E1369 Zero-Channel RAID Board (AZCRB) Installation Guide First Edition V1 August 2003
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Contents Conventions ............................................................................................ 4 Symbols ............................................................................................ 4 Typography ....................................................................................... 4 Welcome! ................................................................................................ 5 1. Package contents ................................................................
Conventions Symbols NOTE Tips and additional information. CAUTION Information to prevent damage to the components.
Welcome! Thank you for buying the ASUS Zero-Channel RAID board (AZCRB)! Now, you can create and manage multiple disk arrays within your ASUS AP1600R 1U system with PR-DSLR533 motherboard. With the convenient online management and configuration utilities bundled, creating a RAID system has never been easier. 1. Package contents Check the following items in your ASUS Zero-Channel RAID board package. Contact your retailer if any item is damaged or missing.
2. Features The AZCRB is a proprietary daughterboard for the RAID connectors on the ASUS PR-DLSR533 motherboard. The AZCRB includes the Intel® GC80303 integrated I/O processor and 64MB ECC SDRAM cache, and 64MB ECC SDRAM.
Fault tolerance • COD (Configuration on Disk) and NVRAM • Auto-detection of failed drives • Automatic and transparent rebuild of hot spare drives • Hot-swapping of drives without shutting the system down • SAF-TE enclosure management support • SMART support Utilities • Power Console Plus for Windows® NT®/2000/XP/203 • MegaManager • WebBIOS™ ASUS Zero-Channel RAID Board 7
3. Board layout The two connectors underneath the board fit the RAID connectors on the PRDLSR533 motherboard. AZCRB RAID connectors PR-DLSR533 ® PR-DLSR533 AZCRB Connectors Standoff Make sure that your system motherboard is PR-DLSR533. Only the proprietary RAID connectors on this motherboard will support the AZCRB.
4. Board installation Before handling the board, touch a bare metal portion of the system to discharge static electricity from your body. Wear a wrist strap grounded to the system chassis when handling the board. To install the board: 1. Make sure that the system is off. PCI Riser Card and Bracket Assembly 2. Remove the system cover to access the RAID connectors on the motherboard. Refer to the AP1600R system manual for instructions. 3.
4. Locate the proprietary RAID connectors on the motherboard. 5. Remove the board from its antistatic packaging.
6. Position the board as shown, then plug the RAID connectors to the corresponding connectors on the motherboard. The two holes (with standoffs) on the board should also align with the holes beside the RAID connectors on the motherboard. 7. Use a Phillips screwdriver to secure the board with two screws through the holes.
8. When the board is secure, replace the riser card assembly into the chassis. 9. Replace the chassis cover. Install the hard disks following the instructions on your system manual.
5. RAID configuration The MegaRAID BIOS on your AZCRB board includes the MegaRAID Configuration Utillity. Use this utility to create and configure disk arrays and logical drives. The MegaRAID Configuration Utility is independent of the operating system so you have to start the utility during the Power-On Self-Tests (POST), prior to entering the operating system. To start the MegaRAID Configuration Utility: Turn on the system.
The initial menu of the MegaRAID BIOS Configuration Utility shows the Management menu. Each option in the menu leads to different sub-menus that allow you to create and configure RAID drives. Management menu options Configure Select to configure physical arrays and logical drives. Initialize Select to initialize one or more logical drives. MegaRAID BIOS Config Utility(40-Ld) Ver5.
5.1 Configuring arrays and logical drives Depending on your current drive configuration or number of existing drives, you may create physical arrays and logical drives using either one of the following methods: • • • Easy Configuration New Configuration View/Add Configuration General procedure for configuring arrays and logical drives 1. Select a configuration method. 2. Designate hot spares (optional). 3. Create arrays using the available physical drives. 4.
5.2 Easy Configuration The Easy Configuration method allows you to create a basic logical drive configuration where every physical array you define is automatically associated with one logical drive. If you have an existing logical drive configuration, using this method does not erase the current configuration information. This method allows you to change the RAID level, stripe size, write policy, read policy, and cache policy parameters. MegaRAID BIOS Config Utility(40-Ld) Ver5.
