive RAIDNAME Identifies the name assigned to this RAID Drive x Identifies the status of the RAID Drive G Good C Bad D Downgraded Manual No 771982 6 3 Starting AutoSCSI Create RAID Set A RAID Drive is a logical or virtual drive comprised of physical drives For example a RAID 0 Drive comprised of three 2GB drives would be viewed by the operating system as a single 6GB drive To create a RAID Drive see Simple below or Advanced on page 6 5 Simple Complete the following procedure 1 From the main menu highlight RAID Configuration and press lt Enter gt Select Create RAID Set and press lt Enter gt Select Simple and press lt Enter gt A list of available RAID levels is displayed Mylex FlashPoint at Port Address xxxx AutoSCSI R vx x SCSI Configuration RAID Configuration Display RAID Sets Delete RAID Set Maintenance Mode Advanced RAID Level 0 Data Striping RAID Level 1 Drive Mirroring RAID Level 0 1 Stripe and Mirror Ay Select lt Enter gt Ac
46. reading to writing in this type of an array is far different from a general purpose system that s doing small read and write operations all day long In addition the characteristics of the files themselves are very different video and image files are typically very large when compared to letters memos and spreadsheet files Video server applications or in general all imaging applications need to read very large segments of data compared to the relatively small data segments found with spreadsheet or text documents What Factor Will Your Array Emphasize the Most Do you want to access the maximum capacity of your disk drive investment Or do you want to configure your array for a high degree of fault tolerant operation Perhaps high performance is extremely important to you Every installation has a different set of requirements and most installations have a combination of these Unfortunately it isn t possible to configure an array with all of these characteristics optimized that s a limitation of the technology as they re somewhat mutually exclusive For example you can t have maximum capacity and maximum availability in a single array Some disk space has to be used for redundancy and in doing so capacity is reduced Similarly configuring a single array for both maximum availability and maximum performance is not an option since the presence of redundant information adds overhead to performance You will need
47. s SCSI ID Set the new drive s SCSI ID to match the ID of the failed drive Install the new drive The RAIDPlus Manager begins copying the data to the new drive Replacing a failed drive cold swap To replace a failed drive with a new drive complete the following procedure 1 2 3 4 5 6 Power down the system Remove the failed drive from the system and note its SCSI ID Set the new drive s SCSI ID to match the ID of the failed drive Install the new drive Restart the system The RAIDPlus Manager begins copying the data to the new drive RAIDPlus User s Manual Troubleshooting If a drive fails in a non fault tolerant RAID Drive If a drive fails in a non fault tolerant RAID Drive all data on the RAID Drive is lost and would need to be restored from a previous backup Complete the following procedure 1 pels SO ENTER a Power down the system Remove the failed drive from the system Install a new drive Restart the system Start the RAIDPlus Manager Create a new RAID Drive Restore any necessary data from backup Manual No 771982 A 3 If a drive fails in a non fault tolerant RAID Drive A 4 RAIDPlus User s Manual Appendix B Glossary e Data Striping The process of writing data across multiple drives which belong to the same RAID Drive This allows for data to be processed concurrently and results in enhanced performance Fault Tolerance Refers to a RAID Dr
48. stem see Windows 9x New Installation on page 3 2 e To install a FlashPoint Controller as a secondary drive controller or configure an upgraded FlashPoint under Windows 9x see Windows 9x Upgrading an Existing Controller or Installing a Secondary Controller on page 3 3 To install a new FlashPoint Controller for use in a new Windows NT system see Windows NT New Installation on page 3 4 e To install a FlashPoint Controller as a secondary drive controller or configure an upgraded FlashPoint under Windows NT see Windows NT Upgrading an Existing Controller or Installing a Secondary Controller on page 3 5 Manual No 771982 3 1 Windows 9x New Installation Windows 9x New Installation Installing a controller into a new Windows 9x system such as Windows 95 is easy Simply create a RAID Drive using the AutoSCSI utility and Windows 9x will recognize it as a standard SCSI drive To install a new controller complete the following procedure 1 3 2 Install the physical drives See Chapter 4 Hardware Installation and the FlashPoint Host Adapter User s Manual Note RAIDPlus does NOT support striping across channels If you will use a RAID level that uses striping RAID 0 0 1 install all devices on the same channel Low level format any physical devices you will use with the RAID Drive Because most hard drives are low level formatted at the factory this step is optional See
49. the end of the SCSI chain Note If you terminate a disk device and the device fails you will lose hot swapping capability Single controller dual channel To improve performance place mirrored devices on the second channel optional Multiple controllers single channel To improve performance associated with two SCSI busses place all mirrored devices on a second controller Connect all devices which will comprise the RAID Drive s and any hot spare s on the FlashPoint controller Manual No 771982 4 1 Terminating Devices Multiple controllers dual channel To improve performance place primary and mirrored devices on separate channels and or controllers RAID 0 RAID 0 1 Place all drives which will comprise the RAID Drive on the same channel Note For RAID 0 1 Drives make sure to place any hot spares on the primary channel the first channel recognized by the operating system RAID 1 Place each disk drive in the RAID Drive on a separate channel or controller optional Note For RAID 1 Drives make sure to place any hot spares on the primary channel the first channel recognized by the operating system Terminating Devices When configuring a SCSI controller it is important to terminate the end of the cable not connected to the controller other end of the SCSI chain This can occur by terminating the last SCSI device or attaching an external terminator to the last connector on the SCSI chain
50. to implement Selecting a Stripe Size Stripe size is the size in kilobytes 1024 bytes of a single I O operation A stripe of data data residing in actual physical disk sectors which are logically ordered first to last is divided over all disks in the RAID Drive under RAID 0 or RAID 0 1 This process is known as data striping or simply striping Note RAID 1 does not stripe data across drives so no stripe size is assigned under RAID 1 Once set the stripe size cannot be changed without first copying all data off the RAID Drive overwriting the controller configuration and copying the saved data back to the drive On a large RAID Drive this operation could take hours Evaluate your needs now before the drive is placed in service A larger stripe size ensures better performance for large sequential data transfers A smaller stripe size is best suited for small random data transfers The available stripe sizes are 16k 32k and 64k 128k Manual No 771982 2 11 Assigning a Hot Spare Assigning a Hot Spare A fault tolerant RAID Drive RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 can continue to function if a single physical drive fails When this happens the RAID Drive is in a Critical state another drive failure will result in loss of data To restore the RAID Drive to a fault tolerant state you must replace the failed drive This can occur one of two ways e You can drive to your local computer store pick up another dr
51. to make compromises and decide which capability is most important for your operational environment and which is next most important Once you ve prioritized your expectations it s relatively easy to configure the array to meet those expectations Manual No 771982 2 9 Which RAID Level Should Choose For My Storage Subsystem Maximizing Capacity C P A or C A P You may want to optimize your array for the greatest possible capacity The highest capacity is provided by RAID 0 with the entire capacity of all disks being used Unfortunately there is no fault tolerance C P A If data redundancy data availability is your lowest choice RAID 0 is your best solution C A P If data redundancy is also important you might consider RAID 0 1 with up to eight 8 drives if storage cost factors allow Although you still have 50 overhead the larger number of drives may satisfy your capacity needs while the mirroring satisfies data availability needs Maximizing Data Availability A P C or A C P If data availability is the key issue you can safely rule out RAID 0 and use either RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 A P C If performance is second on your list the mirroring with striping solution RAID 0 1 is best over all This takes advantage of the improved performance of striping but maintains the fault tolerance of mirroring A C P Even if capacity outweighs performance RAID 0 1 may be the best choice If keeping storage costs down is

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