RocketRAID 268x SAS/SATAII Host Adapter User Manual Revision: 1.1 Date: May 2010 HighPoint Technologies, Inc.
Copyright Copyright © 2008 HighPoint Technologies, Inc. This document contains materials protected by International Copyright Laws. All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced, transmitted or transcribed in any form and for any purpose without the express written permission of HighPoint Technologies, Inc. Trademarks Companies and products mentioned in this manual are for identification purpose only.
Table of Contents Table of Contents CONGRATULATIONS 1 - Specifications and Features .....................................................................................6 2 - Operating System Support .......................................................................................8 3 - Physical Specifications ............................................................................................8 4 - Kit Contents ..................................................................................
Table of Contents DEVICE DRIVER CD AND HIGHPOINT RAID MANAGEMENT 1 - Creating a Driver Diskette ...................................................................................... 22 2 - Device Driver Installation ...................................................................................... 23 3 - HighPoint RAID Management Utilities (HRM) ...................................................... 32 CUSTOMER SUPPORT Troubleshooting Checklist ........................................................
HighPoint Technologies, Inc. HighPoint Technologies, long recognized as a leader in mass storage technologies specializes in the design and manufacturer of HBA (Host Bus Adapters) and HighPoint RAID IP (Intellectual Property). HighPoint provides a broad range of scalable hardware HBA’s that meet the storage requirements from Enterprise to SMB (Small Medium Sized Business) to PC enthusiast. The HighPoint RAID IP includes TerabyteArchitecture™ for (Performance, Protection and Prevention).
Congratulations Congratulations You have purchased one of the highest performing and most cost effective 8 channel SAS RAID controllers available. RocketRAID 268x offers the flexibility to support both the highest performing SAS 15,000 RPM hard drives, and larger capacity cost sensitive SATA hard drives in homogeneous and heterogeneous storage environments.
Congratulations Advanced RAID Features • • • • • • • • Supports RAID 0,1,5,10,50 and JBOD NCQ (Native Command Queuing) Multiple RAID array support Multiple logical drive support BIOS booting support Online Array roaming Automatic hard drive (insert / remove) detection Automatic RAID rebuild • 64bit LBA support greater than 2TB per volume Array Monitors, Alerts and Indicators • • • • Hard Drive LED Indicators (Activity and Failed) Email Notification Alarm/Buzzer alerts for drive/array failure SAF-TE (I
Congratulations 2 - Operating System Support • • • Windows XP, 2003, Vista, 2008 (32 and 64-bit versions) Linux (Fedora Core, Red Hat Enterprise / CentOS, SuSE, Debian, Ubuntu) FreeBSD 3 - Physical Specifications Size: (79.3mm*65mm) 3.12”± L x 2.56”± W (RocketRAID 2680); (79.3mm*67mm) 3.12” L x 2.
Hardware – Description and Installation Hardware - Description and Installation 1 – RocketRAID 268x Host Adapter layout RocketRAID 2680 Port1- Port2 - These represent the RocketRAID 2680’s 2 Internal Mini-SAS ports. Each port can direct connnect up to 4 SATA/SAS hard disks. BEEP1 – (alarm/speaker): the speaker emits and audible alarm in the case of disk/array failure.
Hardware – Description and Installation RocketRAID 2684 Port1, Port2 These represent the RocketRAID 2684’s 2 Mini-SAS ports. Each port can direct connect up to 4 SATA/SAS hard disks. Port1 is an Internal Mini-SAS port; Port2 is an External Mini-SAS port. BEEP1-Speaker Alarm (speaker): the speaker emits and audible alarm in the case of Drive/array failure. J1 This jumper supports SAF-TE interface(I2C).
Hardware – Description and Installation 2 – LED Connections RocketRAID 2680 LED connectors (Drive-activity/Drive-failure): LED support is discussed in greater detail in the LED Connection section. The RocketRAID 2680 host adapter has 4 LED connectors that are used to indicate the activity and failure status of hard drives to the card’s 8 SATA/SAS channels. Active and Failure LED A1-A2 provides LED support for Drive Activity, while F1-F2 supports Drive Failure.
Hardware – Description and Installation 3 – Hardware Installation RocketRAID 2680 Note: Make sure the system is powered-off before installing the RocketRAID host adapter. The RocketRAID 2680 include both standard and low-profile brackets. It may be necessary to attach the low-profile bracket in place of the standard bracket, depending upon the chassis design. Open the system chassis and locate an unused PCIExpress x4. 1. 2. Remove the PCI slot/bracket cover.