The Easy Configuration-ARRAY SELECTION MENU appears. Use the command bar hot keys to perform the configuration functions. MegaRAID BIOS Config Utility(40-Ld) Ver5.
3. Use the arrow keys to select a specific physical drive, then press the to associate the selected drive with the current array. The indicator for the selected drive changes from READY to ONLIN Axx-xx. >> where Axx-xx means: A[array number]-[drive number] MegaRAID BIOS Config Utility(40-Ld) Ver5.
The number of physical drives in an array determines the RAID levels that can be implemented with the array. RAID 0 requires one or more physical drives RAID 1 requires exactly two physical drives RAID 3 requires at least three physical drives RAID 5 requires at least three physical drives The ASUS AP1600R system with PR-DLSR533 motherboard supports four (4) hard disk drives (HDDs) that may be configured to RAID 0 or RAID 5 using the AZCRB.
4. When finished creating the array, press to start the configuration. The Logical Drive Configured screen appears showing the logical drive being configured and the existing logical drives, if any. 5. Set the RAID level for the logical drive. Highlight RAID then press to display the available RAID levels. Logical Drive Configured LD 1 RAID 5 Size #Stripes 52563MB 4 Logical Drive 1 RAID = 5 Size = 52563MB Advanced Menu Accept 6. Select your desired RAID level, e.g.
7. Select the Advanced Menu to set the stripe size, write policy, read policy, and cache policy. Logical Drive 1 RAID = 5 Size = 52563MB Advanced Menu Accept Cache Policy Advanced Cache IO StripeSize = 64MB Direct IO Write Policy = WRTHRU Read Policy = NORMAL Cache Policy = Direct I/O Stripe Size - specifies the size of the segments written to each disk in an array. You can set the stripe size to either 2KB, 4KB, 8KB, 16KB, 32KB, 64KB, or 128KB.
Read Policy - enables the SCSI read-ahead feature for the logical drive. The configuration options are Normal, Read-ahead, or Adaptive. In Normal setting, the controller does not use read-ahead for the current logical drive. In Read-ahead, the controller uses read-ahead for the current logical drive. In Adaptive setting, the controller begins using read-ahead fi the two most recent disk accesses occurred in sequential sectors.
8. When finished defining the current logical drive, select Accept then press . 9. If you have remaining unconfigured disk drives, the array selection menu re-appears. Configure the drives following steps 3 to 8. 10. When done, press to exit Easy Configuration. A screen appears with a list of the configured logical drive(s). Logical Drive 1 RAID = 5 Size = 52563MB Advanced Menu Accept MegaRAID BIOS Config Utility(40-Ld) Ver5.
Before doing the next steps, make sure that you do not have data in the hard disk drives that you wish to keep. Initializing erases all data stored in the drives! 11. From the Management menu, use the arrow keys to highlight Initialize, then press . 12. When prompted, select YES to start initialing the logical drive(s) that you have configured. MegaRAID BIOS Config Utility(40-Ld) Ver5.
5.3 New Configuration The New Configuration method allows you to discard the existing configuration information, and configure a new array and logical drives. This method lets you change the RAID level, stripe size, write policy, read policy, and cache policy parameters, and associate logical drives with multiple or partial arrays. Choosing New Configuration erases the existing configuration information on the selected controller.
The New Configuration-ARRAY SELECTION MENU appears. Use the command bar hot keys to perform the configuration functions. MegaRAID BIOS Config Utility(40-Ld) Ver5.
3. Use the arrow keys to select a specific physical drive, then press the to associate the selected drive with the current array. The indicator for the selected drive changes from READY to ONLIN Axx-xx. >> where Axx-xx means: A[array number]-[drive number] MegaRAID BIOS Config Utility(40-Ld) Ver5.
5.3 View/Add Configuration The View/Add Configuration lets you examine the existing configuration and/or specify additional arrays and logical drives. To use View/Add Configuration: 1. From the Management menu, use the arrow keys to highlight Configure, then press . 2. Select View/Add Configuration. The View/Add ConfigurationARRAY SELECTION MENU appears showing the devices currently connected to the controller. MegaRAID BIOS Config Utility(40-Ld) Ver5.
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