Specifications

Escala Tower PL & S, E, T System Hardware
Chapter 3: External Storage and SAN Subsystems 15/116
9es3s1c3.doc
Rev 5.9
02/12/2003
2.1.4. iDAE Enclosure
2.1.4.1. Overview
The
iDAE
(Intelligent DAE) is a 10-slots enclosure DAE with RAID functionality provided by one or
two SPs (Storage Processors), which replace the LCC cards of the basic DAE. It has been designed to
build mid range disk subsystems, with up to 30 disks. It is a “full Fibre Channel” RAID subsystem,
using Fibre Channel for both host connect (i.e. font-end) and internal disks connection (i.e. back-end).
Entry price configurations can be defined with the minimum of hardware redundancy, to enable cost
attractive solutions. Upgrade to a fully redundant high availability configuration is a simple matter of
adding redundant hardware components (described below). All these components are designed for
non-disruptive removal and insertion, and can be replaced under power.
The iDAE can operate in a homogeneous AIX environment, or in a mixed AIX/NT environment, in
conjunction with ASM (AIX SAN Manager) or [e-mail]!.
The figure below summarizes the hardware architecture of an iDAE enclosure. An iDAE contains at
least one SP. The second SP is optional. Individual hardware components are discussed later in this
document.
Mirrored
Write
Data
Standb
y
Power
S
y
stem A
SP A
RAID
en
g
ine
Hub
SP B
Hub
Standb
y
Power
S
y
stem B
AC Branch
A
AC Branch
B
Mutual
surve
y
Dual-ported Drives
To Hosts
Power
Suppl
y
A
Power
Suppl
y
B
Redundant
Processor
Fan
Module
Redundant
Disk
Fan
Module
Fibre
Channel
Circuitry 1
cache cache
RAID
en
g
ine
Fibre
Channel
Circuitry 1