Hardware – Description and Installation 4. Note: Many server-level chassis include hard-disk hot-swap bays. For these system chassis, cables are attached to the chassis backplane, rather than directly to each individual hard disk. Consult the chassis’s manual for proper installation procedure. Close and secure the system chassis. RocketRAID 2684 Note: Make sure the system is powered-off before installing the RocketRAID host adapter. The RocketRAID 2684 includes both standard and low-profile brackets.
Hardware – Description and Installation 4. After installing the adapter, attach hard drives to the host adapter using the data cable. The RocketRAID 2684 model utilizes 1 Mini-SAS to Mini-SAS Cables are included in each retail box. Each Mini-SAS cable can direct connect up to 4 hard drives. Consult the chassis manual for proper installation procedures. Note: Many server-level chassis include hard-drive hot-swap bays.
RocketRAID BIOS Utility RocketRAID BIOS Utility The RocketRAID 268x card will display it’s BIOS screen during the system’s boot process. Press Control + H when prompted, to access the BIOS settings Menu. 1 - BIOS Settings Overview The RocketRAID 268x BIOS utility is an interface that provides management commands and controller related settings. Using the BIOS Utility The following keys utilized by the RocketRAID 268x BIOS utility: Alt – press Alt to highlight the tool bar.
RocketRAID BIOS Utility BIOS Commands Create - this command is used to open the RAID Creation menu. Delete - this command will delete the selected RAID array. Add/Remove Spare - this command is used to assign hard disks to function as spare disks. The controller is capable of using spare disks to automatically rebuild broken or faulted RAID arrays.
RocketRAID BIOS Utility Highlight the target disks using the arrow keys, then select using Enter. A numeral will be displayed before each selected disk. Once all target disks have been selected, press ESC. The utility will display a warning, and ask you to press Y (yes) to initialize, or N (no) to cancel. Once initialized, these disks can be used to create RAID arrays. Warning: Initialization will destroy all pre- existing data on the selected hard disks.
RocketRAID BIOS Utility 2. Use the arrow keys to highlight the Array Name option and press Enter. The array name dialogue box will appear. Use the keyboard to input a new Array Name, and press the Enter key. Note: the Array Name command is optional – it is not necessary to name the array. The array can be named at a later time, and the name of the array can be changed at any time. 3. On the Create menu, use the arrow keys to highlight the Select Devices item and press Enter.
RocketRAID BIOS Utility 6. Enter. For redundant RAID arrays (RAID 1, 5, 10), select the Cache Policy: Write Back – utilizes disk cache (higher performing) Write Through – writes directly to the disks (may reduce the risk of data loss during a critical failure, but at the cost of lower performance) 7. Sector Size – Also known as “Variable Sector Size”. Use this option if you are using an older 32-bit Windows operating system. This allows older operating systems to support volumes over 2TB in size.
RocketRAID BIOS Utility The utility will display a warning message. Press Y (yes) to delete the array, or select N (no) to cancel. Warning: all data stored on the array will be lost – do not delete if the array contains critical data. 4 - Adding/Remove Spare Disks This Add/Remove Spare command is used to assign a hard disk to act as a Spare Disk. Spare Disks are used to automatically rebuild Redundant RAID arrays (RAID 1, 5, 10) in the case of disk failure.
RocketRAID BIOS Utility Generally, single disks are designated to act as spares (disks that are not configured into RAID arrays). However, in some instances, disks that are members of RAID arrays may also be designated to act as a spare. If the disks in question are part of a RAID array that did not utilize the full available capacity at the time of creation, these disks may be used as spares.
Device Driver CD and HighPoint RAID Management Device Drive CD and HighPoint RAID Management Each retail box includes a copy of the HighPoint Products Software CD. This CD can be used to generate driver diskettes, and install the HighPoint RAID Management Utility Suite for a variety of operating systems.
Device Driver CD and HighPoint RAID Management 2 - Device Driver Installation We recommend visiting the RocketRAID 268x download page for the latest Windows Device Driver updates: RocketRAID 2680: http://highpoint-tech.com/USA/bios_rr2680.htm RocketRAID 2684: http://highpoint-tech.com/USA/bios_rr2684.htm Drivers are posted in .zip archive format. Most Windows operating systems will recognize this archive format, natively. Double click the driver download to view and extract their contents.
Device Driver CD and HighPoint RAID Management Windows Driver Installation (Win2000, XP, Win 2003) Before installing the RocketRAID 268x host adapter’s device driver, make sure the host adapter and all required hard disks have been installed into the system’s chassis/ disk enclosure. If you are working with a supplied driver, or driver download, you will want to extract the contents directly to a directory of your choice (or device).
Device Driver CD and HighPoint RAID Management Installation Verification After the driver has been installed, and the system has been restarted: 1. Click the Start button, then right-click the “My Computer” icon. Select the Properties item from the pop up menu. 2. In the popup window, click the “Hardware” tab then click Device Manager button. 3. Double click the “SCSI and RAID controllers” entry.
Device Driver CD and HighPoint RAID Management Windows Vista/2008 Driver Installation Installing the driver during a fresh Windows Vista/2008 installation 1. Boot from Windows Vista DVD. 2. When the screen “where do you want to install Windows” appears, click “Load driver” and browse for the driver location. Windows Vista will accept install drivers from various sources: floppy diskette, USB flash disk or CD.
Device Driver CD and HighPoint RAID Management Installation Verification After the driver has been installed, and the system has been restarted: 1. Click the Start button, then right-click My Computer icon. Select the Properties item from the popup menu. 2. In the popup window, select Hardware tab and then click Device Manager button. 3. Double click the “Storage Controllers” entry.
Device Driver CD and HighPoint RAID Management Linux and FreeBSD Device Driver installation Visit our website for the latest Linux and FreeBSD related driver and software updates http://www.highpoint-tech.com Binary and source driver updates are routinely posted for a variety of Linux operating systems including Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS, OpenSuSE, and Fedora Core. Drivers are also available for several FreeBSD revisions, and are available from the same support page.
Device Driver CD and HighPoint RAID Management 3 - HighPoint RAID Management Utilities (HRM) The HighPoint RAID Management Utility Suite, also known as “HRM”, includes several user interface options. The latest version of the Web Management utility user manual, is available from the following link: http://www.highpoint-tech.com/PDF/ RR26xx/RR268x-UM-EN.pdf Windows Operating Systems – Installing the Web-based Management Utility Click on “Install RAID Management Software”.
Device Driver CD and HighPoint RAID Management Red Hat Enterprise/CentOS, Fedora Core, Open SuSE – Installing the Web-based Management utility Linux operating systems that support .rpm packages, allow you to double-click the HighPoint Web RAID Management .rpm file to start the installation process. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Copy the Web RAID Management package from the RR268x Software CD, to the desktop of the Linux operating system. The .
Device Driver CD and HighPoint RAID Management Debian/Ubuntu Linux Distributions – Installing the Web-based Management Utility For Debian/Ubuntu Linux distributions, you can use alien to convert the rpm packages to a .deb package, then use “dpkg -i” command to install each package. Some script files may be lost during the conversion process from rpm to .deb, so you may need to make manual corrections. The following files will be installed/configured: /usr/bin/hptsvr /etc/hptcfg /etc/rc.d/init.
Customer Support Customer Support If you encounter any problems while utilizing the RocketRAID host adapter, or have any questions about this or any other HighPoint product, feel free to contact our Customer Support Department. Troubleshooting Checklist Before contacting our Customer Support department: • PCI-Express x4 (Compatible with PCI- Express x8, x16 slots).
Customer Support Contact Us HighPoint Corporate Headquarter USA Address 1161 Cadillac Ct. Milpitas, CA, 95035 Website: http://www.highpoint-tech.com Phone: 1-408-942-5800 (9 am ~ 6 pm PST, M-F) Fax: 1-408-942-5801 E-mail: sales@highpoint-tech.com Support: support@highpoint-tech.com Support Phone: 1-408-240-6108 (9 am ~ 5 pm PST, M-F) HighPoint Taiwan 5F., No.3, Swei Lane , Jhongjheng Rd. Sindian City, Taipei County 231, Taiwan (R.O.C.) Website: http://www.highpoint-tech.com/Taiwan/indextw.
FCC Part 15 Class B 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 instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
Thank You Thank you for purchasing the RocketRAID 268x SATAII/SAS RAID Host adapter. We appreciate your support, and welcome any questions, comments or product suggestions you may have.
